Diving

NEW LUXURIOUS “DIAMOND SAFARI” INVITES YOU TO DIVE FOR YOUR OWN GEMS

If you’ve had enough of candlelit dinners and soothing massages, you can now take the ultimate couple’s vacation: for a mere $14,750, you can embark on a “diamond safari” that kicks off at Cape Town, South Africa, continues with a jewel-hunting experience in Port Nolloth, on South Africa’s west coast, and ends with your own custom-designed diamond engagement ring.

According to multiple sources, the idea is the brain child of Ellerman House and Benguela Diamonds. The whole arrangement is orchestrated by veteran diamond diver and Benguela Diamonds founder Wynand Hendrikse. Benguela has a private ocean concession, as well as owning a cutting and goldsmith divisions.

So how does this getaway work? Guests reside in Cape Town, and then board a charter flight to Port Nolloth. After breakfast in a villa on the coast between the port and McDoogles Bay, the guests join Benguela’s dive masters for a gem-hunting experience. This is optional, of course. You may also stay dry on board the boat. When the divers come back, it is with seabed gravel, which is sorted using a vibrating pan system.

After getting back from sea and enjoying a chef-cooked meal, guests are treated to a rapid seminar on diamond grading, then sort the gemstones with the help of experts from the Benguela team. They select the gem they want to have polished and set into a piece of custom jewelry. The piece is completed and certified within three working days. Once it does, the guests are flown back to Cape Town aboard a private charter for yet another treat: Ellerman’s “Dom Perignon Experience” – a guided Champagne pairing and culinary program.

The price of $14,750 includes flights, road transfers and all food and beverages. It does not, however, include the purchase price of the diamond, or designing and manufacturing the piece of jewelry.

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