Ga mee op reis!

The 4 1/2 hour flight to Hurghada is boring as usual especially for Ed who can hardly move his legs in the tight space this plane has to offer. He also has the privilege to sit beside a 108 kg man with a boring story (;-)))
The food is lousy and the stewardesses are nothing to write home about.
In Hurghada we buy our visa, get our bags and walk towards Bruno, Jean-Marc, Iris, Mohammed and Monika who are waiting for us. We shake hands and when everybody is ready, we leave for the small busses that will bring us to the Makharita.

The boat looks very good and modern and has plenty of space on the dive-deck. On the second floor there is a spacious deck for relaxing and there is plenty of shade. One deck higher is the sun deck but this will not be used much by me because I hate to get sunburned and I’m not here to get a tan.
After JM tells us a few things about the trip we look for our cabins and stash away our gear in our boxes under the seats of the benches. The divebags disappear to give us more space and we will see them again next Saturday. Dinner is ready and the ship’s bell sounds to get our attention.

A map of the Red Sea showing some of the dive sites in this tripreport. The 6 southern most dive spots in the map were visited with the exception of Elphinstone. The heavy winds did not allow us to visit Dadelus and Elphinstone Reef. Perhaps we will have more luck in the near future. I did some of the northern spots in my 2000 dive with Racquel, you can find that tripreport if you click here.

We leave the Hurghada harbor behind, or in front, the Hilton Hotel to head for Gota Abu Ramada. An easy but very nice reef to do our checkdive. I enter the water praying a little that all of the equipment will function flawlessly this week because once you are on the boat you can’t get of to get some repairs. Everything works as it is supposed to and I decide to cur from 4 kg to 2kg on the next dive. Lots of colorful fish and a lot of Triggerfish. One of them has its nest in our way and Bruno is attacked without any anticipation so his reaction is very funny. Although most people are afraid of shark attacks these critters can hit you very hard and I concern them a lot more dangerous.
Hans is starting with his AOW and has no time to take up things slowly as he promised his girlfriend. This is my first dive ever before having had breakfast, wow! what more will the rest of this week bring us?

Time in: 08:36 Time out: 09:37
Depth: 12.1 Water temperature: 25? Celsius (2mm Shorty)

Time in: 13:55 Time out: 14:50
Depth: 30.5

The third dive of the day and again a quiet reef. There are some baracuda’s swimming solitairly in the distance. Starting from the boat we follow the reef to “Anemone City”. A place with lots of clownfish hiding in the anemones and always ready to defend their homes. Hans is preparing for his navigation dive and is praticing the use of the compass I borrowed him. He has hooked it onto his BC and forgets all about hit when he takes his BC off to climb aboard the zodiac that is picking it up. So people if you find a compass in an anemone at anemone city you know where to send it to!
Plans are to make another 2 dives today so it we can score a total of 5! dives on the first day. So much for the promisses Hans has made Ellen.

Time in: 16:47 Time out: 17:30
Depth: 16.7

We skip the dusk-dive to prepare us for the nightdive so we get 4 dives this day instead of the 5 some of our group get. The people who did the dusk-dive were not very enthousiastic about this reef and have renamed it to sha’ab erg nada! I did a solo dive because Hans made his AOW nightdive and I didn’t find it as bad as the other people said it was. Nothing special and only a short dive this time.

Tonight we are going to make the trip to The Brothers. We all hope the sea will be calm and the wind wo’t be to strong. The Red Sea can be quite a bitch and before you know it everybody gets seasick and starts throwing dinner overboard. As long as you do this facing Mecca it will bring you good luck I guess!

Time in: 21:15 Time out: 21:50
Depth: 14.9

We arrive at Big Brother in the very early morning So it is time to enter the water without breakfast. The trip was calm and I did get some sleep after a exhausting first day of diving. The current is strong and immediately after we roll into the water from the zodiac the water is taking us the worng way around. We have to swim really hard to get to the right side of the island. Because of this we hardly see anything of the Numibia, the wreck on the north point of this island.
The soft coral on this wall is unbelievable and the gorgonians are the biggest I have ever seen. Unfortunately I don’t meet any camera-horny sharks but it doesn’t make this dive any less good. Just in time we cross from the reef to the boat and once on the line at the back of the boat you feel the strength of the current. It is time to eat pancakes and drink a nice cup of coffee!

