(and Where GoPro Escapes Is Headed Next)
Who we met
Our notebooks are full. Over four days we sat down with liveaboard crews running shark trips from the Bahamas all the way to Cocos Island. We talked reefs and walls with resort teams from Dominica, Bonaire, Roatán and Belize. We swapped sardine-run stories with dive centers from Moalboal and Bohol in the Philippines, heard about shark diving in Fiji, and got a very tempting pitch for a sailing catamaran through French Polynesia.
We also met a lot of dive shops who want to bring the GoPro PADI Distinctive Specialty to their own instructors. Roatán and Belize, we're looking at you! If your shop wants in, keep reading to the bottom.
First, a reminder: here's what's on for 2027
🦈 Galápagos | January 19–27, 2027 — FINAL SPOTS Wolf and Darwin, the real stuff. Hammerhead schools, Galápagos sharks, and marine iguanas feeding underwater. Seven nights aboard, a night in Guayaquil, your roundtrip flight to the islands, Nitrox on every dive, and TWO GoPro PADI specialty certifications (Distinctive Specialty + QUIK Editing). Advanced Open Water required. We leave in about ten weeks, so if you've been on the fence, now's the time.
🪸 Key Largo | March 16–21, 2027 We're heading home to the Florida Keys and Amoray Dive Resort for a week of reef diving with a purpose: a full day of hands-on coral restoration with I.CARE, two GoPro PADI certifications, and a HERO bundle to film it all. Pricing drops soon.
🐢 Maldives | August 28 – September 4, 2027 — NOW BOOKING A ScubaSpa liveaboard to the far north, from Baa Atoll up to Hanimadu, where very few dive boats go. Manta cleaning stations, reef sharks and channels full of life. Early pricing starts at $4,550 per person with a $500 deposit, and the boat is already more than half full.
💀 Cozumel | October 27 – November 2, 2027 — SAVE THE DATE Drift diving Cozumel's famous walls during Día de los Muertos week, wrapping up just in time for DEMA 2027. More details soon.
2028: here's what's taking shape
🦈 Socorro | December 13–22, 2028 — NEW! We're heading to the Revillagigedo Islands aboard the Quino del Mar for some of the best big-animal diving on the planet: giant oceanic mantas that come in close, silky and hammerhead sharks, curious dolphins, and if we're lucky, the first humpbacks of the season.
And a few things we can't say much about yet… 🤫
Somewhere in the Philippines, spring 2028. Think sardine runs, sea turtles at every turn, and some of the best macro diving in the world.
A Caribbean island where sperm whales live year-round. Walls, pinnacles, and warm water in every season.
A late-2028 shark liveaboard. We met a crew at DEMA we've wanted to sail with for a long time. Stay tuned.
2029 and beyond: we're dreaming big
Hammerheads by the hundreds. There's a remote island in the eastern Pacific that tops nearly every diver's bucket list, and peak hammerhead season is calling our name.
The South Pacific. Fiji's legendary shark dive and a sailing catamaran through French Polynesia are both on the whiteboard.
For dive pros: a GoPro instructor trip through Roatán, so shops across the island can certify their teams in one go.
None of these are on sale yet, but we'll share details on each one as they come together. Want to hear first? Sign up for the newsletter at aquatics-international.com/gopro-escapes.
The best part? The people
Every one of these trips starts the same way: a group of divers who mostly don't know each other yet, and a boat or a resort where that changes fast. By the end of the week, the people you were swapping camera settings with on day one are the ones you're planning your next trip with. That's what keeps us coming back, and it's what we're most excited about for 2027 and beyond.
Thank you, DEMA!
To everyone who stopped by to see us in New Orleans: thank you! It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and meet so many new ones. We hope to see you again soon, whether that's on a reef in Key Largo or somewhere halfway around the world.
Dive shops and instructors: want to teach the GoPro PADI Distinctive Specialty or bring your divers on a GoPro Escape? Reach out to us. We'd love to work with you.
Divers: see all our upcoming trips at aquatics-international.com/gopro-escapes.
