DiveLogBlog

Our last day diving in the Red Sea and after nine days of missing all the sharks, we finally get one …and what a whopper!  Today will be memorable for the excitement of this awesome sighting but also for the frightening situation Sue and I found ourselves in immediately afterwards.

The day began with the usual boat journey to Ras Mohammed national park and the pleasing sight of a pod of very large Dolphins. When Dolphins show up, the skipper sounds his horn excitedly, everyone runs for the bow of the boat and the crew whistle frantically in an attempt to attract these beautiful creatures. We headed for them, and they for us, they played alongside and off the bow until bored, and simply disapeared back into the blue. Dolphins raise everbody’s spirits.

We jumped on the wonderful Jackfish Alley to begin. Allowing the rest of the group into the cave that marks the beginning of the dive, I spent a short time trying to photograph the sunrays peircing through the caves ceiling.  After exiting, we dropped to shoot a couple of Blue Spotted Rays on the sandy bottom and never managed to catch up with therest of the group afterwards.  We headed on to the satelite reef that accompanies the main alley and were soon engulfed in a huge shoal of Jacks which began circling us.  Soon after we spotted a good-sized Napoleon Wrasse who took a vague interest before going back to his daily business.  At about 22 metres, I saw a movement 10 metres agead of us. I had to double-take and quickly realised there was the shark we’ve spent all this time searching for! It was big – a conservative estimate is about six-feet in length, but it was quite likely much bigger. I pointed with as much point as I could muster, forgetting I had a clanger on my tank.  Thankfully Sue saw it too before it disappeared into the distance ahead of us.  Our excitement was such that the camera never made it infront of my face.  Though clearly visible, it was too far away to show up well in a photo and to fleeting to have allowed me to alter my manual settings to suit.  As a divemaster later told us on-board, your mind is the best camera in the world, and this image will be etched in our minds forever.  After giving a description to the guides, and some research, it was agreed that Sue and I just spotted an Oceanic White Tip shark – one of the largest predators in the Red Sea!

The excitement soon turned to fear however, as we realised we were way off the safe part of the reef.  Unknowingly the north-south current had also pushed us both way too far east and we found ourselves unable to cross back to the main reef plate, or even the alley.  We couldn’t see it, though I knew which direction it was in, we were just unable to cross the strong current.  We were completely alone, embarassingly and dangerously without an SMB.  I could see the fear in Sue’s eyes as we held on to each other to ensure we wouldn’t get split up. I felt panic start within and tried my best to supress it, but it threatened to consume both of us. I knew the reefplate was west, but as the panic strengthened, I began doubting my own compass and soon started questioning which was east and which was west, even though the proof was right there in front of me! Panic does strange things to you and it began causing complete confusion.  Sue signalled she was down to 60 bar of air and being much better with her air than I am, I knew I was on less.  There was only one thing for it, we had to rise to our safety stop immediately.  As we did, a boat appeared directly overhead. Without an SMB, he had no idea we were there and I had to pull Sue deeper for safety as he came very, very close.Fighting the instinct to get to the surface immediately, we attempted the stop again and popped up the very second our stop time had expired.  We were actually fairly close to the main reef, but still way too far out in an unsafe area. Our boat spotted and collected us quickly. We were very lucky. Relieved to be back on board, it took a couple of hours before we were again calm and the panic had ebbed.  We made some very simple mistakes and have learned some valueable lessons. It could have so easily been a great deal worse, and I’m thankful we’re both sat here now.  Interestingly, my compass reference was spot-on and had we been able to cross the current, we would have easily reached the safety of the reefplate. Fighting the panic, we still managed to do everything correctly to surface as safely as possible in the situation we found ourselves, but we should never have put ourselves there in the first place, and never will again.

We both chose to sit out the second dive on Shark and Yolanda reefs. We were pretty shaken up and jumping again would have been foolish. I needed time to calm down and gather my thoughts. There was no way I was doing the second dive.  Whilst the other were down, horns sounded excitedly and most boats in the area motored toward another pod of big Dolphins. I ran downstairs and onto the bowsprit, which I had to myself.  The animals were breaking the water right below my feet.  You can’t help but smile when you see Dolphins, and this was exactly what we needed to help raise our spirits after our earlier predicament.

