Archive for May, 2008
Sunday, May 25th, 2008
DB Home
|
Oh wow!!! My fun diving day in Tiran turned out pretty fine in the end.
I will skip straight to the end of the day first though, because I had the most wonderful experience of swimming with a whale shark!!!! We were on our way back from two lovely dives (had a biiiig eagle ray on one and on the second, we had Jackson reef to ourselves, which is quite a rarity in itself). As we passed Ras Nasrani, we got the shout from Tariq our skipper that there was a big shark ahead!! So out we all leapt to the bow to see whether it was actually a whale shark, and yes it was. Well that was our cue, back we ran to the dive deck, rummaged through all our neatly packed boxes for masks and fins etc and threw ourselves into the blue with the grace of a herd of elephants (hmmm cue reference to my previous career there!).
And then our out-of-this-world experience began. Steve and I basically flanked this quite small (4M) whale shark and swam with it for around ten or fifteen minutes!! At one point I duck dived down beside it and it actually turned to face me, looked at me, and opened it’s mouth (was that a smile???). How beautiful it was. What a wonderful end to a wonderful day.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Day to day stuff, Dive Log, Sharm News | No Comments »
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
|
DB Home
|
Who says that diving off the beach is dull??
We had a lovely dive yesterday off Naama beach which turned out to be a bit of a ray fest. At first there was nothing much to see, and I had begun to think that it was going to turn into a pretty dull dive. Next minute, I caught a glimpse of exactly what I was hoping for, an eagle ray. Two in fact, one of which was a good 2 or 3 metres from wing-tip to wing-tip. They are soooo graceful, what I can’t get over is the fact that they simply glide along with barely a flick of the wing, yet they can move!
After that, anything was a bonus, but we got to see a nice crocodile fish and four bluespotted rays, so a very nice dive all around.
I was really quite chuffed with my dive until I met up with the other local divers on the bus, all of whom had spent a good 10-15 minutes with a whale shark!! Wow!!!
Tomorrow I’m off fun diving in Tiran, let’s see what that brings.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Dive Log | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
|
DB Home
|
So it’s that time again, time to sort out the old visa. We all love that day because it means a trip up to the lovely El Tor. In all honesty we don’t get to see the true town (which apparently is pretty nice… so they say), we only get to see the government building in which they house the passport office. And in true local style, it pretty much resembles a prison office. With bars at the windows and everything! Not a computer in sight, everything hand written in big log books, but some how, amazingly everything is on record and traceable!
We have an hour and a half trip up the coast where we marvel at the mountains and look out to see the little dive boats moored on Thistlegorm (funny how it takes sooo long to get there by sea), and after another hour and a half sat in the dingy offices, we are back on our way home. Thankfully there were a few of us, I do remember my first time there when I was totally alone, hadn’t even thought to bring a book, so sat tapping my feet for a couple of hours while my documents were passed back and forth behind the glass window.
Once we were back in Sharm, we headed straight for the Kitchen for a big English breakfast! Hehe, talk about embracing the local culture. Oops. But it cannot be denied that currently this is the best place to grab a very very good fried breakfast.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Day to day stuff | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
|
DB Home
|
So Jilly is about to join the big boys and is doing her cave diving course in Mexico… somewhere in the region of Cancun and Playa Del Carma to be precise. Renowned for it’s underwater cave systems and centoes, this is the Mecca of all cave divers. Basically the rock is kind of porus, think of a giant sponge, full of holes big enough for a person to swim through. Allow this giant sponge to gradually fill with water, and you have the cave systems of this area. Fantastic caves link up together accessible via inland pools known as cenotes. Here the land has dropped into the cave system and created a pool along the sides of which are entrances to the caves themselves. Because they were previously dry land, you even get trees under the water that have now been submerged. And in one of the caves you can see the remains of ancient civilisation, where residents way way back in prehistoric times have had campfires, the remains of which can still be seen during your dive.
