Post by Dive Bunnie on May 1, 2005 10:21:00 GMT
I can't believe I hadn't already written about this dive… I have obviously been distracted!!
Well it was the last day of a two week stint working in Sharm and we had allowed ourselves a day of fun diving… so off to Ras Mohammed we went.
The dive that currently sticks in my mind is this particular one on Shark and Yolanda. I have dived this site many times (several dives on this trip alone), and have always enjoyed it, finding the coral stunning, the light in the shallows around turtle rock (satellite reef) really spectacular and the life on what remains of the wreck itself really beautiful, however this dive was special.
As regular DMs with the divecentre, this was the first time we had been able to dive this reef for fun in quite some time. It also meant that we were not expected to stick with the group, as is normal practice in the area, at least certainly when out on a day boat in Ras Mohammed or Tiran. So once we were all in the water, we hung back to take in the spectacle of the regular barracuda gang near the drop off point on Shark Reef, allowing the rest of the group to zip off ahead of us. Before long, there was no one else in sight so we just pottered along, following the path we knew the others had taken.
We were soon joined by a rather large turtle, (I am afraid my turtle ID skills leave a lot to be desired, so cannot tell you which species) who meandered along towards us, taking the occasional munch out of the coral. We just hung in the water and watched until he went on his way along the reef.
The current was almost non-existent, which is pretty rare for this site, as there is normally a pretty humping one slamming down the sandy saddle between the reefs where the bits of wreckage lay. However today it was dead calm, almost spooky! The sun was out, and the coral and sea life just glorious. Again we just hung in the water soaking it all in. Normally at this point we would be as close to the bottom as we dared, angling our drift to take us over to the satellite reef in seconds, but today we could actually stop and soak it up.
This really is a beautiful site. The vis was crystal clear in true Red Sea style, and the sea life blooming, even though it was well into winter.
By this stage we were both feeling the chill of the water, dying for a pee (d**n dry suits!) and were reaching the 50 minutes set by our guide. I guess all good things come to an end, so off we pottered to the wall of the satellite reef where the deeper water would allow the boat to pick us up.
What a great note on which to end our trip
Well it was the last day of a two week stint working in Sharm and we had allowed ourselves a day of fun diving… so off to Ras Mohammed we went.
The dive that currently sticks in my mind is this particular one on Shark and Yolanda. I have dived this site many times (several dives on this trip alone), and have always enjoyed it, finding the coral stunning, the light in the shallows around turtle rock (satellite reef) really spectacular and the life on what remains of the wreck itself really beautiful, however this dive was special.
As regular DMs with the divecentre, this was the first time we had been able to dive this reef for fun in quite some time. It also meant that we were not expected to stick with the group, as is normal practice in the area, at least certainly when out on a day boat in Ras Mohammed or Tiran. So once we were all in the water, we hung back to take in the spectacle of the regular barracuda gang near the drop off point on Shark Reef, allowing the rest of the group to zip off ahead of us. Before long, there was no one else in sight so we just pottered along, following the path we knew the others had taken.
We were soon joined by a rather large turtle, (I am afraid my turtle ID skills leave a lot to be desired, so cannot tell you which species) who meandered along towards us, taking the occasional munch out of the coral. We just hung in the water and watched until he went on his way along the reef.
The current was almost non-existent, which is pretty rare for this site, as there is normally a pretty humping one slamming down the sandy saddle between the reefs where the bits of wreckage lay. However today it was dead calm, almost spooky! The sun was out, and the coral and sea life just glorious. Again we just hung in the water soaking it all in. Normally at this point we would be as close to the bottom as we dared, angling our drift to take us over to the satellite reef in seconds, but today we could actually stop and soak it up.
This really is a beautiful site. The vis was crystal clear in true Red Sea style, and the sea life blooming, even though it was well into winter.
By this stage we were both feeling the chill of the water, dying for a pee (d**n dry suits!) and were reaching the 50 minutes set by our guide. I guess all good things come to an end, so off we pottered to the wall of the satellite reef where the deeper water would allow the boat to pick us up.
What a great note on which to end our trip