Sharks and Turtles: Egypt Epic Part II (Sharm el Sheikh)

Member Name: huddro

Product:	Sharm el Sheikh
Date:	11/12/01 (1837 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Big Fish, Clear Sea , Great Food

Disadvantages: None

Arriving from a week in Dahab, Sharm is a shock to the system. Rising like Las Vegas from the desert Sharm is neon lights, large casinos, and very flash resorts. Being divers we had very little room for luggage so a stay at the Sheraton or Moevenpick was out.

We stayed with the Red Sea Diving College at Na’ama bay. I would definitely recommend this as a location as we were no more than 5 minutes walk from the center of town and the harbour. We overlooked the beach and more importantly we could fall from the Camel Bar into our room. You will learn that anyone who dives in Sharm hangs out at the Camel Bar and it is well worth it, cheap drink free monkey nuts (mainly to throw at each other) and cheap but excellent food make this a superb night out.

Anyway, a little more about Sharm. Being only 1.5 hours from Italy this is where Italians come to play in the sun. Here we were in our dry dive baggies surrounded by well-dressed, scrubbed and polished people. Expect to pay more for food and drink here than in Dahab but the selection of fantastic restaurants on the beach and the exquisite food more than compensate for the extra cost. If I told you a chateaubriand for two with drink came to £20 would you believe me?

The diving here is a totally different experience to the chilled out laid-back experience of Dahab. A typical morning here sees the Red Sea Diving College putting a 100 divers into the water…yes a 100 and the 20 or so dive boats leaving the jetty at once is a fantastic sight. Add to these day boats the liveaboards that cruise the area and you can see the dive sites get pretty busy.

So anyway we’ve spent enough time dry and onshore how about we climb aboard what will be our boat for the week and head out for a days diving.

The boat, Seastar 1, has a rear lower wet area where we store our gear and tanks and can kit up before entering the water. There is a cabin on this deck where we eat l
unch and upstairs is a big sun deck to relax and catch a tan. Mohammad, our Captain, steers from up here and points out interesting stuff. Our guides Al, a padi instructor and tech diving nutter, and Emma, a Dive master will look after us this week.

So today we are staying local so we can run check out dives for those who have just flown out and make sure everyone is correctly weighted.

Ras Caty

Located just south of Na’ama bay this is a wall Coral and it is here we notice the first difference from Dahab …. The fish are so much bigger. Entering the water we descend to 22 metres and swim along the wall when from the blue a turtle powers past and my god do they go, either that or this one was a racing turtle. For many of us this is our first glimpse of a turtle and we are seriously impressed.

We continue to swim a loop ascending slowly over the coral seeing Giant Puffer and the biggest goatfish I have seen. The sea here is so clear it is easy after an hour of swimming to find our mooring line and ascend. All talk once back on the deck is of the racing Turtle. One dive = one turtle

After a spectacular lunch on the boat of roast chicken, pasta, potatoes, and several different salads we arrive at our next dive site for the day.

Middle Garden

As with many dives this week Middle Garden is a drift dive, meaning the boat does not moor but drops us off and cruises back to pick us up at a different location. The coral here is good but it is the fish that make this dive Clown fish, Glass Fish, Puffers, and best of all a Napoleon Wrasse asleep under a rock whose head was a metre high. Apparently he is well known in the area and is just over 2.5metres long.

As we swim over the next coral spur a turtle lazily flaps from the bottom to come and say hi. Swimming round and through our group this massive turtle obviously gets bored so to have some fun swims above our dive master and …
230; dumps!!! Have you ever seen 6 divers killing themselves with laughter? not a pretty sight! 2 Dives = 2 Turtles

All too soon this dive is over too and we surface to be picked up by the boat.

The crew, being wonderful, brings round biscuits to go with our cokes and we head back in to shore. I should say at this point that on the boat you pay the crew 25 Egyptian pounds per person (£5) and this gives you soft drinks all day, just help yourself, and lunch on board which is some of the best food we had in Egypt.

