Ras Ghozlani (Ras Mohamed National Park)

Shark / Yolande

Dunraven

Reef nr Dunraven

Rosalie Muller

1/2

Barge

Night Dive with Caroline.

Ulysses

Barge (Gubal)

Chrisoula K

Giannis D

Day/Night

Kimon M

Zodiac again through reef to the Kimon M, also known as the 'Lentil Wreck'. One of the biggest we dived I think; a fairly modern wreck - built in 1952, and ran aground here 1975.

Impressive hull, stern section (prop and vanes). Pipefish on the hull. Up and around bridge, where we saw a big napoleon wrasse. Went around the upper decks (some nice purple soft corals), getting into deco so kept shallow. Very little current. Had a look at the reef on ascent. Left the reef for final ascent on blob.

Carnatic

Zodiac ride out though gap in reef. Splashing in was a bundle and there were a few knocks, though everyone did roll off at the same time. On the bottom it was a little dark and melancholic (still early in the day) but a great wreck.

Little striped partner gobies (they live with a prawn) in the sand near the stern. We went up through wreck, though not much to see within; then over the big gap between the stern and bow sections, and over the bow. Good views over the hull and we stood off the bows and I took a few pictures. Very pleasant dive; safety stop over the wreck passed quickly, current almost nil.

Sh'ab Abu Nahas

Surperb night dive. Off back of Typhoon with Adrian and down to reef. Against slight current with reef on left shoulder. Could see the lights of the other buddy pairs for a short while but we soon dispersed. I had my small UK torch and mini UK torch strapped to strobe as a modelling light (this would be sufficient).

Wildlife included large basket stars, brittle stars, sea urchins, thorny starfish, red blotchy starfish, various sea cucumbers and a brilliant spanish dancer. Tiny pink coral crabs and a striped prawn. Stonefish, rabbitfish. A tiny cuttlefish, and my first cone shell!

Good moonlight views up the coral reef. Started back after 25 minutes but drifted back in 10 and had time to potter around a bit more. For taking pictures much easier swimming into current.

Kingston

Shortly arrived at Shag Rock, and after lunch I went for a snorkel around the Kingston. Wore rash vest and hood to keep sun off - and could have used a few kilo's of lead. Had a good look at the layout, found the spare propeller, boilers, mast and crows nest easily enough.

Then in the afternoon we dived it. Nice relaxed dive. Adrian and me jumped off back of Typhoon and went straight down to the stern (attractive stern counter) and propeller. Then swam alongside and then back through holds. Out from wreck on starboard side to swim along the reef. There is a lone propeller that side - though higher on the reef. Anyway Adrian had stopped to investigate a very large rectangular block, and while he was looking at that, I spotted a turtle swimming in our direction, and Mike further up. I got Adrian and we had a closer look. The turtle seemed oblivious to us as it munched on soft coral. We watched for a while (we thought better of grabbing it and riding it around - like the guy does in 'Silent World') then swam back to the wreck.

Kingston was shallow and picturesque, ideal for Mike's students to practice their new camera skills. Lots of interesting fish and nice coral. Red starfish with white dots.

Thistlegorm

Down to the explosion and out to the port side locomotive. Some current but not too bad. Into holds again and saw more of the cargo, including the wellies, and on the way out Lysander wings, and Beaufighter/Beaufort cowlings, coils of cable, rifles etc,..

Plenty of wildlife, batfish, lionfish, crocodilefish, cornetfish, yellow spotted boxfish and a blue spotted stingray. Also some delicate transparent jellyfish.

Went around fore-decks, rail-tanks. Saw Chris and Debs. Lots of divers later arrived in groups from the other liveaboards. [9 min @ 6m].

* * * * *

Current a lot stronger on the second dive. Went over starboard side to anchor chain and followed it, over reefy boulders and sandy patches, out to the anchor. On the starboard side we passed the second locomotive, and then veered back to the ship and up the side. Had a look round some more rooms and found the bathtub.

Dunraven (Sha'ab Mahmoud/Beacon Rock)

Check-out dive. Buddied with Adrian. Zodiac took us to the reef. Superb vis (20m+) and lovely warm blue water. Unicorn fish, butterfly fish, big-eye, painted wrasse; a blue spotted ray, pipefish, and moray. Ulli showed us prawns and nudibranch.

Very nice wreck, upturned hull very encrusted with coral and with lots of soft coral around the gap in the bow. Lots coral feeding. Descent over reef and swim along bottom alongside wreck to the stern. Swam around the propeller and rudder. Then over top and through forward section past boilers.

Re: kit. Weight fine, 10kg good guess with all new factors (would drop to 9kg). 2x12l (aluminium), 3mm long-john type suit and rash-vest. Long time since I'd used the long-johns; and realise now how easy they are to get in an out of!

