Hello to all
It has been a job to sit down and finally write a bit about my trip in August. Work, work, and then when I was finished with that, more work, so I never seemed to get around to it. Also, the events of September 11 put me off any thought of doing something pleasant.
But here I go anyway:
It was my third trip to Hurghada this year. I went back to Pro Sea Team to do my AOWD because I wanted the same instructor again, a fellow I affectionately named "Attila the Hun" as a result of certain characteristics they share
The weather was gorgeous,it always is, but it was quite windy for the whole two weeks, which unfortunately prevented any night diving. Getting back on the boat was quite a job on some days, the ladder not being long enough. I was wearing a 3mm shorty, and with nothing to protect my legs, after two weeks I looked like I had been in the wars.
The five meter safety stops were often impossible, the boat would veer around 180° in the wind so quickly that everyone hanging on the line at 5 meters was suddenly on the surface. It would happen so quickly that you had no chance to let go. That happened to me twice, and I gave up hanging on the line, no sense to it.
Other than that, it was fantastic. I saw my first wrecks, the El Mina and the Excalibur.
The triggerfish were nesting, and one woman in my group was bitten in the leg through her wet suit, breaking the skin and leaving a bruise the size of an orange. One triggerfish got me in the fin, I am grateful that he missed my leg The only thing I could do was try to spot their nests and take a nice detour.
We saw at least 5 turtles on different days, several eagle rays, plenty of HUGE morays, lionfish of various types, stonefish, and of course all the myriad smaller citizens of the reefs. Omar, one of the dive guides, knows the reefs and points out tiny details that would otherwise go unseen. He also knows to take it easy and does not rush one around the reef and back to the boat, as is unfortunately the case in many dive operations in Hurghada.
The drift dives were magnificent. The most grandiose was a drift dive over the Coral Gardens of Shaab Sabena which can only be reached that way; no boats can anchor. The Coral Gardens are unscathed and there was so much to see, I didn't know where to look first. I saw a school of 20-30 pipefish, looking totally improbable, just hanging in the current as we whished by.
The best day was the last diving day. An instructor took down 2 AOWD students and asked me if I wanted to come along. They were to do a deep, a photography dive, and a navigation dive. He said I could come along and just do my thing as long I stayed within eye distance. The deep dive was not that exciting, I just got narced like everyone else. The photography dive was a bit unnerving. I tried to keep my distance from the two students, but they were glued to me for some reason. I could not fin without hitting one of them, and they ignored all my signals for them to just cruise with the instructor. At the same time, I was trying to deal with about 10 little cleaner fish (I don't know what they are called) who were nibbling at all the cuts on my legs. After a while I just had to grin and bear it, there was no shaking them (the students or the fish) off.
The last dive on that day was a navigation dive. We swam along the side of the reef to the entrance to the lagoon at Small Giftun, and there was the biggest moray I had ever seen. She was getting cleaned by the little cleaner fish. We then come around to the entrance to the lagoon, and there are THREE napoleons sailing at right us. The group immediately disintegrated as the students went right off after the napoleons, which they didn't have a chance in hell of catching
The instructor finally gathered his chicks and resumed the navigation dive. I posted myself at the entrance to the lagoon and just watched. The Napoleons were apparently taking the circle inside, because they came past me 4 times, each time a bit closer. Each one of them was about my size.
I checked out around 5 square meters of the reef in peace and quiet, and I could have stayed there all day. Parrotfish, a moray, the napoleons, baby lionfish, blue point rays, more fish than I could name.
I am going back over Christmas for a week's boat cruise (the southern tour) and then week in Hurghada.
One experience gave me something to think about. I went diving for a day with another operation in Hurghada, on invitation of their divemaster who is a friend of mine. He took me on a lovely drift dive over the coral gardens of El Fanous. We were in loser formation, three of us. I was buddied with Matt, the divemaster, with Sascha bringing up the rear. Through the dive, I felt that something was wrong with Sascha. His body language was signalling general unhappiness, but he reacted to all queries from the divemaster and myself with the OK.
When we got back to the boat, I asked Sascha what the problem was, and he said he was bored. He had, a few days earlier, talked someone into taking him down to 70 meters "for the kick". He said this dive was nice, but there was no "kick", we just drifted along in a max depth of around 13 meters. It was his 42nd dive. I just kind of wonder, where does he go from here?
gozu-had-a-wonder-time-mutti
It has been a job to sit down and finally write a bit about my trip in August. Work, work, and then when I was finished with that, more work, so I never seemed to get around to it. Also, the events of September 11 put me off any thought of doing something pleasant.