A good lunch and long break put us right and we jumped for the final dive of the day on Ras Z’Atar.  Once under, I felt fine.  We stuck close to the group on what was a fairly easy and uneventful wall drift. The light is rarely good on this site, coming at the wrong angle to illuminate the wall.  I saw and photographed some very large Morays and a curious large Puffer with green and blue markings before finishing the hour long dive.

And so this was the end of our ten days diving the Red Sea from Sharm el Sheikh.  25 varied dives, all beautiful and most exciting.  We’d given up hope of seeing sharks many days ago, but as if by divine intervention, as happened on my last visit here, one was presented to us on our very last day, and only Sue and I saw it!  It was no ordinary shark either – it was a giant Oceanic – a lot of divers have spent many years hoping to see one of these awesome creatures. Mission acheived and a wonderful dive holiday had, and some very valuable lessons learned. We’ve been very lucky in so many respects.

Though this is the last blog entry from this particular trip, the site will stay live and I’ll continue to update it with my dive adventures both at home and abroad. Within a few weeks, once processed, I’ll be adding my photographs to these posts and perhaps a gallery, so please do pop back soon and take a look.

Stay safe. X

After yesterday’s horrendous weather, we were pleased to see it had calmed overnight, the wind was still strong and the water a little choppy, but that is nearly always the case on the Straits of Tiran.

We started on the coastal site of Ras Nasrani due to the seas still being a bit rough for the Straits. Dropping to our maximum depth, we slowly ascended covering the reef in a zig-zag fashion. The group ahead of us started shaking their rattles so we finned out into the blue to see …some blue.  We were told later that they had seen a Hammerhead, but nobody offered any photographic evidence and the professional Videographer also had nothing recorded. I’m starting to think sharks are mythical creatures created in the minds of others in order to chastise Sue and I!  The reef plate was particularly attractive, covered in giant stands of hard corals in every colour. A glass-bottomed boat took an interest in Sue and I but was a little too close for comfort. The group, ‘led’ by the only guide we find difficult to like, had left us long before without any signal, so we completed our hour and surfaced alone once again.

Conditions had improved slightly so we crossed over to the Tiran reefs and without much of a surface interval, dropped on the back of Jackson, supposedly in the hope of seeing a biggy.  This was the choppy windward side of the reef and Sue entered the water on her face as I slipped on the rear deck and hit the water sideways following a particularly stylish double backward sommersault with pike.  The intended brisk drift dive turned out to be a prolonged swim into a head-on current. Luckily we all had good air-fills and eventually made it round to the more sheltered side without sucking all of our air.  A turtle passed by overhead but nothing big emerged out of the blue.  After only 40 or 45 minutes, the group and our not-very-attentive guide surfaced on a mooring line.  Sue and I stayed under watching for direction but when none came, we continued the dive alone, as we are getting quite used to now.  Upon surfacing we had no idea whether our boat had moored or not.  I presumed it hadn’t as this was always a full drift and we’d been told no different.  Surfacing between the reef and the many moored boats, which were not sensible to pass, we were unable to spot our boat for a long time.  After a long surface swim, we spotted her through a gap between boats and were eventually able to climb aboard once they had tied up.  Our so-called guide was on the bow looking out and struggled to conceal a look of relief when he realised he hadn’t lost two divers suposedly under his watch!  It’s unfortunate that every other guide with Ocean College is great and very attentive.  I requested we dive with Mustaffa, the other guide on board for the last dive as our trust in Amr is strained to say the least.

A rushed lunch break soon ended with a final dive on Thomas reef, the smallest on Tiran. We all dived as a single group led by Mustaffa, while Amr stuck quietly to the sidelines. It would appear he may have had a slapped wrist over lunch, and rightly so.  Aside from the usual life, the only thing of note to happen was a good-sized turtle which allowed me a brief close up look. Heading round the northern side and shallowing, the water was quite ‘surgey’ but with no real current. We all surfaced together after a fairly average dive.

Our return journey was brightened by the excited sounding of the boat’s horn, signalling dolphins.  I ran downstairs to the bow to see a very large pod of beautful small dolphins breaking the water around us. We circled with them for a while before they got bored and headed effortlessly into the distance.

We only have one day’s diving left and will be heading back to the stunning Ras Mohammed.  Fingers and toes and everything else are tightly crossed for something big but we will certainly not be returning home dissapointed if nothing turns up. Shoaling fish a-plenty and a few suprises are gauranteed in this area so we’ll certainly be ending on a high.

My Birthday yesterday was unfortunately cut short by a bout of sickness, which seemed to peak this morning. I didn’t fancy the prospect of a day in the hotel room so dosed up with Immodium and rehydration salts, I braved another day on the boat.

