This is an amazing experience – going underwater and seeing how there is a whole world under there that you didn’t know about! Many people have always wanted to try scuba but have no idea how to go about it – now you do! Just telephone the British Sub Aqua Club on 0500 947 202 and tell them you want to use your Wave® Gift Card as full or part payment for Scuba4You. (Please have your Wave® Gift Card to hand as you will need to give them the numbers on the back) Scuba4You is an amazing package which not only gives you access to a try dive at one of over 700 branches around the UK but also gets you a gift box with all sorts of goodies* in. The team at the British Sub Aqua Club will point you in the right direction, get you booked into your nearest convenient branch and send you out all the paperwork/information you need. A try dive lets you try out scuba diving in perfect safety with all the equipment and someone to (literally) hold your hand. I am sure after just one dive you will be hooked! www.bsac.com/scuba4you is the official website for The British Sub Aqua Club, the national governing body for the sport.

*Contents of the goodie box are subject to change without notice but currently include an underwater camera; waterproof notebook and pen; dvd about diving; pin badge. Details correct at August 2009.

This has got to be one of the most frustrating and then exhilarating water sports there is! Learning how to stand up and balance on a board which looks very similar to an ironing board; pull up a sail and then make the board go in the direction you want by moving the sail around – what a hoot! My earliest memories of windsurfing are of climbing on the board, pulling on the rope to get the sail up and then falling right off again... and again... and again. Very bruised elbows and knees followed...

However, once you have managed to pull the sail upright, put your hands on the boom and start sailing, it is a fantastic feeling. Probably the closest I will ever get to feeling like I own my own yacht – the huge sense of achievement that you are actually directing this little tiny sailing craft, whilst balanced on it, is immense and you will be immediately hooked. A very quick learning curve – most people will manage to windsurf after just two lessons (some clever types will manage after just one lesson). Try it – you will be addicted!

This is not something I have personally experienced but is on my list of “to try”.

The UK is riddled with canals going through some of the most beautiful countryside. Hiring a canal boat is the ideal way to slow down, relax and smell the coffee as you drift through leafy tree tunnels, through open fields and decide which pub to stop at for your next meal. No one who has ever been canal boating, that I have spoken to, has a bad word to say about it – a total chill out experience – not just for the oldies either!! There is only one centre offering canal boating through The Wave Gift Card at present – please let me know if you would like more centres – it is a new one for me so I am interested how it goes!