Blue Horizon - Northern Red Sea Wrecks

[ShinyD]

Originally Posted by Mrs F

It was a blackspotted ray. The dive guide said he hadn't seen one for a few yrs (not to sya they are rare though??!!)

Rach

Thanks Rach

[ShinyD]

Day 4 – Dive 1: Ras Mohamed (Shark and Yolanda Reefs)
The famed Ras Muhamed Marine Park – Hmmm… I’ve written in my log that I wasn’t impressed, other than by the debris trail left by the Yolanda as she slipped back off the reef and into deeper water at the bottom of the vertical wall. I’ve noted that the camera isn’t suited to large panoramic shots and it was difficult to stop and focus on anything due to the current running. I think if I’d got out of the camera mindset and just absorbed the views I might have made more of it. It was interesting being suspended over a drop of 130m+ and it was easy to see how you can get so absorbed in looking around you don’t realise the depth. I’ve also noted I was a little dehydrated, having neglected my water intake the day before, so maybe that contributed to my ambivalence towards it. There was certainly a lot of life around, and the wreckage trail of toilets, sinks and baths as the Yolanda split open was quite impressive. I was still worrying about my air consumption, so I guess that didn’t help either. I was approached by a huge Napolean Wrasse that came to within a metre before casually making a left turn and swimming away. Dive time of 48 minutes and a maximum depth of 26.5 m. I’d taken to swimming a few metres above Adam and Rachael on these 20m+ dives by now to try to decrease my air use to give them more time in the water.


Rachael in a goldfish bowl


No paper in the toilets!

Day 4 – Dive 2: Ras Mohamed (Shark and Yolanda Reefs)
A second dive that was identical to the first. I hoped to enjoy it more, but it wasn’t the case. If anything in fact it was worse due to the number of divers in the water by this time. As Adam pointed out on his dive slate ‘lots of diverfish’. We hit a current opposing us as we followed the Yolanda debris trail towards the reef, so instead of fighting it we allowed it to carry us out where I sent up the DSMB to be picked up by Blue Horizon after our safety stops. I’m pretty sure there was just something not right with me that day and given the same dive on a different day I’d have a different view of it. Dive time of 44 minutes and a maximum depth of 24.1m.


Errr...dunno...fish thingies...


Unknown diver on the Yolanda wreckage

Day 4 – Dive 3: Ras Mohamed (Anenome City)
An easy one to write up as we aborted the dive after 8 minutes! Rachael couldn’t equalise and as wed been dropped off by zodiac and there was a lot of small boat traffic around we elected to stay together and surface. Adam and I could have gone on ourselves again after Rachael was in the zodiac, but to be honest I couldn’t be bothered. The two dives earlier hadn’t maintained my interest and I didn’t expect this one to either, so I was happy to bin the dive and head back to Blue Horizon.


My only photo from this dive - everyone else's bubbles passing us at 5m :-)

Day 4 – Dive 4: Sha’ab Makmud
A night dive on the same reef that the wreck of the Dunraven is to be found. We’d dive the Dunraven as the first dive the next morning, but the night dive was to be around the boat. Rachael had developed a cold by this time and missed the dive, so it was Adam and I again. We descended to a depth of around 20m and before long Adam had found a large Moray beneath a long overhang of coral. The Moray had it’s mouth open and some cleaner shrimp at work on the teeth. I tried getting a photo, but the eel was so far under the overhang that I’d have had to almost wriggle under there myself to get the camera to focus on it. A shame really as it would have been a fantastic shot, but I’m a coward at heart! We carried on and again Adam spotted a large Cuttlefish that seemed quite content for us to approach quite close and take photos. It didn’t even adopt the usual cuttlefish threatening posture, and after taking the photos we carried on, leaving it in peace where we’d found it. We ascended up the wall a little and completed our 5m stop at a small plateau just in front of the boat. By this time our 3 minutes at 5m were more like 5 or 6 minutes as we padded the stops out a little. A dive time of 38 minutes and a maximum depth of 25.6m.


The cuttlefish Adam found


Some kind of worm I think...crawling along the seabed

[sailorbuoy]

Sweetlips (black spotted?).....

[edit] and a featherstar....

Did you not use the book onboard?

