Join Me in the Club - 03/01/2019

Day two of my midwinter dive adventure saw Dive Aqaba take me to a beach club near the Saudi border for a couple of dives.

The first and by far the most impressive was The Bowl. The second, and the one I was meant to get excited about was The Cathedral. The Cathedral turned out to be a man made structure that housed a small lighthouse on the surface. The Bowl was where the action actually happened.

We had been swimming for some time when I first saw something in the gloom. The dive guide saw it too. It could of been a shark, a tuna, a turtle,or a dolphin. We'll never know as it only ever remained a shadow in the distance. However, once we gave up on seeing it came round a small rock formation only to see a remora.

I 'd never seen one before, but when I saw its suckers and its interest in me I knew instantly that I didn't want it to attach to me. I sensible kept my distance and performed manoeuvres that would keep it away. It was nice to see and gave credence to the larger creature in the darkness theory.

Dive two never saw anything that would compare, but we did see some nudis.

Nudi!

Shadow of the Cathedral

Hunting

Puffer

Remora

Cable Canyon - 02/01/2019

The diving gods were kind to me in 2018, and set a trend that seems to be continuing into 2019, as myself and Gill.I.Am took advantage of some cheap flights and a love affair with Jordan to allow me to dive again at one of my favourite parts of the world. 

Long term readers will know, I've visited and dived in this area before. However, I genuinely love this site. A wee bimble down a coral canyon to 43m then a turn and ascending under the man made cables connecting Jordan and Egypt, passing bright red anemones and delicate corals. Most importantly, considering all the people that dive from South Beach you won't see a soul until the shallows. That's because, they all want to dive the Cedar Pride. I did too, back then. But now it's so passe.

This time I was diving with Dive Aqaba, the company I'd used in the past was now kaput. I chatted Abdallah, tolf him of my experiences and how I wanted to see some old friends down deep on the reef I went, and there they were. I was, as the youngsters say, "totes emosh". 

We followed that up with a wee dive around the Cedar Pride, but I knew my wee anemone was still safe 4 years on. I was happy.

Then - December 2014

Now - January 2019

Snakelocks

Buddy for the day

Cedar Pride

Cedar Pride

It'll Be Just Like Beggar's Canyon Back Home! - 01/01/2015

Today was the day when Gill.I.am was finally doing the deep dives of her PADI Deep Speciality with Aqaba's Anchor in Jordan. We were going to be doing two dives to 40m today. The first at the Power Station and the second down a deep canyon near the wreck of the Cedar Pride. 

As the Power Station was to be Gill's first dive down to 40m I never took the camera even though this would be our best chance of seeing a shark. The site reminded me a lot of Dogfish Reef / Furnace Quarry back home for a number of reasons including:

• Steep slope straight down
• Popular with fishermen
• Lots of discarded fishing line and litter on the reef

It was comforting to know that we all face the same problems.

The dive went well without being too eventful. We saw stonefish, mantis shrimp and morays but no sharks or turtles.

We went to the second site where they were also running a rescue course. I got to be the panicked diver and got to shout for help theatrically in both English & Arabic. I was told my performance was excellent. The guy passed.

Our second dive took us down a deep canyon and as we hit 40m we finally struck gold for the day. A whopping 1.4m green turtle. I got excited, started taking pictures and gunned through my air at depth.  Fortunately, Abood the DM was carrying a spare cylinder so I borrowed that for 50 bar and a few minutes of deco. :)

Abood enjoys a fresh beverage

Turtle

Turtle

Cedar Pride

Starry Puffer

Gill and Diver

That's My Little Octopussy - 31/12/2014

In 1983 Roger Moore made one of the worst Bond movies ever. However, it did spawn one of the most memorable lines ever. A line that runs through my mind sometimes when I dive.

James Bond: [looking at the tattoo on Magda's back] What is that?

Magda: That's my little octopussy.

Indeed, "that's my little octopussy". I've seen octopus' on four occasions. Twice in Scotland and once in Egypt and once the other day at Black Rock in Aqaba. On each occasion I have spectacularly failed to photograph them. Either because I've been too slow to realise what I'm looking at or too incompetent with a camera. 

Today Gill.I.Am was beginning a PADI Deep Speciality with one of the owners Isaac of Aqaba's Anchor. I was diving initially with one of the DMTs nicknamed Woody. We had a nice dive zooming around Rainbow Reef and the Cedar Pride. However, I'd be lying if I said that my heart was ever racing. You know the way it does when you see something really neat underwater. Don't get me wrong I still had fun, but it wasn't that exciting.