After a pleasant meal on the beach and the aforementioned chateaubriand we need some sleep so head back to the college for an early night.

For day two we head to the reefs off Tiran. There are three reefs in line right in the middle of the shipping channels into the Gulf of Aquaba between mainland Egypt and the island of Tiran. This means that strong currents are prevalent in this area and things can get quite exciting (more later).

Tiran itself is an island owned by Saudi Arabia but handed to the Egyptian government for military purposes. Nobody is allowed on this island and as it is heavily mined it is not a good idea to try. The reefs themselves are named after the English cartographers who discovered them Woodhouse, Jackson, and Thomas.

Woodhouse Reef

A wonderful drift dive we enter the water and allow the current to take us along the reef wall. Hordes of fusiliers rush past us. Puffers float seemingly effortlessly against the current and a plethora of smaller fish hurry around. I cannot believe how much life there is on this reef.

As we rise over a saddle we have our third turtle, this one sitting quietly on the coral watching the world go by. Even when six gawping divers head past it doesn’t bat an eyelid. 3 Dives = 3 Turtles

Today we are in for a treat. While we were diving the crew have caught a massive tuna so for lunch we have grilled tuna, tun
a spaghetti, and baked spicy tuna with the usual potato dishes and salads. I have never tasted Tuna like this it is amazing.

Jackson Reef

A reef full of life but with a dangerous current as we are to find out later in the week but for today we descend to 25 metres and swim into the current. This is really hard work and after 20 minutes we are tiring but we have done enough to reach our goal, we are in what I can only describe as a “blizzard of fish” (Thanks to Al our guide fro that description). Thousands of fusiliers, angelfish, anemone fish, sergeant fish and wrasse flash round us, further out barracuda prowl and trevally swoop. It is totally amazing. But as we get to the edge of the reef we run the risk of a current in the opposite direction spitting us over the reef and into the shipping lane.

Getting low on air we stop finning and allow the current to take us back along the reef but we get swept a little too far and the current tries to spit us out the other end. Finning hard we abort the dive and surface to be hauled back on board exhausted but excited by the adventure of such currents and so many fish. Oh did I mention we saw another turtle!
4 Dives = 4 Turtles.

Tired we gratefully accept the sweet cake offered by the crew as we head back to shore. Normally we would have done a third dive but everyone is too exhausted.

Day three sees a 6am start for the journey that takes us south, heading for the Dunraven, a wreck of a steam sail ship sunk in 1824 after burning on the surface for 12 hours. On the way down we stop at Shark / Yolanda reef for a dive.

Shark / Yolanda Reef

This is really one big reef but the Coral in the middle is lower than the outer pinnacles causing a current. Yolanda reef is so named after the Yolanda that sunk here depositing its cargo of bathroom furniture on the seabed.

We descend quickly along the wall of shark reef, the water here being sl
ightly darker and the massive barracuda patrolling give this reef a slightly spooky feel. We follow shark reef from anemone city, so named because of the sheer volume of beautiful anemones here, round towards Yolanda reef.

Ascending from 28metres we spot a moray retreating back into its hole and then finally we see the mast that signposts the Yolanda. Low on air we fin round to see a seabed covered in toilets it is the strangest sight! We need to ascend now so swim up close to the reef to be collected by the boat.

Dunraven

Rounding the southern tip of Egypt we enter the Gulf of Suez and a short journey sees us mooring above the Dunraven. We descend the line to 28metres in beautiful clear water and can see the artificial reef created by the upturned hull of the Dunraven in spectacular detail. At depth colours tend to dull but here the vivid reds, greens, and blues of the coral seem to glow.

Dropping below the stern we swim into the ship and forward under the boiler admiring the massive drive shaft and taking care to avoid the lionfish, we exit near the bow of the ship over two massive scorpion fish.

Swimming back to the stern we enter again in the same place and this time swim over the boiler through a cloud of glassfish before exiting in the same place.

