New Year 2006/2007 On Typhoon!

[SCUBA Chick]

It started out with a conversation that Gary (my other half - scubanut) were having about going away over Christmas or New Year to do some diving. So after some deliberation we booked time off and waited until last minute for the prices to come down

First choice was Hurricane with the Simply The Best itinery. However, as the price didn't drop much we decided to book ourselves onto Typhoon with Tony Backhurst for the Reefs and Wrecks itinery departing from Sharm. We had dived the sites from Sharm (including Thistlegorm) 3 years ago but having done a couple of Southern liveaboards since then I was a bit nervous that I was going to be disappointed with the diving in this area...

Day 1 31.12.06

Ras Katy - 27.3m 54 mins

Jumped in to realise just how cold 22 degrees was on the unhooded head. Swift swim back to the ladder for Gary to get them Finished the dive keeping my fingers crossed that the diving was going to get better...

Alternatives - Afternoon - 15.5m 62 mins Night dive - 10.7m 39 mins

Crop of coral pinnacles. I'm still not getting convinced about the quality of the dives

Day 2 01.01.07

Dunraven (Wreck) -27.2m 54 mins

At last some decent diving is had on the first day of 2007....hoorah Reef and wreck swarming with life...including 5 napoleans, lionfish, jacks, batfish...

Giannis D (wreck) - 20.7m 58 mins

Fab wreck dive. We decided to do this one with the guide and in the end was glad we did as the wreck penetration was quite disorientating due to it's position on sea bed. Lots of life including dusky sweepers inside, lots of coral growth on wreck attracting lots of reef fishies.

The Carnatic (wreck) - 23.8m 48 mins

Another nice wreck covered in hard corals...loads of schultz's pipefish all over the wreckage in small groups.

The Barge (wreck) - Night Dive - 13.1m 41 mins

Dive on broken up wreckage and surrounding reef. Interesting to see that my air consumption increased considerably on this dive as I did not dive with Gary as he was feeling under the weather....funny how when you do most of your dives with a certain person you get used to knowing exactly where they are located during a dive. Therefore seemed to spend most of this dive checking where buddy was rather than looking at the wildlife...

Day 3 02.01.07

Rosalie Moller (Wreck) - 33m 33 mins

Morning dive on this wreck. Tour around the deck of the vessel and through the swarms of glassfish surrounding the masts. Big marbled groupers on here together with patrolling lionfish and a torpedo ray. Time ticked off on the computer all too quickly that I just didn't have enough time to take it all in....so glad I got the chance though and would love to dive this wreck again.

Ulysses (Wreck) - 25.3m 49mins

Negative entry from the rib onto this wreck for myself and Gary as some current running (some of group missed the wreckage completely as got swept away and ended up just doing the reef). Descent via length of hull and then penetration into wreck to shelter from current! Back out of the wreck to a drift dive away and along the reef...lovely hard coral gardens along this reef.

The Barge (Wreck) - 13.4m 58 mins

Same wreck/reef as last nights night dive but alot more to spot in the daylight! Peppered morays hiding the the broken up wreckage which is covered in hard coral growth end encrustation. Lots of pyjama slugs and lionfish which were obviously used to divers Reef teeming with life including triggerfish, rabbitfish, unicornfish, anemonefish and so on....you get the picture!!!

Day 4 03.01.07

Kingston (Wreck/Reef) - 62 mins

This was to be my 250th dive on this site. I missed the night dive on the Barge last night as had already dived it at night and the afternoon so I wanted the 250th to be on a new site really. And boy what a good decision that was! I absolutely loved the wreck and reef....I had hardly ever seen so many hard corals....apart from the last time we dived out in the maldives! The wreck is also home to some Arabian surgeonfish who defend their territory quite aggressively and certainly made a few of our group jump as they tried to fend them off The highlight of this dive was at 50 odd minutes in and with my mind deciding if I was feeling the cold enough to get back on the boat to then hear the distinctive clicking and whistling noise of a couple of groups of dolphins. Baby and adults checked us out as they swam past and then they were gone giving me a memorable 250th

When we got back on the boat we were then lucky enough to go for a snorkel further around the reef with what we think was possibly the same pod of dolphins. They were happy to have us snorkelling with them for quite a while, with them coming in close , checking us out and then gliding around gracefully under the water. It is an experience that I will remember for a long time...

