Howard Rosenstein, Red Sea diving pioneer and founder of Fantasea Line Ltd., will be inducted into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, ISDHF, in the Cayman Islands on January 29, 2009.

Howard, together with five other leading scuba diving personalities who have made outstanding contributions to the world of diving, will be formally honored at the annual dinner and induction ceremony to be held in the Cayman Islands on January 29th, 2009. At this time, he will also make a presentation about his 40 years “Above and Below the Red Sea” at the Caymans Underwater Film Festival.

The ISDHF was established to honor individuals whose contribution to the sport of scuba diving has been immeasurable. Howard will be joining the ranks of such famous divers as French diving legend Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Lloyd Bridges, star of the early TV series Sea Hunt, Diving Pioneer Hans Haas, Marine Scientist Sylvia Earle, Cinematographer Stan Waterman, National Geographic photographer and writer David Doubilet, and scores of other diving icons.

Forty years ago, American born Howard and his wife and partner Sharon opened their first diving center along the Mediterranean shores of Israel. Within a very short period of time, Howard realized that the future for his diving tourism dreams lay in the nearby Red Sea. In 1972 Howard and Sharon moved their operations to the rugged and desolate southern Sinai region of the Red Sea near Sharm el Sheikh. Here they started a diving tourism business which helped launch this isolated wilderness into one of the major Diving and Water-Sports Tourism Centers in the world today.

Howard Rosenstein has been at the forefront of the diving industry as the owner/operator of Red Sea Divers, Fantasea Cruises, with its well-known Fantasea Fleet of live-aboard diving yachts that operated extensively throughout the Red Sea region from Israel and Egypt in the north to Yemen in the south and eventually opening up the remote outer atolls of the Seychelles Islands, including the world Heritage site of Aldabra for diving tourism.

Howard’s, diving and cruising clients have included many of the leading marine scientists, underwater film makers, photojournalists, and dive tour operators from around the world. In addition, his guests have included such celebrities as New York Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor Leonard Bernstein, TV News Anchor Barbara Walters, Apollo Astronaut James Irwin, the Duke of Westminster, diplomats, politicians and many other famous celebrities and internationally known public figures.

Currently, Howard is the president of Fantasea Line, a company that he founded with his son Nadav, to manufacture and distribute underwater camera housings and lighting systems worldwide.  

 

Other new inductees into the prestigious Diving Hall of Fame are Indonesia dive master and naturalist, Larry Smith; Geri Murphy, a highly published underwater photojournalist and Kimiuo Aisek, who was a first-hand witness to the American attack on the Japanese fleet at Truk Lagoon in 1944. He opened Truk Lagoon's first dive facility in 1973 to enable visitors to dive the Japanese wrecks; Brothers George and J. Earnest Williamson who developed an underwater salvage viewing sphere and subsequently a photo sphere used for underwater filming are also being inducted in a special “Historical Diving” category.

 

For further information, please see the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame http://www.scubahalloffame.com/main.html and Fantasea Line's http://www.fantasea.com websites.

Best Wishes,



Janice Kaye

Fantasea Public Relations Director