The holiday season is fast approaching, and soon we'll all be busy shopping, preparing meals, and putting up the decorations. But sometimes you just need a break, and here's your chance. Join us on a diver's adventure to the beautiful islands and reefs of the Bahamas.

Get ready to unplug, unwind, and DIVE! We will set sail for the Exuma Cays on this live-aboard adventure in the central Bahama Islands aboard Blackbeard's Cruises December 10-17. We've assembled an outstanding vacation package for you at an even more outstanding price:

$1089 per person, All-inclusive*

DON'T MISS THE BOAT!

CALL SCUBA FRISCO SPORTS TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT BEFORE IT'S GONE.

*Trip Registration requires full payment. Airfare and crew gratuity not included.

Your group leader will be happy to assist you with air reservations.

TRAVEL EASY - IT'S ALL INCLUDED.

We've made planning your Bahamas get-a-way simple. Pay one price, work with a single point of contact, and everything is taken care of. You won't find a better bang for your diving dollar anywhere else. Your Bahamas adventure with Scuba Frisco Sports includes:

• A senior Scuba Frisco Sports instructor serving as your guide and single logistical point of contact
• One night lodging at Orange Hill Beach Inn, Nassau
• Ground transfers in Nassau
• Seven nights accommodations aboard Blackbeard's sailing live-aboard
• Three meals daily while aboard Blackbeard's, plus fresh fruit and snacks between meals
• Soft drinks, fruit drinks, beer, wine, and rum drinks while aboard Blackbeard's
• Four dives daily with three scheduled night dives, tanks and weights included
• Island Eco Adventures
• Port Night in Nassau
• Bahamas port tax
• Bahamas marine park fee
• Hotel taxes and fees
• Option to complete Advanced Open Water & Specialty Certifications at reduced cost
• High quality rental equipment available on board for additional cost

FUN. ADVENTURE. RELAXATION. CAMARADERIE.

Your Blackbeard's Cruise offers live-aboard scuba diving to the Bahamas Out Islands. You will experience the Caribbean's largest variety of diving including shark dives, walls, high speed drift dives including the Washing Machine, night dives, blue holes and the beautiful coral reefs of the Exumas Land & Sea Park. This trip is "Twice the Fun for Half the Price"....you won't get a better bang out of your diving dollar anywhere else!

Dive the Caribbean's largest underwater park, the Exumas Land & Sea Park. You will experience scuba diving on the many beautiful walls. Sharks are a big draw for divers! See Caribbean reef sharks, nurse sharks, even tiger sharks on the sandy banks! Colorful reefs teeming with marine life sit in depths of 15- 80 feet so divers of all levels enjoy the scuba diving. The central Bahamas were once the hideout of pirates and privateers... now these islands offer spectacular diving in warm, crystal clear waters with deserted beaches as backdrop. Visit Allen's Cay to feed the iguanas or Staniel Cay for the swimming pigs and the Thunderball Grotto, site of filming for several of your favorite movies. Enjoy water temperatures around 80°F, and daily highs in the mid-80's.

There is no set itinerary -- we go where conditions and weather are the best to offer our divers an adventure of a lifetime! Live-aboards offer the best variety of diving available- dive with sharks at Amberjack Reef, watch eagle rays gracefully glide by the walls, get tumbled around on our high speed drift dive, the Washing Machine or shoot photos of all the great macro and micro shots you'll see in the gin clear water of the Bahamas. Blackbeard's Cruises is recognized by divers as one of the best live aboard experiences available year after year!

Scuba diving travel with us is a breeze! Our all inclusive scuba diving adventure travel vacation is popular with outgoing individuals! We supply everything but your personal gear and towels. Blackbeard's Cruises offers top of the line high quality rental gear for those who require it. The sailboat carries up to 22 passengers in dormitory style bunks. While there isn't a lot of privacy, the fun and adventure more than makes up for it.

