COMPASS.(TRAVEL).

If you have resolved to learn to scuba dive this year, check out The Scuba Diving Handbook: The Complete Guide to Safe and Exciting Scuba Diving, by John Bantin (Firefly Books, $19.95). The book offers tips for beginners as well as

experienced divers and features color photos, diagrams and advice on choosing instructors, exploring wrecks, careers in diving and more. Get it from major book retailers, including Amazon.com.

whats happening >>

>>Head to Marathon on Feb. 1 and 2 for the Blossoms, Butterflies & Brushstrokes flower show, featuring a flower arrangement competition and artwork as well as native plants, clippings and blossoms for sale. It will be in the Marathon Garden Club, 5270 Overseas Highway (Mile Marker 50, bayside). Meet the artists from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at a preview party. Tickets are $12 and will

be sold at the door. On Feb. 2, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free. For details, call (305) 743-4971 or go to keysy.com/mgc. For help with lodging, call the Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-262-7284, e-mail visitus@floridakeysmarathon.com or go to fla-keys.com.

hot deal >>

>>TourCrafters celebrates winter in Spain with a Madrid Hot Deal that runs to March 13 and starts at $569, depending on timing and choice of hotel. The package includes round-trip airfare from New York, four nights of accommodations, daily breakfast, hotel service charges and taxes. For details, go to tourcrafters.com or call 1-800-482-5995.

>>Keep an eye out for the Sports Museum of America, set to open in New York City this spring. Billed as the nations first museum dedicated to all sports, it will be the new home of the Heisman Trophy and its annual TV presentation as well as the first Womens Sports Hall of Fame. The interactive, multimedia exhibits will feature memorabilia, artifacts, stories and displays on sports heroes, fans and teams. It will also house the Billie Jean King International Womens Sports

Center. Sports partners include the College Football Hall of Fame, Hockey Hall of Fame, International Boxing Hall of Fame, International Tennis Hall of Fame, International Swimming Hall of Fame and others. Look for it at 26 Broadway in Lower

Manhattan, steps away from the Statue of Liberty ferry. Go to www.thesportsmuseum.com.

adventure >>

You probably wouldnt think North Carolina when you hear about a marlin fishing tournament, but Morehead City has one of the largest nonprofit marlin tournaments in the country. This years 50th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin

Tournament for men and women is scheduled June 7 to 14. Cocktail parties, dinners

and vendor booths will be part of the gala. For details, go to thebigrock.com.

DESTINATION WEDDINGS GUIDE

Theres a Dummies guide to everything, it seems. Now comes Destination Weddings for Dummies (Wiley, $19.99), which actually could be very helpful to engaged couples hoping to sneak away.

It offers specific information about places to consider for an out-of-town wedding. Yearning for a theme-park ceremony or a wedding in a winery? This

book can help. It also can help if you dream of exchanging vows in an art gallery, a historic site, an aquarium or a zoo. It even has a section that compares major hotel groups and what they offer. And it gives tips on how to cut costs and budget with foreign currency.

Written by Susan Breslow Sardone, creator of New York magazines City Weddings section, it is filled with tips on choosing the perfect destination, housing family and friends, and handling common emergencies.

rick steves picks

Rick Steves, the guru of budget European travel, offers his picks for the best destinations of 2008:

* Cinque Terre, Italy

* Prague (pictured)

* Berlin

* Gimmelwald, Switzerland

* Greece

* Dingle, Ireland

* Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina

* Tangier

For details, order Rick Steves Best Destination Newsletter at ricksteves.com/publications.

Photo: (butterfly)

Photo: (book)

Photo: (Madrid)

Photo: (Sport Museum)

Photo: (a shark)

Photo: (married couple)

Photo: (book)

Photo: (Europe)

Copyright [c] 2008, The Tampa Tribune and may not be republished without permission. E-mail library@tampatrib.com

Source Citation
"COMPASS." Tampa Tribune [Tampa, FL] 20 Jan. 2008: 3. Popular Magazines. Web. 3 Dec. 2009. .

Gale Document Number:CJ174098277