that can only spell good news for the Island's tourism industry.

In a survey of 4,000 divers for the September issue of Scuba Diving Magazine, Bermuda was voted the number one destination for wreck diving in the Caribbean and Atlantic region.

On a scale of one to five respondents were asked to rate the number and quality of wrecks at their destination, the quality of the dive operator and resort, the abundance of fish and other marine flora and fauna, the quality of coral, and value for money.

Scoring 4.24 out of five Bermuda edged out Aruba at 4.21 and the British Virgin Islands at 4.08.

St. Thomas and the Bahamas rounded out the survey.

Nick Lucey, Associate Editor of the Savannah, Georgia-based magazine which boasts a readership of 185,000, told The Royal Gazette the survey was not a popularity contest, rather divers were given solid criteria on which to base their assessment.

The Island has also been getting great play in Skin Diver Magazine, commanding a four-page spread in the September issue on the quality and quantity of Bermuda shipwrecks.

And its October issue features the Bermuda Department of Tourism's innovative Shipwreck Certificate Programme, where divers receive "a beautifully-crafted'' parchment certificate upon completion of a dive on any of the six most popular wrecks.

Each certificate bears the name of the diver, the dive operator and signature of the dive master, as well as profiling the history the wreck.

The magazine said Minister of Tourism David Dodwell, has been invaluable in spreading the word about "this natural resource''.

Skin Diver, in addition to boosting the certificate programme, plans to devote its next six issues to profiling one of Bermuda's popular shipwrecks, he said.

The Constellation graces the pages of this month's edition. The recognition doesn't come as a surprise to those in the business. Earlier this summer diving writer Wendy Canning Church singled out the Island as a diving and snorkling paradise in her upcoming book, "Aqua Expeditions''.

She told The Royal Gazette Bermuda had "definitely been neglected as a dive centre ... In my opinion Bermuda is wreck diving. It has marvellous wrecks.'' And Nautilus Diving instructor Charles Green says "Bermuda's best-kept secret'' is finally becoming known due in no small part to the efforts of Premier David Saul and Mr. Dodwell.

"We've been getting a lot of positive direction from Government,'' he added.

In addition to scuba, the Ministry of Tourism is currently studying a proposal to boost snorkling, based on a proposal by Jean Michel Cousteau's (son of Jacques Cousteau) Ambassador of the Environment Snorkling Programme.

Mr. Dodwell stressed however the programme was still in the review stage.

MAGAZINE NJ