This was a series of dives in the Red Sea for LSAC members Carol and Julie. This was the first-time diving abroad and also the first liveaboard for me (Julie).

We took our own kit, including wetsuits, but hired cylinders of Nitrox and weights. We were responsible for testing our Nitrox and recording its oxygen % on a chart.

Date:                        17^th February to 24^th February 2023

Red Sea (Egypt) Wrecks and Reefs Tour

Divers:                     Julie, Carol

Max Depth:              33.7 metres

Dive Times:              12 dives for Julie and 13 dives for Carol, each around 1 hour

Water Temp:            22°c

Visibility:                   All the way to the bottom!

Dive Details:             Emperor Superior Liveaboard, RIB dives and boat dives

There were 12 divers on board plus dive guides and support staff. The dive guides were PADI Master Divers, and they were truly excellent divers and lovely people.

There were 20 dives available, but we only managed 12 (J) and 13 (C). we didn’t do the night dives and couldn’t manage 4 dives a day!

That said, the boat assistants were always on hand to help us kit up, making set up a doddle.

This was my first time diving on Nitrox. I must admit, it is so much easier than diving on air, as you don’t get so tired and can thus dive for longer. I would gladly use Nitrox again.

Some dive entries were off the back of the boat platform, but others were RIB dives as it wasn’t always possible to get the boat to the right spot. We then dropped backwards into the sea. Descents from the boat were by shot line. There was plenty of swell!

We did a test dive first to check weighting and buoyancy. We also tested our DSMBs.

Between us, we dived the following wrecks and reefs:

Poseidon Garden

SS Carnatic, (Abu Nahas) steam powered wood-on-iron clipper ship, sunk 1869

Shaab Abunuhas

Jackson Reef

Gordon Reef 1

Gordon Reef 2

Shark & Yolanda Reefs

SS Dunraven, British steamer, sunk 1876

SS Thislegorm  stern, cargo steamship sunk 1941

SS Thistlegorm inside, cargo steamship sunk 1941

The Barge Small Gubal, small barge sunk 1600s

Push Gardens Reef

Sha’ab El Erg Reef

Umm Gammar S Reef

Small Giftun Island Reef

Small Giftun Island W Reef

Elmina (The Harbour Wreck), Egyptian minesweeper sunk 1969

Over the dives we saw thousands and thousands of sea creatures, including an enormous Moray Eel called Gordon, Eagle Rays, Clown fish, Sun fish, Stone Fish, Crocodile Fish, Octopus, Squid, numerous Nudibranchs, Lion Fish and many many more.  We also saw thousands of gloriously coloured corals, including Fire Corals and Fan Corals.

It was like watching a 360° TV programme, but in real life! It was utterly, truly, gloriously amazing.

Inside the SS Thistlegorm was a sobering, sombre dive. Carol and some other divers found it a bit upsetting. It was sunk in 1941 by a German bomber, who had originally intended to bomb a different (troop carrier) boat but couldn’t find that one. Instead they targeted the nearest largest boat they could find…SS Thistlegorm. You can see many personal belongings still onboard, as well as Bedford Trucks, armoured vehicles and Norton & BSA motorbikes. It was seeing the personal items (like wellington boots) that some found upsetting.

On one wreck, I caught my cylinder going through a tight hole. Unbeknown to me, my cylinder had pulled loose when I caught it. On the way back to the surface our guide spotted that my cylinder was coming out of the strap and dropping. He quickly sat my cylinder on his knee and restrapped it again. I had no idea what he was doing until he explained on the surface. I guess that’s what guides are there for…as well as pointing out pretty fish and making sure we don’t get lost!

Whilst on a drift dive, we ended up at a spot called Dolphin House. Whilst we could hear dolphin calls around us somewhere nearby, we didn’t actually see any this time. I was gutted! Oh well, a good excuse to go back again 😊.

Some of the ascents were challenging as the current was moving fast. We were on one shot line back to the boat doing a deco stop, hanging on for dear life, looking  like washing on a vertical line!

There was always a debrief afterwards, followed by food.  The food, by the way, was excellent and plentiful. We even had profiterole swans!

Dive – Eat – Sleep – Repeat. That’s what they say, and that’s exactly what liveaboard diving holidays are all about.

There was no sunbathing – it was February and windy on deck. But I was only interested in what was below the waterline.

The life that we saw in the Red Sea was absolutely breathtaking and worth every minute spent in there and every penny spent on getting there.

It was a truly overwhelming, awe inspiring, and amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone.

J Green