OV Red Sea Adventures August 2014 - Part 1 - Ocean View Diving Services

We arrived early at Gatwick so we could beat the queues and hopefully get extra leg room seats. The recent news of luggage chaos was also on my mind so we wanted to give our bags every chance of meeting the plane we would be on.

It was a relatively painless process, apart from a check in assistant who was clearly in the wrong job and wanted all her customers to know about it, so with extra leg room seats secured we headed for breakfast.

We finally caught up with the rest of the merry band of travellers in Weatherspoons – where else! With duty frees purchased we headed for the plane.

The plane starts its descent over Hurgahda and the sun is setting over the desert giving an orange glow to the sky. The journey through the airport is as efficient as anything can be in Egypt and Blue O Two are ready and waiting with our visas to speed us through security. We wait nervously at the baggage carousel and with much relief our bags arrive.

Shaab El Erg Reef

Day 1 is a relaxed start with a wake up call of 8am. The boat set sail for Shaab El Erg, also know as Dolphin House, for our check dive.

As the boat moored up we could see a day boat chasing the dolphins as they swam and then like lemmings what looked like a million snorkellersjumped in the water thrashing around trying to locate them.

Blue Spotted Ray

We have the briefing, buddy pairs are decided and groups formed. We finally take our first giant strides in to the water at 11 am. The water is 27 degrees and the viz pretty good too. With weight checks completed we bimble along seeing a Blue Spotted Ray, a scorpion fish and loads of shoaling fish. Once our SMB deployment is successfully negotiated we surface at the boat ladder to the chatter of others’ encounters with the dolphins….. d’oh!

Scorpion Fish

Giannis D was launched in 1969 and was a 2,932 ton general cargo vessel with a length of 87 metres. She sank in April 1983 with a cargo of wood after hitting the reef. This is going to be my first opportunity to try out my new fish eye lens and I am keen to try and capture that iconic shot! As we backwards rolled off the rib and descend the large A frame comes into view – stunning!

Bow of Giannis D

We survey the stern, then make our way along the starboard side to the middle where the wreck is very damaged and the deck beams have collapsed exposing the ship’s ribs. Onwards to the bow and the mast which is dripping in soft corals. We start to make our way back to the stern where the taxi rank is located and held our safety stop over the superstructure. The ship lists at a 45 degree angle and my mind starts to play games with me so I grab the conveniently located line. Weird! Which way is up?

Beacon Rock (Dunraven) I assume is so called due to the beacon on the rock there! This is dive 1 of our Night Diver course. You want me to navigate with a compass in the dark…… Hhmmmm, I’ll give it a go! We take a bearing from the back of the boat to the beacon -west. We jump and descend down the line. We get our bearings and start counting fin kick cycles. Out and back to almost the same spot! Phew! Now off for our dive. Porcelain crabs, lionfish, banded shrimps, sleeping parrot fish, hermit crabs, basket stars, brittle stars and a huge moray eel.

Day 1 is now complete and thoroughly exhausting it has been too!

Jack Fish Alley

Day 2 and the boat engine starts to rumble at 5am…. I had forgotten about all the early starts! There is a cheery knock at the door at 6am followed by an offer of tea or coffee. This is better service than at home!

Our first dive is Jack Fish Alley. The captain manoeuvres the boat towards the cliff face and gives the ok. We all drop in the blue, orientate to the reef wall and slowly descend. We swim through a crack in the reef to appear on a plateau covered in soft coral blocks just waiting to be explored. A large feather tailed ray is snoozing in the sand and is completely unbothered by the frenzied clicking of cameras. Pajama slugs, butterfly fish, banner fish, gobies – all sorts!

Feather Tailed Ray

After 45 minutes of mooching about I reach 70 bar so we start our gentle ascent and send up the SMB to pre-order our taxi back for breakfast.

Bow of the Thistlegorm

After lunch we set sail for the wreck of the Thistlegorm. She was a WW2 supply ship and was sunk whilst in safe harbour by Heinkel HE 11 German heavy bombers on 6th October 1941. There is a buzz of excitement around the boat. We arrive mid afternoon and there are no other boats…. Brilliant! It takes a while for the boat to be moored up and by this time M.V. Aphrodite, who we have been following around all week, pulls up along side.

Armered Personnel Carrier on Thistlegorm

The briefing is very detailed and the plan is for three dives so we can split the wreck in to stern, decks and bow. The recommendation for the afternoon is the stern. There is no current so crossing the bomb damaged area and getting back again won’t be an issue. We are moored to a point near the funnel so can follow the line straight down. It’s just us on the wreck and the viz is good. Once cameras are all set up we begin to explore. We see the armoured personnel carriers, a scattering of shells and a stray boot in the sand. Heading further along we reach the stern with 2 large guns still attached and continue down to the prop. One side of the propeller is still quite brassy in colour, I assume from divers touching. There are numerous crocodile fish, spotted rays napping on the deck and huge clouds of fish of all shapes and sizes all around the wreck. Beautiful!

Water bowser on the deck of Thistlegorm

Dive 2 is to be a night dive to explore the decks and the open areas of hold one and two. The current has picked up a bit so a surface line is added to guide divers to the shot. We decide to sit this one out and watch the brave getting in while we enjoy a cold beer. We watch the torches flashing around under the waves. Two of our divers miss the ascent line and come up on the boat next door. Once safely back aboard they say they looked about, decided it wasn’t as nice as ours and so hailed a taxi back!

Gun on the deck of Thistlegorm

Dive 3 is bright and early the next morning. We all hope over dinner that the current would be gone in the morning to allow easy exploration of the bow.

Day 3 and the cheery knock at the door comes at 6am swiftly followed by the now customary cup of tea. A further detailed briefing is given outlining the rules on penetration, where Terry the turtle lives and the general ‘ambience’ for the dive.

Boot

Kit on, buddy checks completed we make our giant strides in to the water. Immediately below we can see the wreck fizzing with bubbles out of every nook and cranny…. We head to the bow to get a good profile picture and then back up on to the deck, over the winches, to hold 1. It is quite busy with divers so we continue on to hold 2 where only 2 other divers are.As we descend into the hold we can clearly see the jeeps and motorcycles and as I look down I can make out the packaged up rifles. To the side is an airplane wing and some engine cowlings. Looking more closely at the fallen metal structure I can see a beautiful nudibranch going about its business.

Airplane wing and engine coweling

Time and air as always are too short so we make our way back to the line. The current is starting to pick up so the safety stop is performed flag style as is becoming the tradition on the Thistlegorm.

Motorcyle in the Thistlegorm hold

Until next time……..