Dive Report - Red Sea, pt.2

Dive Report - Day 3 & 4

Red Sea, Marsa Alam, Egypt.

Day 3 - Camouflaged Creatures

(Friday, 13th of October, 2023)

Sitting on a fancy boat in the sunshine, with a chocolate doughnut in my hand and surrounded by all my diving friends, is a pretty great way to start the day. It’s early but we’ve had a good night’s sleep and I can feel the excitement buzzing between us. Where will we dive? What will we see? I think about all the creatures in Mike’s identification book and wonder how many I’ll be able to check off by the end of the week.

The first day of diving is always a faff between filling out paperwork and organising your equipment, so today is the first real day for us to enjoy. We set off and saw that there were only five divers in addition to our own group. Just before we arrive, our guide calls us over for a briefing, after which we go downstairs to kit up.

After fighting with my wetsuit, tugging at my boots and putting all the usual scuba gear on, I waddle to the edge of the boat, inflate my BCD and step into the sea. The rest follow promptly and we deflate to the seafloor.

A large pinnacle greets us on our descent and a Red lionfish comes out from beneath the coral to say hello. They’re strange fish. They soar with stripy, outstretched wings and even though their tail propels them, it’s a small movement that usually goes unnoticed. White xenia pulsates with the movement of the water, like little hands opening and closing and it reminds me of snowdrops bowing their heads in spring. We bear north. An Orbicular batfish passes us followed by a Bluecheek butterflyfish. Plodding along, I notice people clustering in front of me. Someone’s spotted something. When I reach them I’m confused. We’re looking at some finger corals and more White xenia. I glance between Mike and the coral, trying to see whatever he’s seeing. He points for me but I’m still clueless. Four cameras photograph this invisible creature and I start to think I’m losing my mind. After what feels like hours, I start to see the outline of some kind of fish, with thick lips and a coral-like body. I wasn’t sure what it was but I could sense it was one of those fish that could kill you.

‘Did you see the Scorpion fish?’

On the surface between de-kitting and sips of black coffee, we discuss what we saw (or didn’t see) and share photographs with one another. We have an hour interval before the second dive of the day, so we make the most of drying in the sun and eating melted sandwiches.

Day 4 - Cave Diving at Samadai Reef

(Saturday, 14th of October, 2023)

Tall coral walls lined with a pick n mix of miniature fishes lie to my right. In front of me, my friends disappear one by one into the mouth of a cave and I follow suit, careful of my buoyancy. Strobes of sunlight illuminate the aqua blue of the water. When the cave opens up, I glance behind me and get the ok signal from Dewi. The cave is film-worthy. Somewhere between ‘My Little Mermaid’ and ‘H20’. We bear left and squeeze our way between coral. I follow Mike’s fins, wary of brushing up against any Stonefish or other poisonous creatures. I glance up and see ripples of water reflecting in one of the holes in the cave. We pass through another passage and change direction again. The exit is a slanted slither of blue between clunky walls and I watch several streams of air bubbles shooting up to the surface from where the group are waiting for everyone to come out of the cave.

We pass sand scattered with coral and colourful fish at every turn. Bird wrasse, Arabian picassofish and Orange-spined unicornfish. Further on, two Clownfish rest in a bundle of green anemones that look particularly comfortable. As we near the end of the dive, the instructor touches hands with the nearest divers, passing Glassfish which dance over from the backs of his hands to theirs.

Continue reading…

If you missed pt.1 click here.. Link to pt.3 here.

For visuals check out TikTok

This trip was taken with Emperor Divers dive centre. Website Here.

This was an annual abroad trip organised by my BSAC dive club.