Thistlegorm (Wreck) - Afternoon 23.8m 53 mins Night 18.2m 41 mins

We first dived the Thistlegorm 3 years ago so it was going to be interesting to see how things had changed for her. The first planned dive was a penetration dive of the wreckage led by the guide. Through the holds and to look at the cargos of jeeps, motorcycles, rubber boots, tyres, rifles etc. The wreckage was swarming with cave sweepers/dusky sweepers, couple of big blue triggerfish, friendly batfish, shoaling fusiliers and some tuna.

The second dive on the Thistlegorm was to be a night dive. As the sun set the water became so calm it was quite earie and as we sat on the sun deck the full moon appeared and rose behind the red sea mountains. There were only 3 boats moored on the wreck and so timings of water entry meant that we could the wreck to ourselves. Tour around the deck area for this dive and up to the bow. Lots of pyjama slugs, scorpionfish and batfish again.

Day 5 - 04.01.07

Thistlegorm - 29m 49 mins

Early morning dive...hard work getting down the shot but worth it! School of batfish at bottom of line and off to have a look at the loco (bit of a hard fin against the current to get back to the wreck!), along wreck to stern and then back up to bow. Loads to see along the way including shoaling fusiliers, groupers, napoleans, jacks, arabian boxfish, crocodile fish, cuttlefish and yellow edged moray. Like a flag in the wind on the mooring line on the way back up!!!!

Shark & Yolanda Reef - 26.5m 56 mins

Beginning of dive on shark reef.....lovely wall covered with hard and soft corals and loads of life including freeswimming lionfish, sweetlips, barracuda, jacks. Around to Yolanda to have a look at the remaining wreckage....spendid flatworm on the wreck, loads of blue spotted rays, giant puffer.

Jackfish Alley - 23.5m 58 mins

Descent near to reef and down through a swimthrough at 5m. Lots of hard corals and beatiful sea fans for some great photo opportunities.

Ras Katy - 18.6m 45 mins

Well here we are back again and a bit of a debate with Gary as to whether to do this dive. Decided to do it in the end as it was going to be the last night dive opportunity of the trip. We weren't disappointed as the dive turned into a lionfish feeding frenzy with 5 or more at a time using our dive lights to hunt! Got a bit of a scare on my safety stop at Gary was trying to tell me something for me to turn my head to find a giant barracuda nearly sat on my shoulder....

Day 6 05.01.07

Shark & Yolanda Reef - 24.4m 61 mins

Back this site for an early morning dive. Visability had deteriorated on this occasion after yesterday although the wind had picked up considerably. Freeswimming giant moray on the Yolanda wreck. The one and only turtle of the trip was on this dive having a munch on some soft corals!

Raz Ghozlani

Final dive of the holiday which unfortunately I didn't write up in my log book before we left! However I do remember that it was a reef that had relatively recently been opened up to diving and so hasn't suffered so much from diver destruction....from what I can recall the corals were indeed in very good condition.



The Boat/General


Well, that's about all folks! Just a little bit about the boat and stuff now. Typhoon is a good boat, the crew are a great bunch of guys and look after you well. The food is great and as I veggie I was well looked after with a separate dish on a plate brought to me when they had cooked fish/meat for the others. The only thing I could criticise them for on the food/drink front was the lack of diet coke as I ended up having to have the full fat variety with my vodka!!!!

The rooms are plenty big enough for the time spend in them and it was nice change to have a separate shower cubicle....plenty of hot water available which is just as well as I was having to have 4 showers a day to get warm after the diving!!! The only thing I did find was that the rooms/bathroom could have been cleaned a little better....and they are showing signs of wear considering the boats age.

