Update to: Scuba Diving and PADI clubs in Cala d'Or

Since my original blog posting back in 2012 "Scuba Diving and PADI clubs in Cala d'Or", the 3 Scuba Diving sites and links I gave have been taken down or replaced with new.

So I will update the links with a new list of useful Scuba websites for the island of Mallorca.

Here's a new link to the "Association of Mallorca Dive Centres":
     http://www.mallorcadivecenters.com/index_en.html

Also a few more links that may be of interest:
     http://www.scubamallorca.com/
     http://www.bigbluediving.net/en/tauchschule-mallorca/
     http://www.divingzoea.com/en/
     http://divinginmajorca.com/

I hope these help you check out and make some pre-holiday plans and arrangements.

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7 Day weather forecast for Cala D'or and Cala Egos

Latest weather forecast for Cala D'or and Cala Egos

A basic weather and temperature forecast based on the Santanyi district.




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and Villas, Mallorca.

Spanish reinstate 120kph motorway speed limit

From 1st July 2011 the Spanish motorway speed limits are returned to 120kph (75mph), this is 4 months after the speed limits were reduced to 110kph at an estimated 250,000 Euro cost in reaction to Libya unrest & increasing oil prices.

The interior minister (Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba) explained that through the 4 months an estimated 450 million Euros were saved.  Presumably if a saving was made, there was a reduction in fuel duty/tax income was felt by the Spanish government, perhaps one could question the logic in the government spending so much (250k) in order to lose so much tax income ;-) !

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WiMAX Broadband connects Marina Dor III complex with WiFi

New for 2011, the Marina D'or III complex of quality holiday rental homes is connected to high speed wireless broaband using the WiMAX service.

This new service replaces the previous older, less reliable and slower WiFi service provided via a community access-point sharing a centralised Vodafone G3 network connection and router.

The new system consists of a central antenna receiving the main signal transmitted using the area using the WiMAX system (the acronym meaning "Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), then repeated across the complex and into the 20 houses via WiFi Repeaters and individual encryped security keys.

This new service has been eagerly awaited by the owners and holiday makers for some time as Telefonica have for some years been promising but failing to deliver landline based ADSL type broadband.

As the new installation provides a standard WiFi signal, the broadband Internet service can be used by computers, laptops, PDA's and Smartphones allowing holiday guests to stay in touch with home, business, friends etc. with eMail, Social networks like Facebook, and also with free phone calls using VoIP and Skype etc.

For those with a technical interest, below is a little additional information on WiMAX, this was reproduced from "WiMax.com - 4G Wireless Broadband Solutions":

WiMAX is an IP based, wireless broadband access technology that provides performance similar to 802.11/Wi-Fi networks with the coverage and QOS (quality of service) of cellular networks. WiMAX is also an acronym meaning "Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX).
WiMAX is a wireless digital communications system, also known as IEEE 802.16, that is intended for wireless "metropolitan area networks". WiMAX can provide broadband wireless access (BWA) up to 30 miles (50 km) for fixed stations, and 3 - 10 miles (5 - 15 km) for mobile stations. In contrast, the WiFi/802.11 wireless local area network standard is limited in most cases to only 100 - 300 feet (30 - 100m).
With WiMAX, WiFi-like data rates are easily supported, but the issue of interference is lessened. WiMAX operates on both licensed and non-licensed frequencies, providing a regulated environment and viable economic model for wireless carriers.
At its heart, however, WiMAX is a standards initiative. Its purpose is to ensure that the broadband wireless radios manufactured for customer use interoperate from vendor to vendor. The primary advantages of the WiMAX standard are to enable the adoption of advanced radio features in a uniform fashion and reduce costs for all of the radios made by companies, who are part of the WiMAX Forum™ - a standards body formed to ensure interoperability via testing. The more recent Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard is a similar term describing a parallel technology to WiMAX that is being developed by vendors and carriers as a counterpoint to WiMAX. 

There is also a good and thorough Wiki entry in Wikipedia: WiMAX Wikipedia

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Budget airlines flying UK to Palma de Mallorca

Planning your own itinerary for a holiday in Mallorca?

Whether you are making your first foray into a DIY holiday, or you are a seasoned self planner, you will be searching for a good price on your flights.

A good starting point for finding cheap flights is to know all the airlines flying the route from your local airports to your desired destination.

UK to Mallorca airline routes are flown by a number of airlines, some scheduled, some package, some budget, some not, some direct, and some indirect via the airline hub.

Below we list a few of the well known airlines, then further below a few useful websites who detail all airlines together with some flight consolidator search sites.
  -  Aer Lingus
  -  BmiBaby
  -  British Airways

  -  EasyJet

  -  FlyBe

  -  Jet2

  -  Monarch
  -  Ryanair

  -  Thomas Cook

  -  Thomson

Other airlines flying to and from Palma airport (Son Sant Joan Airport) are:

Aeroflot,  Aeromexico,  AIR ALGERIE,  Air Berlin, Air Europa,  Air France,  airBaltic,  Alitalia,  American Airlines,  Austrian Airlines,  Avianca,  Brussels Airlines,  Bulgaria Air,  Cimber Air,  Condor,  Continental Airlines,  EgyptAir,  Finnair,  FlyNiki,  germanwings,  Iberia,  JetairFly,  KLM,  LAN Airlines,  Lufthansa,  Luxair,  Norwegian,  Royal Air Maroc,  SAS,  Singapore Airlines,  Spanair,  Swiss,  TAP,  TAROM,  TUIf,  Turkish Airlines,  United,  US Airways,  Vueling Airlines.

