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Photo courtesy of Mick Stewart of
Blue Diamond Divers
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Blue O Two sail weekly from Hurghada, Port
Ghalib and Marsa Alam to various destinations in the
Red Sea and unlike other operators who rent boats; Blue O Two operate their own vessels and have their own dedicated
employees so you can guarantee the service you will receive. The itinerary was chosen as (in my
opinion) it offered the best all round experience for Red Sea virgins and
the vessel, M/Y Blue Horizon was the obvious choice.
the vessel, M/Y Blue Horizon was the obvious choice.
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· 3 meals a day plus unlimited snacks and soft
drinks. The website says “highest quality fresh food is prepared onboard daily by our outstanding
chefs and all ingredients are sourced from local suppliers” and I can confirm this is true; the food is outstanding.
·
Towelling robe, towels and a
separate beach towel for the sun deck are provided.
·
Experienced dive guides.
·
Return flights to and
from your chosen destination.
·
Unlimited diving (4
dives per day).
·
Cylinders (12l) and
weights.
So with the ‘sell’
out of the way, here’s a brief run-down of the week.
Day 1, Friday 14 December 2012
Around half of us
left Birmingham at 0330, the fog and cold could not dampen our spirits as we
enthusiastically loaded our kit into the vehicles. We were very grateful to our duty drivers who
braved the freezing conditions and took us to London Gatwick at these sparrow
fart hours. Everyone else mustered at
the airport on time and surprisingly no-one forgot their passport. Unlike my previous trips with Blue O Two, the group were booked onto two separate flights (Easy Jet
and Thomas Cook), at two separate terminals so after a bit of kit swapping to
make the most of the luggage allowance we checked in and headed through to the
departures lounge.
Easy (Sleazy) Jet
lived up to its reputation with the distinct lack of a complimentary meal,
non-reclining seats, turbulent take-off and landing however we arrived
relatively pain free in Hurghada to be met by organized chaos. Amongst
the crowd we found the Blue O Two visa stand and
swiftly proceeded through customs to our luggage and onto our coach (minibus).
Our boat M/Y Blue Horizon was a welcoming
sight after our long journey and there began the repertoire of briefs from the
guides (Blue
O Two), our group leader, our team
doctor and our diving supervisors. Our
diving documentation was checked, our passports were handed in and finally we
got to eat dinner! Fortunately for some,
time was getting on so I decided not to deliver any lectures that evening so a
sensible amount of alcohol was consumed and an early night was taken as most
had been up for nearly 24 hours.
Day 2, Saturday 15 December 2012
The morning after a
very long day, we had the first of only 2 lie-ins of the week; 0730! M/Y Blue Horizon slipped her moorings
during breakfast and motored north from Hurghada (Marriot Hotel Marina) to arrive at the first dive site of
the trip; Poseidon Reef. After a comprehensive
briefing from our dive guide Becky and our own diving supervisor, we headed
into the water for our shake out dive. Mask clearing, DV retrievals, OOG drills,
rescues and for those qualified, DSMBs were practiced and if we had time a
small look at the reef. All dives were
ended with a weight check (although for some this wasn’t to be the last). There was barely time to dry off before the
theory training continued for the SD trainees.
The second dive was
at Siyul with a slightly stronger current and some pretty red soft corals
inhabited by a family of Clown Fish. Because
of the current it was an ideal training site to teach SMB which all groups
coped with well; well nearly! One of Blue O Two's other boats; M/Y Blue Melody was also moored here
which did confuse one navigationally challenged group. Darkness had already arrived as we assembled
for the night dive briefing at Umgosh before slipping into the inky waters that
revealed a brightly coloured cuttlefish.
Day 3, Sunday 16 December 2012
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Day 4, Monday 17
December 2012
Having qualified our 2
new ODs the day before today
was to be an exciting day for the SD students who were due to finish their qualification; needing only two more lectures and a dive or
two. M/Y Blue Horizon had magically
repositioned herself next to a beautiful reef, home to the SS Kingston wreck, a
large but mostly decomposed sailer/steamer.
This was to be a first wreck dive for some and the conditions were
perfect. By now our SDs were buddying up as
pairs and the instructors were taking more of a back seat. The coral garden surrounding this wreck was stunning
and brimming with life and there were smiles all ‘round in the Zodiacs on the
way back to the mothership.
The first dive of the
afternoon was getting everyone excited as we were now heading toward the wreck
of the SS Thistlegorm, (probably) the most famous wreck in the Red Sea. We learnt all about the history of this
amazing ship and her cargo in another excellent brief and the first wave of
divers kitted up. It was to be an
eventful dive as the current running along the wreck was a lot stronger than
anticipated and the visibility was poor (by Red Sea standards). Most buddy pairs had to abandon their dive
plan and only saw a fraction of what they might have hoped. Thankfully all made it back to the shot line,
but by now the current was very strong and a mildly comical five-minute safety
stop ensued with multiple divers hanging onto the line like shirts on a washing
line in a strong breeze.
Sadly for some of the
second wave divers the decision was made to cancel further diving after the
strength of the current became apparent to the dive marshals. Their decision might have been based on the
rapid appearance of my wife who lost contact with the shot line on the first
few metres of the descent and surfaced. My
buddy and I checked she was ok & collected by the RHIB before descending
down the shotline. Why waste a
dive! The domestic that followed could
give Eastenders a run for its money however.
After the gruelling
first dive on the Thistlegorm there were some anxious faces as we kitted up for
a night dive on the very same wreck (nil penetration). Thankfully a beautiful, eerie and fascinating
wreck awaited us, with none of the dreaded current and all buddy pairs ‘dived
the plan’ without incident, a testament to how far the newest divers have come
already.