The wind was howling at sea and the surface was very rough, causing Sue to simultaneously throw tea and coffee over herself, me, a suprised crew member below and just manage to save herself from going over the side along with the contents of those mugs. We heard later that no boats managed to get to Tiran today and we, headed for Ras Mohammed, were forced to settle for the relative shelter of Marsa Bareika, a large bay on the Ras Mohammed peninsula.  Kitting up was difficult on the rolling seas and nobody seemed to be looking forward to jumping on the first site of the day, Ras Ghozlani.  Half way through getting ready, a wave of nausia hit me and an uncomfortable dry feeling in my throat caused me to abandon the dive at the last minute. It is apparently possible to be sick through a reg, but I didn’t fancy the experience and thought it a good idea to sit this one out. I quickly made sure Sue had another buddy and relaxed on board the rocking boat hoping the rest of them don’t see the sharks I’ve been looking for since we arrived!  They didn’t see sharks but they did see two large Eagle Rays.

Feeling a little better, I decided to do the second dive, which was right at the back of the bay. Diving is not normally done here so it was nice to have the opportunity to try somewhere a little different.  We immediately descended into a small canyon and back up over the undulating sandy bottom. Coral pinnacles of every size provided shelter to the usual wide variety of life, including Pufferfish, some nice Lionfish and Clowns.  I squeezed underneath a large overhang to reach a Lionfish resting on the bottom and found a couple of tiny pipefish, looking a bit like a Seahorse would if you stretched it out, wriggling along the sand.  A pair of bright yellow Butterfly fish posed against a perfect blue background.  Nearing the end of our time underwater, I spotted an Octopus trying to squeeze into a small crevace. I called Sue over and we managed to get very close, shooting some nice profile shots as it poked its head out into the open.

During lunch break, a large swell had developed, causing several on board to start feeling quite ill.  I was starting to feel a bitter better with something in my stomach and a few of us managed to last the whole day without any seasickness. The last dive was on the same area as the previous due to the adverse conditions, but the site had changed entirely. The large swell had kicked up the sandy bottom reducing visibility to only a few metres. Big menacing dark ‘clouds’ thick with suspended sand moved in toward us, sometimes engulfing us completely and reducing vis down to less than a metre.  Most of the group abandoned the dive early and only a few of us endured until, after about 50 minutes we surfaced knowing things weren’t going to get any better. We saw very little and photographed even less.

A slightly dissapointing day for several reasons, none of which could be helped. Several hours later I am sat here in a cafe writing this blog, swaying forwards and backwards, side to side, as if I was still on the boat. At least I am feeling better than I did this morning.

What was possibly the hottest day so far (in excess of 40 degrees) was thankfully cooled by a very strong wind out on the Straits of Tiran. It made the journey quite rough but most of the day was spent in the shelter of the reefs. Today happens to be my birthday and with the recommendation of Tiran for the best chance of seeing sharks, we made our choice but spent the day without seeing one.

We dived the very long and thin Woodhouse Reef first, which was very rough on the surface but turned out to be a fairly gentle drift below. It was unfortunately quite a disappointing dive with very little worth reporting. Our guide seemed more interested in flirting with the one girl who just happened to not have a buddy than he was in doing his job. As a result we felt a little dejected and probably missed out on a lot that a better guide would have been keen to point out.  Also, nobody managed to find a tank with more than 190 bar of air throughout the day, making the hour-long dive difficult to achieve and introducing a little bit of needless stress when trying to saty down as long as possible.  A large Barracuda passed by overhead and we swam amongst several big blue Triggers and some very pretty soft corals as we shallowed, but not much more springs to mind. We surfaced, not upset, but not particularly inspired either.

Second up was Jackson Reef, one of the most beautiful sites in the area and one which always impresses. Ignoring our guide and his buddy’s flirting, we stayed back and enjoyed the stunning garden on the south-eastern end of the reef. We initially dropped to the red anemone at around 26 metres – notable because the colour red shouldn’t really exist at that depth. Somehow I managed 28 metres, two deeper than my previous dive, which is a bit naughty!  Ascending, we entered the shockingly colourful garden and while I could hear our guide rattling to let us know of a nearby turtle, I instead had my head and camera a bit too close to one of the largest Morays I’ve seen to date. I bagged some lovely pictures of Bannerfish with a perfect blue background. The guys infront pointed out two deadly stonefish but most of us could only make out one, scary as one touch and you could be dead before you reach the boat! I then had a very special moment with a very large Puffer who settled on the sand for a clean and let me aproach to shoot some great close pictures. I’ve mastered the upside-down photography now and the stability it affords is really helping in getting some nice pictures. We had to abandon the dive a little short of the hour due to the low tank fills but we got close and it was a wonderful dive.