Time in: 7:45 Time out: 8:15
Depth: 29.3

The second dive at Big Brother North with still a pretty strong current. Fortunately we don’t have to fight it. At the end of the dive we meet a nice big Napoleon. To our surprise we end up way behind the boats so we inflate our safety sausage and wait for the Zodiac to pick us up. Our own Zodiac is busy but a friendly neighbor offers some assistance and delivers us back to the Makharita. It’s only 10:30 and we’ve already made our second dive of the day

Time in: 9:56 Time out: 10:26
Depth: 27

After a delicious lunch with chicken wings and rice we start our third dive of the day. We are headed for the wreck of the Numibia; Ed, Hans, Beer, Bruno, Jurgen, Iris and Scubart enter the Zodiac to be brought to the point of Big Brother. Unfortunately we are being dropped at the wrong spot and we miss the wreck. We dive the same wall again but there is little current so we can enjoy it more and take some time to investigate the little crevices in the wall. But because our boat is almost in front of the jetty the dive only lasts some 30 minutes. This time the camera is with me again and I hope to get some shots of something big. When nothing wants to pose, the camera is heavy and a burden to take along. I’m not like Bruno who can’t dive without his camera anymore. Until now the Brothers are a little disappointing when it comes to “specials”. Diving is great but we want to see sharks, mantas and dolphins! But you have to take nature as it comes and this is one of the things that make diving so special. You never know what to expect or to meet.

Time in: 13:58 Time out: 14:33
Depth: 35.9

An easy dive from and to the boat. The shape of the islands gives some protection to the sometimes very heavy current but this dive there is none. The light is beautiful and penetrates the water in the right angle. This makes the colors come out like they should and you don’t want to go deep. This is one of the best dives so far because it is a long and easy dive with no stress and happy divers all around me.

Time in: 16:43 Time out: 17:33
Depth: 18.4

After some scary moments with hoisting the anchor we take of for the short trip to Little Brother. This island is a lot smaller but the current is poor and the island offers enough protection from it. For us it is a wonderful easy dive with loads of soft corals in all kinds of colors. For Ed this dive turns out disastrous. His UW-house floods. The nightmare of every diver with a camera and there is nothing you can do about it. He checked everything before the dive and there were no bubbles when the camera was in the rinse bin. If he is lucky he can do something with his assurance. Perhaps the only positive thing; he can now buy himself a new digital camera! And as a matter of fact he did, got himself a nice Nikon! From the boat the crew spotted a shark nearby and the other group met 3 whitetips so a promising beginning at Little Brother.

Time in: 10:49 Time out: 11:15
Depth: 40.3

A sow dive with only Hans as a buddy from and to the boat. On the tip of the reef we find a huge green moray eel slowly looking around and not afraid of us at all. We try to swim around the south corner of the reef but the current is to strong and we don’t want to fight it just to swim some 100 meters for nothing. We decide to swim back in the shelter of the island. We don’t pay much attention to the anchorlines that are attached to the reef so we end up in front of the boat. No problem at all, we swim back to the boat at the surface and climb the ladder to enjoy tea and cake after a wonderful dive.

Time in: 13:35 Time out: 14:27
Depth: 18

The crew has succeeded in luring two silky sharks to the side of the boat. The sharks are approximately 7 feet tall and they try to eat the fish the crew has put in the water on a line. We all gather on the port side of the boat to watch this scene. I don’t hesitate and jump in the water together with Ed. In the haste of the situation I forget my fins so I have them thrown at me in the water. But without any weights it is impossible to get deep enough under water to film the sharks. So I have Hans throw my set overboard. Ed helps me put it on and we all are in a hurry. I’m afraid the sharks will disappear when I get close to them using my gear. Fortunately they are not afraid at all and start circling the group of divers who’ve all entered the water to watch this. Bruno stays at one side of the boat while I move in front of the boat so the sharks can swim in between the both of us and we have a ball filming them swimming close by. I try to get in front of the swimming sharks so it will swim towards me. Finally I succeed and while adrenaline is pumping through my veins the silky shark swim towards me in the same depth as I am. I keep thinking don’t turn away, start swimming directly towards me and don’t turn, don’t turn. It finally does turn away otherwise it would have hit me in the lens. I quickly reach out to feel the silky skin but the lens cap moves inside the UW-housing making a click and with one flick of its tail the shark is out of reach. Wow! this is really something to remember and I’m glad Racquel is not with me for she would certainly have kicked my butt if she had witnessed this scene. Watch the short clip here and enjoy this moment with me. In the picture above you can see Bruno filming my shark encounter.
This is a moment I’ve been waiting to experience for 7 years. A shark, not afraid of me at all, curious and letting me feel how little I am in these waters and that there is only one master of the seas…

