Egypt, diving 6-13.02.2018
kukla_red asked me to write up my diving stories so here goes :) (be v grateful to her, for motivating me!)
so. M and i decided we wanted to return to Egypt for our winter break this year but i didnt want to re-dive Sharm (we've been twice). A diver friend recommended El Gouna, on the mainland, so we decided to try it.
We booked diving via Emperor Divers and when I emailed to ask if they had any hotel + diving deals, they replied that they could do all inclusive hotel + 10 boat dives + airport transfers for [reasonable price]. Result!
(I would thoroughly recommend Emperor Divers in El Gouna - the facilities were good, the staff were *lovely*, the prices were reasonable, the boat & crew were good and the dive sites were impressive).
The hotel was lovely, spacious, clean. airy - the service was good and the food better than we were expecting with a hot/cold buffet in the evenings - with plenty of non-meat options - and they had a mocktail called Green Eyes (=pineapple juice, mint syrup, fresh lemon, lemonade) which was my New Favourite Thing. The room was big enough for two adults, camera and dry suit and the beds were comfortable.
Should we return, we'd skip the all-inclusive and ask for b&b as all-inclusive made us (me) lazy and loath to explore El Gouna itself. We went for a walk on Tues, before we flew home, and there were lots of interesting restaurants & places we'd completely missed.
The diving... the diving was excellent. The boat (Pegasus) was shared between Emperor Divers and another dive centre, but we didnt have more than 12 divers on the boat per day which gave everyone space. We arrived at the boat at 8am every morning, and were back at the marina by about 3-3:30pm. Most of the other divers we met were pleasant and happy to chat (and it was nice being one of the mid-level-experienced for a change) although there was one I wasnt impressed by: he didnt take good care of his buddy, was kindof self-important, made everything about him and had to one-up everyone constantly. But one out of a week was manageable.
We mostly explored the local reefs, although we did dive all 4 wrecks. The visibility wasnt as good as in Sharm, but I could see my buddy at all times, so it was good enough for me :D The dive guides were happy for us to do our own thing, once they'd ascertained we were not a danger to ourselves/each other/the wildlife - sometimes we joined the guided group, a few dives we pootled on our own.
As usual for the Red Sea, there was so! much! life! All of it. Everywhere. Lots of fish I've seen before and love like Cornetfish, Bannerfish, Angelfish, Clown (nemo)fish, Glassfish & Lionfish... same for the corals & sponges but enough new things to look at too.
M was happy as we saw plenty of nudibranchs (sea slugs) during the week - he has a soft spot for them :)
Throughout the week we saw Masked Pufferfish, and they swiftly became one of my new favourites because they're boxy and round and kindof awkward and masked.
While diving on the Chysoula K (one of the wrecks), we saw a turtle eating lunch and ofc everyone stopped to peer at it/take photos. I've found turtles to be stolid, phlegmatic animals who have seen it all and are not impressed with diver antics - and this turtle was exactly the same. (As for the wrecks' stories: the internet has more information than I remember. Search engines are your friend :D )
We dived the Giannis D (famous wreck) twice - she's a big ship, and sunk at an angle so trying to orient using her proved to be mind-boggling for M. On our second dive, we agreed we'd dive on our own (no guide) and pootled round her top bit (look at me being all technical!). M bent forward to look into a hole - as he does - and almost banged foreheads with a HUGE triggerfish. Not sure who was more startled :D
all four wrecks (we also dived the Kimon M & Carnatic) are disintegrating - some faster than others - but absolutely covered in life.
The next day, we saw an octopus!!! (My first non-aquarium octopus). It was sat on the sea bed, in white sand, being harassed by some goatfish. While we watched (and M took photos because this is not M's first rodeo octopus), it grumpily stomped off to hide in the nearest bit of coral, blending in perfectly. OCTOPUS! Yay!