After a good lunch our final dive of the day was a lazy drift on Gordon Reef, a new one for me. The site is a gentle sandy slope ending with a steep wall. I ventured into the blue desperate for that illusive Birthday shark, but to no avail. The seabed is scattered with old oil barrels which nature has reclaimed and turned into homes for multitudes of corals and fish. A baby Moray poked its head from beneath one and clowns protected their anemones among others. Lagging behind, I wondered what the group was huddled together looking at and as I finned toward them, had a near head-on collision with a big Titan Triggerfish! Thankfully, he was just out for a wander and was not at all aggressive, eying eachother as we passed with looks of distrust. I then came across the subject of the groups’ interest – a large Napolean Wrasse feeding on the bottom. He passed, giving me an interested glance so I sat on the sand as he turned and approached to pose for a close photo.

Though the anticipated sharks didn’t materialise and despite our slight frustrations with our guide and limited air, the day turned out some lovely dives and we returned to the harbour happy. We’re back to Ras Mohammed tomorrow so expect lots of schooling fish, a few surprises and the ever-present oppotunity to see something a bit bigger – we’re still hopeful!

All this diving every day becomes quite tiring after a while so we decided to go local today, giving us an extra hour in bed and an easy two-dive day. We were on the Seaflower, which was a little too small for the amount of people on board. It wasn’t over-full, there just wasn’t enough room in the shade to spread out so the suntan got a good topping up. These local trips are used for training new divers as the reefs and conditions are usually fairly easy.

We dived Ras Bob first. Jumping from the moored boat, we quickly realised that although all in this particular group were certified divers, the majority could do with a lot more experience. Our guide, Mustafa, waved goodbye to Sue and I, signalling that we could do the dive alone, obviously realising that he was going to have his work cut out with some of the group. Only fifteen minutes in we watched him turn the group around and head back due to a particularly heavy breather. Sue and I continued alone. We explored some pretty little bays in the reef plate which unfortunately seems to be suffering a huge amount of damage from inexperienced divers. Reaching the drop-off, I signalled to descend so that we could reach a decent maximum depth in preparation for the second dive. We dropped to 27.4 metres seeing some nice corals and a reclusive Moral Eel. Reaching an outcrop at 30 minutes and 110 bar, we decided to slowly ascend and head back, after spending a moment watching three Lionfish swimming together.  We were alerted to a turtle passing below us but was so fast we decided the chase wasn’t worth the effort. Returning around 10 metres we passed over the undulating tired reef seeing all the usual colourful life and somewhat suprisingly, surfacing right next to our moored boat.  A perfect example of good timing and navigation!

A long lunch break was followed by a brief hunt for a Whaleshark, reported by another boat. We were to find out later that another Ocean College boat found a Manta Ray and a Whaleshark on the reefs neighbouring the ones we dived. Our second was on Middle Garden. Again, Sue and I split from the group and found our own way. This is another sadly damaged reef, but still pretty and colourful in places. We descended onto a sandy patch and a Blue Spotted Ray, then passed some large Blue Triggerfish either nesting or feeding on the sand. Over the reef, we strayed close to a very big Titan triggerfish, obviously nesting, who gave a couple of  obvious warning shots.  There was no doubt he was telling us ‘move away or I am going to hurt you’! We finned away and the Titan continued with its task.  There wasn’t a great deal of life throughout most of the dive but as I recovered from a severe coughing fit, I spotted a small Nudibrach nestled within the coral – the first I’d seen. We later identified it as the wonderfully named Varicose Wart Slug and my newly developed feet-up-upside-down photography position proved invalueable. Several mildly panicked puffers did their best to shy away from the lens and a shoal of Yellow Striped Goatfish swarmed around us as several Jacks circled above waiting to jump in for a meal.

It was a lazy day, and just what we needed. Tomorrow will be my Birthday and as a present, Mustafa has promised me, without a shadow of a doubt, a host of big sharks when we dive the reefs of Tiran again. So far we’ve seen none, here’s hoping they’ve all been waiting for tomorrow!  If you’d like to reply to these blogs, just click the title and scroll down, you should find the form there.

