Learn to dive in Sussex, Kent and Surrey with Sussex Scuba diving courses

Amazing Reefs,
Amazing Dives,
Fantastic boat
and great company !!!

Well, as you would expect this was yet again an amazing trip. This was the first time the club had visited the South but we weren't disappointed. The south is a predominantly made up of reef dives. But they are truly spectacular - even the die hard wreck techies were impressed. We almost converted them away from rusty metal and back to fish.... Almost. We did however see one wreck, the wreck of the Tien Hsing (even the wreckies and the rusty metal boys( yes Andrea, and girls) all enjoyed it.

What about the boat?
I think it is fair to say that it exceeded everyone's expectations in terms of quality and space. The lounge area was well fitted out and very comfortable. Rooms were simple but very well looked after by the crew.
But what about the food? Once again the food was outstanding with three meals a day, each offering a wide choice of vegetables and meat, ranging from fresh fish, roast lamb, chicken, roast beef, steak, stews, etc. There was plenty to go round. It was not unusual to see people (who shall remain nameless) with 4 steaks on their plates!!! As well as a three course meal we also were given regular snacks and afternoon tea, which consisted of cakes and savories. Best of all we had very few stomach problems.

The Trip

We all met at the airport at 6.30am. Many of the people who came on the trip knew one or two other people, and one or two didn't know anyone at all. Nevertheless everyone seemed to get on with each other straight away. Denise was playing with her new video camera at the airport - that was until security told her to stop - a very red faced and embarrassed Denise!! When we arrived at the airport we were met by the intense heat and of course the courier. Once the formalities were completed we were off to the boat. It is a short journey though a bit worrying since once you leave the main road there is nothing but dusty tracks, and the coach had to navigate around a huge building site. When they finally build Marsa Alam it will be great but at the moment..

The boat is situated in the middle of a very upmarket marina ( or at least it will be when it is finished) It is a large basin with lots of canals from each of the hotels connecting into it. Once again there are no roads and all the hotels are empty even the ones that looked finished !! Once we had unpacked we set sail. We then had an overnight sail to St John's reef, and yes it was difficult to sleep.

I would like to write about everyone of the dive sites we visited but I suspect I would lose your undivided attention, so I will let the pictures do that.

Highlights of the sites are too many to mention but the reefs at St John's are quite spectacular and colourful. Most people on board believed it to be better than Ras Muhammad, in terms of coral, and variety and quantity of fish life. We also dived the cave system at St John's reef. This too was quite spectacular and well within the capabilities of the average Open Water diver. These are in a shallow lagoon depth around 5-7m and as a result there is plenty of life and plenty of colour. A stunning dive.

Elphinstone Reef was obviously one of the main sites and we did two dives here. Although quite deep the reef is colourful but the attraction here is for the big stuff - and we weren't disappointed. We saw white tipped reef sharks, a hammerhead (fairly close up) and best of all a huge Manta. This really was spectacular, it swam around in a circle three times and so we all got a good view. We were probably about 5m away at one point when it turned over to show its underbelly. The pictures below will show this well. We have also got some video of this which you can see by following this link