Dec 01 2008
My Red Sea live-aboard experience…
After spending a week traveling in egypt, it was time for the some diving. The main reason i came to egypt was to dive into the depths of the Red Sea.
Day 1 My First Wreck Penetration
Day 4 Attack of the Lion Fish 😉
Before going to bed the previous night i had decided to skip walk to al azhar park and just chill at the hotel before heading down to the airport to catch my flight for Sharm El Sheikh (sharm). I realized that for some reason Egypt Air cancelled the 3 pm flight and i would be now on the 4 pm flight to sharm.
I left the hotel at about noon and half hr later i was at the small terminal from where the flight to sharm would depart. Jeanne showed up half hour later and she was also moved to the 4pm flight so it was cool. We just spent time chatting at the airport and our small flight to sharm was nothing exciting as such. The flight took off at about 4.20 pm and we landed in Sharm at 5 pm. Taking a cab from the airport to the hotel was going to be interesting since i would have had to haggle about the price and in the end even though i didn’t think the price was right, we had to give in and take a high priced cab to the hotel.
Crown Plaza Resort as the name suggests is a resort and it is one beautiful place to relax. It over looks the red sea and has all sorts of facilities one can imagine, tennis/squash courts, a discotheque, spa, pools etc. It would make up for a very nice place to relax. We met up with George and Pam, they were also going to be on the King Snefro Crown live-aboard. George and Pam do a lot of live-aboards and George might have just talked me into hopping on the Galapagos trip.
After checking into our room, it was time for dinner and we found this italian place where we had some good pasta and lasagna. I went to bed early while Jeanne went out to take pictures.
If it wasn’t for Jeanne’s alarm we would have slept way past noon, luckily the alarm went off at 11 am and we got ready and checked out of the hotel on time. King Snefro guys were going to pick us up at about 1 pm and so we just waited outside for them to show up. They picked us up and then followed by George and Pam.
Ashia and Peter (South Africa), Paloma and Miguel (Spain), Neil (U.K.), Markus and Mira (Finland), Olga and Armana (Kazagkhstan), Marcus and Yoshi (Father, Son from Germany) were going to be the rest of our fellow divers. Two divers didn’t make it on the boat for some unknown reason.
We reached the boat by about 2.30 or so and then after a quick briefing we had lunch. The food throughout was really good, they had some veggie stuff, lots of salads and things like that, it was nice. We waited at the dock till 9 pm and then we headed out to a local dive spot where we would be doing our first checkout dive.
The boat was really nice, it was my first live-aboard so i didn’t know what to expect but George and Pam have been on several so i got a good idea about the quality of the boat from them. The galley was pretty big and it could fit in all of us at the same time and there was a saloon which had a dvd player and a wide screen LCD, it looked really royal. The cabins downstairs were pretty big though there wasn’t enough storage space in them. Overall the boat was really nice and comfortable with a big dive deck where an entire group could wait to jump in.
The Dive Area.
Also they had AL 80’s and most of us were going to dive nitrox 32%, since Ashia, Peter and Neil weren’t nitrox certified they decided to get nitrox certified during this trip. We headed out to the first dive spot at about 9 pm or so. We were supposed to get up at 6 am and out first dive briefing was going to be at 6.30 am.
We all woke up at 6 am and then we had our dive briefing, since all the weights were in Kg, we had to first see if we all were properly weighted before we started diving. We were split into two groups of 8 and 7. George, Pam, Ashia, Peter, Neil, Jeanne and myself were going to be one group with Khaled being our guide where as the others were going to be with Yasser.
We did the calculation and Khaled asked me to take 8 kgs but i decided to go with 6 instead since 8 would be too heavy. I was perfectly weighted with 6 kgs and didn’t have any problems at all with my buoyancy.
Dive 1: Ras Katy
Ras Katy is a local dive spot from Sharm and lot of dive boats, submarines frequent this place. This was kinda a beach dive as well since it was very close to the shore. We got into water and started going along the reef, it was very pretty.
One of the Many Coral Pinnacles.
Immediately we saw a blue spotted ray and it was just a sign of things to come. Jeanne saw a big octopus but we all were far ahead by that time. The reefs were teeming with life, plenty of orange anthias, big corals, sea fans it was nice. We also spotted a lion fish, I played with my camera settings and only a few pics have come out to be good. I saw a baby peppered moray eel and a crab hiding inside a coral.
Baby Eel.
At the end of the dive there was this lone anemone fish which came out towards me and was playing with me, it was really fun to watch him zoom by me. Those things are very curious fish but then they won’t leave the anemone as such I was kinda surprised that one guy came upto me. I tried taking few good pics but he was too fast for me.
This was only a sample of the things to come and i was really excited by the prospect of seeing more of red sea.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 59 mins
Max Depth: 66 ft
Air Consumed: 2299 psi.