Today was one of excitement, lots of heat, sealife and big schools of fish. The day started on Ras Z’Atar, a wall drift.  As is becoming the custom we swam out into the blue again hoping to find something big. We didn’t. The majority of the dive was very nice but largely uneventful. The site became more interesting as we rounded the corner, with the steep wall broken by deep crevices, hiding Morays and other predators. Stopping on an anemone, a particularly brave Clownfish got bust nipping my regulator as I tried to photograph his family. A turtle passed by overhead but was too far up to justify attempting a picture. Two beautiful Blue Spotted Rays settled together under a small overhang, which made it difficult to shoot them. My buoyancy control is improving dramatically thanks to situations like this as I have taken to shooting many of my pictures (intentionally) upside down with my feet pointing directly upward. Doing this gives me much better stability and often avoids having to worry about knocking nearby corals. The dive ended in dramatic fashion as a huge school of Parrotfish shot toward us like missiles in the blue. I finned out to meet them and was surrounded for a time before they stopped and shot in towards the wall where the rest of the group were able to get close as they fed. As quickly as they arrived, they were gone but it was this moment that made the dive worthwhile.

Our second dive was originally going to be Stingray Station on the Alternatives but a rough sea prevented us from doing so, so Shark and Yolanda, which was to be our last dive, became the second.  It’s impossible to get bored of this world-famous site as every time you dive it you have a new experience.  We jumped on Anemone City, named for its abundance of very large anemones and their resident Clownfish. It’s easy to spend too long here and have to cut the dive short before reaching the end. Whilst there we saw a large Eagle Ray turn a graceful somersault and then disappear ahead of us. Swimming across the blue to we began to be caught by the brisk current which carried us around the outside of Shark reef and soon into massive groups of schooling fish, with different species at different levels. Below was a mass of large Trevally while we passed through a school of Unicornfish, Snappers and rose into a giant group of beautiful batfish.  A short time after this excitement I pointed out a passing shoal of very large Barracuda, which was great to see but too distant to photograph. Some large Tuna passed by and as we shallowed, the always impressive Napoleon Wrasse. A baby Moray eel poked its head out from its hideaway and the current carried us over two Crocodile fish resting together on a sandy patch. Not long after we were swept across two Scorpionfish doing the same thing. One looked angry at my presence so I kept a respectable distance as if touched, these fish can be deadly. I didn’t get to stay long anyway as another guy with a camera literally elbowed at me out of the way as he grabbed a large chunk of coral to steady himself in the current. I was tempted to have a word later on the boat but realised it’d gain nothing and only cause bad feeling – a couple of loud swear words through my reg at the time was enough to vent my anger! He managed to upset most in our group by the end of the day anyway, so I wasn’t alone. One or two Blue Spotted rays lay on the bottom and we were constantly surround or passed by countless different species. The excitement of the schooling fish meant that we had exhausted most of our air before we even made it onto the wreckage of the Yolanda so we safety stopped on the reef of the same name and ended this wonderful dive in just under an hour.

The final dive of the day was on the sheltered Ras Ghozlani, another reef we dived just two days before. A gentle ‘chillout’ drift across an expansive sandy slope, studded with beautiful coral pinnacles and flanked by a deep drop off to the left and a shallow reef plate to the right. Another diver finned across the top of me at the beginning of the dive, kneeing me in the head and then kicking the mask off my face! I was able to grab it and clear the water but there was no apology or even recognition that he had done it. When diving in groups, you have to expect that we’ll occasionally knock into each other, but a quick wave to say sorry is all that is normally needed. This was just plain rude! Brushing it aside, Sue and I decided to drop back and let the group disappear into the distance and we once again had the entire site to ourselves. Staying at a fairly shallow sixteen metres, I soon spotted a group of between five and seven Batfish ahead, feeding below a small coral. Surprisingly they allowed us to approach to within touching distance and I settled on the sand for a short time to photograph them. We estimated they measured about one and a half feet in height!  A cute pufferfish with his black bandit mask sat on a table coral, initially trying to get away but soon realised we were no threat and allowed a quick couple of pictures. As we shallowed a Napoleon mooched past as did a large Box Puffer, similar to the one we saw here two days earlier. At around fourteen or fifteen metres we came across an obviously wealthy family of Clowns on three anemones larger than any fish really needs. It was in a perfect position for me to settle on the seabed facing the current and experiment with various setting on my camera and strobes. I spent some time there while Sue patiently waited for me to get my daily Clown fix. This dive made a pleasing and relaxing end to an exciting and very, very hot day on the boat.