THE ITINERARY

We will depart D/FW International Airport the morning of December 10 bound for Atlanta. After a short stop, we make the jump to Nassau Island in the Bahamas. Ground shuttles will take us to Orange Hill Beach Inn for check-in, after which you will have the afternoon and evening to explore Nassau or enjoy the beach at this boutique hotel. You may even wish to take in a dive!

Take the next morning to enjoy a hearty breakfast and enjoy the island. Shortly after noon, ground shuttles will take us to the marina where we will board one of Blackbeard's Cruises' sailing live-aboard dive boats.

For the next seven days, enjoy living life on the ocean. You will have the opportunity to enjoy up to 4 dives each day, plus up to 3 night dives. Dive as little or as much as you want -- it's all included! There will also be times when we will make landfall, and enjoy exploring some of the beautiful Exuma islands. Like fresh seafood? Try your hand at fishing or lobster hunting, and let the chef prepare your catch right there.

Once on-board, there is no set schedule. The beauty of live-aboard diving is that the captain can take us where the conditions are best for diving and adventure.

BLACKBEARD'S LIVE-ABOARD SAILBOATS

These live-aboards accommodate singles and couples in 4 fully air-conditioned cabin areas. Berths are single upper and lower, or double upper and lower, each with its own privacy curtain similar to a sleeperette on a train. These are not private accommodations, all berths are dormitory style. Berths are 74" in length, with doubles 48" wide and singles 24" to 36" wide.

THE DIVING

Experience scuba diving spots like no other in the Caribbean. The variety of dive sites in the Exuma Cays is truly unique and offer opportunities not available elsewhere. Each week we offer a great variety of diving-thrilling shark feeding dives, wall dives that begin as shallow as 40' and slope over the edge where large pelagics are frequently seen, exhilarating high speed drift dives through the cuts of the cays, blue holes which are banked by patch reefs with huge schools of fish as well as other wonderful dive spots. Scuba divers can enjoy up to 21 dives per week and will leave with a log book full of new memories and wonderful sightings. Many of our dive spots are in the Exumas Land & Sea Park which is protected so the marine life is both large and plentiful. This is truly the best of the Bahamas & Caribbean - diving the Exuma Cays with Blackbeard's Cruises! Here's a sample of what you can experience:

1. Nassau

Lost Blue Hole - The rim of this large blue hole lies in 40' of water surrounded by coral heads, sting rays and many schools of fish. There is a lobster filled crevice at 80'. In the sand surrounding the hole, divers will find many small fish such as banded jawfish, Seminole gobies and tobacco fish. There are usually 1 or 2 nurse sharks here and during the spring a large school of blacknose sharks inhabits the bottom of the 200' hole. This site is normally visited on the way to or from the Exumas.This is the location of the Bahamas first lionfish sighting.

Periwinkle Reef - This is a shallow patch reef that is teaming with fish. The local Nassau operators feed fish here, so sergeant majors and angelfish will approach scuba divers looking for a handout.

2. Exumas

Amberjack Reef - A 50' patch reef that is the site of our Exumas shark feeding dive. Normally 10 Caribbean reef sharks and 10-15 large black, yellowmouth and yellowfin grouper show up to feed on the chumsicle. This is an action packed dive! This dive also has many interesting small critters such as pirate blennies and garden eels. Back on the hang bar scuba divers will be surrounded by a school of 100+ horse-eye jack that hang out under one of the Blackbeard's sailboats.

Austin Smith Wreck - A 90' Bahamian Defense Force Cutter that sank in 1995 while being towed to San Salvador to be sunk there as a dive site. Their misfortune was our gain. This intact wreck lies in 60' of water.

Barracuda Shoals - This bankside patch reef has huge schools of fish as well as many small critters on the reef and surrounding sand. Lobster No Lobster reef just to the north is very similar.

Cracked Coral Head - This massive coral head rises 40' off the bottom. Several large swim-thru?s make it looked like it is cracked.

