Red Sea Trip Report

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SubMariner

C'est Moi
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Location
A Canuck Conch
# of dives
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RED SEA TRIP REPORT

Background
After floundering around on the Web, we discovered it was cheaper and (somewhat) less complicated to book our Red Sea liveaboard through the UK versus a North American travel agent. This was especially important in our case, as we had specific time/date restrictions, namely tacking it onto the end of Pearce’s March business trip to Ireland. The other major criterion for us was the size of the boat. If two years on a sailboat taught us anything, it was that when you are in open water with little shelter, the larger and heavier the vessel, the better.

Meanwhile, the end of March-beginning of April is the last of the “low season” in the Red Sea. Not only is the water cooler, but the winds tend to be higher, making for some potentially unpleasant liveaboard conditions. This is reflected in trip pricing. Remarkably, the week we were there it was uncommonly calm, with only one choppy day. The Weather Spirits were definitely smiling on us.

Not to mention The Booking Spirits! At 100’ in length, The Royal Emperor normally sets out with 12-14 passengers. On our trip we were lucky to share this luxurious boat with only four other divers! Nine crew to six passengers… can you say “pampered”?

I won’t go into much further detail about the boat setup except to say that the only way diving could have been easier was if you would have been able to roll out of bed into the water. Given the wide range of dive experience amongst the guests, Grant, the Dive Guide and Harbi, the ship’s Captain, did a wonderful job finding the best dive sites. As a PADI Master Instructor, Grant knew who to shepherd & who to leave alone. I’ll let YOU decide which category WE fit into. :wink:

The Dives
If you wanted you could have done 20 dives during the week. DIN tanks were available, as was Nitrox and even a Rebreather. However, only one of our group, whom we nicknamed “Iron Man John”, actually did all the dives. The rest of us were content to dive when & if we chose. That being said, if Pearce and I didn’t each come away from this trip with a minimum of 15 dives, I’d be surprised.

Dive temperatures were “brisk” at around 70F for the first 30’ or so, a bit of a thermocline deeper. While Pearce & I dove dry, everyone else wore at least 7mm of neoprene, most with hoods. (I wore my “dive beanie”.) Weighting, however was another matter. As the Red Sea has very high salinity, more lead is needed than a “typical ocean dive”. Even forewarned, I was nevertheless appalled to find myself saddled with 22 lbs using an AL 80 in my DUI 350 TLS. Ye gawds! I hadn’t seen this much weight since my ¼” neoprene drysuit days in The Great White North!

As Canadian divers, we found the 30-40’ visibility was quite acceptable, as did our UK counterparts. Tropical divers may find this disheartening, but they’ll be rewarded with the amazing wrecks, flora, and fauna of the Red Sea.

Brief notes on a few of my favourite dive sites (in no particular order):

The Thistlegorm. Famous wreck sunk during WWII by German torpedo plane. Holds are accessible & full of tanks, motorcycles, trucks, etc. Wonderful wildlife including a gentle octopus who was coaxed out during the day to explore Pearce’s dancing fingers.

The Giannis D. Home to Nessie’s cousin, the 20’ Giant Moray. Despite my best efforts to follow Grant’s frantic gestures, I didn’t get a good look at it. But Pearce’s u/w video after the dive proved its existence. Watching it glide down into the wreck’s depths was like watching a passing freight train through a fence.

The Carnatic. At over 100 years of age, the oldest wreck we dove. Completely overgrown by luminous soft coral and inhabited by critters of every size and description. It’s skeletal ribs were the setting for my coral grouper shot.
Gota El Erg. A curious hawksbill turtle circled Pearce 4 times before gracefully swimming off amid a lightning storm of strobe fire. Graceful banner fish and pyramid butterfly fish posed for us underwater paparazzi.

Small Giftin. Unexpected yet pleasant drift dive. Huge napoleon wrasse amongst equally huge sea fans. Rare halocline by the coral-fringed island that was almost 10F colder than the surrounding salt water. Shy sapphire-hued bird wrasse.