We awoke this morning at a vicious time of day, the sort of time people on holiday should never see unless they’ve been out all night. We hadn’t.  The Ocean College bus picked us up at 0630 and began the 2 hour journey through the arid Sinai Mountains to arrive at Dahab, a developing town which still, for now, retains much of its bedouin character.  The two dive sites are several kilometres further north along a bumpy dirt track that follows the coastline, which our bus struggled to traverse, unlike the caravans of camels carrying dive kit and lazy tourists to the same destinations.

Our dive kit had already been delivered and was sat on large carpets at the top of the beach, near the entrance to our first dive site, The Canyon. Struggling and sweating in the blistering heat, we donned wetsuits and dive gear and stepped into the water as quickly as we could. The hot desert wind was blowing quite strong, chopping up the surface which made fitting our fins a little more difficult than normal.  Once under, all was relatively calm. Leaving the small sandy bowl that was our entry, the dive began as we worked north up to the canyon entrance; a crack in the seabed opening into a large cavern. Unlike my last visit, we entered the canyon from its uppermost point due to the national park authoritys concern of potential collapse further down.  One by one we dropped in vertically all the way to the bottom, at nearly 32 metres (as far as anyone else is concerned, that’s 30 metres and no more!).  I knealed on the bottom trying to get some dramatic pictures looking up but I’m not sure they worked out brilliantly. Exiting back through the top, we circled and returned back to the place we started.  On the way were several families of Clownfish, a free swimming Lionfish and an unusual white Moray.  The most bizarre site was of a ‘Walkman’; a relative of the Scorpionfish which literally walked slowly along the seabed. A very ugly alien looking creature with tiny seemingly useless but colourful ‘wings’ on its sides. Suprised that I’d used so much air, we ended the dive where we started and with less air in my tank than I was supposed to. Perhaps I’d spent too long at the bottom of the canyon.

Between dives we sheltered from the sun in a seafront bedouin style cafe strewn with comfy cushions to spread out on. A large refreshing glass of Guava pulp and a bit of a rest, we headed into the sun to ready ourselves for the next dive. The helpful Ocean College staff had kindly set up our gear for us while we relaxed and we were quickly ready to go. Fully kitted and extremely hot, we walked along the track to El Belles, to begin our dive of the infamous Blue Hole. Infamous for all the wrong reasons; as we approach the entry point we are given a stark reminder of the dangers of diving in the form of plaques cemented to the cliff in memory of the many who have lost there lives hear. The problem is that the Blue Hole, a circular and very deep hole in the reef plate, hides a small tunnel at just over 50 metres exiting out into the sea. Some inexperienced divers and others who think they can ignore the rules of physics are tempted by this tunnel and often never make it back out. The bodies of some still lay at the bottom, thankfully out of view of anyone other than technical divers. It continues to claim lives despite all the stories and warnings, which is testament to the stupidity and futile bravado of an unfortunate type of diver. When sticking to the rules we’ve all been taught and know well, this dive site is beautiful and no more dangerous than any other, and the sensible majority of us will thankfully never see this fateful tunnel.

Entering one by one through the tiny crack in the reef known as El Belles, I dropped through and out into the sea beyond, waiting a long time for everyone to group and begin the dive. Finning south toward the Blue Hole, the shear reef wall drops into the depths below us. All sorts of life and some very pretty corals populate the craggy face, presenting as always familes of Clowns which held Sue and I back from the rest of the group as we photograph them. Catching up we watch an Octopus flap about below us before shooting into a tiny cave before I got to it. Shallowing we enter the saddle into the Blue Hole, apparently blown out by father of marine conservation,  Jacques Cousteau so that he could get his boat in! Colourful corals of every kind have repopulated this since and as we entered, I was forced to rise to my safety stop as once again I seemed to consume my air far to quickly, though I still managed the full hour, just.

We returned to our bedouin cafe just opposite the exit for a tasty pre-ordered lunch and a well-earned snooze on the cushions before the long journey back to Sharm and our hotel.

We were tempted to choose local dives tomorrow, purely to gain an extra hour in bed, but eventually settled on returning to Ras Mohammed. Reports of Manta Rays came back from local sites today, so I hope we haven’t made the wrong choice! Ras is wonderful no matter what, so here’s hoping still for those illusive large pelagics. My fingers are well and truly crossed!

