Perhaps you've seen films or pictures of the underwater world. For a non diver it is almost impossible to imagine what diving is. Besides the beautiful and fascinating creatures living in the water, you'll have unique diving experiences, like the sensation of underwater breathing and the feeling of weightlessness. Scuba diving
With the right equipment, knowledge and skills diving is safe as well as simple. You can discover the world underwater with only specs on as a "free diver" or you can make deeper and longer visits to underwater world with the use of Scuba (Self controlled underwater breathing apparatus) equipment.
Look on this site to explore the underwater world in the Netherlands as well as abroad.
Use the link Padi for more information about diving with PADI.
PADI gives complete diving trainings that are worldwide acknowledged, like PADI Open Water, PADI Advanced Open Water and PADI Rescue Diver. The PADI Open Water diver course consists of 3 parts; theoretic lessons, swimming pool training and outdoor training. The PADI Advanced Open Water diver course consists of the obligatory courses navigation dive, night dive and deep dive. Beside that you can choose voluntary for a stream dive, a multi-level dive, a naturalist dive, a boat dive, a ice dive, a cavern dive, a wreck dive, search and rescue dives or underwater photography, id. After completing the PADI Advanced Open Water course and PADI Rescue Diver course you've admission for the PADI Dive master course. This is the first step in the "professional" levels in the PADI system and is made to develop leading capabilities. Another organisation active in underwater sports is the NOB. The NOB (Nederlandse Onderwatersport Bond) is a Dutch umbrella association containing different underwater sports like free diving, scuba diving, id. Enjoy the Dutch diving club, the NOB, by clicking on the link Nederlandse Onderwatersport Bond .
Look at this site to get information about diving trainings of the NOB, the NOB itself, prices for NOB articles, different interesting diving stories and the NOB magazine "De Onderwaterwereld". The NOB is connected to the World Underwater Federation.
The visibility of the waters in the Netherlands is often less then 10 meters. At the same time you can see small fishes swimming, lobsters, crab fishes, starfishes and jellyfishes, id. It is necessary to wear always a wetsuit if you're diving in the Netherlands. For your own convenience wear always a wetsuit, gloves, id. during your dives. At great depth the water is always cold.
You can see Worldwide Divers Education to know more about diving with IDD. IDD stands for Instructor Dive Development. There's an IDDive magazine with interesting topics about diving, which is sent to each IDD member and to each IDD Dive Centre. The site Worldwide Divers Education gives worthwhile information on IDD education and IDD dive centres worldwide and in the Netherlands, besides diving news and the world weather today and a 5 days forecast.
In the autumn of 2001 we've visited the land of the pyramids and the Pharaohs and we've dived in the Red Sea. The Red Sea is one of the most beautiful diving spots in the world. The underwater flora and fauna in the Red Sea is diverse and amazing. The blue water is clear, the temperature is pleasant and the visibility is always good. Beginners and experienced divers will enjoy the rich aquatic life of the Red Sea. On the picture left we went to the diving boat early in the morning. The beginning of a beautiful day on the water. Everybody is going to the boat. This day we made two dives, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The hotel where we stayed had it's own private beach, restaurant, bars and harbour. The picture below was made on the dive boat in the Red Sea. You can see the coral reefs through the surface of the water. Some diving boats have cast there anchor near the coral reefs. They have taken care not to destroy the vulnerable reefs.
There are a lot of different fishes living in the Red Sea. Some species of the Red Sea are dolphins, turtles, corals and invertebrates. The Giant moray, Blue spotted stingray, Manta ray, Cornet fish, Stonefish, Lionfish, Banner fish, Butterfly fish and the Red Sea anemone fish can be observed easily. 
This picture was made during the second dive in the afternoon. It is a Emperor angelfish swimming in the Red Sea. We've also seen the blue Giant clam, different kind of Turtles, shells and starfishes, Diadem sea urchin, Red Sponge, Goblet Sponge, Tube Sponge, Tree corals, Star corals, Mushroom (leather) corals and all kinds of different corals.
In Greece deep water diving is very restricted for tourists and on most places forbidden. This is a pity since the waters surrounding Greece are a paradise for the recreational divers. The blue water is clear, the temperature is pleasant and the visibility is always good. The aquatic life is diverse; fishes in all kind of sizes and all kind of colours. Greece wants to protect there underwater flora and fauna. Yet the Greece navy has all the rights to dive in the region there.