Marsa Alam 25th Sept 2006
Day 4
We awoke after limited sleep due to the rough crossing, to shouts and screams, so scrambled up to the dive deck to find out what the commotion was all about. On getting there we found AG stripping off after a bet with Fiasal that he could not swim against the current from stern to bow of our boat.
Without further a doo, Andrew jumps in with shorts and mask and gets there……just! Once he reached the bow he stopped swimming and the current ripped him back to the stern and life ring in seconds. Clearly our diving would be today would be a challenge!
Dive 1 – 28m for 50mins – Big Brother Reef from Zodiac
Due to the way the current splits on the corner of Big Brother we had to drop in with negative buoyancy and fin like crazy until we hit 10m or so before regrouping. The brief was to get the reef on your left shoulder and tuck in otherwise you’d be swept off the reef and out to sea. On this happening you’d have to bag off and ascend to the awaiting Zodiac, which no-one wanted so tension was high pre-dive.
Once on-site we “bomb burst” from the RHIB and finned like crazy down to 10m. By the time I knew where I was, I was already 20m down the reef from my buddy’s and team!
I corrected my direction and began finning for all I was worth agains the current. Once into the reef I started gliding and pulling where I could but by this time I was still a long way off the rest of the guys. The rest of the gaggle were holding on for grim death on clear patches of reef waiting on me catching up. By the time I reached them I was almost hyper-ventilating with the sheer effort taken to catch up and make headway!
Once I reached them I wasn’t for stopping and almost climbed over the top of Andy Bryson and got myself into an eddy to recover. Dave Dowson also must have been pretty out of breath as when he reached the rock I was holding onto his eyes were bigger than his mask!! 
Anyway, once everyone had caught their breath we moved around the corner by the bow of the wreck Nimibia at approx 6m. Next thing we were on our way down to 20+ and just before we corrected the situation we were back up at 12m.
Once we were shaked out everyone handled it without a problem and began to enjoy the dive. We screamed past and just above the bow of the wreck Aida which starts at 30m. The currents started to tame off just after this and we had much more time to take a look out of the window instead of flying our gauges and keeping close tracks on each other.
We surfaced at the mooring ropes of all 4 liveaboards therefore didn’t need to deploy bags and no sooner had we surface next to the reef the Zodiacs were picking up the first load of us.
My plan was to do a technical dive next on the Nimibia but after this first experience of Big Brother I didn’t much fancy decoing in these up/down drafts so pondered the situation during breakfast.
By the time we had prepared for the next dive, the others who had not experienced the strong currents had returned from their dives to report, “It’s not that bad”. We all looked at each other and guess the tides had turned….GAME ON!
Dive 2 – 52m for 58mins – Big Brother, Aida, from Zodiac
As this would be our first tech dive of the trip, the guys at RSE had told us that one of them would escort us to monitor the conduct of the dive and our shadow for the dive would be AG.
My team for this dive was Andy Bryson and Owen Petchley and the guys had opted for a AL80 bottom stage of mix and an AL40 deco bottle; where I was happy to stick to the known for this dive, albeit I would be calling the dive first on rock bottom or minimum gas as it’s now known based on my backgas.
Again we boarded the Zodiac and had to perform a negative entry but we shook out at 6m as a team and carried out our checks on our way down. We were dropped in a perfect position and at 30m the wreck came into view. We had to fin down into the Lee side to shelter from the current, but we were all together!
We ventured down to the stern and had a shufty around then made our way mid-ships and popped up onto the decks. The current was pretty strong so a good look around was not possible on this dive, but what a beautiful wreck.
I thumbed the dive as expected and we began a really nice deco. We bagged off at 9m and eventually surfaced by the old pier which wasn’t that far from the wreck where the Zodiac was waiting for us.
