Maltese waters are nice to dive, but you need to dive elsewhere to broaden your horizons too... I haven't travelled much for diving, partly being due to lack of time or resources, but I recommend it to everyone!

Egypt February 2016

My first week long Liveaboard dive trip abroad was in February 2016. ATLAM 's Bubbles Club Magazine had requested me to write a few articles accompanied by photos... below are all the articles for this series. Thanks very much to Ivo & Edward who had much encouraged me to share my experience.

Articles as As featured in Bubbles January/February 2016 to January/February 2017 Magazine.

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Part 2 - As featured in Bubbles Magazine March/April 2016

https://issuu.com/bubbles_atlam/docs/bubbles_march-april_2016

The first part of this series of articles talked about logistics and the basic considerations for my first trip to Egypt. Having survived the flights and transfers, settled on the boat and started off on our journey, I left you with a description of my first dive at Poseidon’s Garden Reef where I was introduced to the great variety of corals and the abundance of fish in the Red Sea.

After that check dive, with all systems running up to speed and eagerness to see some heavy metal set in, our Liveaboard boat arrived at Abu Nuhas reef, aka “The Ship’s Graveyard”.

As you can see in this map of this reef, there’s 5 wrecks here, four of which are at an easy maximum depth of 32m, thus all very diveable and with the boat supplied Nitrox 32%, most of your time can be spent enjoying the wrecks rather than looking at the computer to ensure no decompression sets in – Decompression diving on this trip was a strict nonono – the closest medical assistance is in some places over 12 hours away.

Our first planned dive here was the Chrisoula K, a merchant ship that sank in 1981, and so heavy with italian granite floor tiles (hence known as the “Tile Wreck”) that it must have sank down like a brick after hitting the reef! A small curiosity here, above the water just a little distance off from the ship, there is a bow sticking out of the water that people claim is the bow of this ship. However, the bow is still seen below water so where does this bow come from?

Anyways, here was our first wreck and after getting dropped with the RHIB directly above the wreck, parts of which are at 6m depth, my Belgian buddy and I had quite some fun on the wreck, starting from the deepest parrts and working our way through the cargo holds, engine room and decks full of coral and fish up to literally the topmost bit of the wreck.

Throughout the wreck as well, I had my first view at a few staples from the Red Sea: The everpresent Lionfish which is both a beauty to look at and as well dangerous to touch, the Pyjama Nudibranch and the Gold Dotted Flatworm and lots of other colourful and plentiful fish which will move away only to make way for you and tease you to hit the camea button.

All of these were plentiful and easy to see even for the untrained and busy eye spotting something new every other minute on a large wreck which is in itself, beautiful to glide through. The cargo did shift a bit here and there but most of the spaces are comfortable enough for exploring all the important bits, including the engine room. A nice hour long dive passed by quickly and due to dwindling air, it was soon time to catch the taxi, aka as the RHIB back to the boat.

The third dive for this day was also my first night dive here. The reef here at Abu Nuhas is a killer, not only of ships but also for divers due to the nice corals and plentiful life. In the night dive we accompanied all throughout it by two large Lionfish (must have been 12-14 inches long) which our guide told us have learnt that following divers around makes sense as they would find fish that they can then take as dinner! This was proven as they were around us at all times in the night dive and to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive when taking some pictures, having to look around to stay clear and away from them.

Interesting nightlife here included the dangerous stonefish (literally, a stone with eyes), eels, featherworms, a large spanish dancer and more. The Coral also got some attention from me but by now tiredness was kicking in. Also, there were a couple of other groups diving the area so a bit of apprehension about not getting mixed up and joining the wrong group was present.

Getting up to the boat for a relaxing dinner and a bit of chitchat/photo processing and then charging batteries (camera and self) was next up. Time flies when you’re having fun and apparently even more so on a liveaboard.

Part 3 as featured in Bubbles Magazine

https://issuu.com/bubbles_atlam/docs/bubbles_may-june_2016

In the calm waters surrounding Abu Nuhas Reef our Liveaboard Boat was awaken by a very high pitched call “ “Wake UP Wake UP Good Morning Good Morning” from our Dive Guide Sergio who had a particular way of calling this out which could really wake you up, even though our comfrotable beds made their best to reatin us.

