Red Sea Diving

A Trip To Sharm El-Sheikh

It was quite exciting this summer to go back home after a fairly long year at work. Although I've been looking forward to meeting all my pals and family; there was a new unique purpose to this vacation.

Being Egyptian, it was ironic that when I had the chance to get my first diving qualification, I didn't do it in Egypt; instead, I've been diving in several countries which my job has taken me to, before having the chance to think of and plan a dive trip in my homeland.

The plan was: travel from Alexandria, my hometown, to Sharm El-Sheikh by car (to get over the no flight time on the way back), book a fancy hotel for the 4 days I was planning to stay – fancy enough at least to minimize complaints from my non-diving wife!

The day we arrived, after check-in, a quick shower etc. (it was about noon), I headed straight for the dive centre in town which I'd researched online in advance and which had been recommended by several dive centres abroad. Their prices were a bit higher than others, but after a quick browse of a couple of other centres I decided not to take chances on my first experience in this place, so I signed up with them a 4-day dive package.

I was about to leave the desk when the lady there told me that the following day I'd do a check dive and then join them aboard the day after! I was puzzled, it turned out that all dive operators must do a “check dive” for all customers signing up for dive trips, regardless of their licence grade!

“So, what do you need me to do?” I replied. It appeared to be a pointless exercise to simply add to the expense of the trip - mask clearing, alternate air source usage and cramp removal techniques were all that were needed for the “check dive”! “I'm not going to lose a full quarter of my trip just for that! How about doing this now” I complained, and after a short exchange the lady dive master agreed to check me out there and then.

It went fine but it was tougher than I thought it would be to rehearse these techniques with the multitude of colours down there. Even 'though this was a shore dive, within 40 minutes I saw as much marine life and variety of colours that anyone would normally encounter in several dives. The choice of dive site was intelligent indeed; I guess that's why they charge more - for the know-how.

The next day was a big one! I had to get up as early as 5am to grab a quick breakfast and head for the jetty. They did have a pickup service but I preferred to walk along the shoreline in the early morning breeze. My gear had already been checked in with the operator the previous day.

The boat was about 35 ft. long with a very ample space for all of us – about 11 divers and 4 dive leaders. For that day the planned trip was for Ras Mohamad, a great site with mangroves growing offshore and a national protectorate. After debriefing and before donning our gear, my dive leader suggested that I opt for a 15 litre tank since I'm a heavy breather, to give me more bottom time than the standard 12 litre one, so I went for it.

I quickly discovered that the conventional tanks used in the Red Sea employ DIN valves, but since everywhere I've dived so far uses the yoke type, I asked for an adapter. I was pleased that I needed far less weight than I've been used to, since the tanks were steel. We strode into the water and made a paced descend as there was no visual reference whatsoever and we were literally descending into the blue. Anchors are banned to avoid damaging the reefs, so the only option is to watch your bubbles to get a sense of orientation.

From a depth of 6m our eyes started to get busy, as did our cameras; this went on for the rest of the dive which went as deep as 30m. We passed blue scale emperor, circular batfish, carpet flathead, flathead scorpion fish, a variety of trigger fish, Napoleon wrasse, clown fish, and plenty of moray eels. The dive lasted for 52 minutes and ended with a slight struggle maintaining depth at the safety stop, I decided to use 4kg of lead on the next dive time instead of 3kg!

After a fair time and some chatting on board we jumped in again, this time for a longer dive of 66 minutes. The weight was right this time. We did a penetration through a C- shaped tunnel in the reef wall, in what would have been literally zero visibility without a torch. We entered at one end and the current carried us to the other past an octopus sleeping inside, which was a first-time experience!

Once out of the tunnel, we bumped into a great barracuda school which scattered as we drifted through them, and then a couple of minutes later they regrouped behind us! We continued to the east where we spotted a white fin reef shark, and although this wasn't the first time I'd seen a shark, this one appeared to me to be swimming vigorously - maybe looking for something he'd lost! Anyway he didn't really seem bothered by us being around.

Day 2 started in the same way, with a couple of dives which were okay, but not comparable to those the day before - Ras Mohamad really deserves to be a protectorate!

On the way back, however, I had a chat with the dive leader, Andreas, who's Swiss, and we agreed to do a couple of Nitrox training dives whilst diving as usual. I'd already been through the theory previously, so we only needed to crash through it on our way to the dive location which was expected to take not less than 90 minutes.

So, on the way to my final day's diving we spent the journey going through tables and computer settings. Soon we arrived at the first dive spot, this time in the Strait of Tiran. Before donning our gear we checked the mix in the tanks with an oxygen gauge, and set our computers to the agreed maximum operating depth (O2 exposure factor).

We jumped in with Andreas wearing 2 computers - one set to air and other set to the Nitrox mix we were using, just for my comparison. As we descended, the available bottom time showed a drastic difference from a depth of about 16m. At 35m the air computer showed that we were well beyond our permitted bottom time, whilst the Nitrox computer showed we still had plenty of time to continue the dive safely.

His reading was very close to my own computer's as well, and with only 2 minutes difference, give or take, we did a proper safety stop and got on board. Being down there for 52 minutes we'd probably have been bent if we'd been diving on air. The other good thing was that I felt energised after that dive which I put down to breathing oxygen. However, Andreas argued that this is a myth!

On the next dive we got down to 37 m for something like 3 minutes, which is, so far, the deepest I've been; I'm not quite sure if I'll have the chance to try that again! I didn't feel narc'ed, 'though maybe that's because it was on Nitrox as well. The dive went fine but with a strong counter current at the end to struggle through, and then we were out.

Well, that was it, a fairly nice trip, and another C-card added to the collection, and, most importantly, superb photos and important acquired skills. The only thing left, to end it with no angry face, was a romantic candlelit dinner - and a hefty visit to the gold store!

by Maget