Chris W
22-06-2009, 13:50
Hi guy's,
Thought I'd post a quick report of last weeks trip to Marsa Alam with Emperor Divers.
10th June.
Got up at stupid O'clock to get to Manchester Airport for 5'ish.
Had been struggling with the crappy Monarch Airlines '15kgs' luggage allowance - ended up not getting lower than 17kgs. Managed to blag the girl on the check-in desk with showing my quals and getting an extra few kg's.
Flight and stuff was fairly uneventful and the scrum at Marsa airport for visas was something else! First time I've experienced this.
Got to our Hotel in Port Ghalib - the Marina Lodge, Emperor Divers have their centre in the hotel and the day boats are moored directly outside.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010009009.jpg
settled down for a couple of beers at the bar before sorting out our kit for tomorrow morning.
11th June.
Got to the dive centre just before 08:00 and dropped our kit into the boxes with our names on. Then it was time for the form filling and qualification checking. I was feeling a bit nervous at this point as I've only done 27 dives and only 1 see dive.
There were about 18 of us (only 3 from my club – we discussed with the dive centre about diving as a 3 and they were fine with it) and we were all going out on the same boat for the check dives. We decided not to do any of the other offered extra trips for the week - Elphinstone, night dive and Abu Dhab for the Dugong dive.
We boarded our boat 'Empress ISA'
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010007007.jpg
The first dive site was going to be Marsa Mubarak, our dive guide Sylvain outlined the dive site and the plan.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010003003.jpg
The first dive was the 'north side' over by the pinnacles. I'd decided to try 10kg's one the first dive as I wasn't sure of how much I needed.
Was impressed with the amount of life that we saw. Memorable firsts were Blue Spotted Ray's and a Lion fish (I think...).
Was a bit floaty towards the end of the dive so decided to stick an extra couple of kg's on for the next dive.
Second dive was across over towards the 'sea grass' area so a surface swim to the buoy was required. We dropped down and swam around the large pinnacles - full of glass fish and gold fish. There were also a couple of Green Sea Turtles munching on the grass - was amazed at how close they let us get. There were also a couple of juvenile Eagle Rays floating around. Was still a bit floaty toward the end of the dive......
A great first day's diving.
12th June.
Again an early breakfast and on the boat by 08:00.
Left the harbour and had the briefing on the way – today we were diving Marsa Shouni Kebir (North & South reefs again).
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010016016.jpg
The first dive was to be on the North reef.
We dropped off the back of the boat and descended down the coral wall to about 15m. We then started to drop down to 21m – loads of life on the coral again.
At this point one of my buddies – Emma, signalled that she wasn’t feeling quite right. So we stopped where we were and ascended back to 15m. Emma still wasn’t feeling right – so the 3 of us decided to bin the dive.
I decided that as we’d be making a gradual ascent and there was a slight current that I’d send up a DSMB. Now this was going to be interesting as this would be my first mid water deployment…… all went well and I stayed within about +/-0.5m.
We ascended to 5m and carried out our 3 minute stop – when we surfaced we were on the opposite side of the boat, so we surface swam to the rear and got out. Think Emma was just a bit de-hydrated, after a bottle of water and a nap she felt better but decided to sit out the rest of the day.
The second dive was on the South reef.
We were told that this would be done from the zodiac – and guess who’d never dived from a zodiac/rhib?? – well that’ll be me then!! :redface:
As Emma was sitting this out it was just me & Karl.
We boarded the zodiac and Sylvain outlined the drop off and pick up.
The zodiac stopped and Sylvain counted down – 3, 2, 1 – ROLL! At this point I went and just prayed that I’d gone with the others. Spun round and popped back up with the others – COOL!
We dropped down to about 25m and made a gradual ascent up the wall – absolutely teeming with life – loads of bat fish and glass fish.
We stayed at about 15m for most of the dive – shoals of trigger fish and loads of other stuff. We stopped off at the eel garden and hung around watching the eels popping up from the sand.
We gradually worked our way back up towards 5m – we started to swim away from the reef at this point into blue water (quite un-nerving!), we carried out our 3m stop and I deployed the DSMB ready for the zodiac to pick us up – 2 mid-water deployments in one day!!!
Getting back into the zodiac was another first – and not too pretty!
13th & 14th June.
No diving for me as I have Pharaohs Revenge………:rain::frown:
15th June.
Our last day diving
Again up, fed and on the boat by 08:00.
Today we were going to be diving Marsa Shouni Sorayor (north & south)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010023021.jpg
Decided that I could do with a bit more weight as I was a bit floaty again at the end of the last dives – so added an extra 2kg’s – was now carrying 14kg’s!!
We did the North reef first.
The vis on this dive wasn’t as good as the others.
We dropped down to 20m and there we loads of shoals of small fish – loads of different kinds.
Notable first on this dive were a Barracuda that was lurking about looking a bit shifty.
The second dive on the South reef would involve going out around the outside of the pinnacles and back around the reef wall toward the boat.
As we got round the outside of the first pinnacle we were buzzed by a large Eagle Ray – amazing!
On the way back toward the boat on the sand at about 12m we saw a Crocodile fish – the first one I’d seen!
When we were doing out stop at 5m the vis was getting worse and was down to about 6-10m.
Got back on the boat and felt pleased with the dove and saddened that this was the last dive of the holiday…..:sad:
Have to say a big thank you to the guys at Emperor – when we got back to the centre I was given a voucher for the day’s diving that I’d missed – didn’t expect that!
Sorry about the lack of pics – was going to take the camera on the last 3 days but as I missed them I couldn’t be bothered with taking it on the last day as I wanted to enjoy the last dives.