On this liveaboard, this routine start of the day happened at 6am everyday, so that by 6.30 we are all in the living area for a quick coffee and water and with enough life in us to understand the briefing for the first dive scheduled to start at 7am.

As the Maltese saying goes, who sleeps doesn’t catch fish and in our case, early wakeups were intended to give us the maximum number of dives to fit in during the day, up to 4. Being the morning of day two today, it was time for some serious wrecking with three wreck dives lined up J.

Giannis D

The first wreck dive was on this iconic wreck whose bridge area is just 5m shy of the surface right at the edge of the reef which it so fortunately (for divers) hit in 1983 and thus sank. The iconic scene of its stern lying on its side is seen over and over again in Egypt diving publicity material, and rightly so. For photographers, it’s shallow maximum depth of 24 metres gives them the ability to take pictures of the wreck in wide angle and using natural light to its maximum, helped also by the crystal clear waters and visibility well beyond 30m.

The wreck itself, even though just slightly more than 30 years after its sinking, is already well populatedwith corals and fish life is plentiful on and around the wreck. Nudibranch and Flatworm lovers are also in for a treat and another spotting during this dive was of the elusive octopus which is not that popular or visible in these areas of Egypt.

The middle part of the ship has been well battered by the storms but both its bow and stern are pretty well preserved. These offer good penetration possibilities and again, thanks to the shallow depths and a Nitrox blend of 32% one can really do some good wreck exploration inside its engine room and other quarters. However, as previously sated, one can also simply stay at 15m and still have great dive and apart from the wreck, explore the reef drop off nearby.

This ship was a bulk carrier and its cargo at time of sinking was wood which is nowadays gone.

Lifewise, the wreck is a playground and hunting ground for many fish and other forms of life such as sting rays, flatworms and nudibranchs. We were also lucky to spot an octopus, which during our trip were either very shy or rarely seen. The dive itself ended

The SS Carnatic

The second dive for the day (just before lunch) was on another iconic shipwreck, the ‘SS Carnatic’. This Wood and steel steamship originally built in 1862, so at the dawn of steam powered vessels, found its fate on the Abu Nuhas reef in 1869 and thus has laid there for almost 150 years. What is not still there is a huge cargo of gold which was salvaged within two weeks. Reports from the time said that all gold was salvaged, but wine bottles did not make the ticket for salvage and you can still see fragments of the loads of wine bottles that were onboard.

If you can’t find gold coins or fine wine however don’t despair. Any underwater photographer will find a boxful of gems worth in this divesite, with plenty of awesome wreck pictures to take in the wreck’s holds and all around it. The construction of the wreck with Iron beams and wooden decks means you can penetrate inside the ship (which lies split in half and on its starboard side) with relative ease and plenty of lights as decks have rot away.

After 150 years down here at a maximum of 30m, nature completely claimed the wreck as its own and the amount of soft and hard corals which have covered this wreck makes it a beauty to dive and photograph. No trip to the Red Sea would be complete without a visit to this wreck. Simply an amazing dive and pity air requirements and RHIB were calling out loudly after over an hour on and around it.

The Dunraven and Beacon Rock

It was time to set sail again and after our Carnatic dive, our Liveaboard boat let loose from its moorings towards another ancient wreck to visit for our third dive of the day. The Dunraven lies close to an area called Beacon Rock and after the short “steam” towards this old steamship, which sank in 1876, we soon had another nice dive to look forward to.

This wreck, contrary to Carnatic, had a metal hull which is still in good nick even after 140 years and lying upside down at the edge of a coral reef. Since being upside down mean most of the dive is inside the actual hull, its not a dive for new starters and one should take care of silting.

However, inside it is a beauty for wreck explorers and for finding out the small nudibranches and other forms of life that prefer the darker (but not completely dark) interior. Inside, the must see are the ships two boilers (lying amidships in the centre) and the glassfish, prawns and pipefish that inhabit it.

Once done from the wreck, which is a bit faster than one would like as the dive inside the wreck means you have to keep within the 20+ meter range, there is a coral reef just outside. The reef is an amazing jungle of hard and soft corals and fairly large Napoleonfish and eels all around. Dear Nemo is everpresent together with the slightly creepy (in my opinion) Bigeyes and the beautiful batfish.