Avg Depth: 43.2 ft
Dive 2: Ras Ghozlani
After having breakfast our second dive was going to be at Ras Ghozlani and it was going to be a drift dive. I had never done a drift dive and was kinda curious about how fast the currents would be etc but it didn’t turn out to be that bad. We were going to go along with the current and then at the end of the dive the zodiac (small inflatable boat) was going to pick us up to take us back to the boat.
Ours was the first group to get into water and as i have mentioned earlier the current wasn’t strong at all, it was a pretty mellow dive. As we got into water we were greeted by vast areas of corals it was really nice. I came across a big arabian angel fish, moving on it was a sea bed of different corals, fans, etc.
There were so many anemone fishes hiding among the anemones it was very pretty, i was determined to get a shot similar to the mac desktop picture that i have and in the later dives i came very close to getting that perfect shot.
During the course of the dive, i came too close to pam and i tried getting away from her fins but as i was doing that she didn’t realize that i was underneath and she turned. Her tank hit me good on the head and i had to make sure that i wasn’t bleeding and didn’t crack up my skull. I ended up having a nice big lump on my head after that dive but it wasn’t that bad :).
We had to get back on the boat using that zodiac which was an experience. We have to get close to it and then take off all our gear except for mask and fins so that the tanks can be pulled in first into the zodiac and then we pull ourselves up into it. I took my mask off and gave it to the guys in the boat since i had to get the secondary regulator off my neck. I realized that i should have kept the mask with me after taking the secondary off and corrected that on subsequent zodiac entries.
Me and Neil talked about how cool it would be to do a dive using a zodiac, rolling backwards into water like navy seals and our wish was granted on the next dive itself :).
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 53 mins
Max Depth: 75 ft
Air Consumed: 2468 psi.
Avg Depth: 49.5 ft.
Dive 3: Ghiannis D
After the second dive we were planning on crossing on Strait of Gubal and do some wreck dives on the reef called Shaab Abu Nahas. The weather was really nice so we crossed across and the wreck of Ghiannis D was going to be our next dive.
We were going to penetrate the wreck so i was really excited by that prospect. This wreck and all the other wrecks are relatively easy and safe to penetrate as such mainly because there is no danger of too much silting, most of it is iron so the main caution to take is not to cut yourself against the sharp edges.
Ghiannis D
Type of Ship: Cargo (Timbers)
Nationality: Greek
Year of Construction: 1969
Length: 99.5 m
Width: 16 m
Tonnage: 2.932 Ton
Date of Wreck: 19th April 1983
Depth: 27 m
We were going to take the zodiac to the dive site and had to do a roll back entry into the water, it was going to be my first. All of us were supposed to be in the water at the same time so that we don’t hit anyone but i messed up the exit. Jeanne was in front of me on the other side and her fins were on top of mine so i was worried that we would get caught up and therefore i jumped in late and ended up hitting pam with my fins. It wasn’t that bad but still i could have done it right.
We dropped down to the bow section of the boat. I came across a box fish and a blue spotted ray. We then swam towards the stern section of the boat and while doing that we could see a group of dolphins on the surface. Also came across Pyjama Chromodorid nudibranch and it was time to penetrate the wreck.
Nudi.
We entered the engine room of the ship and i was just surprised on how big the room was, all 7 of us were able to fit into that room without bumping into each other or anything like that. It was simply amazing, i didn’t expect that at all. We then came out of wreck through a series of ups and downs, it wasn’t that straightforward at all. I would have been completely lost if i was by myself, i tried to keep a track of the path we were going inside the wreck but then i completely lost it. I was more than happy following the group. It was nice to see schools of glass fish in there, the silhouette of them against the surface was cool.
We then swam back towards the bow section of the wreck, did our safety stop and then got back into the zodiac and back on the boat.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 50 mins
Max Depth: 77 ft
Air Consumed: 2505 psi.
Avg Depth: 52.1 ft
Dive 4: Night Dive Shaab Abu Nahas Reef
Our night dive was going to be at the reef where we were anchored and neither Khaled or Yaseer were going to jump into water with us. The dive was supposed to be really easy with no currents and only 30 ft of water. Jeanne didn’t want to go in the water at night without someone who is familiar with the dive site coming along with us, it was a valid concern and i wasn’t sure if because of liability reasons it would be a smart thing to do for the guides.
Khaled then decided to get into water with us. George and Pam got into water only because of the lure of seeing a spanish dancer (nudibranch).
We got into the water and after few mins came across two spanish dancers , i also saw eggs of the spanish dancer. They lay them in a nice circular fashion, now that i think about it i should have tried to take a better picture of the eggs.
I came across a arrow spider crab and tried to get jeanne’s attention, by the time she got there the crab hid under the coral. After 15 mins into the dive we came across another spanish dancer and this guy was all by himself. I just thought they were some huge nudis and didn’t know that they were called spanish dancers until i got back on the boat. The reason they are called dancers because they can swim and their movement is very graceful and really nice to watch.
Spanish Dancer.
Arrow Spider Crab.