The silence inside the hull gives the impression of being alone, despite another 5 divers behind you. Fish hang suspended watching us pass in the darkness. The brightness of the water on exit is such a sharp contrast to being inside the hull.

Having been so deep for a while we are within 5 minutes of reaching our decompression limit so ascend and swim the length of the ship above the reef admiring the many soft and hard corals that have made this their home.

With plenty of air we head across to the nearby reef over the top of a crocodile fish so big it could have been an actual crocodile. Eventually though it is time to surface and it is
reluctantly we leave this beautiful site.

Heading back we are still early so decide on a third dive.

Jackfish Alley

This is a nice shallow dive that has something for everyone. We exit the boat and drop 5metres to a cave entrance in the rock. We swim into this and left exiting at 6metres. After a short ascent to 4metres we enter another cave and wriggle into a small room where light filters down through the rock above creating a spectacular light show.

We exit down a short chimney finning gently out at 9metres over beautiful coral and there layed on a pinnacle is a 2metre long maroon coloured Moray. Giving him a wide berth we swim over brain corals and blue spotted rays before following the sandy road along the reef bottom.

Here we get our most spectacular sight a 2metre long white tip reef shark basking on the shallow bottom. Seeing us the shark decides to show us his good side and almost puts on a show; swimming effortlessly towards us he turns at the last minute with a flick of his powerful tail. Languidly circling the reef he gives us another close up settling briefly on the bottom as though receiving applause before disappearing into the blue.

This is one dive we did not want to end.

Thursday we get a lay in until 8am when we head back to Tiran.

Thomas Reef

This is probably the biggest of the three reefs and we descend allowing the current to take us along the reef. Swimming away slightly we pass over a canyon cut deep into the seabed where the bubbles from deep technical divers can be seen exiting up through the rock.

This reef is teeming with life and we spot blue spotted rays, unicorn fish, barracuda, fusiliers and a school of tuna. We even get a starfish. The sunlight filtering through the water gives a marked contrast of colour. Near to the reef the water is almost clear but looking away into the vast depths the water darkens leacing you wondering what c
reatures are out there.

A lunch of fried chicken and rice sees us heading back to Jackson reef for another visit to the aquarium. This time things do not go according to plan!

Jackson Reef 2

We descend and swim against a very mild current towards the aquarium. My buddy and I remain about 5metres above the group due to our no decompression requirements. We spot our 5th Turtle as well as blue spotted rays, cornet fish and triggerfish. Then we spot the shark.

We follow the shark into the aquarium when a current from nowhere picks us up and onto the reef. Those in front are spat over the reef while the rest fin like mad to try and swim out of it. I watch my buddy ahead of me kicking hard and see the gap between us widen as she makes progress, I am further into the current and am not making headway. I dump all my air from my BCD and lay on the coral to get my breath back, concerned that she will turn round and come to try and get me.

Being negatively buoyant works and I begin to make progress against this force. I gain on two divers and check they are ok when a current hits us the other way. Then changes again, it must be like being inside a washing machine. After what seems like an age my buddy gets out of the current then the next diver. I and two more divers join them utterly exhausted and look for the rest of the group. Of these there is no sign and we need to raise the alarm. I check that everyone has enough air and we ascend to undertake our safety stop while we swim back to the boat.

Luckily on this part of the reef the current is with us and we make record time back to the boat. Surfacing we gain the crews attention, ever diligent they have already seen the guys who were swept away as they popped over the top of the coral and into the shipping lane and one of the other boats moored nearer is already on it way to collect them.

Back on board exhausted but with adrenaline coursing through
us we go over the dive, amazed at how quickly the currents can change and with such force. Our missing divers, including the dive master, are returned to us. Apparently they had a great ride and enjoyed the current while we all worked hard to struggle against it!

All are ok and we look back on it in the Camel bar as a great adventure.

Our final days diving and we have saved the best till last a trip to the Thistlegorm.