On our trip the boat wasn't full and we were lucky in that there were only 13 divers on board. On that basis I thought that the saloon/bar area would probably struggle to get all 20 divers of a full boat in for briefings as when we all congregated in there it was already very full.

The guides we had on board weren't the usual guides allocated to this boat, instead we had Juan and Micky. I believe on the Tornado site Juan is showing as the Tempest guide. They were both excellent guides, with Juan doing the briefings for each dive, and very safety conscious. Unfortunately Micky (female Italian) ended up coming down with a bug a couple of days into the trip and was really looking ill but was back in the water on a couple of occasions later in the week...

So, in summary, to say that we were debating on whether to go with this itinery we ended up having a great time with a group of lovely, fun loving people. The diving wasn't the best diving I have ever done but neither was it the worst, I was only really disappointed on a couple of occasions. And although I don't describe myself as a wreckie I really enjoyed the wrecks that we did...

In the end during the trip the sun shone, the wind kicked up on a few occasions and the water temperature was a relatively consistant 22 degrees. I feel the cold so I took a full 5mm, a short 5mm oversuit and a fourth element long sleeved top (2.5mm equivalent) to wear under the full 5mm and a hood. In the end I did all of the dives with the full 5mm, with the fourth element top underneath and my hood. I did find myself sometimes getting cold towards the end of some dives and shivering on the rib journey back to the boat. Getting in and out of the suits was the most agony to be honest...it was straight into the boat dressing gown and on with beanie hat as soon as possible before a run into the shower to get warm! There was a couple who were using dry suits who got some envious looks during the week but my drysuit wasn't ever going to be an option as I could barely get my case fastened as it was!!!!!

The last night after disembarking Typhoon was spent on a half board basis at the Eden Rock Hotel which was quite quiet whilst we were there. Some of the group went off to have a look at naama Bay but some of us stayed and started on the beer, dinner at 7pm then down to the Camel bar for more beer. One of the guides had already arranged for a table for us on the roof terrace area which turned out to be an excellent choice...great tunes and the opportunity for a boogie to fizz off with! Saturday was spent around the pool and then we had a bit of a walk into Naama Bay to stretch our legs.....the Eastern Block ladies were doing a roaring trade. Thank goodness for liveaboards!!!!!

Would I go on Typhoon again....yes! Would I do a Wrecks and Reefs itinery again....maybe! Would I go away at this time of year again to the red sea....most certainly!

Hope you've had a good read and any questions fire away and I'll do my best....

Happy & safe diving

Kathy

[Ding Dang Doo]

Great report Kathy!

Think I'd be tempted to leave some other stuff behind or pay abit of excess baggage to get my drysuit there at this time of year!

Thanks for taking the time to write it up!

Pete

[JKS]

Thanks for a great report Kathy. I'm on Typhoon doing the same itinery 3rd March.

[Buoyant Babe]

Excellent report Kathy - and what a fantastic 250th dive!

Love Hxxx

[Odin]

Nice one.
Just a minor point...
Vodka and COKE?
Now I thought I had shown you a much better mixer!
Pauly

[SCUBA Chick]

Originally Posted by Odin

Just a minor point...
Vodka and COKE?
Now I thought I had shown you a much better mixer!

Flights to the Galapagos to pay for Paul

[Scubanut]

Originally Posted by Odin

Nice one.
Just a minor point...
Vodka and COKE?
Now I thought I had shown you a much better mixer!
Pauly

I remember that mixer quite well

Paul, did we forget to tell you that we are off the the Galapagos in just over 9 months?

Gary

[Odin]

Last word is 'off!

[Fiona]

Sounds like you had a nice break Kathy and Gary. I just wish I could have joined you. Anyway are we nearly there yet

[thehappychappy]

Great Report Kathy :-)
Shames my little write up.

Are there spaces on the galapagos trip?