Jilly is keeping a diary of her time in Mexico, in particular her cave diving course, so you can follow her progress here.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Day to day stuff, Dive Log | No Comments »
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
|
DB Home
|
So, not only is the president in town, it appears that all the presidents of the world are descending on Sharm el Sheikh over the next few days. You wouldn’t expect it really being a problem, except that, for security purposes, they have decided to close all the dive sites within the remotest distance of any of the hotels bearing these very most important guests!
Ok I’m not going to be a bore, but it means that the only dive sites available to us are within the Ras Mohammed area. Try teaching Open Water in Ras Mo!!! I don’t think so. Well, anyway, as a compromise we have had to use the sites within the bay of Marsa Ghozlani, which in my opinion is actually not half as pretty as one of the normal local sites. Ah well, I guess we all have our cross to bear, and when the presidents come to discuss world peace, we need to give them their space. Why they choose Sharm as their location, I really don’t know, except for the high level of hotels and pools available!!! Heehee.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Day to day stuff | No Comments »
Friday, May 9th, 2008
|
DB Home
|
So off we went to the wreck today… and what a lovely flat day it was!! Seriously flat, so much so that the boats were able to moor up alongside each other. Those of you who have been to the Thistlegorm in the past will know what a rare event that is.
Having said that the Thistlegorm prides itself on never having totally ideal conditions, so just to challenge us, there was the strongest current I have ever encountered!!! Literally, if you did not grab the rope the second you landed in the water, you would be whisked 10M away from the boat. The new moorings are actually visible from the surface (sitting at only 5m or so), but despite this, it was impossible to swim down to it against the current, so George had to swim down to the bottom for shelter against the current, swim around and then drift back onto the line in order to tie it.
As we went down the line, we were like little flags hanging off it (not uncommon for here) and even the swim to the wreck itself was a bit daunting once we reached depth. Hmmm all good for a challenge I guess.
As always of course, the wreck was particularly spectacular, with big tuna milling around and all the usual stuff to see (although the dives proved to be a little on the short side, due to the current).
Back on the surface, the crew were there ready to help us the second our heads popped up, providing a drag line to the back of the boat. We had already watched a batch of divers floundering on the surface trying to get back to their boat after the dive. Ooo it was certainly interesting. Hehe.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Dive Log | No Comments »
Friday, May 9th, 2008
|
DB Home
|
I saw a whale shark!!!!!
Not a lot else to say really, except that I have lived and worked here for three years, having dived here on and off over the three years before that, and this was my first whale shark!!!
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Day to day stuff | No Comments »
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
|
DB Home
|
So the day after my return from a few days in the UK, I was back on a boat guiding a bunch of snorklers in Ras Mohammed. And, before you say anything, no we are not one of those centres that throw in a bunch of snorklers on Shark and Yolande reefs and watch them fend for themselves. We take them somewhere calm, which today happened to be The Alternatives. We had a great snorkel session, with enough current to bring all the fish out, but not so much that people were struggling. We had a few newbies, one of whom was totally gobsmacked when she put her face in the water and saw the aquarium below her. Always rewarding when that happens.
The next day was Tiran, however with the wind right up there, and white horses all over the place, this soon turned into Ras Katy and Temple (two of our most sheltered local dive sites). There was a stiff North Easterly wind, and with the president in town, we had to keep at least 3km away from the shore, which would have meant ploughing straight into the swell, after a good twenty minutes of driving across it, causing the boat to roll like a rocking horse, even while it was still in the shelter of the bay! Needless to say, five minutes of that, and a quick look up North made up our minds “let’s head for shelter”. And we still had a couple of lovely dives, without the seasick city that would have been Tiran.
Yesterday, we did manage to get a bit further afield. It was still swelly, but Ras Mohammed does have a few more options than Tiran when it’s coming from the North, so we had a great three dive day. The only disappointment being the behaviour of other divers on Yolande reef which you can read all about in our forum.
DiveBunnie Home
|
Posted in Day to day stuff, Dive Log | No Comments »
