News
Murex Bangka Announce New Oceanfront Cottages & Beachfront Dining
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Located on a private, palm-fringed, white sand beach and surrounded by kaleidoscopic coral reefs that are bursting with colour and teeming with life, Murex Bangka Resort is a haven for scuba divers. A stay at Murex Bangka gives divers the opportunity to experience a virtually untouched, Indonesian tropical island paradise.
This stunning resort that harnesses solar power, is committed to sustainability and marine conservation – is now offering divers even more home comforts with the completion of its new Premium Oceanfront Cottages and a new restaurant offering exciting indoor and al fresco dining experiences.
NEW Premium Oceanfront Cottages
Murex Bangka Resort offers a duplex style and two detached Premium Oceanfront Cottages which are positioned close to the ocean and are just steps away from the beach.
These tastefully appointed and spacious air-conditioned rooms offer comfortable indoor living and large verandas with outdoor seating. Double and twin bed sleeping configurations are available and all Premium Oceanfront Cottages feature large ensuite bathrooms with twin basins.
As well as the detached cottages, the duplex option offers two more individual premium living spaces. For families and groups of friends, the two adjoining duplex cottages and the shared adjoining common living room area may be opened up – making this an ideal and generously proportioned for option for families and groups who prefer to stay closer together.
PREMIUM OCEANFRONT COTTAGE INCLUSIONS:
- Large verandas with ceiling fans
- Ensuite ocean view bathrooms with hot water rainfall showers
- AC throughout the night
- Minibar
- Dressing table/desk area
- Ample storage
- King size or twin beds with mosquito nets
- Complimentary drinking water
- Floor to ceiling windows
- Ample wall sockets for charging accessories
- Comfortable indoor and outdoor seating
- Shared common/living area (Duplex Cottages)
New Beachfront Dining
After a day of diving, guests can now kick-back, relax and enjoy flavours from around the world in Murex Bangka’s new beachfront restaurant. As well as serving a la carte dishes from the inspiring menu, diners can enjoy both buffet and family-style offerings.
Dishes combine the freshest of local ingredients and include options for a range of dietary preferences and restrictions. Bangka’s new menu has been carefully curated with the assistance of an internationally renowned food and beverage consultant and there is a focus on combining traditional classics with more contemporary international plates.
The new and impressive free standing main restaurant allows guests to dine just meters from the shore while enjoying beautiful beach and sea views. Three meals a day are on offer as well as an enticing selection of specialty coffees, teas, mocktails and cocktails. A wine menu is also available and a cold beer (or beverage of your choosing) makes for a perfect way to end the day while watching the sunset over the ocean.
Book Your Stay
If you would like to find out more about Murex Bangka or to make a reservation, contact: reservations@MurexResorts.com or take a look at the Murex Resorts website: https://murexresorts.com/murex-bangka-resort/
Marine Life & Conservation Blogs
Shark Trust Expedition Dives in The Bahamas
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In our last blog we talked about why the Shark Trust had been in The Bahamas in December. With the underwater part of the expedition focused on getting 360 footage for a new immersive shark experience, OneOcean360: A Shark Story, that will be launched later this year. Now, let’s tell you a little bit more about the diving we did, along some more surprising shark sightings!
The Shark Trust 3-island expedition, which was fully funded and supported by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, started in Nassau. And we were booked to do 2 days of diving with Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas. We packed in as much diving as possible, leaving as soon as the boat was loaded and returning as the sun was setting, covering 7 dive sites over the 2 days, with a mix of reef and wrecks to ensure we got as much varied footage as possible.
Pumpkin Patch saw us hang out with a very chilled turtle while Caribbean Reef Sharks swam along the drop off beside us. We visited a “wreck” structure built for the filming of a James Bond film that was now covered in bright corals and home to a multitude of reef fish. Steel Forest saw us diver some “proper” wrecks that have been sunk alongside each other. Glass fish swirled under overhangs and larger fish hung motionless in the wheelhouse. Southern Sting rays lay buried in the sandy seabed alongside. Our final dive of the day, as the sun started to set, Ridges, combined a reef and wreck where we caught a fleeting glimpse of a Bull Shark as we ascended the line. It was a great diving day that gave us the perfect introduction to the underwater world of The Bahamas.
