
El Mina – From warship to tourist attraction
by Ivana and Janez - 4th May 2022
Egypt is a country where diving is one of the most popular tourist activities, and Hurghada is currently the most visited city…

Vasa – The ship and museum
by Ivana and Janez - 12th January 2022
History tells us of many grand endeavours that ended ingloriously. The story of the fate of the royal ship 'Vasa' is well-known,…

Ancient shipwreck near Cavtat
by Ivana and Janez - 22nd October 2020
Amphorae have always excited the imagination of divers. Close to the small island of Supetar, near Cavtat, lie the remains…

Marine Guide to Long-term Relationships
by Ivana and Janez - 8th June 2020
Do you remember the term 'symbiosis' from your biology classes? To refresh your memory, these are interactions between organisms that…

Elpida – More than a shipwreck
by Ivana and Janez - 30th January 2020
The Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Tourism, together with the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research (DFMR), recognized the importance of…

The forgotten shipwrecks of the Battle of Heligoland – 1914
by Submaris - 14th March 2019
On the 28th of August 1914, the first naval battle of the First World War was fought between ships from…

A ship’s fate: The demise of Dague
by Ivana and Janez - 23rd May 2018
On the cold night of February 24th 1915, French destroyer Dague was anchored outside the port of Bar, assigned to…

Florida: Shipwrecks as reef oases
by Herbert - 18th October 2017
Panama City Beach offers five historic wrecks along Panhandle Shipwreck Diving Trail Located in the northwest of Florida, Panama City…

Mares Confirms Partnership With Diving Group Portofino
by Mares - 19th April 2017
MARES HAS BECOME THE TECHNICAL PARTNER OF THE NEW CENTER, THE MOST IMPORTANT IN EUROPE FOR NUMBER OF CLIENTS AND…

YO-44 aka Kodiak Queen: Richard Branson to sink WWII ship that survived Pearl Harbor attack
by Herbert - 12th April 2017
Ship targetted to become artificial reef These days, weather permitting, a ship is scheduled to sink. Nothing special? In the…

Tracing how the relationship between corals and algae began
by Mares - 26th November 2016
How corals met algae: Tracing how their symbiotic relationship startedThe symbiotic relationship between algae and modern corals began more than…

Black Sea mapping expedition uncovers more than 40 shipwrecks
by Herbert - 18th October 2016
Largest expedition of this kind in Black SeaAn international expedition mapping the submerged ancient landscapes at the Bulgarian coast of…

One hundred years after WWI ships’ sinking in port of Kea
by Herbert - 1st October 2016
Memorial service and conference commemorates 100th Anniversary The municipality of Kea and the Friends of Kea Society organised an international conference…

NABU Cruise Rankings 2016 : Cruise ships fall short in environmental protection
by Mares - 1st September 2016
People living in the Mediterranean will suffer as a result Based on the NABU Cruise Rankings 2016, all European cruise…

International shipping routes and invasive species: What’s next?
by Mares - 26th April 2016
Scientists from Oldenburg and Frankfurt have modelled how the global shipping routes leads to the spread of invasive plant and…

New study shows relationship between fisheries harvest and reef resilience
by Mares - 13th April 2016
To better protect the coral reefs of the Caribbean, tighter fishery regulations are needed to offset the mounting pressures they…

Cruise Ships Boycott Faroe Islands To Protest Annual Slaughter Of Pilot Whales
by Mares - 14th August 2015
Both AIDA Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises have suspended their trips to the Faroe Islands in response to the new law…

Sun Boat – An artificial reef in its full glory
by Ivana and Janez - 18th April 2023
It is a well-known fact that deliberately sunk vessels become an integral part of the seabed over time. When we…

Caymaniac
by Alex - 14th April 2023
I head to Grand Cayman most years because it serves up such classic underwater delights: reliably excellent visibility, warm water,…

Eilat, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea – A winter adventure in Israel
by Ivana and Janez - 11th April 2023
This year's first diving expedition took us to the Israeli resort of Eilat, on the coast of the Red Sea.…

Swedish mine diving – What’s the deal?
by Sara Banderby - 3rd April 2023
What comes to mind when you think of Sweden? Alexander Skarsgård? Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Or Ingmar Bergman and Alfred Nobel? But did…

The unfortunate fate of the Salem Express
by Ivana and Janez - 31st January 2023
In the early nineties, the tame waters of Safaga became the stage for one of the biggest maritime tragedies in…

The Mediterranean lobster
by Ivana and Janez - 13th October 2022
The Mediterranean lobster, Palinurus elephas, was named after the Roman seaport of Palinurus, known today as Palinuro, in southwestern Italy,…