Three nice wrecks all in a day, time for relaxation and getting ready for the next day, which involved a fairly known wreck formerly named as the “Thistlegorm”, or better, the apex of a wreck tour in the Red Sea with it WW2 war equipment including trucks and motorcyles… but more about it in the next issue of Bubbles.

Part 4 as featured in Bubbles Magazine July/August 2016

https://issuu.com/bubbles_atlam/docs/bubbles_july-august_2016b

The beautiful sunrise over the Red Sea with clear blue skies in February and calm seas could not have come with more eagerness today for our group of divers. The program stated today was going to be the day to dive on the most must-visit-at-least-once wreck in the Red sea… the SS Thistlegorm!

SS Thistlegorm was the third dive on the list for the day, so let’s first see where we were diving before and resist the urge to move to the last two dives of the day J

Shark Reef and Yolanda Wreck

The first dive before our proper breakfast, starting at 6.30am was a planned drift dive along Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef. The Westerly currents here make diving back not an option so the plan for the dive was to get dropped by the boat’s RHIBs next to the reef and start a descent down the reef’s wall and let the current get us moving.

From the briefing, there were two concerns: 1 – Stay together. 2 – We might see some big fish here, possibly sharks, so hence the name of the reef. This area is also part of Ras Mohamed National Park, so guides stressed on taking care not to touch or damage coral in any way and thus, to follow local laws, no dive knives or gloves were allowed to be carried.

The dive itself proved to be a good opportunity to experience a drift dive, with strong currents pushing us and not really giving you much time to stop and take time for photos. In fact most of my pictures on this dive are really from the areas were the current was not as strong, mainly at the end of the dive next to the remains of the Yolanda wreck (again, hence the name of the second reef).

To be honest as well, the deeper parts of the dive at about 30m were not as nice as other dives due to little visibility. Some big groupers and possibly sharks were spotted as well, but these were at least at 50+ metres so well out of range for my camera. However, the rest of the reef was full of corals, sea anemones, the assorted rainbow of colours of red sea fish, (too many to name) and the Clownfish was ever present.

The last part of the dive was amongst part of the cargo of the Yolanda which was grounded at Ras Muhammad in 1980. The wreck initially was a popular dive site but then during a major storm in 1985 it fell off the reef and is now in about 150m of water. Toilets and Bath Tubs and many other things from its cargo were left behind and have since been claimed by Marine life. Interesting point here, the bath tubs still are full of water J.

Following pickup by RHIB and return back to boat for breakfast we did a quick turnaround and within 1 hour we were hitting the water for a second dive here, for the second dive.

Anemone City and Shark Reef

In the second dive, we were briefed in similar fashion as for the first dive. The location was pretty much the same but this time were doing a much shallower dive in order to reduce nitrogen intake (even though each dive was being done on Nitrox 30%) before the last two dives of the day. Whilst we were going to see shark reef again, this time we were going to go to the shallower parts were anemones and corals were in full display and fish aplenty.

Flatworms and the blue spotted stingray together with the usual moray eels were also on the program and none missed the call for parade. We had another long 1 hour dive, staying within 20m of the surface and at the same time, had to monitor current to ensure we made the correct pick up point near Yolanda’s bathtubs. Coming out of the water on this dive meant two things to look forward, lunch and then… finally THE SS Thistlegorm.

SS Thistlegorm (dive 1)

We arrived on site at the SS Thistlegorm later in the afternoon after a short cruise up the west of Ras Mohamed National Park and whilst comfortably having lunch and then the obligatory rest. We were lucky to find very few boats around SS Thistlegorm which meant less confusion on the wreck. However, the mooring lines indicated quite early (and as per guide’s dive when mooring) that currents were going to be strong, as is quite normal here.

The SS Thistlegorm, for those who haven’t heard about it yet (unbelievable but true), is a child’s dream toy box of Military motorcycles, trucks, rifles, Locomotives, aircraft parts and a couple of nice deck guns on a WW2 wreck. The SS Thistlegorm was delivering this material to Alexandria Egypt but due to an accident in the Suez Canal, was waiting at anchorage in the same place where she now lies, courtesy of an air attack by German planes in October 1941.

The Ship is mostly intact apart from the damage inflicted by the bombs and explosions on the ship. The cargo is also in very good condition but shows signs of deterioration due to age (75 years), irresponsible divers and a bigger issue, boats mooring on this fast becoming fragile wreck. Unfortunately, projects mentioned to create permanent mooring buoys for boats instead of mooring on the wreck have not yet materialised.