 

Useful links for Cheap Flight Search and Budget Car Hire can be found on the Cala D'or Mallorca website, there are also other useful links for holiday accommodation in Corfu and holiday villas in Orlando, plus an Amazon eShop for holiday essentials.

Also, well worth a look is Martin Lewis's MoneySavingExpert, it is an excellent website with a mass of useful information and flight search system links, plus hints & tips on finding those free & £1 special flights sometimes released.

Cheap Flight information by Martin Lewis - MoneySavingExpert
Travel Money Exchange Advice - Best exchange rates

 

Also try these direct search system links:

  -  SkyScanner

  -  MoneySupermarket / TravelSupermarket

  -  Kayak

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Google Maps Link to Mallorca Holiday Accommodation:

http://www.casaflores.co.uk/

Iceland volcano causes mass travel chaos

Erupting Iceland Eyjafjallajökull volcano (Wikipedia info link) sends ash into the upper atmosphere causing worldwide disruption to 1000's of travellers.

More details can be found in Wikipedia with photos of the erupting volcano in April 2010, also maps showing how the ash clouds spread, plus dramatic YouTube video of Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Aircraft jet engines are at risk of damage should they pass through some of the high altitude ash clouds being blown over Europe, as a precaution the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) places restrictions in place grounding all aircraft across the United Kingdom; UK CAA Volcano News Page.

Mallorca was not alone in the massive resultant problems, it was not long before Palma de Mallorca airport was closed.  As no flights were able to depart to large areas of Europe including the UK, travellers were left trapped in the airport terminal buildings.

Many hotels appeared unsympathetic to their guests as they simply continued packing their tourist guests off onto the transfer coaches to vacate them from their rooms.

With no flights from Palma, ferries to the Barcelona on the Spanish mainland soon filled leaving no alternative transport to leave any of the Balearic Islands.

On Monday 19th, Tim Jeans (managing director of Monarch airlines) took the initative of sending a rescue to collect some stranded tourists from Palma and fly them to Madrid, then continue by coach to Calais and finally back to Manchester, for the full story click on this link to Crains Manchester Business news article.

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Spanish Capital Gains Tax Rebate may be possible on sales between 1997 & 2006

Spanish Capital Gains Tax Rebate may be possible on sales between 1997 & 2006

If you sold a property in Spain in the period between 1997 - 2006 a recent ruling may be a significant benefit to you.

You may be entitled to a Spanish Capital Gains Tax Rebate

                                    - BUT -

claims must be registered within 12 months of the ruling.

Between 1997 and the end of 2006 a UK citizen selling a Spanish property paid 35% CGT (Capital Gains Tax), but Spanish nationals paid only 15%!

The ECJ ruling confirmed legal arguments and states this overpayment contravenes European Community Treaty discrimination rules and confirm it should not have been charged by the Spanish Tax Authorities.

Therefore, you may be entitled to reclaim this overpayment, plus approx 6% interest annually from the moment you present your claim, subject to you meeting the requirements.

There is an estimated 90,000 people who could make a claim.

Make sure you don’t miss out;
claims must be registered within 12 months of the ruling!

BUT: Although time is of the essence, it is critical to make the claim in the right way;
because:
"any cases that are rejected for whatever reason, cannot file the reclaim again".

Read more:
    Daily Mail - Britons could reap Costa tax rebate
    The Times - Britons owed millions in compensation for discriminatory Spanish tax law
    The Daily Telegraph - British couples living in Spain
    The Independent - Britons win fight for fair tax after Spain charges them more than more than double
    Intasure - Spanish Capital Gains Tax Rebate

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Cala Mondrago nature reserve benefits from tree project

Mondrago Nature Reserve to benefit from tree planting project

The Mondrago Mallorca National Park is to benefit from a joint project between the Environment and Transport Minister (Gabriel Vicens) and Guillem Aulet (the head of private banking group La Caixa), to finance planting of trees on five separate tracts of land.

The plan is to plant about 600 trees, including almond, carob and fig, on public land in the Mondragó nature reserve as part of a scheme to recover the park’s agricultural heritage.

The scheme is just one of many organised by the joint venture to improve and conserve natural areas of the Balearic Islands, the planting work is to be carried out by long-term unemployed.

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Make the most of your holiday - With HOLIDAY WHAT´S ON

What's On - Events & Attractions on Mallorca

A great service offered by Majorca Daily Bulletin:
                         http://www.MajorcaDailyBulletin.es/
a free service for holiday makers and people planning to holiday on the island of Mallorca to provide details of events on & around Mallorca / Majorca that are planned or scheduled for the dates you request.

Extract from  their webpage:-
   Are you planning to come on holiday to Majorca this year?
   Let us at the Bulletin help you get the most from your holiday.
   Just send us the dates of your holiday and we will email you all the
   events which are taking place during that period; from markets to
   concerts andtraditional fairs Majorca has plenty happening and now
   you will be able to get advance notice.
  The Holiday What´s On is an exclusive service to Bulletin online readers.
  Click here for the => Holiday Mallorca - What's On Pages.

Simply send an eMail with your holiday dates to:
      Editorial@MajorcaDailyBulletin.es/

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Casa Flores in Cala Egos, near Cala d'Or, Mallorca.

 

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