Sitting on the plane taking us to Sharm el Sheikh for a week’s diving I noticed that we were surrounded by what could be stereotyped as roughty toughty divers and wondered whether we were all headed for the Whirlwind – and so it came to pass that we were.
Diving for the week was the usual reiteration of sleep, dive, eat, repeat with some slight variations.
Our guides were Sayed and Samah, who looked after us very effectively, with good pre-dive briefings and excellent guiding for those who wanted it – finding the interesting things that we’d probably have swam straight over, and helping when people had problems. And what with the crew helping us in and out of our gear and heaving the more ungainly of us on to the boat at the end of the dive.
The diving was all round the north Red Sea and a mix of wrecks and reefs – including that most iconic of wrecks the Thistlegorm.
We also dived the Carnatic and Giannis D – both recognized as top quality wrecks in the area. The swim-throughs between the ribs of the Carnatic was quite delightful.
On the Ghiannis D we went through the boiler room of the wreck and it was a lesson learnt, remember your torch, as we very much needed this in some sections of the wreck.
On the night dive at Gubal Island we saw a Giant Moray Eel
As the weather precluded much more time on the west side of the Sinai peninsula, we made our way back towards Sharm via some very beautiful reefs – in particular Jackson, Thomas and Gordon Reefs. On a few occasions we took the rib out to the reefs before our dives. On one of the dives at Jackson Reef, some people had seen sharks but unfortunately Ian and Gloria did not. On a lunch dive at Gordon Reef, we saw a sea turtle swim up to the surface and descend back down. The next morning we dived Thomas Reef near Tiran Island and spotted four juvenile barracudas and a Napoleon Wrasse , it was a great dive!
On the very last dive we took the rib out to Gordon Reef in front of the wreck above the water. We were lucky enough to see another turtle that swam up close to the camera and a black-blotched stingray. It was a great end to our trip.
The week culminated our most recent member and least qualified diver (Gloria) being voted diver of the week by our guides; she had mastered the use of the GoPro in no time, and produced fantastic short videos some of which have been used in this blog and from which all the photos have been extracted. Brilliant end to an excellent week’s diving. And if you would like to see some her footage or stills from it, I’m sure she’ll oblige.
And the roughty toughty divers were all very amenable and helpful and friendly.
Jane & Gloria