Dog Rocks -This reef starts at 35' and slopes off to 50' before dropping straight down into the Exuma Sound. This is one of the best dives in the Bahamas. If you like to identify fish, you will marvel at the large variety of fish. Black Coral is abundant here as well as Orange Elephant Ear and Tube Sponges. Near our mooring is a swim-thru called the Cathedral, where light filtering down from above lights up a large school of resident silversides. Many pelagics frequent this reef.

Jeep Reef - This is one of the prettiest reefs you will ever see. The strong current that sweeps through this cut keeps the reef 's corals very healthy. This dive can only be done at slack tide because of the strong currents . It is in the middle of the Exumas Land & Sea Park, so you will find a very healthy population of fish. This dive site gets its name from a coral encrusted jeep that sits near the mooring.

Pillar Wall - One of many excellent wall dives. It starts at 30' and slopes to 50' before dropping 5,000' to the bottom. There are many caves and crevices. There is a large colony of yellowhead jawfish in the rubble inside the reef.

The Washing Machine - The strong incoming tide of up to 6 mph takes scuba divers thru a narrow cut where water drops off a ledge and then makes a sharp bend to the left. This causes the water to swirl like the water in a washing machine. This swirling water will toss scuba divers head over heels. Scuba divers who wish to avoid being tossed around can stay to the right where you will have a smooth fast trip through the cut. After passing through the cut you will then glide over a large patch reef. Enjoy the ride! Video of the Washing Machine by a Aqua Cat passenger

Wax Cut Drift - Divers and Snorkelers alike fly over this 30' reef at over 2 knots. You will see rays, sharks, eels and numerous fish as you drift with the current in the cut between the islands. The sheer density of staghorn, pillar and finger corals is amazing. There are several other similar drifts dives we do such as Hammerhead Gulch and Coral Cut.

Whale Shark Wall - This wall is named for the whale sharks that have frequented this area for several winters. Like all of our walls, when you stare into the abyss, you never know what you might see.

Whale Tail Wall - A great wall just south of Wax Cut. Large parrotfish roam the sand inside the reef while sharks & eagle rays are frequently seen off the wall. We have had some very unusual sightings here like a Caribbean torpedo, one of only 4 sighting of this very rare ray.

3. Southwest Eleuthera

Cave Rock - A large coral mound in 50' of water surrounded by several smaller coral heads. There are several caves where you can swim from one side to the other. The large variety of corals and fish will amaze you. We have frequently seen Hammerhead Sharks here.

Jake's Hole - This tidal blue hole lies in 20' of water. The highlight of this dive is the vibrant corals surrounding the hole. Because it is very tidal, scuba divers aren't permitted to enter the hole.

Monolith - Large mounds of coral rise out of the sand at the edge of the wall. They start at 100' and rise to 55'. There is a colony of Garden Eels in the sand next to the mounds.

ECO ADVENTURES

The Exumas have so much more to offer than just diving! We encourage you to take advantage of all the great topside activities too!

Roaming free on their own secluded isle, the indigenous iguanas of the Bahamas come scuttling out of the brush looking for their favorite treat- grapes! You'll enjoy their antics while capturing unforgettable photos.

Snorkel the Norman's Cay plane wreck where the infamous drug runner Ledel's plane crashed with its load of drugs. You can hike to the house where gunshot holes riddle the structure!

Explore the caves of Rocky Dundas where stalactites and stalagmites reach for each other. Hike the trail to Boo Boo Hill, famous for its collection of boaters' signs and the magnificent 360 degree view. Feed Bananaquits sugar from the palm of your hand at the Warderick Wells Exumas Park Headquarters. These cute little birds are quick to land on your hand!

Bonfire on the beach with the crew and fellow passengers and enjoy some fish stories and fun in the sand....Explore Camp Driftwood where the beautiful rare Tropic Seabirds nest.

This and so much more is waiting for you on Scuba Frisco Sports Escape to the Bahamas!

CALL SCUBA FRISCO SPORTS TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT BEFORE IT'S GONE.

Travel insurance is recommended.