As usual, our first day was to a couple of local dive sites (on a boat, but not too far afield, thus ensuring gentle currents and usually good surface conditions). We dived Temple which was nice, we were the only divers in the water (usually this can be a busy site) followed by Ras Um Sid in the afternoon. I haven’t dived this one for a few months, so that was very nice. We had a nice little drift current too, preparing us for Ras Mohammed tomorrow (the forecast was for wind in Tiran, so we stayed South).

Day two was, as I said, Ras Mohammed. I had a moment of doubt, having advised one of my divers to drop a kilo, so when I saw him struggling to descend I thought “ah maybe he hadn’t been so overweighted, he looks like he needs at least a couple more kilos(!?)” Ok maybe my brain was addled, as when I realised there was no hope of getting him down and sent him back to the boat, I then descended and what did I find at about 20M but a nice little weight belt carrying 8kg. Ah… That was why he couldn’t get down! Doh! Well, I took four of the kilos and the belt, and thankfully another guest (who happened to be an instructor) took the other four kilos. And we had a nice dive to follow. The next dive was the alternatives followed by Shark and Yolande (but.. the tame version hehe). We dropped in on Anenome city and instead of swimming across the blue, hugged the reef and caught the current flying around the back of the reef. A very cool dive. On the sandy saddle we found two huge turtles having a feast… turtle spit was everywhere as they slavered and chomped through the coral (hmmm… don’t eat too much of that stuff it’s pretty!!) They were fantastic, so we hovered a while and watched them munch. A giant napoleon wrasse decided to head our way then, eyeing us up as he sidled past (I do think someone has been feeding them though, as they now get sooo close to the divers, apparently in anticipation of some kind of snack). We also had a very cool squid, giving us a proper colour display as it swung between moods. More napoleon wrasse followed, and shed loads of everything else!! What a cool dive!

Day three was a trip to the Dunraven wreck… one of my favourite days out, and again, I haven’t dived this site for a few weeks, so for me it was a nice treat. There was a flying current as we jumped in and dropped down. Right from the start things were good. A little nudibranch on the hull of the boat, followed by a very large turtle (a boy!) it seems to be very much turtle season at the moment, which is great. After the wreck, we managed to find 3 stone fish in the coral (ok Marc found three stone fish!), and a bunch of barracuda in the shallows… a very nice dive.

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The skills section went fine, so off we went for a little dive, and what did I see? No less than three nudibranchs, all within a square foot of each other! Two pyjama slugs (the bright stripey ones) and another, (flatworm to be specific) which looks just like a leaf, and I have only seen once before. Sadly I kind of threw my students into disarray as I tried to point out these tiny little creatures.

I also saw a rather large banded boxer shrimp hiding in a pot, which was equally cool, but equally well hidden! Doh!

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Well, when I looked out as I left home, I couldn’t even see the National Park itself (Ok yes I am spoiled by a view of the Ras Mohammed National Park from my home). It was all hazy. Whilst the water looked flat, this kind of haze is never a good sign. It usually heralds bad weather, with the haze caused by winds whipping up the sand.

Sure enough, as we left the calm of the jetty, things got a progressively rougher. Nothing too drastic, just windy and choppy with a little underlying swell.

Dive-wise things were lovely, we did Anenome, Shark reef, Yolande and turtle rock in the first dive, with some funky cool thermoclines (22ºC) going on at the back of Yolande and a nice little current. Second dive was Jack Fish Alley and the third was Ras Ghozlani, very pretty dive. With the sun setting a little later now, Ras Ghozlani is once again a very pretty dive to do in the afternoon. For a while it goes through a bit of a green phase in winter, when the shade is just a little too dim, and plankton a little too thick. Having said that, today the viz wasn’t brilliant, great for mantas but none to be seen on this trip

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Meanwhile George was at home supervising the gas men fit pipes!!!

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In the meantime, I shall get back to my rescue course… day three today… scenario day on the boat!

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Anyway, it goes without saying that it is not worth going to the DiveBunnie home page just yet. I will let you know when it is back up and running properly. In the meantime, I think I have a few phone calls to make. What a great way to spend my day off. Hmmph.

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Well it turned out that the diver only had 6 dives, and hadn’t dived for a good few months, so I was expecting it to be an interesting dive. But, as it happened, she was great in the water! Proper neutral buoyancy with only six dives under her belt that was good stuff.

We had a good 45 minute dive where we saw the usual suspects, puffer fish, lion fish (oooh am I repeating the list from yesterday hehe) and… a blue spotted ray turned up for a bit of variety. He was very cool, we found him burrowing into the sand, and as we approached, he decided to swim off, giving us a lovely display as he went. Nice dive.

And… once again, I am at home with the cat. Although she hasn’t bothered to keep me company at all (in true cat form, she is doing her own thing).

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We didn’t see a huge amount, but the divers enjoyed themselves… we saw the usual suspects, parrot fish, puffer fish, lion fish etc.

And now I have the afternoon to myself. So I have plenty of time to update Jilly’s Diva Diary (she is currently undergoing her PADI Course Director’s Training Course in Malaysia). Pop along to the main DiveBunnie site to see how she got on… today was D Day for all the candidates!!!

That done, I have the cat to keep me company, and I might spend a little time in soaking up some sun.

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All safely clambered and heaved back on the boat, we then took shelter by the cliffs around Ras Burgh for most of the day.
And… as I said, now it is glorious once more.

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