by Daniel
Our arrival
After a barely tolerable four and a half hours aboard an EasyJet flight
to Hurghada we were met by a Scuba Travel representative who gave us our visas
and sent us through passport control. A coach was waiting to take us to our
boat, Whirlwind. Whirlwind was to be our home for the next seven nights.
Upon arrival at the marina I had to endure the most terrifying ordeal:
crossing the gangway onto the boat (I have fallen into the sea crossing one of
those on a previous dive out of Shoreham). Safely aboard we were taken to the
saloon for our introductory talk and paper filling organised by our guides for
the week: Gomaa and Halmosh.
First dive
Our first dive was a check dive at a fairly sheltered location so we
could all check our kit, weighting etc. It was a beautiful reef with lots of
different hard and soft corals and hundreds of different fish species. Our
guides were very patient with us and offered friendly advice to those that
wanted it.
It was also an opportunity for us to get into the routine of kitting up,
checking gas, and buddy checking on the boat before entering the water. It gave
us a great overview for how things would work over the week.
The routine
Six in the morning wake up calls, four dives a day, food and sunbathing
in between. So followed several days of amazing diving. As a group we were
offered guided or unguided dives – clearly they trusted us – on all but the
night dives; these would be unguided. Each dive was preceded by a briefing by
one of the guides on the screen in the saloon. Pictures of the site were
annotated with main points as the guide walked us through the plan for the
dive, indicating points of interest and an appropriate route to take to ensure
we saw everything.
A highlight for me was the moment we all turned to see our guide (Halmosh)
giving us the signal of a shark and pointing. We all followed at pace to see it
only to find ourselves straying slightly too far into a current going the wrong
way. My buddy for the dive, Xin, grabbed my hand and let me do the finning for
both of us until we were back in the right current. The current gradually increased
until we were moving at quite a pace along the reef wall – great fun!
The latter part of the week was mostly wrecks which brought a different
selection of life and different corals and plants. Most of the wrecks we dived
included some swim-through sections which added another dimension to the diving
– especially to someone who struggles with buoyancy control like me! I only
bashed metal on metal twice all week though – a personal best!
The old lady
I don't think it's possible to comment on a Red Sea dive trip involving
wrecks without including a special mention of the SS Thistlegorm. Due to the
socio-political climate of the time we were gifted three out of four dives on
her without another boat in sight! Only for the fourth dive did we have
company.
The ship itself is magnificent sitting mostly upright at the bottom of
the sea like a colossus. Its holds are full of jeeps, motorcycles, rifles and
other war-related supplies. The swim-through sections are great fun and add
another dimension to the splendour – I can easily see why it is sited so frequently
as being among the best wreck dives in the world.
Our first dive on her was in what our guides called a “medium” current.
The wreck mostly protects you from this current, especially if you dive it the
way the guides tell you to! Only in a couple of places did we have to work hard
to get across a gap to the next sheltered area.
The night dive we did was amazing – so many different forms of life
than during the daytime and it gave the wreck an unearthly feel to it. A
fantastic moment for me occurred when I came into view of the second hold to
find my buddy Geraint (“G”) illuminating a swimming turtle with his floodlights
like something out of The Abyss or Close Encounters. The removal of the current
made the dive much easier and more relaxing and allowed us to take in more of
the ship’s details.
My buddy
Buddy diving is a core principle of BSAC diving and this trip was no
exception. For all but two dives I was buddied up with Geraint and I was very
fortunate in that regard. More confident than myself in the water I was more
than happy to let him lead the way on the mostly unguided dives we as a pair
opted for. Our shared love of diving and mutual respect made for a very easy
and relaxed week's diving and his flood lighting meant I didn't miss anything
on a night dive either! As I'm always the slowest to kit up I often found him
sitting half kitted up just waiting for me to get a certain way through before
continuing – much to the amusement of the rest of the group!
The group
Of the 20 or so guests on board we were the largest group (a dozen or
so). Among the rest were a family from Essex and a few teachers from oop North.
Everyone was very friendly and relaxed and we soon started exchanging stories
and making fun of how long it took me to kit up for every dive. Buddies were
occasionally swapped around to make life easier on some of the singles in the
group and to minimise the number of people diving as a three.
The crew
We were very well looked after. From cleaning our rooms, cooking and
serving our food and helping us kit up to serving us drinks and putting movies
on in the saloon for us to watch the crew did a fantastic job. It made for a
much more relaxed atmosphere that I'm sure was enjoyed by all throughout the
week.
The Friday night party
...was over by 20:35. 'nuff said.
All good things…
So it was that we departed Whirlwind with fond farewells and promises
to return to the Red Sea in the future. We spent our off-gassing day lounging
by the pool or on the beach at a resort in Hurghada listening to a very
eclectic mix of music (“Jailhouse Rock” followed by “I'm Too Sexy...”???) before
being transferred back to the hotel for our 28 hour flight back to London, the cold
and the rain.
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