Going South - Part 7 The Spectre of Elphinstone - 13/05/2018

We did to dives on Elphinstone Reef. They were to be the end of cruise filler dives. Granted on a fantastic reef. 

Dive one saw us hanging out deep on the northern plateau looking for pelagic life. We never saw any big stuff. It was nice, but if it feels like I'm skipping over stuff, I am. 

The second dive saw us dive as a group. I lead us out to 40m on the southern plateau up the eastern side back round to the western side - by which point it was just the Big Easy and I left. We kept our eyes peeled, but we never saw any of the pelagic life we were looking for.

We headed back toward the boat enjoying a very gentle drift. As we approached the boat we spotted a tight group of divers looking like they were all doing a safety stop. They weren't though. I asked what they were looking at. One chap, a keen photographer signalled shark. 

We swam to join them and out of the blue they came. Two of them - oceanic white tips, the worlds most prolific man eater. They circled a couple of times and after a couple of minutes The Big Easy and I headed out the water delighted to have encountered them.

Turtle

Nudi

Oceanic White Tip

Going South - Part 5 Fast and the Furious - 11/05/2018

We had been given options by the cruise director.

1. An extra day in fury shoals spotting dolphins (we had seen them briefly on the surface the day before)
2. An extra day in Daedalus spotting sharks

The group chose the first option. I'm not sure it was the right choice, they never saw dolphins, but that's democracy for you. What we did get was some of the most magnificent coral reefs I've ever seen.

The Playground and Claudio were beautiful dives providing some stunning coral vistas. However, it was Claudio that had us having fun fighting against a current after navigating the reef. The Battle for Sataya East had obviously weakened a number of our group. As we settled in the shelter. I saw the Kingmaker push on by. I joined him and together we made it.

The Kingmaker was particularly pleased for us to be one of the few buddy pairs that made it back to the boat.

The evening brought us to Abu Galawa Soraya. It was a nice dive also with a spectacular coral amphitheatre and small wreck. It was one of the few dives that I've done that I wish I had a twinset on to make it last longer. It was genuinely spectacular.

Masked puffer

Nudibranch

American wreck

Corals and fish

Blue Spotted Ray

Red Sea Anemone fish

Going South - Part 2 Dangerous Territory - 09/05/2018

The 3rd dive of the day would be the Kingmaker's 500th dive. The numerically notable dive was set to be at Sha'ab Dangerous in St John's. So named because of the markings on nautical maps informing sea captains of dangerous reefs, not really because it's danger. It was a dive that was to be somewhat anticlimactic as the Kingmaker's 499th turned out to be very special indeed. 

The day started nicely at a small reef named Habili Ali before moving on to Small Gotta. Small Gotta was meant to be pretty and unspectacular. That's what Kingmaker's dive log would say. I mean who remembers their 499th dive? It's not meant to be memorable. And it wasn't, right up until an oceanic manta soared up from the deep blue performed a loop and then swam out the way it came with the Kingmaker "soaring" along beside it. He was delighted.

That would make for a pretty memorable 499th, but when the two grey reef sharks came by I could tell the Kingmaker was enjoying himself. Back on the boat we agreed that it was amongst the best dives we'd all done. It will live long in the memory. 

Sadly for Dangerous, as pretty as it was as a reef it wasn't spectacular in the way the previous dive had been.

Soaring manta

Crack in the coral - Dangerous

500th dive

Antheas - the current signallers

Res sea anemone fish

Going South - Part 1

With both the Kingmaker and I turning 40 in the last six months we had decided that we would do a red sea liveaboard to celebrate. We had settled on heading south to Rocky, Zabargad & St Johns on board MY Blue Horizon. A few folk got wind of our  trip and decided to join us including:

• The Gandalf of the Internet
• Pushme Poolme
• The Big Easy

We were set.

When we arrived we were told that the itinery would have to change as the Egyptian military has revoked the boats permission to go to Rocky and Zabargad. As such the new plan was:

Port Ghalib - St Johns - Fury Shoals - Daedalus - Elphinstone - Port Ghalib

I wasn't that fussed - the addition of Daedalus meant I'd have an improved chance of seeing my first hamnmerhead shark and that was one of the primary reasons my trip.

Once on the boat our little group was given an additional diver to even up the numbers. She was experienced, but hadn't dived in a while. I'd like to think we made her welcome. We started with a couple of 60 minute check dives that threw up a couple of nudibranchs in between the boat steaming down to St John's to start our adventures.

The Big Easy

Kingmaker

Unidentified nudibranch

Gandalf of the Internet

Chromodoris Strigata

The only crown of thorns

The first moray

The first turtle