Dive3 – 49m for 53mins – Big Brother – Nimibia, from Zodiac
This was another negative entry dive and once again I dropped down to 10m, checked on the team and began finning to find the wreck. After I lost my team mates light beam I turned round to find Owen about 20m away, Andy 10m away in hot pursuit and a huge sky-scraper of a wreck behind them…Enter Nimibia!
We re-grouped and began to wonder where to explore first. This really is a huge wreck and it took us some time to get our bearings but managed a good look in a cargo hold about the size of a house at 46m then proceeded onto the deck for an overall view of this mammoth wreck. If any of you have seen the HMS Victoria film shot by AG which depicts a massive wreck stood on it’s nose at 120m and shooting all the way up like a high raise flat yet also like the Zenobia with it’s huge cargo holds fit for articulated lorries etc. This dive reminded me just how small I really am in the grand scheme of things! My primary light failed due to a cord problem so I deployed my Heser but we still managed a good poke around before we thumbed the dive and headed for decoland.
Just after the switch we were joined by AG, Faisal and Tala (Faisal’s wife) who were monkey diving in T-Shirts, back plates and stages and AG had his pesky camera again which he stuck in our faces! J
(Nimibia pics to be added)
Back on the boat we prep’d our gas for the next day, grabbed some sunshine then a luxurious dinner as was the norm.
Marsa Alam 24th Sept 2006
Day 3
Dive 1- 14m for 114mins - Abu Dabab from back of MV Tala
The next morning all the effects from the sting had resided and I did a dive with Rob & Marianne on the reef again. This time we headed in the opposite direction and found a really nice pinnacle with an abundance of fish life including blue spotted rays and clown fish.
Clown Fish
Dive 2- 24m for 80 mins – Shuna from back of MV Tala
After breakfast we steamed back to Shuna to have a look at the sea grass bay where there was a good chance to spot Dugon’s and turtles. I did this dive with Andy Bryson and for the best part of an hour we saw nothing but grass. We followed a search pattern east to west and varied the depth up the bay by 5m at a time, but no sign of the sea cows!
Movie clip of “where’s the dugong”? Here
I spotted a huge rock that appeared to move!!! We both shot off in that direction to discover a big old turtle (100yrs+). Two resident remora were on his back although he seemed quite happy to munch away on the sea grass. We spent a good 10mins watching until we were joined by another 2 teams and another turtle with 2 more remora in tow. We hit our agreed bottom time and made our way back to the boat. Once back on the boat a group of us decided to snorkel along the reef and one or two started free diving; with Andy Bryson holding the record of 22m!!!
(Awaiting pic of turtles)
For this dive both myself and Andy booked the X-Scooters to have a look further up the reef. The X-Scooter really is a tidy piece of kit and perfect for this type of diving. We scooted for 20mins or so up the reef before we turned the dive and made our way back along the reef at a shallower depth. We passed by the other teams and AG with his cam. Once back on the boat we prepared our tins for filling and settled into some serious food and sun bathing.
Andy foreground, me rear
Marsa Alam 23rd Sept 2006
Day 2
The routine stayed pretty much the same throughout the week consisting of an early morning dive followed by gas prep, breakfast, dive, lunch, gas prep, dive, dinner, gas prep and night dive if you fancied it. By gas prep I mean; let the guys know what gas you want by taping up your set/stage and the rest was taken care of.
Me and Dave Dowson pre-checkout
Dive 1- 23m max for 35mins - Shuna @ back of MV Tala
Checkout dive with S-Drills, shutdowns and bag deployment followed by dumping gas until your reserve was reached in order to perform a weight check. AG grabbed some video footage of this just in case there were any arguments on whether you made the grade or not! This was not a test but merely a gauge to find out where everyone was. For this dive I was buddied with Dave Dowson.
Me and Dave post-checkout
Dive 2- 18m max for 45mins - Shuna @ back of MV Tala
I was de-kitting from the first dive and re-adjusting my backplate when Faisal offered me a AL40 and an X-Scooter with a view to introducing me to what would commonly be known throughout the week as a “monkey dive”. Not being one to refuse a little fun I jumped in and had a good play. The freedom the plate and stage give you is unreal and barrel rolls and corkscrews became the norm….Just too much fun and good times!
