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 3 The Battle for Sataya East - 10/05/2018

The day started on a small reef named Habili Gafar, a small pinnacle that took around 10 minutes to circumnavigate. For the briefest of moments it was desperately pretty then around 40 divers descended on it which for me took away its shine, but it did give us a few more grey reef sharks. From there we moved on to the winding labyrinth of St Gohn's Cave. It was a pretty spectacular set of winding corridors through a delicate reef. 

However, as with yesterday it was the third dive of the day, this time my 499th dive that was to live long in the memory - Sataya East, Fury Shoals

The Kingmaker, overcome with an anal fury of his own had decided to sit this one out. As such there were five of us. We were dropped by rhib on the far side of the reef and were aiming to 'drift with the current' along to a sandy lagoon where we'd find a small exit back towards the main liveaboard. It seemed easy.

We made our way over the barrier reef to the outer wall, rolled and began the dive. It seemed to be going well then as we approached where the lagoon should of been we turned headlong into a powerful current. As the diver at the back of our group of five I watched as Gandalf was swept straight back from his advanced position, We all felt it.

We signalled to the guide coming behind,  his advice was to stay low, and press on. None of us were convinced. Heavy finning, afterall increases the risk of DCI.

Gandalf took the decision to go 'over the top of the reef' , weaving between any large coral formation that could put us in the leeward side of the current.

Eventually we dropped into a small sandy lagoon, where I momentarily admired my first blue spotted ray of the trip.

As a group we had now been joined by two other divers who had slipped into our slipstream. It was hard work, but I found myself having magnificent fun. I signalled 'charge' to the troops. They all got the message Once again we were going over the top.

We never made it back to the boat, but we got closer than any other group. That to me seemed like a moral victory. Once everyone got over their annoyance at the dive guides getting the currents all wrong, we laughed about the dive now named the Battle for Sataya East.

St Gohn's Cave

Moray

The Blue Spotted Ray in the sandy lagoon

St Gohn's Cave

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

Lanzarote Day 3 - Playa Chica & the Thermoclines of Fridgia - 02/07/2017

Yeah OK, I may have made up the name "the thermoclines of fridgia", but it was an interesting component of our dives at Puerto Del Carmen. We left Playa Blanca and headed for a dive entry spot that held a few dives within its range. We dived two: The Shrimp Cave and the Cathedral.

The first dive led by Pepe was probably my favourite. We kitted up, did a stride entry off the pier and then proceeded to swim out at 5m midwater until the sand ebbed away beneath and then we dropped down by the sea cliffs to 35m. We levelled off with the rest of the divers a little above us. Pepe signalled for me to drop and have a look in the cave as I did I went through the 37m thermocline and into the cold. It was freezing. I stayed at 40m briefly and then returned to the warmth enjoying the scenery and the fauna - rays and octopus mostly, but also some nice orange corals and fireworms.

At the surface an Italian girl asked if I'd seen the nudibranchs. I hadn't. Something I'd rectify on the second dive.

After a cup of tea we were ready to go back in. This time the dive was being led by two dive master trainees. They were nervous, but eager to impress. I asked their teacher if he wanted me to be a disaster underwater for them. He laughed, but politely declined. 

As we descended, this time straight out from the beach, we hit a current. Not fully understanding the briefing but comfortable with my own ability dive, I think they had planned to replicated Pepe swimming out in the open water at 5m before dropping down to maximise bottom time. The current, however, had other plans and it took them about 5 minutes to realise that they were going nowhere and the golden rule of diving in the current is to get down, closer to bottom and the wall. In fact, I saw Pepe signal from the back. The plan had changed.

It didn't bother me. I still kept my eyes peeled for nudibranchs and at 33m I began to see them - everywhere. Two types, the purple flabellina and the variable seaslug. I took some snaps casually hitting my deco limit as I did and then headed up with crew back onto the shallower flats at 20m where we had another great angel shark encounter.

While doing my safety stop, Pepe signalled how much air I had then when I indicated I had plenty he led me into towards the rock face and into a really nice little cavern.

Two great dives, although I don't know if the DMTs passed their skill. :)

Orange Coral

Purple Flabellina

Fireworm

Exiting the cave

Lanzarote Day 1&2 - Charlotte Reef & the Flamingo Wall -01/07/2017

Days 1&2 saw me dive the same dives two days on the trot. The first with my guide Reinus,  and the second with Gill.i.am after I had established that the diving would be to her tastes.

Now I said in my introductory post that one of the reasons to come here was that we both wanted to see seahorses and angel sharks. Neither dive site disappointed.

At Charlotte Reef (one of two local house reefs on both days no sooner had we dropped down to about 4m when the guides pointed to the seaweed attached to a rock. We looked closer and there was a perfectly camouflaged seahorse rocking back and forward in the swell.

After that, we passed a slew of the usual sub tropical reef fish including:

• Moray eels
• Ornate wrasse
• Dusky grouper
• Triggerfish
• Varible seaslugs

Oh, and my new favourite fish, the Bastard Grunt - follow the link it's a real fish.

With Gill deciding to skip the nearby Flamingo Wall - a site where on the first day I saw two angel sharks I feared she may miss her chance to see the critically endangered species.