Thistlegorm

With Ulli guiding (we didn't want to miss anything!) Adrian, Phil, Jake, and me went down the line from Typhoon to a spot behind bridge structure, then made our way down over the peeled back deck and tangle of the explosion - littered with shells and bits of truck. We swam towards the stern section and rounded upperdeck and gun platform. Stern very intact with rails etc. Looked around here a bit, and went back the way we came. Extremely large naval shells (but I missed the universal carriers).

Crossing back over the 'explosion' we entered the wreck, our route taking us past the Bedford trucks and motorbikes. Then up and around fore superstructure and rail tanks to the winches, bow, and anchor chain. About the bow, current was quite brisk and we made a rapid drift along the port side. Past the davits and just a little further along the deck to the shot. Excellent first dive on one of the most famous Red Sea wrecks!

* * * *

So, my first ever 'proper' night dive was to be the Thistlegorm! Buddied with Phil and Jake, we made our way down shot, and dropped into the fore hold. After a good look round here (below big truck) we swam up to bow. Scorpionfish (easier to see at night), crocodile fish, lionfish, yellow/blue spotted box fish, long-spined sea urchins, and an interesting shiny/'terracotta' crab. Lots other divers lights, and it got busier later. Far less currrent this time. Back on board greeted with hot chocolate!

Brixham / Breakwater Beach

Went to have a look in spite of weather forecast and we (Geoff and me) had excellent 6m vis, and some sunshine! Very nice easy and very shallow dive - just 5m. Few other divers there getting ready, but the place very nice and quiet.

Off the beach we went north and east and pottered along at the edge of the rocks. Mixed weed and remnants of kelp. Nice reefy slabs. Found a larger rock with a small tunnel that had sponges, dead-men's fingers, small anemones, sea squirts and horse-shoe worms. I'd brought my camera - just in case - and got a few pictures of a black-faced blenny. He was quite bold - much like the tompots sometimes are.

So close to Shoalstone expected to see a few sea hares - but there were none. Lots of tiny netted-whelks. Spiny, and velvet swimmer crabs. A solitary brittlestar.

Still fine, we sat out and had a bacon sandwich and a cuppa. Coming home I made the mistake of taking us around Paignton on the main road and got stuck in the Torquay/Newton traffic.

Babbacombe

North/north-east from slipway with Geoff and Derek. Swam out a little way before dropping down and heading directly to Mushroom Rock. Been here a few times before, it has some nice boulders around it; and the rock itself has a good overhang. Small anemones and sponges (some like melted cheese), hydroids, and a few Dead men's fingers.

Sprats on the way out, plus usual ballan wrasse, gobies, and dragonet. Vis wasn't quite as good as looked from the beach- about 3m, murky and bitty. Had been about 4-5m a few days earlier for Geoff and Derek but most likely rain has messed it up. It wasn't terrible but just seemed bad compared to Salcombe the other weekend!

Carried on N a bit then left along edge of reefy weedy stuff and out over sand and the gravel ridges. No sign of the anchor or the rope (a nice thick piece of rope we found once that was covered with plumose anemones). Saw all the usual crabs, one or two edibles and masked, and lots of velvet, harbour, spiny, long-legged spider, and hermit (with parasitic anemones).

On the way back, I stopped to look at something and when I caught up with my companions they looked a bit different - then I realised I'd found two other divers - so I gave an OK signal and skulked away! I think one of them must have had yellow fins. Anyway I was starting to get lower on air and it was all a bit gloomy, so I sent up a blob and surfaced. Derek's marker was about 15-20 yards away and Geoff surfaced as I reached them. A heavy rain shower as we swam in soon passed and the sun got out.

Gammon Head

With Bryan boathandling, Derek, Lucy and I dived some reefy gullies off Gammon head. Chris and Les were also diving on the first wave. Similar swell and lumpiness as yesterday. SW breeze and sun and showers. Underwater vis pretty good, 6-8m maybe; and some current, so 'bit' of a drift dive.

A lot of kelp on top of the rocks but some less kelpy bits with weed and sea firs. Nice turfy gullies to swim along, with pink sea fans, boring sponges, bright yellow 'antler' sponges, crater sponge, elephant's ear and so on. Attached to a sea fan and one of those antler sponges were several egg-cases - 'mermaid's purse'. Also quite tiny coils of nudibranch eggs (and a tiny yellow/orange tipped nudi egg-laying). A few fish around - cuckoo wrasse, the odd dragonet, and lots of fry.

My spare spare mask was fine - not as nice visibility as the frameless but ok. As for weight 10.5kg about right for 12l+3l bottles and wetsuit. On our stop, enjoying weightlessness and the clear sunlit water, Lucy spotted a nice blue jellyfish.

