Elphinstone - what is it like in late october?

[Boyan]

I will be in egypt soon and I am thinking about Elphinstone. I have about 50 dives, AOW, GUE fundamentals rec level but no deep specialty. What is the dive like and how significant is the shark danger, especially if you are not used to strong currents?
From the videos I see people don't pay attention at all and don't stay together. I guess there are thousands of dives with 0 problems there.
What are the safety procedures are there really important things you need to be able to do well?
Im not super worried about sharks and I have seen some rough sea in the Atlantic, but I am a bit worried if I will react the right way, especially since its oceanic white tip season. Watching youtube has me thinking I will have to redirect or turn sharks every 10 seconds.
What are the chances there won't be any oceanic white tips at all? Are there also tiger sharks there sometimes? What is the procedure, do people enter the water and linger on the surface much (which is normal) or do they try to reduce staying on the surface as much as possible?
Before anyone says anything, no I have not watched jaws, yes I know driving a car is also dangerous.

 

[Dan]

Yes, don’t stay too long on the surface. You either get out of the water or get down quickly. Stay vertical when a Longimanus is coming towards you, to make yourself big. Don’t back up. Stay put & ready to stick your camera to it.

The sharks get curious to things floating on the surface, as you see in the following video, the guide has a DSMB with line that is connected to his BCD to attract the shark to the DSMB, while filming it.

Don’t lose sight of them. If there are more than 2 of them, it will be difficult to keep track of them. That’s time to get out of the water.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

AOW is good, "About 50" dives may be short, i think the minimum was 50 dives, but you may get these while there.
Currents are rarely an issue.
You will get a briefing before jumping on how to behave and you will have to follow what your guide is telling you. These guys do Elphinstone day in day out and know their business, listen to their advice.
You won't stay at the surface. If they are already other boats / zodiacs around with divers in the water you will likely enter negative.
You may have noticed that most if not all of the videos are taken in 5 m during the safety stop: that's when sharks are curiously circling around.
Your guide will get his people together and point at you when it's your turn to surface - don't decide on your own. You will have to come up directly close to your zodiac and you will be pulled out without removing any equipment.
I think the last notable incident was 4 years ago.
Although Elphinstone is associated to sharks, the reef itself is one of the top spots in Egypt and highly underated because everyone is talking about sharks...

 

[Boyan]

...Stay put & ready to stick your camera to it....

...Don’t lose sight of them. If there are more than 2 of them, it will be difficult to keep track of them. That’s time to get out of the water....

I also thought I should maybe carry my two handed camera thing or perhaps a stick, not sure what is better. What do you do with the camera, try to redirect the shark, whack it on the nose?
I wonder if there is another place to practice being around curios but less dangerous sharks first.

Your guide will get his people together and point at you when it's your turn to surface - don't decide on your own. You will have to come up directly close to your zodiac and you will be pulled out without removing any equipment.

That sounds like serious business but also reassuring, I was thinking about how the group floats around, fiddeling with fins and equipment while one by one people slowly exit the water.

What about swimming in the videos I see people swimming individually with lots of space between them, not caring much about staying together. On another thread I read swimming is single file and when you are last you have an uneasy feeling.

 

[Dan]

I also thought I should maybe carry my two handed camera thing or perhaps a stick, not sure what is better. What do you do with the camera, try to redirect the shark, whack it on the nose?

Just gently push it away with your camera (slowly but surely, no sudden movement).

 

[Dan]

I wonder if there is another place to practice being around curios but less dangerous sharks first.

I live in Houston. So, I got accustomed to be up close & personal with big & curious Tiger Sharks in Tiger Beach, Bahamas. However you are in Europe, so, you may just wing it there in Elphinstone, but stay close with the guide. I stayed behind Finch (my guide in Tiger Beach), as shown, below.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

Haha, @Dan Do you want to scare @Boyan
@Boyan, you won't be the last of your group in the water, that will be the guide...
And there is no need to practive first.

 

[also_anon_dc]

It's possible you don't see any sharks. I was there in December and saw none.

 

[Boyan]

I live in Houston. So, I got accustomed to be closed & personal with big & curious Tiger Sharks in Tiger Beach, Bahamas.

Thats insane. Is this supposed to be safer than simply exiting the cage when cage diving?

Haha, @Dan Do you want to scare @Boyan
@Boyan, you won't be the last of your group in the water, that will be the guide...
And there is no need to practive first.

That makes sense.

 

[Dan]

It's possible you don't see any sharks. I was there in December and saw none.

The video I posted above (post #2) was taken in December 2019.