When I came back to the shore and Gill mentioned that she'd had a nice encounter with a Giant Moray I was a somewhat jealous, although I like to think I never let it show. I mean doesn't everyone punch their dive pals in the face after a dive? *joke*

So when we went in for the second dive I was now diving as part of a three with Gill and Isaac. They were doing skills while I was pottering about looking for anything. Then at 30m I saw a rock move. "Nope, that's not a rock it's a stonefish. No! That's not a stonefish it's an octopus!" I thought,  In one motion I swept up my camera with my right hand, rattled my shaker with my left and drew Isaac and Gill over. 

It was a whopper! Changing colour, receding into it's hole, I thought it was going to disappear from view, but then it paused to look at me, it took pity and let me take a picture. "My little octopussy" I thought.

It's New Years Eve (or Hogmanay as we call it Scotland), if diving in 2015 starts as well as it ended I'll be happy. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS, HAPPY NEW YEAR.

My little octopussy

Wacko-paco

Woody

Anemone fish

Bicolour Parrotfish

Swimming through

Air in the hold

Starry puffer

Glassfish (or Red Sea dwarf sweeper)

Gill.I.Am and the wreck

I'm A Spanish Dancer, A Dancer For Money - 15/07/2014

Military escort - the Village People

Our original plan had been to dive the wreck of the Cedar Pride, but Nasser asked me a question when he picked me up. "Do you want to see the wreck or sealife and corals?" To be honest, I'm more into the sealife. So, I plumped for a sealife dive over the wreck.

On hearing that legendary riot starter and night diver Stephen Frewbowski was in town for a night dive, the Jordanian Navy were sent to investigate. Some smooth words and the opportunity to have his photo taken with the author of Poseidon's Parlour was enough to ensure the evening would go swimmingly well.

In all seriousness, it should be noted that it is the law in Jordan that even experienced divers must have a guide. Furthermore, for security reasons (it's a sensitive part of the world) if night diving you must have shore cover provided by the Jordanian Royal Navy. Apparently, in the 70s a nutcase from Egypt used an underwater scooter to go from Taba in Egypt up to Eilat in Israel for less than honourable purposes.

We dived the reef next to the Cedar Pride (called Rainbow Reef) which began simply before drifting over and along a beautiful coral wall that dropped from about 8m down to around 18m by my reckoning as we moved along we moved onto a new second reef called Cable Reef which seemed to drop much deeper as it felt we were just hanging mid ocean. Essentially, a reef that has formed round a giant electricity cable powering parts of Egypt on the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba. However, it all went so smoothly that had it not been explained to me after the dive I'd have thought was all one site.

If you've never dived in tropical waters at night you are really missing out. Gone are the colourful reef fish of day and out are the lesser seen beasts and reef hunters. Barrcuda, grouper (the ugly kind), lionfish, the sea cucumbers, the urchins and starfish that hide by day and, of course, out come the Spanish Dancers. Moreover, the coral sing their own unique song at night, best described as the snap, crackle & pop of Rice Krispies.

My camera ran out of juice about two thirds of the way through the dive, but I managed to get some decent shots before it went kapoot.

A great dive to round off a fantastic experience diving with guys at Aqaba's Anchor.

Lickia multiflora

Lionfish

Fire coral

Spanish dancer

Sleeping fish

Black urchin

Sanddollar

Pufferfish

Make Reefs, Not War - 15/07/2014

Make reefs, not war.

Day two of diving with Aqaba's Anchor and we hit two excellent reefs Seven Sisters & the Tank and Gorgon I. Both were quite similar with the exception being the former had a former US military tank. Young Al was having mask problems so Gill and I just followed Isaac through the maze of canyoning reefs. 

The tank was sunk by the King of Jordan to create an artificial reef. It probably was meant to be something big and interesting, but it now actually makes quite a potent symbol. I won't over egg my own political beliefs, but I think I've come up with a new slogan - make reefs, not war. Moreover, the tank has become an impressive nursery for a number of species fish and has also been colonised by fan corals - life thriving on a vehicle designed for killing.

Dive One gave us the more interesting sea life including a large Moray Eel, a Frogfish, an excellent little Nudibranch, a couple of little Scorpionfish and a baby Lionfish. Dive Two, however, was more about the giant coral sea stacks. It too was nice.

Tonight it's back to the Cedar Pride for my first ever night wreck dive. :D

Gill likes the tank

Red sea anemone fish

Nudi!

In amongst the coral

Frogfish

I think this is fire sponge, I never touched it to find out

Canyoning reef

Clam

Photobombed lionfish by Gill

The lionfish

Small coral thing

Mutha puffer

The Big Frewbowski