Category Archives: Red Sea

Red Sea, 11-18 December 2015

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This time B and I were able to join our dive gang fellow diving enthusiasts The Sons of Narky (Red Sea Original) on Blue O’Two‘s MV Blue Horizon for Northern Wrecks and Reefs. We hit a snag almost as soon as we arrived at Gatwick; our 2× additional baggage tickets just said “diving equipment” on them rather than “30Kg” that we had booked and paid for, so we had to argue at the check-in desk (and again at Hurghada on the way back). More about Hurghada airport later…

Of the 21 (I think) possible dives, we did 15:

Dive Location Description Max/Avg depth (m) Runtime (min)
1 Poseidon Reef Check dive on air, then switched to Nitrox 14/11 51
2 Emperor Fraser I know someone who was aboard at the time! 28/14 50
3 Shark & Yolanda Current – did not make it round to toilets 22/14 55
4 Shark & Yolanda Ditto 24/12 42
5 Alternatives / 7 Pinnacles Night dive 12/8 37
6 Dunraven Strong current 29/18 33
7 Thistlegorm Outside 30/17 42
8 Thistlegorm Inside 25/17 47
9 Carnatic 25/18 52
10 Giannis D 22/14 49
11 Rosalie Moller Another leisurely lap around the upper deck – would love to come back with mix and spend a whole day on her. BO2 wanted us back at the shotline with 3 mins no-deco remaining, but we have plenty of gas left in our twinsets. 34/22 34
12 Ulysses 27/18 39
13 Siyul Kebir  Dived Siyul Soraya last time 19/12 35
14 Shab El Erg  Dolphins! 12/8 50
15 Umm Gamar 19/11 52
Total runtime: 668

Perhaps we dived a bit less than last time such as only one night dive, but that was fine, with a large group of friends there was plenty of hanging out to be done and beer to be drunk 🙂 Kit-wise pretty much the same, Argonaut, manifolded twin AL-80’s, about 3.5Kg weight, with merino baselayer. There were 5 of us in drysuits and 6 in wetsuits (plus a dozen other guests on the boat, all of whom were in wetsuits). One thing that struck me is that there is plenty of great diving to be done in the ART/R3 range; I still intend to complete Normoxic or T1 but have no real urgency to do so.

On the way back, we were told to disconnect batteries from electrical devices, which is contrary to usual airport requirements at the moment that devices must be able to be switched on for inspection. Also it is usual that lithium ion batteries be carried in hand luggage not in the hold. But we did, only to discover at the airport that they were confiscating all batteries! A bit of fast talking meant we got to keep our Light Monkeys, but they made us check the heads into the hold (why?) and just take the batteries in hand luggage. We only lost the AAs from backup torches and the 18650s from the video lights so in total about £30 worth, plus all the stress. On the other side of security, we found a bunch of infuriated people it had happened to as well. Later discussion with local contacts indicated it was just to show the world that Egypt was finally taking security seriously after recent events. I am more than happy to comply with reasonable security measures, I just don’t see how this one helped…

Anyway, it was a great trip with great people on a great boat, would recommend to anyone.

2014 in Diving

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Another good year for diving, tho’ like every diver every year, I wish I had dived more in it! Particular highlights in no particular order were:

Looking forward to next year already, plans afoot for GUE Tech 1, and places booked at TEKcamp (which is going biennial, alternating with EuroTEK), and hopefully lots of just diving! Also perhaps getting involved in some Project Baseline initiatives.

Red Sea, 20-27 October 2014

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B and I dived the North & Brothers itinerary on MV Tala, flying into and out of Hurghada. Red Sea Explorers handled the transfers, taking us straight from the airport to the boat, and from the boat to the airport on the last day. We booked the diving directly, and the flights separately with Easyjet from Gatwick North direct, tho’ another option would have been EgyptAir via Cairo, which would have included 2×23Kg bags each, rather than the 32Kg bags that Easyjet charged us a fortune for (I think we could have managed with the very slightly cheaper 29Kg option). We chose RSE simply because they are the GUE facility in the Red Sea, which is the guarantee of quality. Of the 18 planned dives we did 16, sitting out 2 night dives to chillax with a beer 🙂

Dive Location Description Max/Avg depth (m) Runtime (min)
1 Fanous East Checkdive to sort out weighting and thermal comfort 13/9 47
2 Salem Express A penetration into this famous wreck, surfacing just after sunset. Shot some video inside. 30/18 56
3 The Brothers Small Brother, saw sharks 31/16 60
4 The Brothers West side of Small Brother 31/18 46
5 The Brothers Small brother again, with more sharks 30/15 54
6 The Brothers South plateau of Big Brother. Nice but uneventful. 30/18 48
7 The Brothers North plateau, wrecks Numidia and Aida. Would be good to come back on mix and have a proper look at them, they were just below MOD for 32%. Negative entry off the RIB to 10m. 36/18 53
8 The Brothers South plateau 22/12 50
9 Abu Nuhas Wreck of the Giannis D, which I have done before, but its a good one 🙂 20/13 62
10 Thistlegorm Strong current and unfortunately bad viz. Penetrated the forward section, saw the locomotive lying off the portside. Every time I dive her, I am dismayed at how much she has deteriorated since the last trip. 30/17 56
11 Thistlegorm Night dive 22/15 42
12 Thistlegorm Down the shotline to the bow, through the holds to avoid the current, then around the stern 31/18 50
13 Rosalie Moller Down the shot amidships, around the bow, back around the stern then up. Only around the top of the deck at 34m – would love to come back and do this as a mix dive. 34/21 38
14 Gubal Island Wreck of the Ulysses and many, many friendly dolphins 24/15 46
15 Siyul Soraya A gentle drift dive with lots of life 23/14 60
16 Carless Reef Double pinnacle with lots of life 15/12 63
Total runtime: 831

The skill of the guides and captain was very apparent in that we often had the dive sites completely to ourselves, the only boat there. I have been on Thistlegorm for example on dayboats where there are over a dozen boats tied on, and 200-odd divers in the water, it’s insane, but having the leisure to explore it without anyone else was infinitely better. Definitely worth paying the premium for! Another thing worth a mention was the trip onshore to visit the lighthouse on Big Brother. Kit wise, I wore my Argonaut drysuit with Icebreaker 200 baselayer, no hood or gloves, and identical to the UK kit configuration otherwise. The cylinders were twin manifolded AL80s (11.1ℓ each) with which I used a 3.6Kg v-weight, so pretty much the same weighting as I’d have with a BZ200 undersuit and a steel twinset in the UK or Malta, which is very handy to know for the future. My SAC averaged about 18ℓ/min, which is normal for me, we were often surfacing with 100 bar in our twinsets limited more by 1hr dive times or no deco limits (or currents). All this might seem like odd kit configuration for a recreational trip in warm 25℃ water, but it’s what we’re used to now, and gave me the opportunity to practice a few skills ready for a Fundamentals upgrade to Tech pass evaluation, the weekend after we got back.