I’ll update you tomorrow and I hope you’re enjoying this blog. Please let me know what you think by commenting below.

I started the day with some worries about ear-damage caused during ascent on the last two dives yesterday. The boat stayed close as we descended just in case I was unable to dive but my worries turned out to be unfounded. We dropped on Shark Reef amid a school of Batfish-like fish (I’ll find out later!). There was so much life on this site that it would be impossible to recall and list everything we saw. Just before we reached the saddle between Shark Reef and Yolanda, a large school of Unicornfish gathered and stayed close as we passed through as a few large Napolean Wrasse showed a passing interest. A large Triggerfish was seemingly building a ‘nest’ on the saddle which made for a good picture but as the partner joined, they both began to look rather unhappy with our close presence so I finned away knowing their reputation for aggression when breeding. There was a fairly strong head-current on the saddle which accelerated air consumption, especially as we kept quite deep throughout most of the dive. Finning over Moray eels, Lionfish and past scattered large Jacks and Trevalli, we reached the more level Yolanda reef and the wreckage on the saddle beyond, which we arrived on deep, and shallowed up over the piles of toilets and bathtubs that the ship that named this reef left as it sunk. I got some great photos of a Blue-Spotted Ray as I layed on the sand in front of it. By the time we’d ascended to eight or ten metres, our air was exhausted and this beautiful dive was over all too soon.

The second dive of the day was on Jackfish Alley – a site that marked a favourite day on my previous visit to Egypt. Our guide agreed to allow Sue and I to do our own dive while the rest of the group continued down the alley looking for big game that wasn’t there. We jumped alongside several other boats which caused a large queue to enter the cave that marks the start of the dive at 5 metres. The midday sun filtered through holes in the roof creating some beautiful cathedral light. We exited and waved goodbye to the rest of our group as we consentrated on the garden and entry to the alley. A particularly animated pair of Clownfish protected their anemone by nipping at my camera as I layed infront. We circled the sandy bowl and entered the start of the alley, taking time to settle on the seabed and allow the life to come to us. I kneeled beneath a large shoal of small fish and watched as Tuna and other predatory fish circled and jumped in for a bite to eat. The corals are particularly colourful here and we spent the entire dive in a small area watching and photographing the abundance of sealife that populates it. A very special dive that never seems to disappoint, and all the better to be given the trust of our guides to be left behind and do our own thing.

The day ended with our last dive on nearby Ras Ghozlani. On my last visit, I missed most of this pretty site as I was plagued by a persistantly fogged mask, causing me to stay mid-water throughout the dive following the vague shadow of my buddy until the end! None of that frustration happened this time as my new wide-vision mask performed perfectly. A shallow reef plate gives way to a gently sloping sandy bottom from about eight metres into the blue. The seabed is studded with colourful coral heads housing communities of various small fish, including the obligatory Clowns with their tiny babies, who entertained me well as they always do. An unusually timid Moray eel shot into a small hole as I approached for a picture. I stayed for a while watching his beady eye watching back through a tiny hole. He wasn’t planning to emerge while I was there so I moved on as a large Napolean Wrasse came close to find out if I was interesting or not …evidently, I wasn’t and he disappeared into the distance. Left again by our guide and group to do our own dive, we continued this lazy drift at our own pace, stopping to look at whatever we wanted. The dive ended amid massive corals of every colour and as a final suprise, during our safety stop at three metres, a Box Pufferfish larger than we’d ever seen before presented himself. Unfortunately my camera’s battery had given up so we surfaced without a picture. A perfect day – this is what diving is al about in my opinion!

Tommorow we rise extremely early for a day-trip to Dahab. My last visit was extrememly memorable so I’m looking forward to telling you all about it when we return. Please make sure you come back to find out what we got up to, and as always, please post comments to this blog if you like what you’ve read.

Grettings from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt! Sue and I arrived here on Sunday evening, staying again at Ocean Club. The skies are clear as always and the temperature is HOT; upper 30′s or more by day and not much below 30 degrees by night! This time thankfully, the air conditioning is working perfectly.

Our diving trip began bright an early on Monday morning. As is always the case, the first day is local-diving, from a boat but on shore reefs. We’re on Seagull at the moment – the best lunch in the business!