Not long after we were back on Mir, Chris and Les appeared. All on board, as Les got his breath back after his exertions, we tidied up the boat, collected the shot, and Bryan drove us home.

Back at North Sands it was time for a rest and some food - of which I was glad we'd bought our own, as the Prawn cafe was a 'bit' on the expensive side! Being mostly sunny it was nice to sit around on the grass, while the 2nd wave went back to the Soudan. Eveyone had a nice dive there I think, and jammy Sara saw the 'Great Soudan Conger' out of its lair and free swimming!

Soudan

Arriving at a blustery North Sands on Saturday morning to boat handle for the 1st wave, the dark grey sea didn't look exactly inviting; pretty lumpy in fact as a fishing boat lolloped along over the infamous sand bar. It wasn't really too bad.

Once out of the river mouth we turned left and chugged along in the direction of Prawle Point where Geoff M and Sara, Terry and Bryan, Chris and Debbie dived a reef just east of Gammon Head. Tide, a couple of pots (and some crap steering) made it awkward to retrieve the shot. By the time Adrian hauled it aboard it was time to start picking up our divers. Return trip was a little bouncy and there was a bit more boat traffic off the beach. All good practise- and I needed the coaching- so thank you all for that (no one was 'actually' sick). Everyone enjoyed their dives, and the reef very pretty and full of life.

Back at base I put my stuff together, and got ready for the Soudan which I was diving with Anne. [I just checked and it was the one (a French steamship) loaded up with peanuts]. Adrian was diving in a three with former club members Mark and Cathy.

Adrian, Mark and Cathy went in first. And Anne and I stayed to assist Derek in the boat as it was quite choppy, and would make diver retrieval much easier. When it came to our turn Anne and I made our way down the shot into the current. Vis was a good 15m. We swam a short distance to the boilers where we found an old lobster (I also saw a squat lobster) and two conger. One of them was VERY big. Around and about pieces of heavily encrusted and broken wreck poking out of clean white sand. We followed a line of girders to section of hold covered with red weed and sea firs. Then went along some prop-shaft towards the stern where we found an upturned tender. We rounded the stern and made our way back swimming across the current.

Back at the boilers we begun our ascent up the shot. All was well, but I was to have some mask trouble. I was using an different mask as my usual Oceanic one had split, and it flooded each time I looked at my computer on our 6m stop (each time I'd thought I'd fixed it!). Quite glad when we'd done our time and could surface. Otherwise a great dive.

Morris Rogue (off Meadfoot Beach)

Had for a long while wanted to dive this submerged rock outcrop off Meadfoot beach. With neapy tide, fine weather and 5-6 metres vis, it was a good time to try it.

Towing a DSMB we swam straight out to East Shag Rock then bore 120° until the small rock of Thatcher lined up with Orestone. I couldn't see Shag Rock/Daddyhole car park scrub transit. After some re-adjustment, I did a final check on the back-bearing and transit and we dropped down right next to a sloping mound of rock with lots of plumose anemones, dead mens fingers, boring sponges and sea firs.

Round and about in all other directions flatish and silty - deep soft silt, black a few inches down, littered with razor shells, mussels etc,.. with feeding starfish here and there. I sorted myself out and we went off nice and slowly anti-clockwise around the rock - which grew and became more craggy and interesting as we followed it round, to the 3-4 metres stated in South Devon Diver guide.

There were lots of colourful Dahlia, browny Daisy anenomes, and a rich animal turf (with bryozoans, sea-squirts, sponges etc). Wicked looking velvet fiddler crabs, harbour crabs, as well as a few edibles lurked around the base of the rock or perched up the sides. Most remarkable was the number of long-legged spider crabs (scorpion etc,..) I'm not sure of the types, they're a bit similar and can be difficult to tell appart when they're covered with crud. Also a one-armed -and pretty sorry looking- lobster, a small cuttlefish, and a nudibranch I'd not seen before.

There weren't masses of fish around the rock: a few wrasse, a tompot blenny, but lots of dragonet, gobies (inc. leopard spot and what was most likely a giant goby), and a scorpion fish. On the silt were worms, razor-shells, anenomes, brittlestars, netted whelks and hermit crabs.

After a go round the rock we headed north toward the coast. Found a few smaller reefy bits (low vis round one of these) on the way. We got about halfway back before needing to surface and swim the rest of the way, which didn't take very long. We had 75 minutes, max 12m. Wetsuit comfortable.

I thought it was a really good dive and would do it again one day, if I could find it!

Pros: lots of interesting animal life (especially, I reckon, the long legged spider crabs), it's exposed to current, below the kelp, and fairly craggy with a variety of habitats. (12-14m). Cons: long (600m) swim, would be easy to miss, boat traffic. Requires a buddy with patience and some stamina.

Note: would avoid springs if not diving from boat.