RED SEA TRIP 15th – 22nd Sept 2007 onboard MY Juliet from Sharm el Sheik

The holiday in a nutshell! Day one – Home - Manchester Airport – drink - Day two – Manchester Airport - drink
Day three – Fish & shit – drink - Day four – Fish & shit – drink - Day five – Fish & shit – drink - Day Six – Fish & shit – drink - Day seven – Sharks! – lots of drink - Day eight – Drink - Manchester Airport – home
OK, OK, it was a bit more than that!

SATURDAY - after getting up extra early to get to Manchester Airport for a 9.15am departure, we waited & drank, and waited & drank, and waited, we actually got on the plane at 12.30pm, and off again at 1.00pm. After a wait for bags and a wait for the coach, we were herded off to Bewleys hotel for overnight stay, food, lots of (illegally liberated duty free) booze. JT and Steve went on the courtesy coach back to the car park to stash more duty free booze before bed time.

SUNDAY – another early start, after yesterday’s mayhem, we were in no mood for delays & feeling militant. As there was no smoking in the departure area, the Nicorette patches were in evidence for a second day for the smokers. We were issued with vouchers for breakfast as the departure time of 9.15am came & went again, we waited, drank & ranted until 1.00pm when we got on the plane again, but this time it took off, to rousing applause. The cabin crew could tell we were trouble! We landed as the sun had just set on the desert, and headed off, after a wait for the luggage and a wait for visas, to look for beer for the trip ahead. Sally & Dennis (The Southern Chapter) were waiting patiently after having the boat and crew at their disposal for 24hrs. After introductions, briefings, food & scrabble for cabins, we had a drink! We moved from the jetty, to a local bay, where several people spent most of the night either jumping off the top of the boat or snorkelling by torch light.

MONDAY – another early start and check dive at Ras Kati, with the usual suspects, 2nd dive at Stingray Station 2, with the usual suspects, and 3rd & night dive at the Dunraven/Beacon rock, both with the usual suspects. Today we had first encounters with the crew, who despite being in the middle of Ramadan were in fine spirits and were the happiest crew we have ever had. The Chef we nicknamed Borat, provided approx 25 meals, three times a day from a kitchen the size of a broom cupboard. A feat of culinary genius.

TUESDAY – early starts are getting later by common consent. 1st dive was on a beauty of a site called Small Crack
A photographer’s dream site, with pristine corals in 4m of water. 2nd dive was on Shag Rock and a wreck called Sara H. We then moved on to the Thistlegorm. Despite canny timing, the first dive on the bows was very similar to Capernwray, but with loads more fish. Dark, cold, diver soup. The wreck is deteriorating quickly and there are several items ready to fall into the hold or off the side, not helped by camera laden Italians crawling all over it.
We tried to time the night dive to go before the other boats and were rewarded with a brilliant night dive, where you couldn’t see the wreck for shoals of fish. We got back to the boat and had a singing contest with a rowdy Italian or possibly German boat moored across the way.

WEDNESDAY – a very early start for the 2 further dives on Thistlegorm, the Stern dive and the hold penetration dive. Both dives were very good and Joan gave the propeller its usual kiss. We moved from here to a new, pristine reef found by and named after the Captain of the boat – Samaha. Really beautiful hard corals, similar to the ‘Playground’ reef much further south. Here Louise hovered over a cleaning station, then wondered why her knees were being cleaned by some bewildered fish. A night dive followed but I cant remember where!

THURSDAY – We dived Yolanda, Shark & Satellite reef, (better known as the toilet reef) packed with fish although no sharks. As a bonus there was no current and an easy swim back to the main boat. 2nd dive was at Jack Fish Alley, sadly no Jack Fish, but a nice cave swim through to a coral garden with lots of small stuff. 3rd dive was up to Gordon Reef in the Straits of Tiran. Nice swim over the barrels, marred only by herds of Italians lead by their dive guide dressed with white designer shorts over his wetsuit and white sunglasses on his head at 10m! They got the usual finger wagging and gesticulation from us as they crawled all over the coral, themselves and anyone who got in their way. Oh how we hate the Italians. The boat moored overnight at South Laguna which was as beautiful as it sounds. The night dive finished with a huge bait ball around the boat from the sea floor to the surface of the water. We all watched as large squid dived into the bait ball for their evening meal.

FRIDAY – very early start for Jackson Reef, a rough sea and a long trip to the north of the reef by RIB resulted in the best dive of the trip when we saw 8 Hammerheads. In their excitement most divers were brought back to the boat by other people’s RIB’s but who cares. 2nd dive at the same site but on south side was marred by dozens of Italian snorkellers, complete with life jackets, being towed about by their guides. The gentlemen had the bonus of watching lots of skinny bikini clad ladies, us ladies? The best we saw was a chap the size of a string bean wearing red striped shorts and matching headscarf – lovely!! The 3rd and last dive of the holiday was back on Gordon Reef with some interesting fish, an albino moray eel and a stone fish. We spent the last night at South Laguna again, and had a last swim in warm waters as the sun set. Sadly we put our gear out to dry and hit the bottle.

SATURDAY – No early start, we chugged slowly back to port, then said our goodbyes and went back to Oonas dive centre. We split up and did some last minute shopping and then all gathered for pizza before a fight for the only shower at the dive centre. A short bus ride took us to the airport. We said our goodbyes to the Southern Chapter at Sharm Airport and caught our flight home.
RED SEA THANKS – To Maria, dive guide, who put us on the wrecks, with no current, with no divers (if she could) let us do our own thing, didn’t complain, and boozed the night away with us. To Borat the Chef – who fed us magnificently every day, breakfast, lunch & dinner and who made exceedingly good cakes! Captain Samara – who didn’t complain about his noisy neighbours in the Presidential Suite and didn’t crash the boat, all the lovely crew and boat handlers who were happy all week despite being starved from dawn till dusk.

TRIP THANKS – To Sally (Ask the butler to fix me a Pimms) and Dennis (Ask the butler to fix me a Talisker) Towson – The Southern Chapter, Steve (Extra legroom), Sue (Let me get some sunbathing done) and Louise (Paarrrty On) Jezzard – The Lancashire Chapter. Ben (I haven’t been diving for 8 years and still look like a fish) Lambert, Big Tim (Red Sea Virgin) Thornton, Tim, (sorry I’m late but I brought my condoms & lube!) Los, Nick (Nice cuppa tea and fag please) Ramsey, Karen B (4 books a week) Black, Karen A (more sex please Malc) Amos and Malc (more sex please Karen A) Hollindrake, and finally and most importantly, Joan (Alright, I’ll just have a little one) Taylor and Jon (fag smoking, ace videoing, vodka drinking, Bacardi slurping all round party animal) Taylor who organised the trip magnificently, got seated everybody together on the plane, and kept us entertained all week, also to the minibus driver who got us there on time and was waiting when we got back.

NO THANKS – To the airline, who we believe have now gone out of business and no wonder, Manchester Airport for no smoking allowed anywhere, and making us wait and wait and wait at every opportunity.

WATCH OUT FOR RED SEA 2008 – We will want names and deposits in late December or early January for the next trip – ask permission now there won’t be many places available – we have 8 definites already. Also come to the Video night not only for excellent pie & peas, but to witness (some of) the mayhem described above.