Red Sea 2000 - West Lothian Sub Aqua Club

	West Lothian Sub Aqua Club Scotland SOUTHERN RED SEA 15 - 22 September, 2000

diary	dive team	the boat	the crew
Getting there This trip was our fourth trip in 5 years to the Southern Red Sea and we had chosen Oonasdivers again following their splendid service the previous year. We set off from Edinburgh airport at the crack of dawn to Gatwick where we hang about in the duty free until our flight on Sabre is called. An uneventful flight, we arrive at Hurghada by local time (that's 2 hours ahead of GMT). We pass through the entry system - visa stamps, passport, trolley hire, etc and emerge into the lovely hot, smelly world of Egyptian transfer to dive boat, board our little bus and set off to the local duty free to stock up with beer. The Coral Queen is a 'dry' boat so it is essential to obtain the necessary supplies (1 case per person) before departing town. Out of Hurghada and 2 hours later we arrive at El Quesir and stop for coffee and cokes at the traditional roadside cafe. As we leave the owner presents us with a lucky green cat carving. Two more hours later we arrive at Marsa Nakari for a pit stop and 90 minutes further on we arrive at Marsa Wadi Lahami and transfer to our boat, paddling over the reef and sand to the zodiac we finally arrive, select our cabins, meet Achmad our guide and mentor for the next week and settle down to sleep as the air conditioning hums on into the night. The Diving
Awakening to the motion and sounds of the boat underway we prowl around sorting out dive gear into our boxes, attaching cylinders to stabbies, assembling weight belts and preparing for the days first dive. Incidentally, this is the last time we have to assemble our kit ourselves, each time we exit the water one or other of the deck hands whips off your gear including fins, changes the tank and leaves everything set up for the next dive (must try to arrange a system like this on the club dives on Sundays). We breakfast on the first of many great meals served hot and in abundant quantity .
Dive 1, Abu el Wesoul Ahmed delivers a terrific, detailed, clear and as it emerges very accurate briefing for our 'check out' at Abu el Wesoul, somewhere in the Southern Red Sea 45 nautical miles south on the way to St. John's Reef. Drop down onto a sandy bottom 20 metres down with isolated coral boulders; over to the reef wall and north along and into caves and swim throughs. The coral is all in splendid condition and the fish life is abundant, lots of surgeon fish, anthias, all the RS favourites, a big Napoleon wrasse, barracuda and a wee moray all feature in the dive logs after our 80 minutes underwater. The ringing of the bell summons us to afternoon tea. This bell was the sound that greeted us as we stepped back up the ladder onto the dive platform - another meal was waiting.
Dive 2, Abu Bassall, St. John's No.1 Arrived at the site another 11 NM further south we are finally into the St. Johns reef complex. by 6.00 pm. Another 'Ahmed' briefing with detailed map on the white board and we are in the water by 6.30. Forty five minutes later having swam around among beautiful coral pinnacles rising off a sand bottom from 16 - 20 metres to 1 metre below the surface, under a big overhang festooned with yellow soft corals and sea fans. Mostly we were back so early because night was falling and some of us had not taken torches.
Dive 3, Abu Bassall, St. John's No.1 After dinner, 4 courses, we kitted up again and dropped in for a wonderful night dive with basket starfish, sleeping parrotfish, arrow crabs on soft corals. 47 minutes of incredible night life and then back for a couple of beers and bed.
Dive 4 and so on The next morning, having left our overnight mooring at 7:00 am we dived at 8:15 am at Little Reef, St. John's No. 5. The first group dropping in through spinner dolphins onto this beautiful circular coral reef with big pinnacle outcrop, gullies, black corals, blue spotted Stingrays. Another incredible days diving followed, another dive on Little Reef, a dive on St. John's Woods and a night dive on Fandira Hemira. Thus the six days diving progressed.
Ahmed briefed us, we dived, the boys stripped off our kit, the little bell rang, we ate, we rested, the boat moved to another site and then Ahmed briefed us ............. bliss! 22 dives in 6 days, the longest being 94 minutes on Claudia Reef where the swim throughs are the best in this part of the Red Sea. The deepest was on the west end of Maksour in the Fury Shoals, looking for hammerheads without finding any but coming face to teeth with a 2 metre Barracuda at 40 metres was exciting enough, the same big fish we had met a year previously but much shallower then. The best dive of the trip. Well with so many superb sites it would be unfair to single one out as the most unforgettable but the Bumphead Parrotfish on The Nursery, St. John's No. 8 and the night dive among the amazing soft coral 'trees' on Sernaka Island with winking Flashlight Fish certainly are candidates. Everyone had their own top spots. Would we go back? Like a shot. Do we recommend it? Definitely!
Lemon Goby
Moray with Cleaner Wrasse

The Dive Team On the sundeck all dolled up in our exclusive Jane Keith T-shirts we are from left to right, back row: Stewart McGinley, Jim Anderson, Colin McDonald, Ian Seath middle row: Charlie Clague, Lesley Anderson, Fiona McDonald, Kate Anderson, James Anthony front row: Gordon Young, Alistair Stewart, Jenny Young, Ahmed our dive guide. Below the team at leisure after the days diving is over .........
The Boat The MV Coral Queen, the best dive boat in the Red Sea. Pictured here lying at anchor at her southern base at Marsa Wadi Lahami.
The Crew
Ahmed Our dive guide	Shazli The assistant skipper of the Coral Queen and an Abadi	Hassan Lounge steward	Mansour Lounge steward
Shazli Zodiac skipper and an Abadi	Hassan The Chef	Salah The boat's engineer	Reda Deck hand
Mohammed Abadi deck hand	Hassan Abadi deck hand	Gamal Deck hand
These are the guys who made the holiday so memorable. Always smiling, helpful and careful with us, our cameras and dive gear it was a pleasure to be with them. The Abadi are a local traditional clan of fishermen who are ranged all along the north west coast of the Red Sea. One of their seasonal bases was on Mikawa (Sernaka) Island. Guido, the legendary owner of Coral Queen, was on holiday.

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