Day 5, Tuesday 18 December 2012
Another early start
led to the final dive on the Thistlegorm.
This was a very exhilarating dive especially for those who had never
experienced penetrating a wreck before.
We were able to see intact military trucks, motorbikes, some with
sidecars, a whole lot of thigh high rubber boots along with weapons and
munitions. One lucky buddy pair was
greeted at the exit of their dive by the resident turtle; much to everyone’s
envy. Conditions for this dive were
excellent with minimal current; a very large difference from the dive the
previous day.
We departed the
famous wreck to head to our second dive of the day; Small Crack. The ODs became the leaders to
add to their progression to SDs. We started the dives in good spirits –
heightened by the sight of five blue spotted Stingrays. Unfortunately this sight was brief due one of
the divers coming along with his un-necessarily large camera including search
lighting and steam rolled over the over two buddy teams to get his perfect shot;
with his two buddies following in tow in dismay. It was quite humorous to watch said diver continuously
chase these rays like children playing kiss chase in the school grounds. A strong current appeared when we reached the
entrance of the larger channel of small crack, some buddies decided to head
back in the direction they came – others were determined to fight the current
to experience the Finding Nemo view we were promised in the brief. Unfortunately due to exhaustion and
concentration of not being drifted away back to the entrance these buddy groups
missed more of the reef than those who turned back.
The third dive of the
day was Beacon Rock. The majority of our
ODs were now fully
qualified SDs and were ‘let loose’
on their own in their buddy groups without any instructor presence. Navigation was found wanting during the dive;
one buddy pair managed to dive the inner reef instead of the outer reef as
briefed.
Day 6, Wednesday 19 December 2012
We had yet another 0530
start today, but a brilliant line up of wreck dives ensured everybody was
raring to go. The Dunraven, which sunk in the 1870’s and is now an upside down
wreck, allowed all the newly qualified SDs to obtain some of
their depth progression. I was buddied
with the remaining 2 ODs; fingers crossed
by the end of the day they would also be SDs.
The second dive was the beautiful
Carnatic where most divers managed to explore spines of the wreck. For my pair however there was still more
lessons to be done; compass work (surface), line laying and DSMBs. Full credit to both my students, they were
great buddies however even they admitted, a little bit of task loading (it’s
only a spool) soon messes up your buoyancy and breathing!
Between dives the
more experienced divers received training towards their Dive Leader and Advanced Diver qualifications, whilst the others relaxed on the deck. Our third and last dive of the day was to
Ghiannis D. As the wreck lays on her
side many of the divers felt disorientated throughout the dive, however my
buddy pair were fine as they were on their qualifying SD dive; the dive
lead. Apart from a fin strap mishap they
both did fine and completed their training.
A substantial amount of sea life was witnessed during this dive;
Crocodile fish, parrot fish, scorpion fish, puffer fish, napoleon wrasse and
pipe fish to name a few…still no nudibranchs, something all divers have been on
the lookout for ALL WEEK (Becky……).
Day 7, Thursday 20 December 2012
The final diving day
of this ‘arduous’ expedition commenced with El Sharm Erg; a dive requiring
navigation from the lagoon to a small exit, out and round a coral outcrop. A hardy few managed the complete navigation
and returned to the boat against a considerable current; however all were overtime.
Final dive of the trip
was on the El Miniya; an ex Russian minesweeper sank during the Arab–Israeli
war of 1970. All newly qualified SDs managed to obtain
their 30m depth progression however a
number of divers were clearly narked as there were claims to have seen the
mythical aquatic beast, the ‘nudibranch’ being thrown around after the dive
The remainder of the
day was spent washing and drying our dive kit, sunbathing and generally
relaxing as we headed back to the Marriot Hotel Marina. Our final night was spent down town; music
was sang, drinks were drunk, and taxi drivers were stealing our money
(literally).
Day 8, Friday 21 December 2012
The morning after the
night before. This however didn’t mean a
lie in as at 0700 we all got out wakeup call breakfast was served at 0715. At 0800 we said our good byes to M/Y Blue Horizon before everyone spent
the day doing various activities ranging from quad biking, a spa day or
relaxing by the beach. The time soon
disappeared as before we knew it the transfers had arrived to take us (and all Blue O Two's customers) to the airport.
As before we were booked on 2 separate flights and headed back to (sunny!)
England. Finally at Gatwick everyone
said their goodbyes before splitting to the four winds; again around half of us
heading back to Birmingham.
Overall
The week was busy; we
had lots of divers to train and lots of lessons to do. Overall, 17 dives were completed; on average
2-3 per day. Blue O Two offer up to 4 dives per day but we decided not to do this; firstly due
to the supervisors regulations and conducting each dive in waves, and secondly
we had lots of theory lessons to complete.
We are all very proud
to have qualified 11 Sports Divers, 1 Nitrox Diver (outside those trained in
the Sports Diver syllabus), 2 Advanced Divers and conducted additional Advanced
Diver and Dive Leader training in this short trip; thanks to the hard work from
both students and instructors.
Both guides; Becky
& Ahmed were very helpful and knowledgeable, and the remainder of the crew
were superb. They could not have done
any more for us. The only downside of
the trip was the separate flights but hey ho.
This is my second trip with Blue O Two on M/Y Blue Horizon and it certainly won’t
be my last.
NOTE: I have deliberately left out much of the
history and description of the dive sites as much of it can be found on the web
but if you do have any questions please feel free to ask.
The boring bit!
All opinions
expressed in my articles are my own and may differ to other instructor’s and
agency guidelines; by no means are they wrong and I would not wish to disrepute
any of them. This article is for
information only and should not replace proper training.
Safe diving!
Timothy Gort
BSAC, PADI
& SDI/TDI diver training
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