Rich

[ShinyD]

Day 5 – Dive 1: The Dunraven
A transfer by zodiac from where Blue Horizon had been moored overight was the start of the dive on this wreck. The plan was to transfer out by zodiac, examine the wreck and then follow the reef back to the same point we made our safety stop on the night dive the previous night before exiting by the Blue Horizon ladders. We transferred out last with two of the other guys that were doing a wreck course and Kev, one of the dive guides. We were leaving them line laying inside the wreck, so after the swim through we had the sea to ourselves. Great! Unfortunately Rachael was still suffering with the cold so stayed on the Blue Horizon. Another old steam/sailing ship, the Dunraven is lying completely upside down and is broken in two halfway along her length. There is a large rip in the stern part that can be entered, exiting where the two parts of the ship have broken in two. It’s a very picturesque dive and in the early morning light is quite haunting. I like photographing divers around wrecks and I managed a good shot of Adam about 5m above me swimming near the propeller and rudder. As we left the wreck and ascended a little we were joined by a large Napolean Wrasse that kept station with us right back to the Blue Horizon. It was too deep to go back to for a photo though. A dive time of 43 minutes and a maximum depth of 29.3m.


Adam near the prop and rudder of the Dunraven


The view beneath Blue Horizon as we approached her stern

Day 5 – Dive 2: Siyul Kebira
We were due to head back to Sha’ab Abu Nuhas to dive another of the wrecks, the Chrisoula K, but on arrival it was decided it was too rough and so instead we moored up at this reef nearby and within view of Sha’ab Abu Nuhas. We were ferried by zodiac around the reef and were to keep the reef wall to our right shoulder for the return to the Blue Horizon. Rachael unfortunately missed this dive too due to her cold, so it was just Adam and I again. We dropped in and I seriously thought about binning the dive after 5 minutes as there was nothing to see. We perservered though and soon after came across a pinacle of coral with thousands of tiny fish darting in and around the various nooks and crannies of the outcrop. At the bottom of the coral there were three Lionfish in a tight huddle, obviously gorged from feeding the night before and resting while they digested their meals. They were probably permanent features as all they had to do at night was gently rise up the coral a couple of metres to have their fill again! Adam found me another Devil Scorpionfish to photograph, although how on earth he spotted it I don’t know. I spent 5 minutes looking around where he was pointing before I finally saw the shape of it and even on the photos it’s hard to make it out. We didn’t really see anything else of note and swam back to the Blue Horizon as per the dive plan. I was lost and thought another boat was our one, but fortunately Adam knew where we were going and we arrived back at Blue Horizon just as the automatic sewage pumps kicked in…yuk! Dive time of 48 minutes and a maximum depth of 29 metres.


The Scorpionfish are damned hard to spot! Thank God Adams eyes are better than mine!


There were 1000's of tiny fish around the coral outcrops here...

Day 5 – Dive 3: Sha’ab El Erg
This was the same reef that we had dived on the first day, but on the north side this time. It was a relatively shallow dive with depths no greater than 15m to be found. Rachael was able to join us again so we were back as a threesome. It was a nice easy bimble around and as I’ve given Adam my camera to try out I spent the dive just chilling and looking. The cream of all the dives for this trip as it turned out when we found a large Hawksbill Turtle as we headed back to the boat. It was going about its business grazing on coral on the sea floor and completely ignored us. Rachael got a nice photo of the turtle with me above it! Adam took some good photos with the camera. Dive time of 55 minutes and a maximum depth of 13.4m.


We found Nemo...and all his relatives over the 20 dives :-)


No sharks or dolphins to swim with, but we did find a turtle!

Day 5 – Dive 4: Umm Gammar
The final night dive of this trip was on a shallow plateau with a maximum depth of not more than 18m. Rachael was able to join us again and so we just had a gentle bimble around. We found a couple of large free-swimming Morays and Rachael found some kind of weird worm thing, a black Lionfish and another Scorpionfish of some kind. Dive time of 44 minutes and a maximum depth of 17.4m.


...it was dark...


Rachael found a big worm of some kind

[ShinyD]

Day 6 – Dive 1: Umm Gammar
A morning dive on the same site as last night, and again all three of us were together for it. There really was nothing of note on this dive, other than lots of small life and a couple of Lionfish. Rachael posed with the underwater Blue O Two flag for a few shots. Dive time of 50 minutes and a maximum depth of 27.4m.