We were supposed to be in water for only 30 mins max but the dive time was 40 mins. It was a nice dive and the spanish dancers are just big beautiful nudis. We also spotted a lone starfish it was the pebbled star fish, I found a hermit crab or something similar but he was inside the coral and i couldn’t get a good pic of him.
Star Fish.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 40 mins
Max Depth: 51 ft
Air Consumed: 1480 psi.
Avg Depth: 31.5 ft
After having dinner it was time for me to head off to sleep it was a long day of some good diving and even awesome diving to follow. We were supposed to get up at 6 am again and 6.30 am would be our dive briefing.
Day 2 Dives, Beautiful Wreck Diving
We were going to do two dives on the wrecks in the Shaab Abu Nahas reef and then head off to the grand daddy of all the wrecks, Thistlegorm which is considered to be one of the top wrecks in the world to dive.
Dive 5: Carnatic
Carnatic was going to be the first wreck of the day, this is probably the oldest wreck in the region and the boat is full of life. It hit the reef but the captain didn’t think the situation was bad and the crew as well as passengers were waiting to be rescued but then after 11 hours when the captain gave evacuation orders all of sudden the ship snapped into two and 31 people out of 34 passengers and 176 crew perished. Ship had a cargo of cotton bales, finest bottles of wine, soda and about 40,000 sterling in gold some of which is still believed to be buried inside the hold.
Carnatic:
Type of Ship: Steamer
Nationality: British
Year of Construction: 1862
Length: 89.8 m
Width: 11.6 m
Tonnage: 1.776 Ton
Date of Shipwreck: 12-13th Sept 1869
Depth: 27 m
We were going to drop on the bow section of the wreck and then head out all the way to the stern, where the propeller still remains and then head back along the other side upto the bow. Zodiac was going to be the means of transport from the boat and this time around i got into the water properly, there weren’t any incidents.
As we got to the bow section and were swimming along the wreck i saw a fish going after some kind of worm/eel/snake, the fish couldn’t get a hold of it and the little guy managed to get away. We still have to ID what that thing was, it looks like a snake but then its too small mostly its a type of eel or a worm.
Not sure if this was a snake or eel.
We saw a lot of fish life bannerfish, gobies, damsel fishes, butterfly fishes etc, plenty of corals it was really nice. The wreck has turned into a skeleton as such and you can see how the boat was constructed at that time with huge steel columns running across from the port side to starboard side.
Carnatic Wreck
Once we got into the zodiac as we were heading back to the boat there were dolphins in the water so all of us put our masks and fins on again and jumped right back in. Unfortunately the dolphins were not in a mood to play so we had to get back in.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 49 mins
Max Depth: 87 ft
Air Consumed: 2343 psi.
Avg Depth: 56.5 ft.
Dive 6: Marcus or Chrisoula K.
After breakfast it was time to dive the wreck of Marcus and it turned out to be the best dive so far. This is also known as the “wreck of the tiles” because this german ship was carrying a cargo of italian tiles to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia when it hit the reef at its maximum speed and met its fate. Apparently the true identity of this ship is still a mystery and hence its known as marcus or chirsoula k but the general opinion is the latter.
Chrisoula K
Type of Ship: Cargo
Nationality: German
Year of Construction: 1954
Length: 98m
Width: 14.8 m
Tonnage: 3.720 Ton
Date of Shipwreck: 31st Aug 1981
Depth: 4 – 26 m
We were going to use the zodiac again and drop down to the bow section of the boat which lies slanted along the reef. As we continued along the side of the boat and came to the main funnel, there was a lion fish waiting for us and then as we continued along just near the mast there was a big crocodile fish resting peacefully. On the previous dive i found a pipe fish and thought it to be a crocodile fish, they are so different and the size is also different. Pipe fish is a tiny thing with few cms in width and about a foot long where as the crocodile fish is a big fish with about a foot wide and 3-4 ft in length.
Crocodile Fish
We then continued towards the stern section and came around to penetrate the wreck. We entered the cargo holding section and could see tons of tiles still laying around everywhere, it was interesting to see how well they were preserved. As we got out of the wreck, i came across a flatworm lying on a column, initially we thought it was a nudi but then we identified it to be a gold dotted flatworm.
Flat Worm.
We moved along the deck of the boat and found a HUGE moray resting, it was easily atleast 6 ft in length and about 2 ft in diameter, it was amazing. In general this wreck had lots of corals both soft and hard, plenty of fish life as well.
During the course of this dive my computer slapped me a 2 min level stop at 10 ft which then increased to 3 mins after a while but then i hung at 40 ft for couple of mins and then did level stops at 30 ft and 20 ft so my computer just cleared out those 10 ft level stop requirements it was really cool to see the theory which Jeanne has been teaching into action.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 52 mins
Max Depth: 86 ft
Air Consumed: 2389 psi.
Avg Depth: 52 ft.
