Mid Lancs Sub Aqua

With the Christmas holidays approaching and my usual cheery outlook on life towards the festive season I decided that escaping to the sunshine with a friend might be a good plan. The overriding factor on our ultimate destination was somewhere that we could scuba dive. Having spent the previous Christmas in Malta we looked towards the Middle East, specifically Egypt. The Red Sea has over 1000 varieties of fish and due to the access it provides for the Suez Canal and low fringing reefs it is littered with ship wrecks. As both Tracy and I had been before and dived off day boats (meet the boat each morning and stay in a hotel) we decided to treat ourselves and go on a liveaboard. As we had strict date requirements the only available boat was the MY Diamond, a 34 metre long custom build dive boat able to carry 22 guests and 9 crew.

Christmas for the family was held on Christmas Eve then it was an early start to catch our flight from Manchester to Sharm El Sheikh on the Sinai Peninsular. 5 hours later we were met at the airport and taken to meet the boat and our 2 dive guides; Steve and Marlin, this was made most interesting by the Egyptian drivers! The boat met our expectations and the plan was to set off the following morning to start our dive tour of wrecks and reefs. Due to the time of year the daylight was in short supply so our days would be starting early, aiming to be in the water at 0700hrs each morning. Our first day found us diving Jackson’s Reef in a rather fast current, plenty of life and we didn’t have to fin much! Each day consisted of 4 dives at a variety of dive sites, including a number of wrecks. We visited Shark and Yolanda reef, so named due to it’s shape (like a shark fin) and because the cargo ship Yolanda had crashed into it and sunk whilst discharging its cargo. 

The wildlife was amazing, each day being surrounded by the vast variety of fish, stingrays and corals that call the Red Sea home. In comparison to the United Kingdom the visibility is amazing, being able to see the surface 35 metres above you whilst not being able to see the sea floor 1000 metres below was an eye opener. 
 

The evenings and between dives were spent on the boat being treated to 4 meals a day by the fantastic crew in between reading and sleeping. The highlight of the week for me was the ship wrecks and we were treated to some of the most famous ones. The Thislegorm was a cargo ship carrying supplies for the 8th Army in Africa during the 2nd World War, parts of the Red Sea were considered to be safe anchorages as German planes couldn’t do a return flight from their distance airbases. However during a reconnaissance flight from a new airbase, the Thislegorm was spotted at anchor waiting to transit the Suez Canal. Two nights later the German’s returned and sank the unsuspecting ship. The cargo consisted of munitions, one of the Germans bombs struck the 4th hold, stacked full of ammunition and the resulting explosion lit up the night sky. 

The wreck today still sits full of war supplies consisting of jeeps; motorcycles; Lee Enfield Rifles; a steam locomotive; trucks and a large supply of bombs. During this dive we were treated to a special buddy; a sea turtle, who was more than happy to let us watch him eat!