Time in: 16:17 Time out: 16:39
Depth: 13

Because the sharks keep circling the boat hoping for more fish (or divers?) we decide to make the fourth dive close to the boat to give Hans the opportunity to watch them in their own environment as well. After I jump in the sharks are at the rear of the boat and I signal Hans to wait. If he had jumped I would have had the shooting of the century. Hans would have landed on the sharks back and he could have been the first man ever to do a rodeo dive on the back of a silky shark. Don’t think he would have liked it though. Unfortunately the sharks disappear as more people jump into the water. We stay at the boat for a couple of moments and swim from the stern to the bow. No luck, the sharks are gone. We decide to swim towards the reef to see if there is anything special there. But I guess we had all our luck in the previous dive. The moray eel is still at the same spot. So after a little tour we return to the boat and climb back aboard. We are hungry and we are hoping for something with no garlic at all tonight. But no luck with dinner….garlic filled with garlic and served in a garlic dressing. Hans and I are certain we will die of garlic poisoning this week.

Time in: 17:46 Time out: 18:21
Depth: 29.3

After an evening with lots of laughs and a couple of beers a serious wind starts at night. It is therefor impossible to make the crossover to Deadalus. I find it very hard to get some sleep due to the movements of the boat. Hans has no problems whatsoever with this but hey, he owns his own little boat called Pardoes, so he is probably used to it (;-)).
All around the boat people seem to try and find a place with more comfort but this place is hard to find. In the late morning only one dive with a nice whitetip reef shark and a large barracuda. I chase it right into Bruno’s camera so he gets a nice close-up shot. The depth virus has struck again and I think I did my deepest dive ever. I’m curious about the plans for the rest of this week. Maybe we’ll be stuck forever on the Brothers.

Time in: 11:21 Time out: 11:30
Depth: 43.6

After Jean-Marc told us the options that are open for the rest of the trip most members of our group decide to make another dive here and then head for Safaga. We make our dive directly from the boat and get a short glimpse of the silky shark again. Out on the reef the giant green moray eel is still at the same location so this is probably his home. 2 Napoleon wrasse swim by. I’m always fascinated by these fish as the change their sexe during their live. The largest one, always the male is leader of a harem. When the leader dies the second largest fish, female still, will change to male and become the new leader of the harem (found this out watching Discovery Channel!). The only small thing we see is a little pipefish. After Sylvio has joined our group we swim back to the boat to end this dive.
It’s then time to make the trip to the main shore again. A 6 hour rollercoaster ride with huge waves coming from the side of the boat and make the boat roll over sideways. I decide to take some pills to avoid seasickness and try to get some sleep to pass the time. I never got seasick and don’t know if anybody else was, but it sure was silent aboard during these hours.

Time in: 14:35 Time out: 15:14
Depth: 21.4

A simple nightdive to try to get the movement out of our bodies from the rocking boat. Not much to see for us although others found a Spanish Dancer and lots of other critters. I guess we just weren’t lucky enough or didn’t open our eyes wide enough.

Time in: 21:32 Time out: 21:57
Depth: 11.1

A dive around the corner of this reef with Hans and Jurgen. The colors are nice and the current is slow so we enjoy this dive. A few small caves but nothing spectaculair. Still it was a very nice dive

Time in: 10:57 Time out: 11:39
Depth: 26.6

As the vessel approached the Hyndman Reefs it was close to midnight and impossible to distinguish Reef from Sea. Moro was just slightly to the east of his normal route and that resulted in the Salem Express striking the most southerly Reef a heavy glancing blow.
The result was disaster. Firstly the hull was holed on the forward starboard side. At the same time, the impact caused the Visor on the Bows to be jolted upwards from its closed position allowing water into the car deck.

Many lives were lost when the ship sank and others perished in the immediate aftermath. For some, however, the ordeal was not yet over – they were swimming for their lives. So swift had been the sinking that none of the lifeboats or life-rafts had been properly launched. These people were on their own – but at least the current was taking them towards shore. Remarkably, 180 people survived with most of them eventually reaching shore unaided.