Our second day was going to focus on getting close up footage of Caribbean Reef Sharks on both wrecks and reef. The Ray of Hope and Big Crabs wrecks are perfect for this. With our guide placing bait boxes inside the wrecks to attract the sharks, and with our cameras setup on the wreck structure, we could back away and let the sharks do their thing without us disturbing them or being in the 360 filming frame. With clear water and plenty of sharks, the footage we came away with in pretty striking.
Next stop: Bimini. Great Hammerhead Sharks are the number one attraction here. And we were able to join Neal Watsons Bimini Scuba for a 2-tank dive with these magnificent sharks, along with the Nurse Sharks that like to join in with the experience. But we were also able to snorkel with juvenile Lemon Sharks in the Mangroves, see Bull Sharks and spotted eagle rays from a submarine experience and from the dock side. Our second day of diving saw us dive the SS Sapona wreck and then experience the Caribbean Reef Sharks on the reef. Bimini really does allow you to pack in a load of shark and ray experiences in a short space of time.
Finally, we headed to Grand Bahama. Whilst much of our time was spent above the water meeting people working to conserve different marine habitats (watch this space for more information on this) – we did manage to squeeze in a couple of dives on the reefs here and were delighted to see both Caribbean Reef Shark and Southern Stingrays on both. Our final shark and ray experience saw us take a tour to Sandy Cay with Keith Cooper. We were able to get footage of stingrays, lemon and blacktip reef sharks on the seagrass and over the sandy seabed. Sometimes just in ankle deep water.
If you are heading to the Go Diving Show – then you will be able to see a short 360 film, using our VR headsets, that shows many of these experiences. Please come and say hello to the Shark Trust team on the Diverse Travel stand (340). We will also be on The Bahamas stand twice a day to chat to people about our experiences on the islands. And Diverse travel will have special offers on travel to The Bahamas should you want to follow in our fin-kicks.
To find out more about the work of he Shark Trust and how you can support us, visit out website www.sharktrust.org
News
Go Diving Show 2025 Main Stage Speaker: Maria Bollerup
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Join Maria Bollerup and Rannva Joermundsson on the Main Stage at the GO Diving Show in March for a voyage aboard the 100-year-old Dutch tall-ship Osterschelde, which is undertaking a two-year voyage around the world, following the footsteps of Charles Darwin.
While scientists and Darwin Leaders are boarding the ship in the name of conservation and education, Maria and Rannva were aboard as scientific divers, developing and conducting the coral transects of the voyage.
Crossing French Polynesia, Maria will take you diving underneath pearl farms in the middle of nowhere (literally!) and measuring corals in the most shark-busy channel in the world, sharing a story of the resilience and hope for our reefs.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Rannva will tell the tales of the development of the programme, and inspire through the Darwin 200 Journey, finishing off taking you diving on some truly unusual coral.
As a rebreather cave diver and an explorer, Maria Bollerup has traversed the world as a professional diver since the age of 18.
Through a dedicated career in the diving industry, her passion for science has led to her participation in various scientific diving projects. These range from tagging hammerhead sharks using rebreathers, to conducting coral transects in the most-remote parts of the Pacific Ocean, for the Darwin 200 Project.
Her heart lies within cave exploration and a spark was lit during the Xunaan-Ha Expedition in Mexico, a cave expedition supported by Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, which worked to prove the Holbox fracture theory.
From this, Maria co-founded Nixie Expeditions with Rannva Joermundsson, an organization that merges diving exploration with scientific research. Their aquifer project Expedition Buteng took place in October 2024 in Sulawesi, Indonesia, focusing on cave exploration, research, and the preservation of unique and isolated cave systems.
Committed to inspiring future underwater ambassadors, Maria founded Blue Venture Diving, a B2B dive travel agency catering to young backpackers from Europe. She runs a dive-training programme through the organisation Thin Blue Line Denmark, supporting PTSD-diagnosed police officers with sanctuary and peace through diving and breathwork.
As an advocate for exploration-based diving, Maria is a public speaker, a Fourth Element ambassador, she’s a Flag Carrier for WINGS Women in Discovery, and a member of The Explorers Club.
BUY GO DIVING SHOW TICKETS HERE
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