Oonas Dive Club and MY Juliet - 20th Anniversary

[Dr Stevil]

EDIT: Apologies, some of the pix are too big, I thought the forum software would automatically adjust the sizes to fit, apparently not, if this is too awkward to read easily, the same thread is at http://www.ukdivers.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1827

and picture sizes are smaller, sorry for the inconvenience,


Oonas Divers 20th Anniversary Refurbishment
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Forum 'old lags' will be familiar with Oonas Divers from the several trip reports which have appeared here following YD overseas gigs onboard the MY Juliet (November 2003, and November 2004)



Arrrrrr.... 'tis a fine vessel me hearties


Following the recent refurbishment of various components of Oonas's dive operation at Na'ama Bay, near Sharm el Sheik, Lydia Lodge from Oonas Divers UK operation (www.oonasdivers.com) was kind enough to invite a number of folk to inspect the results with a 20th Anniversary promotional tour.

The Motley Crüe



Part One- Oonas Dive Club - Sharm from the Shore



Shore-based Sharm trips will usually find you ensconsed in a pleasant-enough hotel. However, if you prefer the informal community atmosphere so typical of, for example, a YD Mull gig at Lochaline Dive Centre and diving from the Peregrine/Brendan, then perhaps Oonas Dive club will provide a more attractive alternative.

The club is at the northern end of Na'ama Bay so is a very short drive from the airport. An Oonas representative greets you at the airport and will deal with the visa requirements thus avoiding the first PITA about visiting the area. Our trip started inauspiciously with spontaneous chaos on the baggage carousel Fortunately it looked worse than it was.


Previous Sharm visitors will be pleasantly surprised by improvements to the airport, it finally has the look of an international airport, although the effect is somewhat ameliorated by the still-evident trolly-hounds and pan-handling toilet attendants
"Bakshi! Bakshi!"

Fortunately being bilingual I have a selective advantage when in these situations "How man marra, 'oos it gannin' like? D'yaa taak Geordie like y'knaaa? Y'divvent? Aaa well nivver mind like..."

Oonas club is relatively small and centres around the bar, so Brits wil feel right at home immediately.



Food is available very cheaply (fresh pizza £1.50) and a bottle of cold Sakara or (Egyptian not Belgian) Stella is about the same. T





There's a "chill out" area where you can lounge on big cushions with shisha pipes readily and cheaply available (it's only apple tobacco so don't get too excited!)


If you've got some of your favourite CD's with you may care to ask the staff if they'll play them for you, there seemed to be a shortage of musical variety during our trip and what better whay to to enjoy an après-dive chill than with your own toons?


Oonas dive club has twin rooms (from £575 - £640 depending on time of year), twin-bed suites with a kitchen and lounge, and triple-bed rooms
Accomodation is clean and comfortable with efficent air con, en suite WC/Shower and an individual balcony for private sunning (remember ladies, this is Egypt and moslem countries don't take too kindly to topless sunbathing). Don't forget to take a two-pin adaptor for electrical items.

From Oonas you can explore the rest of Na'ama bay with a pleasant stoll along tree lined foot paths, check out Tam-Tams with authentic Egyptian food and entertainment for a pleasant relaxing alternative
evening.

[Dr Stevil]

Part Two - Day Boating

Day boating begins at either Na'ama bay marina or Sharm marina, either way you are transported from Oonas by coach.
Oonas's boats tend to operate with a maximum of 12 divers, (you will no doubt see some boats with 20 or moe diverson board!). Typically day boats ask for 3-4 pounds sterling (30-40 egyptian pounds at the current rate) to cover food and as much water and soft drinks as you wish. Don't worry, you won't go hungry, Egyptians serve food like it's going out of fashion!

Safety point: remember to ensure you are fully hydrated at all times to avoid DCI, you will be losing water even if you are out of the sun and not perspiring TBH cola is best avoided as the caffeine in it is a diuretic and can contribute to dehydration.

Our day boat for the trip was the unusualy named "Hooligan" perhaps it means something different in Arabic...?
Regardless, it was a fine dayboat


Cylinders are generally aluminium so don't forget they tend to be positively buoyant towards the end of the dive. DIN fitting cylinders were readily available and 15 L's can be arranged for those whose gas consumption requires it, but you'll need to speak up as supplies of these are limited. Expect 200bar fills as the norm in the Red Sea.

First dive was, as one would expect, a shallow sheltered site for buoyancy checks, so we went to Ras Katy.
For a well dived local reef this can be surprisingly good, we saw:

Schooling Red Sea Bannerfish,


Moray's


Big eye Empororers


Raccon Butterflyfish



And quite a few of these fellows, Starry Pufferfish, who were evident at most sites throughout the trip

[Dr Stevil]

Next we headed off to Ras Um Sid. Darren our dive guide


...assured us this was a spectacular site, I thought I remembered differently, in retrospect he was right, look at these Gorgonians!


But the star attractions were a turtle and his remora! the Remora broke off to investigate the divers, I've never seen a free-swimming Remora before and was suitably impressed

[Dr Stevil]

Next day we headed off to Ras Ghazlani and Anemone City/Shark & Yolanda reefs, en route we saw a pod of Rissos dolphins, I believe this means "So long and thanks for all the fish..." []


Spectacular anemones at Anemone City


and of course we've all now found bloomin' Nemo!!





