25th September 2015

Hi,

Back to the Red Sea for some scuba diving. This was my fifth visit, but the first since 2008. Having been to Hurghada twice and Sharm el sheik twice, this time the destination was El Gouna, just 20km up from Hurghada.

I have done the odd dive or two with my nephew Dave in Crete and Spain and we are qualified to the same level. This was a good chance to get some serious concentrated diving in together. After the drive to Manchester there was a nice family meal out for Rachel's birthday, which had just passed, and my birthday which was about to take place.

I was dreading a longish flight on a bucket plane with Thomas Cook, but we were on a 767 with plenty leg room. The five and a half hour flight was followed by a 40 minute transfer to our hotel, the Arena Inn in El Gouna. My FB pals will already be aware of the hilarity which ensued at the check in desk, where my name was registered as Lactose Intolerant! Explaining a medical term to a man with limited English did not pay dividends. 'Is it a nickname?' he enquired. News of this faux pas spread amongst another group of English divers who had chuckled when they saw the name at their check in. The whole business was compounded two days later when the hotel got wind that it was my birthday and sent a lactose stacked cream cake to my room!

Anyhow, the hotel was basic but suitable for our needs. The food was excellent, especially the bbq section which we dutifully visited daily. We got started on the diving and then had a day of rest on my birthday.

I have a few photos to accompany the blog, but as I don't do underwater photography you will have to take any descriptions at face value for the moment. More about this later.

The diving was fabulous. We were on two different boats with Emperor Divers and the crew and food on board were up to the usual high standards. We managed 12 dives over the five days. Whilst every dive was memorable there were two highlights. Firstly we had a day where we dived on three separate wrecks in the location of the Abu Nahas reef. Two of the ships were wrecked in the 20th century and one in the 19th. The Chrasoula K wreck sank in 1981 and was full of Italian floor tiles which you can still see as you dive through the compartments. On the top of the ship is a marvellous coral garden which was totally stunning. Another feature of wrecks is that many are inhabited by glass fish which mass in great numbers. Moving through the shoals is a thrilling experience. We were fortunate that the visibility on this day was good as often you are not really able to get an accurate impression of wrecks. Another highlight was our final dive in El Saghwgt. We moved along the reef seeing every fish imaginable from the red sea selection plus a huge variety of coral, finishing up in a shallow area called the 'fish net.' Huge unicorn fish presented themselves along with a group of cornet fish. Two squid then sat in front of the group for what seemed like forever. At this stage we just wanted the diving to go on and on. I saw more stone fish on this trip than all the others put together and spotted the biggest crocodile fish I have ever seen.

I could go on forever but will need to close. I dived with Egyptian, German and English guides. We met Cammy from Paisley and Ken and Tom from Sheffield. Tom has produced a video of the wreck diving which Ken took and the You Tube link is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6fVTPRSWkA

Two final subjects: the weather and our Teutonic European partners. Two words about the weather: 'Too' and 'hot.' It was between 30 and 38 Celsius, reaching 42 on our final day. This is between 90 and 100 in old money. Next time if I go back I will be checking the temperatures first!

Now, for our Teutonic friends: Lieben Kinder, I had not come across you for many years on holiday. I have to ask, why do you conform to your stereotype? You do not need to be first to everything, whether it is spreading your towels on the boat or by the pool or trying to get into a wreck when other divers are forming an orderly queue. Chill. You are on holiday. Not on some stampede to reach Paris through the Low Countries. If I don't have to mention this again, I promise not to mention the war again. Either of them. Thank you.

I hope you all enjoy the photos. Until next time.

Orrabest

Murdo