Our much expected dive, due to strong currents, was planned to be down a mooring line taking us from the diving deck of our boat to the moorings on the starboard front side of the wreck, with a quick visit to the remains of a locomotive on the seabed and then up and over the decks, having a look at the two guns on the stern, going back to the mooring line at the front.

Dive briefing said not to go into the holds due to the depth and time within the dive but a sneak peek from above already showed quite clearly the cargo held within on the different decks. Trucks, motorcycles, water and coal trains and other military apparel were visible even from well above the cargo holds. As you well know, time passes quickly when having fun and going back up the shot line, one could not do otherwise but look back at the wreck with eagerness for the next dive.

SS Thistlegorm (Night Dive)

By the time the sun set, all of us were again quite ready for some more action. A wonderful wreck such as SS Thistlegorm keeps calling out loud for visitors. This time round, at night, the descent into the deep was also met with a little bit of apprehension.

The currents, which earlier were strong, now were plainly at almost ridiculous levels. Hands were well glued to the mooring line and no one was daring to let it go until the wreck provided itself a little shelter and slightly better ability to move forward into the current without being pushed twice the distance back. I think this was not a dive for the recently qualified, but only for those who are ready for such a challenge.

We did the dive around the top deck mainly but that nice hold was too inviting and our buddy pair decided well before we went in the water that we will do a little bit of exploring. It ended up being a bit of a relief from the strong currents and visibility was even a little bit better. Due to it being pitch black we stayed around the cargo hold hatches and made sure at all points we were close to the exit.

The wreck itself mainly had an assortment of Lionfish which were following the divers (as with our lights they could more easily pick up preys) and quite a few Nudibranchs and Flatworms all around. The colours at night are also much more amazing and the corals which have grown on this wreck make a huge contrast between the grim reality of War (9 people died in the attack on SS Thistlegorm) and nature’s ability to conquer and flourish. Back to the boat, my last dive on the Thistlegorm the next morning, with many pictures, to be seen in the next issue of the Bubbles!

Part 5 as featured in Bubbles Magazine September/October 2016 https://issuu.com/bubbles_atlam/docs/bubbles_sept-october_2016

In my last article for Bubbles July/August, I described the awesomeness of SS Thistlegorm and described the first two dives. Still eager for more time on this Kid’s Toy Box, Day 4 of our trip found divers even more willing to jump in the water as fast as they can…

SS Thistlegorm – The Holds

Thankfully, this morning the current abated a little and although present, it was not annoying (comparatively, it felt like the current on the Um el Faroud in the afternoon)

Since the boat had not moved, diving teams again descended via the mooring line conventiently moored from the deck of our liveaboard down to the Starboard mid-section of the SS Thistlegorm and this time, we went straight for the treasure chest!

As described in my earlier article, this ship went down with a whole range of Trucks, Cars, Motorcycles, Locomotives, their trains, guns and other equipment. Every other corner in the spacious and in most areas, still nicely organised, was full of much needed war equipment for the Allies’ forces in Egypt which however, made it only to the bottom of the sea after a journey of thousands of miles from Glasgow, just a few hundred miles shy of its port of call.

Obviously, the Motorcycles and Trucks get the most gleaming attention from the divers, but the together with the rest of the equipment, with a little imagination, one can easily imagine how important this cargo was. The Steam locomotives are the only items which fell off the ship as they were loaded on the deck, and some items, like an armoured tank are still on the wreck though on its head.

In this dive, our aim was to explore as much of the ship’s middle and lower deck as possible, but one has to remember that the part of the stern was severely damaged due to explosions on board and thus mostly the front is well accessible. 75 years at the bottom of the Red Sea have also not been too kind but some unneeded damage is actually being done on a daily basis due to the way boats have to moor to the ship, sometimes also due to negligence or extreme need when guides are mooring boats in strong currents.

One can easily find online specific examples of areas of the ship damaged due to this and every diver with a passion for wrecks should join in the calls to have this historical wreck protected and pressure be applied so that the necessary facilities are put in place to save the SS Thistlegorm from further unneeded damage.