Now it was time to cross the strait of gubal again and head off to Thistlegorm. I had already planned to take a nap during the time we cross the strait and since it was after lunch, it certainly helped me sleep :).
Dive 7: Thistlegorm
When i woke up for the briefing, we had already anchored at the wreck site and the current at this site dictates what the plan for the dive is. Khaled had dove down to get our boat anchored to wreck and there were already 5-6 other boats at this site. This is one of the most popular wrecks in the entire world so it was bound to be crowded. According to the book, this wreck brings in more tourist money than the pyramids of giza, it is sad though that the wreck is not being looked after as such.
The reason this wreck is so amazing because of the cargo it was carrying when it was sunk by german bombers. When it left Glasgow, Scotland to deliver its cargo to the British 8th Army stationed in Egypt and Libya during the WWII it had to take the long route across africa since the western side of Mediterranean was controlled by German forces. Its cargo consisted of ammunitions, bombs of different kinds, anti tank mines, Lee Enfield MK III rifles, a hundred of BSA Motorcycles, BSA W-M20, Matchless G3L and Norton 16 H, Bedford, Morris and Ford Trucks, two light Bren Carrier MK II tanks, two steam Stanier 8 F locomotives complete with two coal tenders and water tankers necessary for travel in desert zones, transport trucks, portable field generators, spare parts for airplanes and automobiles, medicine, tyres and rubber boots. phew so much stuff and most of it can be seen in the wreck.
Thistlegorm:
Type of ship: Steam Freighter
Nationality: British
Construction Date: 1940
Propulsion: Steam
Length: 126.5 m
Width: 17.5 m
Tonnage: displacement of 9.009 Ton
Date of Shipwreck: 5-6 October 1941
Depth: 15 – 30 m
Since the current at this site is very strong we had to descend on the bow using the rope by which our ship was anchored. We were then going to go along with the current and then on the way back penetrate some of the holds of the wreck. Since Yasser was the only guide going along with us we were one big group and it was really crowded while penetrating the wreck, the other divers were not helping as well.
As we went into the wreck you could see all this awesome cargo lying around and it wasn’t hard to figure out why this is considered one of the best wrecks but the sad thing is its too crowded and some of the divers have no regard for the conservation of the wreck or the safety procedures to follow while penetrating the wreck etc. At one point this chick in pink popped up all of sudden between me and Jeanne and she didn’t have any idea where she was or what was going on, it was really annoying and her buddy was a guy in doubles.
Also since all of us went as a single group some people lost their buddies, were not following everyone properly etc and it was kinda messy. We were supposed to return to the boat and do our safety stop by hanging onto the rope.
As we were doing our safety stop by hanging on the ropes there were schools of baitfish and glass fish and we saw a big ass Barracuda hunting among them. It was about 5-6 ft in length, Santo the ones we saw in florida were tiny as compared to the size of this baby :). I didn’t take my camera on this dive.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 46 mins
Max Depth: 83 ft
Air Consumed: 2337 psi.
Avg Depth: 52.5 ft.
Our night dive was going to be on Thistlegorm again and because of the crowded dive etc Jeanne decided to skip the night dive and relaxed with a glass of wine.
Dive 8: Thistlegorm Night
The current had really picked up and for this night dive none of the ladies were going to jump into the water. Jeanne would have come with us but she didn’t know that there were going to be only 8 people on this dive and she already had started drinking wine.
I had to buddy up with Miguel for this dive and we weren’t going to go farther out on the wreck, it was going to be close from the rope on the stern to which our boat was tied. I came across couple of box fishes lurking beneath one of the columns, we were not going to penetrate the wreck just go around the first hold couple of times and then surface up.
I saw a couple of guys on scooters and doubles penetrating the wreck they seem to be having a good time and so were we. At the end of the dive, George who was in front of me almost kicked a crocodile fish and then we saw another crocodile fish beside a big rock fish.
We ascended along the rope and it was a pretty short mellow night dive.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 33 mins
Max Depth: 64 ft
Air Consumed: 1772 psi.
Avg Depth: 48.5 ft.
Next day we were planning on doing another dive on Thistlegorm and to beat the rest of the boats we were going to get into the water at around 6.30 am. For that to happen we had to get up at 5.30 and our briefing was going to be at 6 am.
Dive 9: Thistlegorm Stern
For this dive we were going to see the locomotive on the side of the wreck as well go all the way to the stern. Also there was going to be minimal penetration on this one and since both yaseer and khaled were going to be leading their individual groups this was going to be less crowded for us but there were certainly going to be other divers in the water.
The current as usual was going to be there but it wasn’t that bad. We descended and then moved to the side where the locomotive was going to be and the current carried us there. I was slightly disappointed by the size of it, i was expecting it to be something big but it wasn’t that huge. We then moved to the stern side where the big propeller is and there some of the artillery shells lay, the manufacture date 1929 on one of them is clearly visible.
Locomotive on Side of Thistlegorm.