Keira braves the blue
Once everyone was happy with their weighting and trim we moved to a new reef called Abu Dabab for a night dive. My buddy for this dive was Andy Bryson and we soon dropped of the back of the boat and down to the reef just as darkness was setting in. We had a really nice dive along the reef with lots of coral and fishlife to see and before long we hit 3rds so turned the dive. We were just past the fixed mooring when one of the pair of lion fish that were swimming with us launched it’s attack. I signalled to Andy that I had been stung and he thumbed the dive. I had been stung on the pinky and had never felt pain like this before. I started squeezing my finger on the way back to the up line and a small trickle of either blood/poison could be seen streaming from my finger. By the time we surfaced my whole hand was throbbing and the pain was substantial.
A Lion Fish Andy was out of the water first and quickly advised the crew. By the time I got onto the boat, Faisal, AG, Mo and Tala were all busy on their phones to the hospital, on call doctor, ground base and tinternet checking on symptoms, remedies, precautions etc. I was a bit embarrassed by all the attention if truth be known, but felt in very good hands. The guys soon had my hand in a basin of boiling water and one of the Zodiacs were prepped and ready to take me ashore if I went WAHHHOO NIK NIK!The pain soon passed and I enjoyed the remainder of the evening with the guys keeping a close eye on me.
It’s worth noting that everyone reacts differently to a sting based on the location of the sting, size of the fish, exposure and strength of the victim; so make sure you inform someone if this happens to you as lasting effects can include paralysis and CNS issues!!
Marsa Alam 22-29th Sept 2006
Intro
So here’s an account of my recent dive trip to Egypt with Red Sea Explorers
I’ve decided to post this in 5 separate sections firstly to get it out and about and secondly to allow me to plough through the raw footage and still to make the entire report more colourful; so I hope you enjoy…..
This trip was organised a year before hand and the brain child of Faisal Khalaf (Dave’s boss), Mel Smith (Dave’s mum) and Dave Williamson (Dave’s mate) as a 21st birthday surprise for Dave Smith or Tired Dave as he’s more commonly known.
TDave is also a forum member of YD and DIRx to name but a few, so filling this trip initially and covering the team as people dropped out…. by word of mouth only became a real task to keep secret!
Dave left Capernwray some 2 years ago as a DM and is now lucky enough to work for Red Sea Explorers as a crew member of MV Tala; but don’t be under the illusion that this is a holiday for him, this guy really grafts!!
The team list was made up bth by DIR and non-DIR divers which turned out pretty well in my opinion. Dianne and Brad Williamson were there to complete their OW courses with Dave and Dave’s sister Charley and friend Sarah had only recently got their qualifications so it’s fair to say we had a real mix of divers onboard. There were also a couple of RB divers (Martin & Nicola) who were happy to bimble around with OC at recreational depths and then we had us lot which consisted of 7 GUE Tech 1 divers, 1 DIR-F (TDI Trimix) and a couple interested in DIR (Dom & Marianne). My wife Keira and Dave’s dad Roy would also be participating in some try dives throughout the week.
Day 1
Arrival at Manchester airport was uneventful and we managed to hook up with the majority of the guys/gals at the gate. After a 5.5hr flight we arrived at Hurgardha Airport, where we were soon to be met by an RSE rep and transported down to MV Tala some 2.5hrs south.
We arrived at the boat to be greeted by Faisal, Andrew Georgitsis (AG), Mo and Tala and an apparently unfazed TDave!
As it transpired, the guys had just finished building our twin sets and turning the boat around from their previous trip a few minutes before we arrived.
It’s also worth noting that I have yet to see Dave fazed by anything, but you could tell that he was pleased to see his pals and family and appreciative that he would have a relatively easy week with regards diving and language barrier.
…So, onto the diving