Officially, the vessel was carrying 650 persons – 578 passengers and 72 crew. Although many people insist she was carrying up to twice as many passengers, further speculation serves no useful purpose. The official death toll was set at 470 and, in any event, it is highly unlikely that the port officials of Jeddah would have allowed a grossly overloaded boat to depart.

Over the next few days, many bodies were recovered from the cabins and accommodations all along the uppermost port side, but as this task got deeper and deeper it eventually became too dangerous. A halt was called and the Egyptian Navy stepped in to seal the vessel from all further intrusion.

The answer to the most frequently asked question is, therefore, “Yes” – there are bodies still deep within the ship. That, coupled with this being a very recent tragedy, is why many Dive Guides forbid the divers in their charge from entering the wreck.”

And with little knowledge of this tragedy before our dive we gear up and enter the water.

This dive is probably one of the dives that you will never forget as long as you live. The impact of the things you see is enormous. All the suitcases, childrens toys, cartwheels and lot of other things lying around as silent whitnesses of this tragedy. Even now while I finish this report in October it still sends shivers up my spine.

Time in: 14:04 Time out: 14:46
Depth: 30.7

Unfortunately I tried to enhance the settings of the camera but messed it up totally so I ask JM if it possible to do another dive on the SE. Other divers would like to go down again and so we drop down on the wreck again. I agreed with Bruno, who’s been here before, to penetrate the wreck. We both have our cameras of course and swim through on of the hatches that has been opened again after the whole ship was sealed. The openings is large and there is no need to use a line. I cannot describe here the impression this wreck has on me. We penetrate deeper in to the wreck and it almost seems as if this tragedy happened days ago. Suitcases, blankets, TV’s hanging on the ceiling, cars, toys, lightbulbs, everything is still there. I ignore the urge to open suitcases and try to find things worthwhile for relatives who lost their dear ones. This is a tomb and although we do not find any bodies of course you can almost feel their presence. We finish our tour and meet JM and Sylvio who are doing a little penetration with a line. If you belong to the fainthearted it is probably wise not to enter this wreck but to swim along it. Plenty to see and just as impressive!
For me this was the dive with the deepest impact I have ever experienced!

Time in: 16:17 Time out: 16:54
Depth: 24.5

Time in: 21:02 Time out: 21:48
Depth: 14

I skipped the early morning dive at 6:30 because of my stomach. So I join the group at the second dive. A very nice reef this time with lots of things to see. The triggerfish are trigger-happy here so we keep our distance. Our navigational skills need some brushing up and we end up way behind our boat. But the see is as flat as a mirror and we had to use our sausage again didn’t we?

Time in: 10:37 Time out: 11:35
Depth: 19.3

A fantastic last dive done solo because Hans had to do some finishing things for his AOW. This reef is full of life and color and I decide to make it a very long and shallow dive. I keep in touch with the rest of the group, visibility is probably 40 meters or more but when I see them chase a turtle I decide to follow the reef and investigate it thoroughly. There is another turtle on the reef. There is pipefish, lionfish, blue spotted rays with and without a tale and I discover an octopus with only three arms so I decide I have seen my first Tritopus!
For a last dive, my 21st dive during this trip, is is a great dive. For 70 minutes I enjoyed myself again under the surface and into another world that I will always come back to to enjoy every minute of it. I started this dive with 208bar and ended it with 53bar so I must have been as relaxed as ever.
Hans finished his AOW and enjoyed this week. He has gained a lot of experience and I can see by the look in his eyes that he’s become more natural under the surface. He’s sure is infected by the dive-virus and who knows where we will be diving next year. Perhaps the Maldives or will it be Bonaire again?

Time in: 14:36 Time out: 15:47
Depth: 21.6

The afternoon Bruno finishes his movie after a terrible struggle with his PC. The movie is excellent but I am unable to watch till the end because I leave with Hans and Mohammed to the internet cafe. Mohammed has asked me to rebuild his website and wants to show me some examples. We also take time to do some shopping and I must say it is a relieve to go shopping with one of the local guys. He knows where to take you and all the “shopkeepers” leave you alone and do not try to get you into their shop because you are his friend and he has of course a special price for you.