This year we were fortunate enough to attend and discover the Philippines as guest country, a nation that with its 7,000+ islands has become one of the capitals of Asian diving. They had a stand featuring typical food and dances so the thousands of diving enthusiasts visiting the fair could discover one of the premier tourist destinations.
The theme of this fifth edition was "For a plastic-free sea" and featured a Skeleton Sea exhibition with 5 sculptures made from marine debris - objects collected from coastlines worldwide. Among them we saw a huge fish made from flip-flops and an enormous whale constructed from tyres. We also enjoyed the exhibition by Spain's underwater photography champion, who shared his vision of the marine universe.
Diving centres from across the country came together to offer the wide variety of diving courses, excursions and diving trips available along our coasts or in countries with major appeal for scuba diving enthusiasts.
Meanwhile, the conferences held over the weekend focused on promoting various diving destinations as well as raising awareness about the state of our oceans. There were also talks about the causes of seasickness while diving, a cylinder inspection workshop, a brief introduction to freediving by Miguel Lozano (Spanish Freediving Record Holder), the presentation of Aqua Lung's new collection, screenings of documentary films...
Not to mention the competitions, raffles, the pool set up for try-dives and equipment testing, or the incredible opportunity to dive with the sharks from "Oceans" at the Oceanogràfic.
In short, it was one of the year's best events where both professionals and diving enthusiasts could fully immerse themselves in this sport and the best places to practise it.
Photographs: Skeleton Sea and Dive Travel Show