Rachael models the Blue O Two flag


Lionfish and one of those 'orrible spiky urchins

Day 6 – Dive 2: El Mina
The final dive of the trip was on the wreck of the El Mina, an Egyptian, Russian built minesweeper sunk by Israeli jets in 1970. This wreck is actually in Hurghada harbour and we stopped at it after taking fuel on at the refuelling jetty.There were 3 or 4 liveaboards already on the site and it was with some misgivings that we kitted up and got ready for the entry from the back of Blue Horizon as she moved over the front boats mooring line. On descent both Adam and I were doubtful about the dive as there were divers bubbles everywhere, and sure enough on reaching the wreck it proved to be the case. You couldn’t move down there for divers. After a brief stop at the propeller and a swim along the superstructure we moved above the hull where adam signalled he’d had enough and we began the ascent. We ascended away from the mooring line as there was a constant stream of divers up and down and we took some time over the ascent, making one minute stops at 15, 12 and 9m, 5 minutes at 5m and another 1 minute at 3m. Dive time of 30 minutes and a maximum depth of 32m.


Adam near the one of the props


The bomb damage and divers everywhere!

[ShinyD]

Originally Posted by sailorbuoy

Sweetlips (black spotted?).....

[edit] and a featherstar....

Did you not use the book onboard?

Rich

Yes...but I had 100's of photos and the book is somewhere in the Red Sea now and I'm not!!

[sailorbuoy]

I can drop one over at the W/E if you want....

[ShinyD]

So that was all the dives. A good trip with lots of interest. I think it fair to say we each had our up and down days where the dives were concerned with some really liking the site and others not, but that's to be expected. I wouldn't say I didn't like any of them, just there was more interest for me in some sites than others. If anything it was a little 'reef heavy' and a few more wrecks would have been welcome, but both the weather and the experience levels of some guests played a part in that.

There was some grief caused and a bad atmosphere that could so easily have been avoided on the last day by one of the groups that weren't happy about spending the last night in a hotel. I'm not going to go into the detail on an open forum, but suffice to say they bullied the Blue O Two manager (who came on board to talk to them) into us all staying on the boat for the last night instead of transferring to the hotel as planned.

They didn't speak for all of us, but they were in the majority and shouted loudest, so plans were changed at the last minute.

A small group of us met Drey and his wife and a couple of the other Blue O Two guys at a local restaurant on the Thursday evening and had a meal and a few drinks, moving on to the Pappas II bar afterwards and finally getting back on board around 0030. Some were a little worse for wear the next morning, but the less said about that the better, eh Rach

Adam, Rach and I had booked a full body massage on the Friday at a nearby health club followed by a sauna. It was the perfect end to a fantastic week. I was so relaxed you could have poured me down a drain afterwards...heaven...

We had some delays at Hurghada airport and then again at Gatwick waiting for the luggage to appear. I arrived home at 4am having been dropped off by Rachael and Adam, who made it home an hour later. I was absolutely exhausted to the point of nearly falling asleep standing up waiting for the bus to take us to the car park where Adam had left his car.

A brilliant week though, despite the grief caused by some towards the end.

I'd do it again tomorrow if it were possible, but it'll have to wait until next year. I've no complaints about anything at all. Well organised trip, flights were fine, fantastic boat and crew, good dive guides, varied dive sites and two great dive buddies. Can't ask for anything more than that

[adam f]

Nice one Dave - a fantastic report, and invaluable to anyone thinking of doing this trip - have a green...

...and start saving for next year!

[Crieagle]

time seeing a Napoleon Wrasse, Lion Fish, Scorpion Fish, Small Catfish Eel (mega poisonous and I was half a foot away (!)

Mrs F whats a catfish eel, never heard of one of them, mega poisonous!!!, was someone pulling ur leg??!!

Great report guys glad you enjoyed it, green on the way. I dive with my lad who is 14 waiting till he is 15 before we do a liveaboard. Have dived Ras mo a few times and love it. He did the dunraven back in oct, think he will become a wreckie he really enjoyed his second penetration after the stanegarth. Even could hear the dunraven engines as we finned over the boilers Shame you did not get to do the thistlegorrm. Its my second best dive to date after doing Elphinstone and having hammerhead and oceanic in the water. Worth going back just for that.

Cheers.