Ok its here, 8am came around all too soon (remembering we were on holiday, and still on UK time, so it was really 6am, aaarrgh !) but we duly all met up in reception full of excitement and anticipation of what the first days diving would bring. The Emperor Divers minibus picked us up and took is to the marina where we met our guides and crew for the week. We then unpacked our gear and put our kit together, with much fumbling, as we tried to remember how this all this stuff is meant to fit together. At least now we know why Mark sent Shane out to keep an eye on us. Ok, jobs all done, now down to the import job of relaxing, so as the captain set sail for our first dive site (a check dive at Abu Ramada), we all collapsed on the sunbeds and caught some sun and zzzzz’s.

Any nerves that we had soon vanished as we jumped into the warm, crystal blue waters and took a first look at the amazing new world that we’d entered. There was an abundance of marine life including huge Moray Eels (a bit of a theme for the week, as these boys seemed to get bigger at each successive dive site!), Parrotfish, Antheas, Clownfish, Triggerfish, Bannerfish – the list goes on and on. It was just staggering, and bode well for the rest of the week.

The week really did just get better and better. The coral gardens that we were guided to were just stunning, with huge Gorgonian Fans, massive Table Corals, and every shape, size and colour of coral imaginable. The sightings continued, with Napolean Wrasse, Eagle Ray, Octopus, Jellyfish (Strawberry, I think), Lionfish, Turtle and even a reported sighting of a juvenile Tiger Shark…. We were also lucky enough to see Dolphins on our travels between sites – oh to be that graceful !

One of our more unusual sightings was of the ice cream boat, a small motor boat complete with a domestic freezer, a generator and a skipper who looked like he consumed most of the stock and all of the profits – a very welcome visitor on board at ‘The Aquarium’. We counted 22 day boats at this site whilst we were there, so I guess he did a roaring trade!

In addition to the reef dives, we also took the option of a really early start and headed out to Abu Nuhas, and to a new experience for many of us, wreck diving. We visited the wrecks of the Carnatic, and Ghiannis D, both very different in their characteristics and ages, having sunk after hitting the reef 100 years apart. Again the abundance of marine life was overwhelming, and there was something quite stirring about seeing how the sea had reclaimed the structures, covering them with coral growth.
 

Then came the night dive, and what an amazing experience that was! It was really disorientating, with the darkness enclosing us, broken by the beams of light from our dive torches – it was just like a scene from Close Encounters - even more so for the half of the group who were ambushed by a French group who steamed through the middle of us with the usual Gallic charm. The real highlight of the dive was the Hawksbill turtle who put in an appearance, no doubt confused about how it had suddenly got light again! It was fascinating to watch the plentiful cunning lionfish that followed our lights and made sushi from any fish that we lit with our beams.

It really was a fabulous week, and I’ve deliberately left out references to taxi splinter groups, the visit to the home of a security guard for a crafty smoke of some questionable substances, and navigation practice in the bedroom with the lights out, so as not to incriminate or embarrass anyone! We wouldn’t want to cause any discomfort by mentioning the DMC who got lost on the PADI Navigation Speciality Dive, or the diver who lost all sense of direction (on several occasions) as soon as his camera came into play, much to the frustration of his buddy, or even the diver who realised that the reason he couldn’t descend was that he’d left his weight pouches back on the boat!

So with the dignities of the guilty still in tact, on to some congratulations – To Sam and Sophie, who successfully completed their PADI Open Water Diver qualifications, to Adam for his PADI Underwater Photography qualification, to Scott, Sophie, Michelle, Carl, Peter, Marion, Steve and me for our completing our PADI Advanced course. Also to Wayne, a.k.a. Mr Gadget of ‘interesting half hour’ fame who, very quietly, celebrated his birthday during the week.

Thanks to Shane for his patience and organisation, our excellent guides Simon, Nick and Jo and of course to the crew of Pegasus who really looked after us. I’m sure we will be back! Click Here to view the full photo album