The light on this early morning dive provided also some good opportunities for using light coming in from the open holds to take some natural light shots inside the wrecks and quite a lot could be admired without needing artificial lighting. The wreck, in other areas like the captain’s cabin (still complete with its bath) is pretty well lighted up and thus, when considering depth, makes up for a dive that you wish never ends albeit with extreme sadness, it had to. Au revoir SS Thistlegorm, hope to see you again soon!

The Rosalie Moller

We steamed off from the SS Thistlegorm for a short while to visit a wreck very much connected to the SS Thistlegorm’s sinking as it was sunk only two days later in October 1941 whilst it was also awaiting passage into the Suez Canal at a place which was considered a “Safe” anchorage. Unfortunately for the Allies, the presumption of safety made them both sitting ducks to German Heinkel bombers that left from Crete and attacked at night.

The Rosalie Moller was the deepest wreck we were going to visit during this trip as she lies on a sand seabed of 40+ metres. The uppermost bits of the deck starts about 28m and thus, our nitrox mixes were going to prove beneficial but decompression was going to be hard to miss having. The Rosalie Moller is pretty large as a wreck as well, so doing just a round of the ship was not going to be possible.

Our dive again was directly onto the ship that to a permanently attached mooring line on the ship which is much better condition than the Thistlegorm. Unfortunately, visibility was unusually low for this wreck, with a max of about 20m compared to the Red Sea’s usual 40m. No trucks and motorcycles either because this ship was carrying coal instead.

The ship still proved to be full of life, with many fish on the actual wreck, including glass fish, lionfish (loads of them on deck), many groupers, nudibranchs and at one point, a large shoal of amberjacks. I saw also a slipper lobster but unfortunately this was an empty shell L

The dive was relatively short and even with nitrox, me and my buddy ended the dive with deco almost in double digits (not a great idea in a place where the closest chamber is 12hrs away by boat) but with light tanks, we made it back on the boat. I think this dive is underestimated a bit due to its more famous preceding wreck, but should one be prepared to make a technical dive, this would be an ideal wreck to visit here.

Gubal Island and The Barge

Our boat moved again to another site, Gubal Island. In a nice shallow bay, our next target dives (after lunch and mid-afternoon nap) were planned to be shallow to make up for the deeper dives we did the day before. At only about 15m in the deepest depth, this dive briefing described for us a site with remains of a more modern small wreck whose origin was unknown, with only the hull remaining which points to it having had a wooden superstructure. It is called the Barge but may have had other uses.

Our briefing also described the resident huge moray eel named “George” who was known to frequent this wreck and who, we were told, will be found looking up to the wreck. The Guides were right and George was there to greet us. OMG… this was an eel to remember. As you can see in the photos attaching this article, the eel was huge. With no narcosis to blame, I estimate it must have been all of 4m in length and the width of its main body (narrow point on the spine) seen from above was about the distance from the tip of your thumb to the tip of your small finger. It was resting underneath a bit of wreckage with only a small part of its head (and neck if you can call it as such) jutting out.

We also found later that George was not on his own, and another eel was found on the other side of the barge, a bit more shy this time and smaller, but still a large eel compared to Malta’s standard ones J. We decided to call her Georgette and who knows… maybe it was his girlfriend J

Apart from the skeleton of the barge, the site itself proved to be an aquarium full of different fish and we enjoyed it to the max, decompressing a bit from wrecks and still enjoying the huge variety and colour of life here in the Red Sea.

Having gone past the midpoint of this trip, there were still great dives lined up, complete with wrecks and as you’ll see from the next article, even some bigger mammals and fish .

Part 6 – A good trip gets even better!

https://issuu.com/bubbles_atlam/docs/bubbles_nov-dec_2016

Another calm morning dawns on a group of 9 divers in the Red Sea... with full equipment on, it’s another day in Paradise (or almost ). It’s time to visit another wreck, or is it a reef which has taken strangely human squarish and other shapes? Life is everywhere here, and a wreck which has laid here for close to 150 years would not be anymore an eyesore, but rather a hotspot of life.

The Ulysses

The Ulysses was a cargo ship en route from London to the far east, heavily laden with electrical cable to bring light to areas where probably it had never been seen yet and other cargo from Industrial England. Considering the Suez Canal had only been opened a few years before, maybe the seafarers from the time were not yet accustomed to the reefs and dangers lurking ahead.