We then moved to the other side of the wreck, did some penetration but it didn’t last for long just like a small chamber. Since we were moving against the current i stayed closer to the wreck and passed through one of the galleries rather than stay on the side of ship trying to battle the current.
The Artillery Shells.
As we ended our dive there were couple of yellow tunas hunting the school of glass fish and baitfish. This was the best part of the dive for me, watching those schools of fish react to the sudden movement of the tunas. I could have held onto the rope for ages watching them. When the tiny bait fish school moves together they glitter and shine light to confuse the predators. I just loved it.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 44 mins
Max Depth: 101 ft
Air Consumed: 2433 psi.
Dive 10: Shag Rock (Kingston Wreck)
This was supposed to be a wreck dive but it ended up being an awesome dive over the corals at the Shag Rock. The wreck was a small one as compared to the other wrecks which we have dove.
We descended on the wreck and then just headed off away in other direction where there were only corals till your eyes could see. It was simply amazing.
Lovely Coral.
We came across so many clams, they came in all different colors and sizes, when i saw the pics i was very disappointed because the colors didn’t come out at all for some reason. Jeanne had a blast playing with a small anemone fish, that little guy was coming right upto her and would just dart away. She also came across a Christmas tree worm but she couldn’t get a pic of it, it just went in. I then waited a min or two for it to reappear but it wasn’t co-operating so i moved on but then later on i came across another one and got few nice pics of it.
Christmas Tree Worm.
There were all kinds of reef fishes on this dive, the damsels, parrots, groupers small ones though, anthias, gobies. It was simply awesome a field of corals, you just couldn’t see even a small area of sand. We then returned to explore the wreck and did our safety stop out there. I got the best anemone fish pics on this dive really loved it.
A lot of fishes were there on the wreck but as i was doing my safety stop this surgeon fish first chased a small fish away and then as i came closer he came after me. The little guy was really aggressive, he didn’t try to bite me or something but just charged me and was one hyper aggresive fish. I wasn’t the only person chased by this one, others were also kinda attacked. It was really fun though nothing scary as such.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 59 mins
Max Depth: 60 ft
Air Consumed: 2266 psi.
Everyone was raving about this dive at the end of it, it was just amazing. This was easily the best dive so far.
Dive 11: Small Crack
We were in the same area and going to do this drift dive called small crack, its located in the reef called Shaab Mahmud. This was going to be a drift dive along this narrow passage. We were going to jump in from the boat and then the zodiac would pick us up at the end of the dive.
Our group was going to be the first one into water and then as we descended and were drifting along this lion fish was swimming in opposite direction. Further along the way there were a couple of lion fish swimming merrily, one of them was really big and the other seemed like a baby.
After sometime we found a nudi the same kind Pyjama chromodorid, moving along it was a sea bed of corals but there weren’t that many fishes. This was a proper drift dive in the sense that we were moving at a pretty good pace along with the current. No work was required from our part to move.
When we surfaced, everyone was in the zodiac except for me and Jeanne and the conditions were getting bad as well so the zodiac guy was in hurry to get everyone on board and then to the boat. Jeanne got out of her gear and then she was handing her rig to the zodiac guy, as she was doing that the guy pulled early and Jeanne’s finger got caught between the tank and the plate.
Jeanne was in lot of pain and thought that she broke her finger but luckily it didn’t turn out to be the case. There were no broken fingers.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 52 mins
Max Depth: 65 ft
Air Consumed: 2245 psi.
Wind was picking up and the conditions weren’t that good at all for the night dive so sadly enough the night dive was cancelled. Tomorrow we were going to dive the world famous dive sites of Yolanda And Shark Reef in Ras Mohammed Park and then head out to Tiran Island to do the rest of the dives.
Reefs and Lion Fish attack on night dive
Our first dive was going to be on the Yolanda and the Shark Reef in Ras Mohammed, we were going to drop near the shark reef and then the current would take us over to Yolanda wreck.
Dive 12: Shark and Yolanda Reef
Ours was the second group in water and shark reef is a wall, we dropped about 100 ft exploring the walls.
I really liked the wall of corals at the Shark reef but then we didn’t spend that much time there. 15 mins into the dive we were still at 85 ft, i was at about 1500 psi and so i had to be at shallow depths so that i didn’t suck up all my air.
We didn’t come across anything too exciting just the usual schools of fishes among the corals etc and a big Napoleon Wrasse swimming away. As we neared the wreck of yolanda there were too many bathtubs and toilets which just lay scattered. I didn’t get down there to take pics or something since i was running low on air and decided to stay shallow as compared to others.
I was little disappointed at the end of the dive mainly because this is supposed to be one of the best places to dive in the world and we didn’t see that much at all. It was just the usual stuff that we have seen on the previous dives. We took the zodiac and returned back to the boat.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 48 mins
Max Depth: 104 ft
Air Consumed: 2663 psi.