We saw dolphins at the surface, following the boat. And everyone was pretty happy! BUT! The next day, on the first dive, dolphins swam above us (M, me, guide David, David's buddy Garrett). I only caught a glimpse as they swam off but ooooo. However, as we returned back to the boat for our safety stop, the rebreather divers were on the seabed being investigated by a mother & baby dolphin! OMG! I didnt have enough air to sink down and look at them properly but M did - he's got plenty of dolphin photos :D OMG YAY DOLPHINS. Dooooooooooooooolphins! (Their sonar is SO LOUD. Much louder than I expected. But not as loud as the military sonar - the dive site is near a military base - which switched on/off several times)
There was also a HUGE Napoleon Wrasse under the boat (swear to god it was as big as I am) which was posing hopefully for photos - apparently some divers have been known to feed it. Boiled eggs are a favourite treat - and M spent some time admiring it at the beginning of our second dive.
We then left the wrasse and wandered through the dive, when I spotted this fish in mid-water... just...there. So I finned back to look at it, and it stared at me. And I looked at it and it stared at me and we stared at each other and I moved a bit and it moved a bit and I moved a bit and it followed me and ...well. I admit it, I was intimidated by a fish. (In my defence, it had *visible*, *big* teeth. It was intimidating, ok? Oh hush). After a minute or so, I swam back and hid behind M (who hadnt seen any of this. I got ?????face). No I dont know what kind of fish it was.
At the end of this dive, where we'd seen bannerfish and yellow butterfly fish and other fish, I was hovering at about 4m with David below me - he was taking a photo, at about 10-12m - when this little angelfish darted over. I expected it to continue past us, but it stopped to play in David's bubbles and when they dissipated the angelfish did a big loop waiting for David to breathe out again so it could continue chasing the bubbles. So Cute!!!
The only other thing of note was that about halfway through the week, the dive guide handed me his Go Pro and i spent 4 dives playing with it. Managed to get a couple of good photos - one M was v impressed with - but more blurry/out of focus ones. Still, as it meant I could show M what I was looking at /what fish I wanted identified (my verbal fish description skills are .... lacking), it worked. Not sure I'm going to turn into an underwater photographer but it was kindof cool to play with.
(We shant mention how grumpy I got when I tore my wrist seal on the penultimate day of diving, and had to rent a wetsuit for the following day. Nor how much I detest diving in a wetsuit - when I jumped in, last, on the first dive I think *everyone* heard my shriek of omgcold - and how much I pined for my drysuit)
so. M and i decided we wanted to return to Egypt for our winter break this year but i didnt want to re-dive Sharm (we've been twice). A diver friend recommended El Gouna, on the mainland, so we decided to try it.
We booked diving via Emperor Divers and when I emailed to ask if they had any hotel + diving deals, they replied that they could do all inclusive hotel + 10 boat dives + airport transfers for [reasonable price]. Result!
(I would thoroughly recommend Emperor Divers in El Gouna - the facilities were good, the staff were *lovely*, the prices were reasonable, the boat & crew were good and the dive sites were impressive).
The hotel was lovely, spacious, clean. airy - the service was good and the food better than we were expecting with a hot/cold buffet in the evenings - with plenty of non-meat options - and they had a mocktail called Green Eyes (=pineapple juice, mint syrup, fresh lemon, lemonade) which was my New Favourite Thing. The room was big enough for two adults, camera and dry suit and the beds were comfortable.
Should we return, we'd skip the all-inclusive and ask for b&b as all-inclusive made us (me) lazy and loath to explore El Gouna itself. We went for a walk on Tues, before we flew home, and there were lots of interesting restaurants & places we'd completely missed.
The diving... the diving was excellent. The boat (Pegasus) was shared between Emperor Divers and another dive centre, but we didnt have more than 12 divers on the boat per day which gave everyone space. We arrived at the boat at 8am every morning, and were back at the marina by about 3-3:30pm. Most of the other divers we met were pleasant and happy to chat (and it was nice being one of the mid-level-experienced for a change) although there was one I wasnt impressed by: he didnt take good care of his buddy, was kindof self-important, made everything about him and had to one-up everyone constantly. But one out of a week was manageable.
We mostly explored the local reefs, although we did dive all 4 wrecks. The visibility wasnt as good as in Sharm, but I could see my buddy at all times, so it was good enough for me :D The dive guides were happy for us to do our own thing, once they'd ascertained we were not a danger to ourselves/each other/the wildlife - sometimes we joined the guided group, a few dives we pootled on our own.