So now I have to go back…..;)
Thought I'd post a quick report of last weeks trip to Marsa Alam with Emperor Divers.
10th June.
Got up at stupid O'clock to get to Manchester Airport for 5'ish.
Had been struggling with the crappy Monarch Airlines '15kgs' luggage allowance - ended up not getting lower than 17kgs. Managed to blag the girl on the check-in desk with showing my quals and getting an extra few kg's.
Flight and stuff was fairly uneventful and the scrum at Marsa airport for visas was something else! First time I've experienced this.
Got to our Hotel in Port Ghalib - the Marina Lodge, Emperor Divers have their centre in the hotel and the day boats are moored directly outside.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010009009.jpg
settled down for a couple of beers at the bar before sorting out our kit for tomorrow morning.
11th June.
Got to the dive centre just before 08:00 and dropped our kit into the boxes with our names on. Then it was time for the form filling and qualification checking. I was feeling a bit nervous at this point as I've only done 27 dives and only 1 see dive.
There were about 18 of us (only 3 from my club – we discussed with the dive centre about diving as a 3 and they were fine with it) and we were all going out on the same boat for the check dives. We decided not to do any of the other offered extra trips for the week - Elphinstone, night dive and Abu Dhab for the Dugong dive.
We boarded our boat 'Empress ISA'
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010007007.jpg
The first dive site was going to be Marsa Mubarak, our dive guide Sylvain outlined the dive site and the plan.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010003003.jpg
The first dive was the 'north side' over by the pinnacles. I'd decided to try 10kg's one the first dive as I wasn't sure of how much I needed.
Was impressed with the amount of life that we saw. Memorable firsts were Blue Spotted Ray's and a Lion fish (I think...).
Was a bit floaty towards the end of the dive so decided to stick an extra couple of kg's on for the next dive.
Second dive was across over towards the 'sea grass' area so a surface swim to the buoy was required. We dropped down and swam around the large pinnacles - full of glass fish and gold fish. There were also a couple of Green Sea Turtles munching on the grass - was amazed at how close they let us get. There were also a couple of juvenile Eagle Rays floating around. Was still a bit floaty toward the end of the dive......
A great first day's diving.
12th June.
Again an early breakfast and on the boat by 08:00.
Left the harbour and had the briefing on the way – today we were diving Marsa Shouni Kebir (North & South reefs again).
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010016016.jpg
The first dive was to be on the North reef.
We dropped off the back of the boat and descended down the coral wall to about 15m. We then started to drop down to 21m – loads of life on the coral again.
At this point one of my buddies – Emma, signalled that she wasn’t feeling quite right. So we stopped where we were and ascended back to 15m. Emma still wasn’t feeling right – so the 3 of us decided to bin the dive.
I decided that as we’d be making a gradual ascent and there was a slight current that I’d send up a DSMB. Now this was going to be interesting as this would be my first mid water deployment…… all went well and I stayed within about +/-0.5m.
We ascended to 5m and carried out our 3 minute stop – when we surfaced we were on the opposite side of the boat, so we surface swam to the rear and got out. Think Emma was just a bit de-hydrated, after a bottle of water and a nap she felt better but decided to sit out the rest of the day.
The second dive was on the South reef.
We were told that this would be done from the zodiac – and guess who’d never dived from a zodiac/rhib?? – well that’ll be me then!! :redface:
As Emma was sitting this out it was just me & Karl.
We boarded the zodiac and Sylvain outlined the drop off and pick up.
The zodiac stopped and Sylvain counted down – 3, 2, 1 – ROLL! At this point I went and just prayed that I’d gone with the others. Spun round and popped back up with the others – COOL!
We dropped down to about 25m and made a gradual ascent up the wall – absolutely teeming with life – loads of bat fish and glass fish.
We stayed at about 15m for most of the dive – shoals of trigger fish and loads of other stuff. We stopped off at the eel garden and hung around watching the eels popping up from the sand.
We gradually worked our way back up towards 5m – we started to swim away from the reef at this point into blue water (quite un-nerving!), we carried out our 3m stop and I deployed the DSMB ready for the zodiac to pick us up – 2 mid-water deployments in one day!!!
Getting back into the zodiac was another first – and not too pretty!
13th & 14th June.
No diving for me as I have Pharaohs Revenge………:rain::frown:
15th June.
Our last day diving
Again up, fed and on the boat by 08:00.
Today we were going to be diving Marsa Shouni Sorayor (north & south)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/cjwood23/Marsa%20Alam%20June%2009/P1010023021.jpg
Decided that I could do with a bit more weight as I was a bit floaty again at the end of the last dives – so added an extra 2kg’s – was now carrying 14kg’s!!
We did the North reef first.
The vis on this dive wasn’t as good as the others.
We dropped down to 20m and there we loads of shoals of small fish – loads of different kinds.
Notable first on this dive were a Barracuda that was lurking about looking a bit shifty.
The second dive on the South reef would involve going out around the outside of the pinnacles and back around the reef wall toward the boat.
As we got round the outside of the first pinnacle we were buzzed by a large Eagle Ray – amazing!
On the way back toward the boat on the sand at about 12m we saw a Crocodile fish – the first one I’d seen!
When we were doing out stop at 5m the vis was getting worse and was down to about 6-10m.
Got back on the boat and felt pleased with the dove and saddened that this was the last dive of the holiday…..:sad:
Have to say a big thank you to the guys at Emperor – when we got back to the centre I was given a voucher for the day’s diving that I’d missed – didn’t expect that!
Sorry about the lack of pics – was going to take the camera on the last 3 days but as I missed them I couldn’t be bothered with taking it on the last day as I wanted to enjoy the last dives.
So now I have to go back…..;)