Dive 13: Jackfish Alley
This was going to be our final dive in Ras Mohammed Park before we move to Tiran Island for the rest of the dives. As we did that we were going to dock for little while to get the garbage out and get a supply of fresh water.
This was also going to be a drift dive and it turned out to be a nice one too. As soon as we descended a turtle was swimming by us, it was the first a time that we saw a turtle during our dives. On this dive we were going to enter some small caves and it was kinda interesting even though there wasn’t anything to see in those caves.
Turtle.
We then came across the usual vast expanses of table corals, fire corals etc with the fish life that goes with them. After getting into the zodiac, we then proceeded to Tiran Island for the rest of our dives.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 53 mins
Max Depth: 69 ft
Air Consumed: 2484 psi.
Dive 14: Gordon Reef
This was going to be our first of the many dives to come in Tiran Island. It was going to be a drift dive and as soon as we descended we came across a swimming moray.
The Moray swam for sometime and then lodged itself in a coral, Khaled signaled that there were two of them and i was expecting to find another big moray but actually there was a small one. I didn’t bother to look around for the small one and missed it.
We kept on swimming for a bit and then saw a big grouper chilling in front of us, we were approaching it cautiously and it was a shy one. I took some pics from a distance and then the grouper went behind a coral. I saw this as my chance to get closer to him and swam towards him with full speed. This guy saw me coming and ran away, George tried to chase it towards the group but then it was too late. I got some good pics up close but then also i ended chasing the poor guy away.
Big grouper.
Swimming through the sandy bottoms we expected to see some garden eels hanging out but unfortunately there were none. I also came across 3 nudis but then all of them were the same old pyjama choromodorid, it was kinda frustrating. I was able to find nudis but they were the same species.
We then came across some coral fields and its was nice. The fire corals out here formed a circular shape and i should have tried to see if there was something hidden in there but didn’t do that. I came across a big rock fish and my friend lion fish but apart from the big grouper there wasn’t anything exciting on this dive either.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 47 mins
Max Depth: 56 ft
Air Consumed: 2035 psi.
Dive 15: Night Dive Gordon Reef (Close Shave with Lion Fish)
Jeanne wasn’t feeling good so she decided to skip this dive and this turned out to be the most exciting dive of all. I buddied up with Neil for this dive. We were not going to do the previous drift dive but only going to explore the reefs where our boat was moored.
As soon as we got into water we started seeing a lot of stuff, almost every coral had some crab in it. 5 mins or so into the dive as Yasser was leading us, i saw Neil heading in different direction, I came upto him and grabbed his fin but i realized it late that he was taking a picture.
At this time Pam she came upto me and grabbed me by the arm and asked me to follow her, I went there and a spanish dancer was sitting merrily. After a while it lifted off the surface and then it started its graceful dance, I started to take its video but i didn’t manage to do a good job. Neil managed to get its graceful movement. The video i took shows the nudi landing happily on the reef. It was not yet the highlight of this dive for me.
Lovely Coral.
We then came across a different nudi this time but unfortunately both neil and myself couldn’t get a good picture of this guy. Floating in mid air we found a jelly fish, it was really pretty with its shining luminescence, i tried taking pics but it was hard and then i decided to take its video which turned out to be pretty decent.
While taking picture of a crab inside a coral both neil and me struggled for a while and then neil found that there was a Scorpion fish right next to this crab. He pointed that out to me but i didn’t realize it was fish, i saw something with orange boundaries and took a picture. Later when i saw this picture finally i could make out that there was a fish there.
I was getting really excited on this dive with all the stuff that we were finding, i managed to located another star fish. Looking back at one of the pics i found that i had taken a pic of shrimp hiding inside the coral, I just love to find these tiny critters they are really amusing.
At the end of the dive was the most scary or rather too exciting part. I found another shrimp inside a coral and wanted to take a good look at it, there was no way that i could have taken its picture and hence i didn’t bother as well. All of sudden, Neil pushed me away and the reason for that was that a lion fish was approaching me. If he hadn’t pushed me away, i would have got a full dosage of this guy’s venom. This was a close shave but the next one was closer.
We continued exploring the reefs and i found a big crab hiding in one of the cracks. I took some pictures of it and was trying to get a good shot and as i looked up there was this lion fish swimming directly towards my face. It must have been only a few inches away and i had to take some quick evasive action.
At this point we were almost 40 mins into the dive and i was really freaked out. So it was time to end this wonderful adventure, even though we had lots of air left and could have easily explored for another 20 mins but i had enough of close calls with lion fish. They seem to be attracted towards my light, could have also been the red tank light as well. I observed a lion fish feeding from top, i didn’t want to go down and let them think that some part of me could have been their meal.
As soon as i came on the boat, I asked Yasser of another dive would be possible after dinner but that wasn’t the case. I guess i didn’t mind those lion fishes after all but certainly would have liked to keep my distance. This was easily the most exciting dive so far but unfortunately it turned out to be my last deep dive on this trip as well.