Getting Wrecked
by Alex - 24th August 2022
I am always surprised by how many underwater photographers tell me they don’t like wrecks, not to photograph anyway. It…

12 Great Places to go Diving in New Zealand
by Kathryn - 23rd May 2022
With more than 1,500 km of coastline and around 600 islands, hosting everything from subtropical islands to dramatic fiords, New…

Classic Thrills In The Maldives
by Alex - 9th May 2022
It is not a secret that the diving around the Maldives’ central atolls, including North and South Male and Ari…

Baja California Sur – The Sea of Cortez – A fascinating mystery (Chapter Two)
by Franco and Sabrina - 10th March 2022
Imagine swimming above thousands of small Munk’s Pigmy Devil rays (mobula munkiana) gliding slowly in warm water. You cannot see the…

Underwater Scholar
by Alex - 2nd March 2022
The Our World Underwater Scholarship Society is a unique and fascinating organisation in our community. Founded in 1974 and supported by…

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022
by Alex - 16th February 2022
These are a few of the stunning winners from the latest edition of the prestigious Underwater Photographer of the Year…

Phoresis in the Mediterranean
by Mares - 19th January 2022
This fascinating video, captured by Mares Ambassador Pasquale Vassallo in the Mediterranean Sea, shows a Sand Crab hitching a ride on…

Spanish Dancer
by Ivana and Janez - 29th November 2021
Hexabranchus sanguineus, commonly known as the Spanish dancer, is a colorful marine mollusc belonging to the Gastropoda (Snails and Slugs) class…

Archeological Giants
by Ivana and Janez - 18th November 2021
When we talk about 'underwater archeology', most of us think, at first, of sunken ships and amphorae. This ancient form of packaging, which…

Freediving with Orcas in Norway
by Nik - 10th November 2021
If anyone had asked me some years ago which tour I would be most interested in doing, I would have…

Maldives Underwater Initiative
by Mares - 4th October 2021
The Maldives is world famous for its picturesque turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, and rainbow reefs. A vast underwater mountain…

The mystery of the sunken treasure of the SS Carnatic
by Ivana and Janez - 26th August 2021
When departing from Hurghada, heading towards Sinai, one must pass by the Sha’ab Abu Nuhas reef. Until the construction of…

Diving Cornwall, England
by Alex - 9th August 2021
Like many people right now, my options for international travel are limited, but that is not stopping me diving. While…

Think Green – Island of Vis
by Damir - 19th July 2021
The diving club Roniti se mora, together with their project partners MARES, C.I.O.S. group, Fund for environmental protection and energy efficiency and National Geographic Croatia,…

Capturing the moment: Predrag Vuckovic
by Mares - 7th July 2021
This image was captured in one of my favorite scuba diving destinations and one of the coolest underwater photography locations ever -…

The locomotives of the Thistlegorm
by Ivana and Janez - 27th May 2021
The Thistlegorm is undoubtedly one of the most famous wrecks in the world. Many books and newspaper articles have been…

Saving the Turtle
by Ivana and Janez - 7th May 2021
Once again it has been proven that every dive is unique! On a recently ended liveaboard cruise on the Red Sea's north route, we…

Dan’s Dive Destinations: Shark Diving
by Dan - 31st December 2020
Diving with sharks in Fiji In my opinion, every single person should experience a shark dive just once. It can…

The 10 most-read Mares blogs of 2020
by Mares - 28th December 2020
It's almost the end of 2020, and Mares would like to re-propose some of the most-read articles of the year from our blog...…

Totonno – the jewel of the southern Adriatic
by Ivana and Janez - 24th December 2020
The Italian steamer 'Totonno' was built in 1899 in the shipyard Rijekee & Co. in Rotterdam. During its working life,…

The largest animals ever to have lived on Earth!
by Franco and Sabrina - 17th December 2020
The southern coast of Sri Lanka may turn out to be one of the best international hotspots for seeing blue…

How Cara Lost Her Color
by Ivana and Janez - 10th December 2020
Ivana OK: What are you by profession? I’m a marine naturalist. In a complete leap of faith, I moved to…

Dan’s Dive Destinations: Beqa Lagoon (Fiji)
by Dan - 12th October 2020
With a population of around 900,000, the stunning tropical islands of Fiji (all 332 of them) are home to the most…

The Islands of Socorro
by Damir - 28th September 2020
I believe that most divers have a list of destinations they would like to visit and dive at. Socorro is…

B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress
by Franco and Sabrina - 8th September 2020
The water surrounding the tiny island of Vis is the perfect guardian of many wrecks belonging to several historical eras. The aircraft…