Dive Vacation Destination For 2012 Has Been Chosen!
As most of my friends and my three blog readers know, I have been looking for a SCUBA diving vacation destination for 2012.
I went to The SCUBA Show specifically to find a vacation place, but ended up going off the beaten path.
I immediately eliminated Brazil as a destination, for personal reasons – mainly, I could not handle one crazy Brazilian woman, let alone a whole country full of them.
I also considered a few more things:
– It can’t be a tourist trap, especially a resort geared towards just taking tourists’ money.
– It can’t be too crowded.
– I want contact with locals; I don’t want to hang out with tourists (I eliminated North Korea on this).
– It has to be economically feasible as far as the cost of hotels and beer.
– I need to feel like an adventurer, not a tourist.
– I want people to look at me with that “WTF?” expression when I tell them where I’m going or where I’ve been.
I narrowed it down between going to Cuba or Albania…
And the winner is…
ALBANIA!
Talk is cheap, and anything can come up between now and next year, but I am determined to go.
I have applied for a US passport as of today.
To get into Albania, a US citizen doesn’t need a Visa, just a passport that’s more than six months old.
So, taking that into consideration, along with the money, I should be able to book my trip in January or February with the intent on going after California lobster season – April or May of 2012.
Diving opportunities are rare in Albania, but I did find one place located in the town of Saranda that is run by a group of Poles:
Here is their introduction video on Youtube:
To watch this video on YouTube, click here.
So, I have about nine months until I anticipate going – plenty of time to save money, book the trip and practice Polish and Albanian.
I will elaborate more on this planned trip as it gets closer.