Like the Carnatic (covered in a previous article – look for Bubbles May/June issue), Ulysses got stranded on a reef and this time there was no Calypso hosting it as within two weeks it slided down the reef and rested on the bottom at 30m. However, the two weeks stay on the reef enabled the salvage of the cargo and we should be thankful for that as part of the cargo was Mercury which surely would not have been a nice addition to the environment here.

The Ulysses’ construction of Metal and Wood shows the development of the shipbuilding industry in these ages of the Industrial Revolution and this enabled us divers as well to be able to enjoy wrecks as wooden ones would have rotted away in a few years.

The frame and hull of the Ulysses in fact survives partly intact to this day lying on its side as if it was a sleeping giant. Nature has also cemented it for the longer term by covering most areas with algae and corals thus creating an ecosystem quite complimentary to the reef it had struck. Maybe one could say that the reef has made the Ulysses part of it in revenge for any damage caused when it was grounded?

The Ulysses also turned out to be full of nudibranchs and flatworms of different species feasting on algaes, fish swimming in and out between the decks of the ship and life extending as far out around the ship as the mast which lies on the seabed perpendicular to the ship.

This dive allowed us to explore with relative ease all around inside and outside the wreck but was planned also to make the most of the reef around the wreck with its beautiful corals and also its visitors, amongst which a young turtle which came to inspect the strange creatures visiting its reef! An amazing experience to see one this up close and personal! (Video link: https://youtu.be/j6AdVHRLBZA)

Gezira Siyul Kebir

Next dive on the plan was the reef around this small island. No wrecks this time to look at but the Red Sea was pulling all strings to give us a good show, with loads of fish of different types, corals and sea anemones, nudibranchs and those who manage to observe well, a lot of other life which thrives in this environment.

The dive itself was also a drift dive as explained in the briefing made on the way to the dive site whilst we were busy having another nice breakfast prepared by the amazing kitchen staff. After the boat had moored to its mooorings, we were shuttled via RHIB to a drop off around the corner from the mooring and then it was a matter of following the dive leaders and observing, stopping for pictures and relaxing until it was time to go up to the boat

Umm Qamar

Whilst de-kitting and showering, the boat immediately departed to Umm Qamar island. Translated as “Mother of the Moon”, I would be the last person on earth to compare this divesite as anywhere close to the surface of the moon.

Again, this was another awesome reef and wall dive with a small cavern included for having a good mix. To be completely honest, the cavern wasn’t remarkable but then again it might be that we in Malta are too used to visit caverns around our shores.

Fish life here was again plentiful and we also encountered quite a few large moray eels, for sure having a good time since they had plenty of food all around. They were not to be the largest fish to see for long though....

Back on the Boat, we were off for a short trip to Shaab el Erg and the Dolphinhouse... and yes....

Shaab el Erg

DOLPHINS!!!! That was the cry we heard as soon as we were mooring at Shaab el Erg amongst a couple of other Liveaboards and Day Diving boats. We were invited (something no one would conciously refuse) to jump on one of the RHIBs and get shutttled to the area the dolphins were seen, about 200m away from the boat.

Literally, no time was lost so I just grabbed the camera off the charging station and ran to the boat and in two minutes we were in sea with mask and fins and snorkel with dolphins swimming around us and me franticaly trying to take shots... which is when I realised that I left the memory card in the laptop as I was transferring pictures form previous dives... thus leaving me with an option of 4 photographs maximum to store on the camera’s memory.

Still , 15 minutes I’ll probably never forget, even though I don’t have as many photographs as I would have wished .

In the following night dive, which was to be the last in the Red Sea, we were told we wouldn’t see them again as the dolphins are not normally seen at night here. However, we still took the opportunity for the plunge and although not a memorable dive, it was still interesting enough and leaving us with high hopes for the next morning dive planned to be here again. Would we see the dolphins?

Check your mailbox for the next issue of the Bubbles and you won’t be disappointed in my last article for this series about a trip to the Red Sea in February 2016

Part 7 – At some point... one has to come back home...

https://issuu.com/bubbles_atlam/docs/bubbles_jan-feb_2017

In last month’s article, I recounted the experience of seeing up close and personal a turtle and a dolphin. Last day into this six day diving trip, one could only hope for some more big game . Dives for the day were three and yes.. .big game was seen, more than once!