Pop quiz, your starter for ten, no conferring, name this beast...


Ah... nudibranchs, one of my favourite beasts, this is a Varicose wart slug, lovely name...


"No no Dougal, Close up, far away..."


"Oooooooo.... baraccuda"



Fusiliers, love these fellas, very blue and very cool



Shark and Yolada are THE places to see Blue Spotted Stingrays

[Dr Stevil]

Straits of Tiran followed, a spectacular group of four reefs named by the cartographers who mapped them: Jackson, Gordon, Woodhouse and Thomas. We dived Woodhouse and Gordon reefs that day

A grey moray


A Torpedo Ray, quite literally stunning if you touch them, so DON'T!



Two orange spot Trevallies

[Dr Stevil]

Part Three - the M.Y. Juliet

So... with three days of day-boating under out belt, it was time to transfer to our livaboard the MY Juliet



Myself and a few others on these boards have been on the Juliet before. She's been recently refurbished by the owner Yasser so here's the main differences I found between now and last November
The saloon has had the galley moved to the front area, this gives the room a bit more space and meal-times seemed less congested. the galley appreas to be bigger which I'm sure is greatly appreciated by the Chef - how theheck these guys manage to do what they do in such a tiny space is beyond me. I'm pleased to report that there were no further repeats of last year's foul-up on the veggie food front! (Greatly appreciated chaps []




Up top, the middle deck has had it's awning extended and was a popular place for an afternoon nap out of the sunlight, the top deck is still the place for sunbathing and a nes space has been created in front of the wheelhouse for other sun-worshippers


All cabins have air con and en suite shower/WC there's 6 twin-berth cabins and one Master Cabin up top ideal for couples (a Master Cabin supplement applies). Beer is not supplies but the oonas guys will organize this for you and there's a fridge on the mifddle deck to store your Sakara nice a cool for the inevitable post dive soirée

Prices for the MY Juliet range from £760 pp (Nov-March) to £830 pp (April to October). Master Cabin supplement is £75 pp

Flights are from Gatwick or Manchester

[Dr Stevil]

On the first livaboard day we dived the Dunraven - on which most of us did a stern penetration, followed by Small Crack and the wreck of the Kingston on Shag Rock (you can imagine the level on innuendo laden conversation which followed these three sites...)

Red toothed triggerfish


Yellow margin Triggerfish


Pocillopera (hard coral) with soft corals


Turtle mobbed by amateur paparazzi


White spotted pufferfish

[Dr Stevil]

Then we were off to the Thistlegorm, we arrived there late afternoon after the dayboats had gone. Eight of us did an evening dive, three of us did a night dive (nightime penetration, spooky...!) and a few did a pre-breakfast dive.

If you've only ever seen the Thistlegorm in it's day-time diver-soup mode, you just have to imagine how cool it is to have the wreck to yourself - solo diving the Thistlegorm is a very rare treat...



'gorm bow




The tender, ready to topple one of these years, wouldn't like to be underneath it when she goes...!


One of the two locomotives blasted off the deck by the explosion which sank her, this one is off the starboard bow


Watch out for the pointy rusty bits!







Stuart, the Oonas MD, accompanying us on the trip told us to watch out for a yellow-fringed moray living around the winch on the foredeck,

we saw her and this proved to be an unforgettable experience as, tempted by her reflection in the camera lens, she nuzzled my bare hand! for the record, Moray's noses feel like soft wet velvet, quite pleasant but boy was my sphincter moving when she opened her mouth!




There tons of fish life around the 'gorm, especially these guys:
Big-eye Trevally


Spadefish/Batfish

[Dr Stevil]

And so the final day of diving came. We dived Ras Ghazlani and Jackfish Alley.

Finally I saw a boxfish, these had been fairly conspicuous by their absence


Clearfin Lionfish



Masked pufferfish, how cute are these guys?


Juvenile Black and White snapper, a confused fish "Hmmm... stripes or spots? Let's have both!"


Gold dotted flatworm - free-swimming! very cool



The good...


The bad...


and the ugly!


Holy moses, a fish so ugly even it's mother whould be hard pressed to love it! This is of couse a Stonefish and not to be touched under any circumstances!!!!!!!!
Well done Stuart for spotting this hight unspottable fish

[Dr Stevil]

And there we have it!
It just remains for me to thank Lydia Lodge for getting the trip together, Yasser the MY Juliet owner and Tariq the Oonas owner for their outstanding hospitality, Stuart the Oonas MD, Darren and Nick the Oonas dive guides for the dive guiding, briefing and "the crack".
And thanks to my "ship mates" for a memorable holiday
Les Maddams – Demon Scuba
Peter Male – Horsea Island,
Steve Hill – Channel divers,
Peter Simmons – Leybourne Lake Dive Centre,
Jessica Cox– Oxford Dive Centre,
Ryan Wantling – Dive Magazine,
Neil Yeomans – Dive World,
MarkReed – Wittering divers,
And not forgetting Charlie Stewart, Yvonne Load & Des Hayes

Finally, to Oonas's resident Ozzie, "Jesus Christ" Steve "He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy"
Hope unlike some of your fellow countrymen you can handle being wrong, read it and weep dude and just be glad I didn't take your money! []
http://www.intriguing.com/mp/_scripts/briafilm.asp

So it's goodnight from me...


and goodnight from him...


Goodnight!