Red Sea Wildlife Report

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Cool as - I am of to Ras Mohamed tomorrow and looking forward to visiting shark and yolanda - haven't been there for a week so keen to see if things are picking up there.

In other news one of our guides saw a whale shark at Amphoras today, and the same boat saw an unidentified shark at the surface... and whilst writing this I've just had a chat with my friend and we reckon it might be a small longimanus - although that would be unusual, but not impossible, and I did hear a previous rumour one had been sighted. Will have to keep the eyes open and the neck swiveling into the blue for the next few weeks!

And after the Easter holiday, pretty quiet out on the reefs again. I've had a boat full of really cool divers for the last few days and feel a bit guilty that I'm getting paid to do this.

Well - okay, not *tooooo* guilty! :D

Bring on the lavatories!

Cheers

C.
 
very cool indeed - any idea where it was spotted?

Am off to Tiran tomorrow if the conditions are right and my divers are up for it, I might go and have a look and see what's happening outside Jackson... :D

C.
 
last week I saw a big Napoleon in Ras Nasrany. I know that it doesn't count but thats the only thing I saw there :)
 
very cool indeed - any idea where it was spotted?

Am off to Tiran tomorrow if the conditions are right and my divers are up for it, I might go and have a look and see what's happening outside Jackson... :D

C.

He said it was on "El Fanar". Does that ring a bell?

.......a.......
 
El Fanar yes - that's the lighthouse - and associated hotel - above Ras Umm El Said overlooking Temple. Would not be the first time one has been sighted in that area - and one of the other guides on my boat says he saw what seems to be a great hammerhead at Ras Za'atar.

If the weather's good tomorrow I think I might visit the outside of Jackson and see if I can find some there :D

In other news - two manta playing together at Ras Umm Sid (Omm El Said however you want to pronounce it) and I was not in the water for the third dive today... dammit! Had a huuuge school of emperors at Jackfish today, also batfish, but the barracuda were strangely absent. I am sure they like to move around a bit though. Big Eagle Ray, big leopard ray, which I've not seen for ages, monster-sized tuna on close approaches. Very weird when something you normally find in a small tin looks like it would quite easily eat you if it really wanted to! :D

I hope Tiran is calm tomorrow... fingers crossed.

C.
 
Im on my way this Saturday

What has the weather conditions been like lately??

Al
 
Hmm I missed this somewhere, sorry alcoxe!

Anyway - a fair few mantas seen recently - one purported to have a 7m wingspan but I'm sorry that's male cow poop - although it's more like 4 - maybe 4.5 m (I've seen one of such a size at Ras Za'atar), that's still BIG for the Red Sea. Yesterday I saw one maybe 3 m wingspan at Far Garden - she swam over my head and was longer than I am from outstretched arm to fin-tip so for sure that's cracking on for 3m.

Oceanic white-tip confirmed at Shark and Yolanda, but only seen from the surface by our staff at the moment.

Some of my friends and colleagues who have worked here far longer than I have suggest that the fish count is back up to the levels it was 5 years ago - and I've noticed a change here myself over the last 2 years.

I would suggest that a reduction in tourism due to shark attacks and revolutions - especially with regards to divers and snorkelers, of course, has benefited the reefs here. From a business perspective of course it sucks, but for the ecosystem, I think there have been significant improvements over the last few years. We'll see what happens this summer, but I'm generally enjoying it very much at the moment.

Cheers

C.
 
double post for some reason - damn the camel-powered internet.
 

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