We had a fantastic time back in Sharm. Not only did we find Nemo but most of his mates and met some pretty nice species of humans too!

Sharm El-Sheikh is a purpose built tourist resort, devoid of any real Egyptian culture and dominated by big tour groups (mostly scantily glad Russians actually!). This and the fact that it is by no means cheap would keep it off most back-packer itineraries but we came back for what is under the water.

We really wanted to end our trip with a mixture of getting in some more scuba diving and lying around doing nothing on a beach somewhere. With the fantastic dive sights and the restrictive price tag of the Maldives it had to be the Red Sea - a second honeymoon will have to wait!

We spent most of our time in Sharm diving all day and clocked up visits to nine different fantastic sites - all off Tiran Island or Ras Mohammed National Park - two of the most famous and best places for diving in the world!

The excellent dive club that we singled out on our recce when here surprising Marian really made it for us too. Oonas is a small club, really friendly and relaxed and we could not have picked better. We dived with some really lovely people in small groups and had a great instructor/guide every day. After diving we hung around the dive club with the other divers and staff for a few beers before going our separate ways, so it was really sociable too. Our separate way was mostly sleeping! An early start for the boat, 2/3 good dives a day and a couple of beers on an empty stomach saw us pretty sparko by about 9.30! (and that was if we made an effort to stay awake!).

Although we failed to spot any sharks or turtles (not the best time of year for those) we saw loads of great things - sting rays, huge tuna, barracuda and eels etc. not to mention millions of cool tropical fish and corals and even some pretty mad coloured sea slugs!

Although the dive that had us swimming off deep into the blue trekking down Hammerhead sharks was a buzz the coolest dives were definitely those with strong drift currents around reefs. Graham never failed to resist the urge to strike a superman pose underwater as we were catapulted around!

We enjoyed it all so much that we done far more dives than we intended to or our budget allows, but what the hell - when you are this far into a trip and spent so much money already what is a few more drops in the ocean for a few more drops in the ocean!!

The only down side, if you could call it one, is that the sea is still freezing at this time of year. We dived in full two layered wet suits and boots and were still shivering underwater by the end of each dive. Gemma had a nasty habit of going a deathly shade of blue when we surfaced and now has a cold to try and shake off before coming home!!

On the very rare occasion that we were not on/under the water or in the dive club bar we were either sleeping or pretty close to it lounging around by the pool. It was also really nice to be one place long enough to actually bother unpacking - the bags now getting lighter by the day as most things are well and truly ready to be thrown away rather than brought home!

We are definitely fully into this dive bum lark now and would love to come back to do some more diving with Oonas soon. The first pay cheques will definitely be going on some dive kit - well after the overdraft is cleared that is!

Next stop……….FINAL STOP………aaarrrggghhh……Dahab.