The Thistlegorm was a Second World War supply ship moored at what was thought to be a safe mooring in the Gulf of Suez when German bombers returning to Crete from a failed mission spotted her. Unable to get more than one shot off she was hit on her fifth hold, just behind the bridge, that held ammunition ripping her deck back and throwing a steam locomotive that was stored on deck into the sea several metres away.

She sank almost immediately and settled upright on the bottom. The time of her sinking recorded as 0130hrs 6th October 1941

Thistlegorm

We leave dock at 0330, and here is some advice grab the downstairs cabin and get some sleep in the warm. We did and were soon joined by those who headed for the sun deck!

Arriving at the site at 0830 there are already a number of boats moored and the sea has a swell of about 3 feet. Al jumps off to tie the first line then again to tie the second. By now there are really too many dive boats here and our boat is hit by another. Luckily there is not too much damage and we decide to dive.

Jumping off the back we grab the line and descend as fast as possible the current below the surface pulling us horizontal. At the ship all is calm and we swim over the bomb blast area and round the stern, one anti aircraft gun still in the locked position, testimony to how quickly the bombing happened. The second gun hangs barrel pointing at the seabed.

We marvel at the size of the brass propeller, each one of the wings is about 3metres
long. A Churchill tank lies on its side as we swim towards the bow and the steam engine can be seen a little further away on the seabed. The contrast of these large man made objects against the corals and fish is strangely unsettling.



Popping up over the bow the size of this ship is awesome. 4 Train wagons stand on the fore deck and the bridge rises towards the surface, you can almost imagine this ship under power cutting gracefully through the waves.

We swim round under the bridge, seeing how as the deck slowly corrodes the train wagons are tilting further into the ship, and back down the port side of the ship to ascend the line. A full safety stop and a quick exit from the water, difficult in this swell.

By now the swell on the surface is 4 feet and things are getting dangerous. We decide on a shorter interval before doing the next dive. I change from air to nitrox to give me longer on the bottom and we head back down the line.

Swimming over the bomb blast we drop into hold 3 and swim through the now empty hold into the lower half of hold 2. This contains rows of trucks with motorcycles in the back, racks of Lee Enfield rifles, and jeeps. A full circuit takes us back to hold 3 and we rise to enter the upper level of hold 2 here we have crates of uniforms, small arms ammunition and more motorcycles. Even aircraft wings lay in disarray. We exit and swim forward seeing a solitary boot lying in the debris reminds us that this is a war grave.

We swim into the captain’s cabin and wriggle down through a hatch into what were the kitchens. Down through another trapdoor and we enter the forward hold, here Bren gun carriers line into the darkness our torch beams send out eerie rays but cannot penetrate the murky depths how scary it must have been to try and exit this ship in the middle of the night with explosions and water rushing in.

With not much time left we ascend out of the hold and back t
o the line. This time we need an 8-minute safety stop just to be sure we are ok having dived right up to our no decompression limit.

Back on board the sea is much rougher, the boat tossing on the waves. The Dive master descends to untie the lines and suddenly our anchor chain snaps. Buffeted by the wind and the waves we drag him back on board.

Our crew eventually recovers the anchor and serves a hot lunch. It is only 1430 but we are all shattered and exulted to have dived the Thistlegorm. We were very lucky on this dive to have Al as our dive master. He has dived this wreck hundreds of times after being one of the first people to dive the rediscovered wreck in 1991. His route shows covers the maximum area within the ship and keeps within the recreational dive planning limits.

On a personal note this was the best dive ever for me as this boat was due to resupply my Grandfathers regiment with ammunition before they went back into action in the fight for Tobruk. My Grandfather was never to return from the Middle East.


A long trip home gave us the opportunity to play with a school of Dolphins who chased our boat and put on a fantastic show for us.

Well another weeks diving over so we retreat to the Camel bar and for the first time in two weeks we can afford to have a hangover. So with the rest of the guys from the boat we totally over indulge on Sakara beer and monkey nut fights. What an end to a fantastic adventure.

Info one Red Sea Diving College can be found at:
www.redseacollege.com

Again we booked with Travelmood speak to Carl or Francis
www.travelmood.com

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