Flamingo Wall proved to be a pleasant harbour wall down to 18m and then a flat coral encrusted lava flow out. It yielded a nice selection of octopus, cuttlefish, stingrays as well as the aforementioned angel sharks.

I was impressed. I wanted to see more of Lanzarote's sub-aqua environment. Moreover, even with my dive certifications I'd proven myself to be a competent diver and they were happy to take me deeper and further afield.

Octopus

Variable Seaslug

Moray Eeel

Seahorse

Angel Shark

Sea Bream

Cuttlefish

Reviewing the Sealife Micro HD - 12/05/2017

Al's Camera

Piano Keys

Most of us who dive love what we see. For many, the unique underwater environments inspire us to take photographs and videos. I'm no different. For years now I've had a little Sealife DC1400. You may recall in November I flooded it causing me to be without a camera for some time.

Well before I headed off to Mauritius I still hadn't got round to fixing it. I thought of buying a Sealife Micro 2.0, but my friend (Captain Al) said I could borrow his earlier model, the Sealife Micro HD for my trip as a trial. I did, so as an aide memoire I thought I'd right down my thoughts on it.

Like the rest of the DC series cameras it has the easy to use piano keys, feels chunky in the hand and has the preset underwater red filter entitled "Dive Mode". Unlike the DC models it's pretty flood proof as its a sealed unit that uses both wifi and a wet contact USB cable for download. 

So what did I like and dislike? Well... 

• I loved the app and wifi functionailty. Why wait to get back to sure before posting your pics on facebook or instagram. Share to tour phone and your off.
• Loved the hasslefree diving - no worrying about leaky seals, moisture munchers or any of that stuff.
• Simple and easy to use, I mean if Captain Al can use it....

But...

• It has no Macro mode, meaning blurred pictures of nudibranchs.
• No zoom mode meaning you may have to get uncomfortably close to that big angry moray.
• No Green water auto filter for the murky water diver.

All in, if you're just a snap taker like me then it's a great wee piece of kit, but if want to take some serious photos then keep saving!

I was uncomfortably close to this guy.

Blurry nudi

Day 6 – No Dolphins, But BOGOF on Wrecks

The final day began with a dive at Dolphin House - a site where at certain times of the day dolphins swim by. Sadly, today was not one of those days. As it was it was a pretty dull reef dive only enlivened by some of the Kingmaker's underwater antics. 

He signalled me over and pointed to a whole. We watched for a minute and my suspicions grew. Some more divers came over to see what we were looking at. We watched for a few minutes more. I began to realise that there was in fact nothing to see and that he was just 'yanking my chain'. Still we watched and still more divers gathered. We laughed and swam off.

Our last dive of the trip was the wreck of the El Minya, a minesweeper sunk by Israeli jets during the 7 Day War.  The briefing had also indicated the presence of a second wreck off the stern of a fishing trawler. The trawler was actually the better of the two wrecks despite being a fraction of the size and boasted considerably more life. It was a good way to end the trip.

Nudi

Red Anemone

Red Anemone

Crocodilefish

Lionfish

The Trawler

Day 5 - ...Rosalie Moller, then there was 300 -14/01/2016

Day 5 was always going to be a little bit special. Today my dive log is turning 300, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself. First was the Rosalie Muller, a WWII wreck in deep water (35m+).

Our plan had been to crank up the PPO2 to 1.6 to enable us to dive around the deck without our computer playing the greatest hits of Electronic Disco. This worried me a bit, as did the entry which involved keel hauling ourselves from stern to bow of our own boat before descending to the wreck.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really like this kind of dive and I used a lot of air going down the line. Once on it, despite being at 35m, I calmed and slowed my breathing, but took a conscious decision to not take photographs as this would only deplete my air even quicker. We got back to the boat with 40 bar to spare and without hitting deco. That seemed like a win. What impressed me the most about the wreck was its eerie completeness. It’s dark and a little unnerving.  The Gandalf of the Internet described her before the dive as, “the lady of the Red Sea – revealing her magnificence one fin stroke at a time”.

Then there were 300. At first I thought it would be a poor dive, having dived it the night before, but it proved itself very worthy with an impressive drift, turtle, nudibranch and stargazer fish. The Kingmaker, Hell's Kells and Legend Roy made fine companions. We drifted for over an hour - a clear sign it was decent dive.

Dive 3 of the day was looking to be a bit of a washout with little to see until it sprang to life with the presence of an Eagle Ray. They’re such graceful animals, but sadly I have no footage to share. What was particularly amusing was Hell's Kells dance of victory aimed at Midge and I who never saw it on its first pass. Midge was diving with us because his usual buddy Russ was feigning back pain. The ray, subsequently dubbed 'the Ray of Victory' was only over-shadowed by accusations that our reluctance to swim back against the current meant that we SMB'd the 'Zodiac of Shame' - so named by the chaps of Scuba Leeds who were daft enough to swim against the current and also missed out on the ray. *chuckles*

Pufferfish

Quadricolour Chromodoris

Arabian Picassofish

Turtle

Nudi

Embriated Moray

Blue spotted flatworm