Here is a link to some photos:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/pgdaley2001

The photos are nice, but unfortunately were scanned at low resolution, which don’t do the originals justice. For those who are really into details, the pictures were taken with a Motormarine II camera with dual strobes (YS300 & YS50) and multiple lenses/exposures. Film was Kodak Elite Chrome "Extra Colour" ISO 100 35mm slide film.

Shots/information on the boat herself are available at:

http://www.royalemperor.com

Disclaimer: do not blame me for any mis-named critters... that’s PEARCE’S fault. As the resident ichthyologist I was appalled that I wasn’t consulted. :wink:

~SubMariner~
 
Am off to the Red Sea in October with my missus - my brother is in Dahab instructing and has promised us the Thistlegorm among others. How did the others find their 7mm suits? I was planning on bringing my 7mm semidry but may reconsider if your reckon bringing my dry suit is a good idea. Better warm than cold is my motto!!

Any more photos?

Regards
 
HU I don't think you'll go amiss with your drysuit. The others seemed ok in their 7 mm's. But you're right about being dry... it's the ONLY way to go!

Personally, I think the drysuit gives you much more flexibility.

1) Literally.. you move much easier in a trilam drysuit than all that neoprene.

2) You can put as much or as little undergarments on as you like. Pearce wore a long sleeved t-shirt, bicycle leggings, and socks. Since I tend to get a little chillier, I added a short sleeved t-shirt under my long sleeved sweatshirt. The rest was the same as Pearce's: leggings and socks.

BTW, it IS possible to get steel tanks there. See if your bro can get some for you to dive with. As I mentioned in my report, the higher salinity really adds pounds to your weightbelt with AL tanks.

As for more pictures... yes, there are a lot more! We took 10 rolls (36 Exp) of slide film with us. Used them all, but didn't necc shoot all 36 per roll. Of those 140 actually came out decent enough to consider. We whittled those down to the final 22-24 that you see on the website; we printed them as 8 x 10's and put them on our "scuba wall".

Again, the res doesn't do them justice... only about 300 dpi on the scans. The slides are amazingly vibrant.... almost glowing. Esp the close up of the Anemone fish & the soft coral.

Next trip is Bonaire at the end of the month. I promise to take more pics. :)

TTFN,

~SubMariner~

 
I just got back from the Red Sea on Monday. There was a French fellow in the group with a dry suit, which was ok, but he was wearing thick thermal stuff under it which is more than likely suitable for ice diving. The water temp was around 25C and the air temp on land was 40C plus most days. He looked like he came out of a sauna after every dive :D

I was wearing a 5mm longjohn and a 5mm 3/4 shorty, and was almost too warm.....

Hope this helps

gozu
 
Sub,
Thanks for the trip report. Great pictures. I loved the Lion fish, since I have still only seen them in a tank. And the Coral Grouper was pretty. All wonderful, made me feel like I was there.
Gozu, I was wondering where you were. Hope you had a wonderful trip too.
:sunny:
 
Goz:

Sounds like that French fellow didn't do a couple of things:

1) His homework. Good divers find out what water temps are like at that time of the year & pack accordingly.

2) Do layers. Thick "wooly bears" are great for the dead of Winter back home in The Great White North (Canada) but are really overkill anywhere else. Methinks maybe he hasn't been using a drysuit very long. :wink:

Natasha: would you believe there are 4 or 5 different types of lionfish? I didn't know it till I got the book before we went, then actually SAW them all. Tres kewl!

Yes, the coral grouper is one of my favs too. The colours are so vivid they almost look fake. I think I may have scared that fellow a bit taking his picture. But then that big double-strobe is a bit for ANYONE to take. {lol}

~SubMariner~
 
Shucks; I only saw 2 different kinds of lionfish :( (brown and red)

As for the drysuits, I only tell what I saw ( a perspiring Frenchman), but you are probably right, SubMariner. He said he hadn't been diving long (+/- 30 dives).

Hey Natasha: if you organize a Red Sea Trip, lemme know :)

gozu-wants-back-to-the-red-sea-mutti
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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