As usual for the Red Sea, there was so! much! life! All of it. Everywhere. Lots of fish I've seen before and love like Cornetfish, Bannerfish, Angelfish, Clown (nemo)fish, Glassfish & Lionfish... same for the corals & sponges but enough new things to look at too.
M was happy as we saw plenty of nudibranchs (sea slugs) during the week - he has a soft spot for them :)
Throughout the week we saw Masked Pufferfish, and they swiftly became one of my new favourites because they're boxy and round and kindof awkward and masked.
While diving on the Chysoula K (one of the wrecks), we saw a turtle eating lunch and ofc everyone stopped to peer at it/take photos. I've found turtles to be stolid, phlegmatic animals who have seen it all and are not impressed with diver antics - and this turtle was exactly the same. (As for the wrecks' stories: the internet has more information than I remember. Search engines are your friend :D )
We dived the Giannis D (famous wreck) twice - she's a big ship, and sunk at an angle so trying to orient using her proved to be mind-boggling for M. On our second dive, we agreed we'd dive on our own (no guide) and pootled round her top bit (look at me being all technical!). M bent forward to look into a hole - as he does - and almost banged foreheads with a HUGE triggerfish. Not sure who was more startled :D
all four wrecks (we also dived the Kimon M & Carnatic) are disintegrating - some faster than others - but absolutely covered in life.
The next day, we saw an octopus!!! (My first non-aquarium octopus). It was sat on the sea bed, in white sand, being harassed by some goatfish. While we watched (and M took photos because this is not M's first rodeo octopus), it grumpily stomped off to hide in the nearest bit of coral, blending in perfectly. OCTOPUS! Yay!
We saw dolphins at the surface, following the boat. And everyone was pretty happy! BUT! The next day, on the first dive, dolphins swam above us (M, me, guide David, David's buddy Garrett). I only caught a glimpse as they swam off but ooooo. However, as we returned back to the boat for our safety stop, the rebreather divers were on the seabed being investigated by a mother & baby dolphin! OMG! I didnt have enough air to sink down and look at them properly but M did - he's got plenty of dolphin photos :D OMG YAY DOLPHINS. Dooooooooooooooolphins! (Their sonar is SO LOUD. Much louder than I expected. But not as loud as the military sonar - the dive site is near a military base - which switched on/off several times)
There was also a HUGE Napoleon Wrasse under the boat (swear to god it was as big as I am) which was posing hopefully for photos - apparently some divers have been known to feed it. Boiled eggs are a favourite treat - and M spent some time admiring it at the beginning of our second dive.
We then left the wrasse and wandered through the dive, when I spotted this fish in mid-water... just...there. So I finned back to look at it, and it stared at me. And I looked at it and it stared at me and we stared at each other and I moved a bit and it moved a bit and I moved a bit and it followed me and ...well. I admit it, I was intimidated by a fish. (In my defence, it had *visible*, *big* teeth. It was intimidating, ok? Oh hush). After a minute or so, I swam back and hid behind M (who hadnt seen any of this. I got ?????face). No I dont know what kind of fish it was.
At the end of this dive, where we'd seen bannerfish and yellow butterfly fish and other fish, I was hovering at about 4m with David below me - he was taking a photo, at about 10-12m - when this little angelfish darted over. I expected it to continue past us, but it stopped to play in David's bubbles and when they dissipated the angelfish did a big loop waiting for David to breathe out again so it could continue chasing the bubbles. So Cute!!!
The only other thing of note was that about halfway through the week, the dive guide handed me his Go Pro and i spent 4 dives playing with it. Managed to get a couple of good photos - one M was v impressed with - but more blurry/out of focus ones. Still, as it meant I could show M what I was looking at /what fish I wanted identified (my verbal fish description skills are .... lacking), it worked. Not sure I'm going to turn into an underwater photographer but it was kindof cool to play with.
(We shant mention how grumpy I got when I tore my wrist seal on the penultimate day of diving, and had to rent a wetsuit for the following day. Nor how much I detest diving in a wetsuit - when I jumped in, last, on the first dive I think *everyone* heard my shriek of omgcold - and how much I pined for my drysuit)