Shaab el Erg

The previous day, as you may recall from my last article, we saw dolphins here and we had a bit of snorkeling with them. For this morning, no one was late for the briefing at 06:30am. Yes, you read right.. on holiday and attending a dive briefing at 06:30am... divers are nuts, for diving!

The reef plan was shown to us in the usual presentation briefing but the main expectation was dolphins and nice coral. Neither would be missing. The dive progressed quite calmly, with a small opposing current initially and mainly swimming in a sandy valley between two reefs and we were quite eager to spot our friendly mammals.

At turnaround point, the corals and small fish were still very nice but after a week of corals maybe it was time you’d start wishing for something more unusual. At one point I was shooting some pictures for a buddy who spotted a heart shape designed on the bottom by divers using broken coral and wanted some pics to send to his girlfriend back in Finland. Later I was adding some closeups to coral for me to check later for names when at home.

And that’s when out of the corner of my eye I spotted shadows coming towards us!

A nice group of nine dolphins made their way towards us. An automatic reaction brought the camera in front of me and thankfully, this time, with an SD card in the camera, I managed to shoot some pictures of these friendly giants. However, it appeared that they would not stop and play... maybe who knows, they were looking for their breakfast. All expect one, which turned around and had a look at us, then continued on their graceful swim and out of sight. A few seconds which I think we wish could have become minutes, but alas, more reasons to think of return trips.

El Fanadir

El Fanadir was meant to be the last dive before we return in front of Hurghada for the last dive (and as well the last wreck).

Although the site itself did not turn out to have the most beautiful bottoms, we were told that the reef, which sloped down to technical diving depths, could offer big game sightings. The guide himself had spotted whale sharks a couple of times here together with dolphins and other larger fish.

In our dive, we started off with a nice crocodile fish (not related to nile crocodiles which are some of the nastiest in the world) who posed nicely for a few photos. Following that, our drift dive took us on a tour of the reef and its land side wall which proved to be a mix of the usual fish and corals in this area.

At one point, we also saw swimming by a fish (about 1.5m long) which we strongly believed was a shark! Hearts skipped a beat here but since it kept passing away and we saw it from a distance, we soon relaxed a bit more and continued the dive. It did make a second pass about 10 minutes later and the guide back on the boat explained to us that it was a popular fish (something with “M” if that helps) that is normally swimming together with whale sharks and thus he was looking for one in the area but to no avail.

The visbility here was also very good as in most of our previous dives and the last reef photos were thus taken for future memories, and to share with you readers as well. Once we spent our whole hour under, we put up DSMBs and the liveabord’s tenders came to pick us up to return to the boat, and, unfortunately from there the boat would take us for the last dive.

El Miniya

The last wreck on our Wrecks and Reefs tour was an Egyptian Minesweeper, the “El Miniya”, which was given to the Egyptians by Russia (together with three sister ships) and had been sunk in an Israeli air attack in February 1970.

Conveniently it was sunk just outside the Hurghada harbour and thus this was also going to be our last dive. Together with my buddies along this trip, a Belgian and a Finn with whom I made friends made during this trip, we went down a shot line from the boat down 30m to the seabed next to minesweeper which is lying on its side. Visibility was not the best as again, we’re just off the harbour.

The Miniya was sunk in action and in fact one could still see its anti-aircraft guns on the seabed where they fell and the huge gash in her front where it was hit by the aircraft. The dive itself gave us an opportunity to explore a bit the inside though in retrospect, maybe it was a bit too much for the end of the trip as we did quite a bit more penetration than we should have, arriving to its engine room through a narrow corridor at 25m depth.

On the bow, apart from the beautiful red coral we also spotted a nice crocodile fish and all around the wreck itself, fish life was plentiful. I was a bit intrigued by some unusal bits of equipment on her side which looked like torpedoes but these were more probably part of the minesweeping equipment.

Recap

This being my last article in this series, I thank you for reading the articles and I have appreciated your comments on this trip.

For those who maybe have been enticed to consider diving in Egypt, I have just a few words: Go for it!

Myself, I had originally planned to visit again this January but unfortunately due to change of jobs I haven’t yet found the time. My next trip there would probably be for the more southern diving spots for some nice reefs and bigger fish. Maybe a few wrecks could be on that itinerary too .

In the meantime, we can appreciate our own local reefs and wrecks, which have nothing less than these reefs I described, but rather, different life forms and environments which we can enjoy all year round.

Safe and Happy Diving to All!