One of the best pics of the trip on this dive.
Dive Details:
Dive Time: 50 mins
Max Depth: 35 ft
Air Consumed: 1791 psi.
Don’t worry about the title, its nothing major as such. Its all part of the game, sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t.
We woke up early in the morning for the briefing and I thought about using the sinus rinse but being the lazy bum that i am i didn’t, things could have turned out to be different if i had did but its ok.
The dive was going to be on thomas reef and we were going to jump from the boat. I wasn’t feeling any cold or anything when i got into water. But then as we dropped down at about 70 ft i couldn’t equalize, my right ear just wouldn’t clear. So I ascended to about 25 ft or so and tried clearing again but then it didn’t help either, at this point i wasn’t paying that much attention to my depth and clearing out my ear seemed to be a lost cause.
I decided to abort the dive and head to the surface, Khaled ascended after a while and wanted to try out something to help me equalize. He saw some bloody discharge from my nose and hence he didn’t bother and asked me to swim back to the boat. I thought it was a wise decision as well and i started swimming towards the boat.
As i was swimming towards a the boat, I saw a spotted eagle ray going by, boy was i glad or what. I started following the ray to take couple of good snaps of it and they turned out to be great. I took off all my gear etc and then waited for others to show up. The rest of the group also saw the same ray and other than that the dive was pretty mellow.
Spotted Eagle Ray
During breakfast my ear still felt fluffy and it hadn’t cleared out. Khaled asked me not to get into water for the next dive and i obeyed, there was no point in even attempting to dive with this messed up ear.
I took a nap and then i decided to give it another try during the third dive. I asked Khaled if it was ok for me to snorkel near the boat incase i couldn’t equalize again and had to abort the dive, he said it wasn’t a problem.
So i got ready to jump in for the dive but also had my snorkel outside just in case i wouldn’t be able to clear my ears. I jumped in and was planning on descending very slowly but i hit 10 ft or so and i knew i wouldn’t be able to clear so i decided to call it quits and was going to snorkel.
As soon as i got into the water to snorkel, there were couple of barracudas (atleast that is what i thought) but something was not right about them, they were too skinny and their face was elongated. It turned out that they were needle fish.
I was not getting closer to the reefs because the current would really drag me into them, i saw a triggerfish and some yellow fin tunas swimming below. It wasn’t that bad at all, initially i jumped in without my camera but then i decided to go back and get my camera.
I saw a school of needlefish but they were scared of me and didn’t want to come any closer. In the depths below me i could see 3 big fish swimming but they were too far and i couldn’t find out exactly what they were but one of them looked like a big grouper. I was having a really good time just snorkeling, the sargent majors would come right upto me and they were a curious lot.
When the dive groups returned, it was time for me to head back to the boat we were going to move to a new location for the night dive. I wasn’t even going to attempt the night dive but instead just snorkel near the reef. Also i was going to hang my tank light on the anchor rope so that it would be easier for the divers to find out where the boat was located.
I jumped into water before everyone else and then tied the light to the rope. I was hoping that fishes would get attracted to this light and it would be kinda cool to watch them get curious by it but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. No fishes were attracted to the light.
I headed out to the reef and started snorkeling around, there were very few active fishes. I was very wary about lion fishes after the encounters previous night and i spotted one swimming at about 15 ft or so but the good thing was this guy seemed to be distracted by the light and didn’t want to come any closer. I spotted couple of shrimps, star fish and few interesting things but the current was picking up and i decided to head back. I waited for the dive groups to come aboard and then removed the light.
Shrimps.
I was really hoping that my ear cleared out in the morning and i would be able to dive again. I took some pain killers, sudafed and couple of herb tablets which Jeanne handed out to me.
When i woke up in the morning i felt a lot better, I used the nasal rinse, gargled with salt water did everything which i should have been doing regularly all the while and as i was about to head out i felt my right ear go pop. I was really excited by that.
I put on my dive gear etc and then jumped into water with everyone else, i was planning on descending really slowly. This was going to be a drift dive where we would jump from the boat swim along with the current and then get back into the zodiacs at the end of the dive.
As we started to descend, I was able to clear out my ears at 15 ft and i was glad, taking it slow i started going deeper but as soon as i got to about 23 ft, i just couldn’t clear out my ears. It was a bummer. I let Jeanne know that i was going to ascend and then head back to the boat.
I came upto the surface and surprisingly enough i found myself far away from the boat. In a few mins the current can really take you away, I spotted the boat more than 200 – 300 ft away, it could have been further away as well. There was no way i would have been able to swim upto the boat without completely exhausting myself, the waves were not that helpful at all.
I decided to drop to about 8 ft or so and then swim towards the boat since it would be very easy for me that way. After swimming for couple of minutes i heard a noise and then as i looked upward, i saw a zodiac out there. It was our zodiac and so i took off my gear and got back into the boat on the zodiac. It turned out that the boat i was swimming towards was the wrong boat and it had started moving away. If it wouldn’t have been for the zodiac, i could have been in little trouble :).
