Equator Village – Maldives

by Adrienne Wilson on

When I was a little girl living under my parent’s roof, my father would always tell me I had
champagne taste on a beer budget. Well I suppose the same applies today though I’m no
longer under his roof.  And I suppose I’m just another starving artist in the world, but why should I
compromise my tastes? I know the Maldives are expensive, but a girl can still dream and find slightly affordable
ways to get there. Besides nothing ticks me off more when you’ve got your heart set on something (like the
Maldives) and someone tells you to think completely in the other direction (like Detroit). I’m sure someone
out there can relate.

Anyhow, in my research for affordable accommodation in the luxurious Maldives I found the
Equator
Village. Don’t go clicking the link hoping to find luxury at hostel prices, but a stay in Equator Village can
certainly fit into the tightest of budgets. A double for the summer runs approx $130 a night. Equator Village is
located on Gan, one of the four larger islands in the Addu Atoll of the Maldives. Divers will be happy to know there is
a diving base attached to the hotel and can find other diving details listed on the fact sheet
here. Several
other activities and amenities are available and can be found on the fact sheet too. There’s no reason we all can’t
have a piece of paradise.

Underwater Photo Tips

by Erik Olsen on

Willy posted about a great site over
at Divester that is worth checking out if you are into underwater photography. He urges you to check out the words
of wisdom and experience provided by dive photographer Peter Schulz who has shot one heck of a lot of photos in his
lifetime.

Schulz examines the pros and cons of three Olympus cameras he has owned as well as the Nikon D70 (which I have), and
talks at some length about their respective housings. A sample gallery section shows off images
from each camera and provided the settings for each set of photos. There is also a
technique
section and a primer on
shooting in
RAW format (which many photographers to so as not to lose valuable data in their photos). I found the D70 section
particularly useful, but dive photographers of all stripes and skill levels will find in this site a wealth of
information.

Home Depot Founder Building Huge Aquarium

by Erik Olsen on

I mentioned this over at Divester, but it’s interesting enough to write about
here as well, since some Gadling readers are divers. It’s the story of Bernard Marcus, the gazzillionaire founder of
Home Depot who is now building a
massive aquarium in Atlanta, to compete with other sight-seeing Atlantan joys such as the Coca-Cola museum. The
tank will contain five million gallons of water and carry 100,000 fish, including several whale sharks (for those who
don’t know, the whale shark is the largest fish in the world. Irt can grow up to 40-plus feet and is kind of a divers
dream fish since they are very nice. You can just kind of go up and pet them. Nice whale sharky!).

Anyway, Marcus’ big fishy dream is slated for unveiling in November, but you can read about the project
here.

Deep Diving on Outside

by Erik Olsen on

Over at
Divester, we mentioned
an article in this month’s Outside that
is a must-read for all diving fans and adventurers in general. The article tells the story of extreme diver Dave Shaw,
who was diving the bottom of the biggest underwater cave in the world, a place called Bushman’s Hole in South Africa.
In the story, Shaw goes deeper than anyone in history, and at the same time encounters the body of a young man who
had disappeared ten years earlier. What does he do? Well, you should read the story. It’s long, but intensely
riveting and a great subway/bus read.  

NOW: No Opportunity Wasted

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s a new show I was unaware of…it’s called No
Opportunity Wasted and jumps on the whole “Lifelist” concept that is so popular now. I think Men’s Journal had a
big series on Lifelists recently.

The point of the lifelist, if you don’t know, is to sit down and thoughtfully put together a list of all the things
you want to do in your life, from learning another language to climbing Everest. This is true gadling kinda stuff. In
fact, very soon, today perhaps, I’m going to start a lifelist feature where we highlight one cool thing to add to your
lifelist. I should note that the lifelist concept was largely popularized by a friend of mine,
John Goddard, who lives in my hometown. I’ve visited
Goddard and can tell you he is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. A true hero of mine.

Now that said, thiis new show does exactly that. Sort of. The host Phil Keoghan asks people what they would do if they
had 72 hours and $3000 and could do something they’ve always wanted to do. Then they follow them as they do it. I
haven’t seen the show yet, but apparently it airs on Fit TV and Discovery HD TV. I’ll try to tune in and will post a
review.