The first dive was on Fiddle Garden, an easy one to allow divers to get their weighting right and for staff to assess everyone’s ability. Hitting a maximum depth of 21.5 metres, it was an easy potter around a quite pretty site. Amongst the always-present countless sealife we spotted several Triggerfish and a large Moray Eel peering out from his little cave. A pair of clownfish; the never-tire-of-seeing photographer’s favourite, were protecting a tiny youngster nestled in his anemone home with their usual ‘little big man’ bravado. This couple were unusually large and made for several fun pictures.

The second dive was on the pretty Far Garden; a gentle wall dive, part of the same chain as the previous site. A mild current was running, just strong enough to give us a gentle hand on this drift. Dropping to 18.3 metres it wasn’t long before I spotted a large lionfish sheltering on a sandy stretch underneath an overhang. I was able to get down to its level and take a couple of nice profile shots. Lagging behind as photographers do, the guys in front stopped to point out a Stonefish perfectly cammouflaged on a small outcrop. How they spotted it, I don’t know, they are virtually impossible to see. The Stonefish is deadly to the touch, but as with most other fish, don’t attack and, confident in his disguise, allowed us to get in close for a picture that will doubtless look just like a photo of a rock!

Today consisted of 3 dives on the famous reefs of Tiran. Hoping to see some big pelagics (a Whaleshark, Hammerheads and White-tip sharks were spotted just the day before!), we were set for some dissapointment. The first 29.1 metre dive was on the long Woodhouse reef. We bagan by getting our depth and leaving the steep wall to swim parallel with it, but out in the blue. Nothing of note approached, aside from a giant Moray swimming the other way far below, so we headed back to the wall and slowly levelled up. A great view of a Green Turtle revealed itself as he was munching away on a coral outcrop. I was in the perfect position for a truly great photograph but, due to some battery confusion last night, I had no charge left, so frustratingly, no pictures. Near the end of the dive, the current increased to quite strong as we passed-by several very large Titan Triggerfish – a fish that can sometimes be very agressive in breeding season, but were quite passive on this occasion.

Todays second dive was at 27.1 metres on the nearby Thomas reef, which we circumnavigated almost completely. Unfortunately, as pretty as it was, nothing extraordinary showed itself and we had to settle for a nice Lionfish, the stunning Blue-Spotted Ray (not in a photographable position), some very large Gorgonian fans and the obligatory Clownfish photos, which always keep me at the back of the pack while they pose for me in their anemone homes.

The third and final dive was a hunt for Hammerhead sharks on the back of Jackson Reef. We dropped on the wall to 18.6 metres and headed out into the ocean, until all around was deep blue. The sharks unfortunately didn’t turn up so we headed back to the reef with the odd passing Tuna and Snapper. A turtle descended past us at a distance and back at the wall there were some lovely soft corals and amongst all the usual, several comedy pufferfish, which are always amusing to see as they try to avoid us in mild panic.

Though a slow and not entirely fruitful start to the holiday, a pod of several Rissol Dolphins accompanied us for a time on the return boat journey, which was a wonderful consolation for the lack of large pelagics on the reefs.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Ras Mohammed to dive the world-famous Shark and Yolanda, and hopefully the very nice Jackfish Alley. These sites are certain to present some great sights so please do pop back to find out what we found. Also, do get involved and post comments if you feel the urge; I’m sure they’ll make this blog very interesting

Thanks for visiting DiveLogBlog.com.

Why am I doing this? It’s really just an extension of my paper-based dive log – somewhere I can describe my dives in much more detail. I find, especially by the end of a busy diving holiday, my memory of the individual dives can be a little fuzzy and they all seem to merge together. Basically, this blog is to aid my own memory and if it happens to entertain anyone else, all the better!

This Saturday I will be departing for my third trip to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt for 2 weeks. The weather is going to be hot with daytime temperatures above 40 degrees and nighttime not much below 30. Ocean College have recently been reporting many sightings of Manta and Eagle Rays, Reef Sharks, the odd Hammerhead and even the illusive Whale Shark! I have high hopes that this will be the best trip yet.

I will of course have the camera with me at all times. As I shoot in RAW format, I won’t be able to add photos to my posts while I’m out there but please pop back during the weeks after my return where I will be adding a gallery and illustrating my existing posts with a bit of colourful underwater action.

I’ll try my best to post every evening while I’m away and if you feel inspired, please do comment if you can. Thanks again for visiting, and please remember to pop back regularly.

Dan.