The currents near the boat were strong so i decided not to snorkel and instead called it as the end of my diving trip. Rest of the guys came up and they saw a white tip shark, apart from that nothing exciting. Also it wasn’t a close encounter with the shark they saw it from a distance so i don’t think i missed out on anything as such 😉
We then moved from Tiran Island and headed off to local Sharm Dive spots, we were moored near this beach where a ton of people were snorkeling, i could have gone snorkeling but then a brilliant idea hit me.
I could equalize at 15 ft so i could technically do a dive but not descend below 15 ft. I asked Yasser about it and he allowed me to go for a dive by myself at the place all the people were snorkeling. It was music to my ears, I was hoping he would allow me to just join the group and i could stay above everyone. But he said i could dive solo and as long as i was in the boundaries of this place. I also had to adhere to a time restriction of 50 mins, since i wasn’t going to go below 15 ft i could have gone on for atleast couple of hours.
I got into my gear and then headed over to reefs and they were very cool. It was like a cavern system and lot of stuff to see underneath, because of this cave like system the snorkelers wouldn’t be able to see all the stuff which i was able to and my torch light would have come in handy. The fishes here weren’t shy, they were not running away from me and it was quite fun. Most of the usual suspects that we have been seeing on the dives were there but i also saw few cool gobies.
Ofcourse my friends the lion fish were also there but this time they were resting and lurking underneath the reefs, we kept a distance from each other without any problems. There was a family of anemone fishes (i am guessing that because there were two big ones and a one small guy) and since i didn’t have to make room for anyone to take pics i had all the time in world to take few pics of them.
I also managed to find eggs of spanish dancers and this time while taking pics i made sure that i would capture the circular pattern of the eggs and i was successful in doing so. 40 mins or so into the dive one of the guys came in to check on me which was very nice. It was also a signal for me that i shouldn’t try to exceed 50 mins, i didn’t plan on doing that as it is.
Eggs.
At the beginning of the dive i took a compass reading of the boat and i was checking on it from time to time during the entire dive, on my way back i managed to find the boat quite easily. It turns out that my navigational skills aren’t as bad as i think they are :).
I really enjoyed this shallow dive and i was proud of the fact that i was in control of my buoyancy all the time, I didn’t surface even once due to lack of control on my buoyancy. My max depth was 14 ft and min was 5 ft with average depth being 9.5 ft. Total dive time was 50 mins.
Rest of the group returned from their dives and then later in afternoon they were heading out for one final dive. I could have dove again in the reef system while maintaining my depth but i was done for the trip. I didn’t want to exert myself too much and Khaled was going to take me to the doctor once we got to the Jetty.
The rest of the group did a short final dive and it was time to head back. Armana and Oleg wanted to do a sunset dive but then since they were going to be the only ones on that dive they decided to skip it. We reached the jetty by 4.15 pm and Khaled walked me upto the Hyperbaric chamber where i would be able to see the doc.
It was a very short visit, the doc asked me to equalize my ears as he took a look at them and immediately came to a conclusion that i had suffered from barotrauma. I tried too hard to equalize and my ear drum wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t think i would have any problems flying back and asked me to take plenty of hot fluids as well as chew gum while flying. A nasal decongestant was prescribed, i was glad that i didn’t have to worry about taking antibiotics or anything like that for infection.
Once at the jetty it was time for good bye’s but before that after dinner most of us decided to head out to Naama bay for a drink. I wasn’t going to go but then at the last moment i decided to join the gang. It was me, Neil, Ashia, Peter, George, Pam, Paloma, Miguel, Markus and Mira who headed out to Naama bay.
We managed to find taxis after a while and this was a crazy party town. It was in complete contrast to Cairo or Luxor, the party went on for the entire night out here. We were planning on going to a place called camel bar but then ended up at this place called Zaza something. It was a pretty nice place with a traditional setting.
I only had a stella and didn’t even try to smoke the sheesha which was ordered by miguel and markus. I had enough of sheesha experience in Luxor. There was a belly dancer girl performing at the center, Mira and Paloma showed everyone their moves along with her. We had a good time at this place, everyone returned early except for Markus and Mira who came back after an hour or so.
The next day morning slowly everyone started leaving according to their schedules and i was the last one off the boat since my flight out of sharm was at 9 pm. Thus my first live-aboard experience came to an end.
This was one of the best vacations i have taken, it was so relaxing and we had a great group of people. Even though i had some problems at the end of the trip, I enjoyed every moment of it. Red Sea diving was little disappointing since we actually didn’t see that much of cool stuff, I would have expected some ugly frog fishes :), some sea horses, more nudis and some big animals. The corals and wrecks out here were simply amazing, i guess they are the ones who can’t move away from all the divers who frequent this place.
I am not sure when my next trip to the red sea would be but one thing i am sure of is that i would be taking more vacations on live-aboards :).