But here I go anyway:
It was my third trip to Hurghada this year. I went back to Pro Sea Team to do my AOWD because I wanted the same instructor again, a fellow I affectionately named "Attila the Hun" as a result of certain characteristics they share
The weather was gorgeous,it always is, but it was quite windy for the whole two weeks, which unfortunately prevented any night diving. Getting back on the boat was quite a job on some days, the ladder not being long enough. I was wearing a 3mm shorty, and with nothing to protect my legs, after two weeks I looked like I had been in the wars.
The five meter safety stops were often impossible, the boat would veer around 180° in the wind so quickly that everyone hanging on the line at 5 meters was suddenly on the surface. It would happen so quickly that you had no chance to let go. That happened to me twice, and I gave up hanging on the line, no sense to it.
Other than that, it was fantastic. I saw my first wrecks, the El Mina and the Excalibur.
The triggerfish were nesting, and one woman in my group was bitten in the leg through her wet suit, breaking the skin and leaving a bruise the size of an orange. One triggerfish got me in the fin, I am grateful that he missed my leg
The only thing I could do was try to spot their nests and take a nice detour.We saw at least 5 turtles on different days, several eagle rays, plenty of HUGE morays, lionfish of various types, stonefish, and of course all the myriad smaller citizens of the reefs. Omar, one of the dive guides, knows the reefs and points out tiny details that would otherwise go unseen. He also knows to take it easy and does not rush one around the reef and back to the boat, as is unfortunately the case in many dive operations in Hurghada.
The drift dives were magnificent. The most grandiose was a drift dive over the Coral Gardens of Shaab Sabena which can only be reached that way; no boats can anchor. The Coral Gardens are unscathed and there was so much to see, I didn't know where to look first. I saw a school of 20-30 pipefish, looking totally improbable, just hanging in the current as we whished by.
The best day was the last diving day. An instructor took down 2 AOWD students and asked me if I wanted to come along. They were to do a deep, a photography dive, and a navigation dive. He said I could come along and just do my thing as long I stayed within eye distance. The deep dive was not that exciting, I just got narced like everyone else. The photography dive was a bit unnerving. I tried to keep my distance from the two students, but they were glued to me for some reason. I could not fin without hitting one of them, and they ignored all my signals for them to just cruise with the instructor. At the same time, I was trying to deal with about 10 little cleaner fish (I don't know what they are called) who were nibbling at all the cuts on my legs. After a while I just had to grin and bear it, there was no shaking them (the students or the fish) off.
The last dive on that day was a navigation dive. We swam along the side of the reef to the entrance to the lagoon at Small Giftun, and there was the biggest moray I had ever seen. She was getting cleaned by the little cleaner fish. We then come around to the entrance to the lagoon, and there are THREE napoleons sailing at right us. The group immediately disintegrated as the students went right off after the napoleons, which they didn't have a chance in hell of catching
The instructor finally gathered his chicks and resumed the navigation dive. I posted myself at the entrance to the lagoon and just watched. The Napoleons were apparently taking the circle inside, because they came past me 4 times, each time a bit closer. Each one of them was about my size.
I checked out around 5 square meters of the reef in peace and quiet, and I could have stayed there all day. Parrotfish, a moray, the napoleons, baby lionfish, blue point rays, more fish than I could name.
I am going back over Christmas for a week's boat cruise (the southern tour) and then week in Hurghada.
One experience gave me something to think about. I went diving for a day with another operation in Hurghada, on invitation of their divemaster who is a friend of mine. He took me on a lovely drift dive over the coral gardens of El Fanous. We were in loser formation, three of us. I was buddied with Matt, the divemaster, with Sascha bringing up the rear. Through the dive, I felt that something was wrong with Sascha. His body language was signalling general unhappiness, but he reacted to all queries from the divemaster and myself with the OK.
When we got back to the boat, I asked Sascha what the problem was, and he said he was bored. He had, a few days earlier, talked someone into taking him down to 70 meters "for the kick". He said this dive was nice, but there was no "kick", we just drifted along in a max depth of around 13 meters. It was his 42nd dive. I just kind of wonder, where does he go from here?
gozu-had-a-wonder-time-mutti
