"Get Wrecked" Trip : Egypt - 1st - 8th Feb

[jptaylor9]

My buddy & I had the first week of Feb booked off and as our initial dive plans hadn't worked out, we took a couple of spaces on an Emperor Divers "Get Wrecked" liveaboard (MV Superior) doing the wrecks on the Northern Safari tour. We booked on late, the Monday before the flight on Friday; I was expecting a discount, but in fact had to pay a supplement for late booking as the travel agent had the released the charter flights they'd previously reserved.

We'd both done most if not all these wrecks before, looking at the dives on the schedule and knowing the depth/time limit would be (and was) 30/40m & 60mins, we made the decision to leave our rebreathers at home & go OC!!!

Must remember to look at contents gauge... must remember to look at contents gauge...

Now the last OC dive I'd done was in Norway in June 2005 & that was using a twin set, my last single tank dive was in 2000! I wondered what over 2 1/2 years of CCR diving would (with only the occasional OC bailout) would do to my OC style...

My buddy took his Otter dry suit, but I felt my O3 was too heavy so went with a 5mm one piece (long) with a 3mm rash vest. My buddy pointed out how easy the dry suit was to get into, as i squeezed into my wet suit for the fourth time that day Luckily, the weather was very good for Feb, with very light winds so i didn't get cold in or out of the water, however, if it'd been more normal Feb weather I might have suffered more. We also both wore hoods on every dive, mine was a thin 3mm Scubapro hood, I feel this helped a lot & reduced risk of ear infection which neither of us suffered from.

Next... the stab jacket... my Buddy Commando was leaking quite badly from basically everywhere! But as I got it in 1982 I can't complain, so it's gone back to Buddy for a service. I picked up a cheap Mares travel stab that was on sale at my LDS & took that, I was very impressed with it, did the job, very light and folds up very compact for packing. With my Mares Evolution semi-dry. Mares fins & stab, I was Mr Mares!!!

Some re-arranging of bailout regs & cannibalising of SPG's and i was able to put together a reg set that a PADI dive guide would be OK with.

Having sorted out my kit, I was well under my baggage allowance, I only used 22Kg out of an allowance of 30Kg although I was most probably a bit overweight on the hand luggage. But, it made a nice change from trying to get 40+ kilos onto the flight! I did consider asking for a credit note for next time......

Got on the boat after smooth flight out, the guides (Chris/Fefe) were very welcoming & turned out to be some of the best guides I've experienced in the Red Sea (safe but not in your face types), the other guests were all experienced divers which made for a good week.

My buddy & I opted for 15L steel tanks, one for the weight/negative buoyancy & also for the extra volume in case our SAC/RMV had got worst after so much CCR diving. As it turned out our breathing rate was OK, I calculated mine at about 14l/min which I was quite happy with. Apart from one occasion when i surfaced with 50bar, I was typically ending dive with 70bar+. We ended dive because the hour was up, or we'd done the wreck & were bored, so felt at no disadvantage been on OC as opposed to CCR.

The first dive was on a liveaboard wreck (Suzanna) near Hurghada harbour, apart from been a bit under weighted everything else was fine, all the OC stuff clicked back into place & I remembered to occasionally check the contents gauge!

We than pressed on with the schedule of 21 dives over 5 1/2 days, for a "one dive a day" techie diver this was a bit of a shock to the system! But I did manage to do 19 out of the 21.

Did the usual stuff, Lentil wreck, Carnatic, Giannis D, Chrisola K, Dunraven, Shark & Yolanda Reef and 4 dives (including a night dive) on the Thistegorm. We then did the Kingston off Shag Rock & were about to do the Ullysses (standing on dive deck) when some army types in combat fatigues carrying AK47's boarded us from a RIB! The captain was informed that diving was now prohibited around Gubal Island so we had to abandon that dive. We also couldn't do our planned night dive on "The Barge" or two dives the next day on the Rosalie Moller, this was particularly annoying as we had perfect weather to dive the Rosalie

Emperor divers are trying to clarify the situation to see if this is a temporary or permanent restriction and whether it's a national policy or just something the local commander dreamed up. But either way, it spoilt what would have been the highlight of the week.

Instead we headed down to Safaga & did two dives on the Salem Express returning to Hurghada via Giftun reef, ending on the El Mina minesweeper (a 30min dive at best) in Hurghada harbour.

Overall a good week, despite the disappointment over the Rosallie. Did I miss my Inspo, no, it was nice to not to have the hassle & just let the crew fill the tank back up with Nitrox after each dive.

JT

[Whale Shark]

Great write up...thanks.

[sexydivebuddy]

Originally Posted by Whale Shark

Great write up...thanks.

ditto!

[Whale Shark]

Is the Salem Express the ferry that went down with lots of Egyptians that died in it? Few years ago, we almost dived it, but the crew were still quite upset over it. So, captain decided against it. Were you allowed to penetrate the wreck or was it just a swim around it?

[jptaylor9]

Originally Posted by Whale Shark

Is the Salem Express the ferry that went down with lots of Egyptians that died in it?

Yes, that's the one, did it previously in 2000, it's an OK wreck, can't say I'd go out of my way to do it again. Only did it because we got bumped off the Rosallie Moller....

Originally Posted by Whale Shark

Were you allowed to penetrate the wreck or was it just a swim around it?

We weren't restricted from entering wreck, as I understand it all bodies have been removed.

[Whale Shark]

Thanks for info. I'll be doing the same intinerary later this year.