So, we had plenty of time to chill out, organise our gear and get ourselves ready for the off.
Wonderfully sheltered to start with, everything was looking so much better than the last few days (although it was still particularly chilly). Unfortunately, however the wind was from the West, so as we cleared the shelter of Sharm, the breeze picked up, and gradually the guests started migrating down into the saloon. Never a particularly good sign.
By the time we had briefed, kitted up and reached Shark Reef, it was really quite choppy and windy... joyous! As my fellow guide jumped in to check the current I had my fingers crossed that the current was reversed, allowing us to surface on the more sheltered Shark Reef or Anenome City.
As he popped his head up my wishes came true "It is a little reversed" he signalled. Perfect.
So, we all jumped in on the wreck of the Yolande itself to enjoy a beautiful drift dive.
We worked against the current slightly at the start of the dive, enabling us to get some depth. Making our way ever so slowly forward, we headed down the wreck and into deeper waters below. It was once we had all reached a healthy twenty four metres or so, that I turned around and allowed the current to push me back up over the wreckage itself. The current was mild enough to allow us to work our way around the remains, taking in the toilet bowls, admiring the heaps of coral just piled up on top of everything. I basically stopped finning and let the current do my work for most of this dive. There is a particularly large moray eel who lives around here, and sure enough we found him lurking behind one of the pinnacles. He is particularly huge. I reckon the circumference of his head measures almost the same as my waist!
We then continued along the glorious garden of Yolande Reef, sliding past the pretty pinnacles and enjoying the gatherings of aquatic life always found there. I discovered no less than three scorpion fish, snuggled in amongst various bits of coral. I think it was around here that we saw our only other group of divers today. Sharm is again particularly quiet, so we are being completely spoilt rotten, enjoying dives where we see no other divers at all. And those of you who have dived here before know that to see Shark and Yolande devoid of other divers is indeed a rare treat. As I have mentioned before, the one criticism we used to get about diving here is the sheer popularity of the reefs. And, because we often drop in on a wall, it would not be uncommon to find yourself surrounded by the bubbles of other divers below, which can be quite disorienting. Thankfully at the moment, whilst business is down, it is superb for the diving, because that simply hasn't been happening.
Anyway, back to the dive. The current was absolutely perfect, we gently drifted along the front of Yolande, before shallowing off as we approached Shark reef. I then opted to head around the back of Shark and take in the shallow coral garden to see if we could see any turtles or some of the giant trevallies that sometimes hang out there. I also love heading watching the reef plunge away beneath us as the shallow sand behind shark reef, falls away into the drop off. Along its path we can see huge gorgonians beneath us, where the strong currents and lack of divers have allowed these glorious fan corals to develop. Rounding the corner, we then found ourselves on the wall that is Shark Reef. Here we found a turtle! Woo hoo... a lovely, lady hawksbill making a real meal out of an unfortunate chunk of pink broccoli coral.
Finally, right at the end of the dive, whilst basking in the sunny shallows, on the front of Shark Reef, we were greeted with a great barracuda. Very nice indeed.
Unsure that we would be able to do three dives, we opted to do another dive before lunch with everyone. This was Ras Ghozlani. And what a great time of day to do this dive. With the sun still on this side of the peninsula we could enjoy it in full colour.
We dropped a little South of the canyon, so missed out on taking a peek through all its little crevasses, but still, enjoyed a lovely drift along towards the corner.
With no takers for a third dive (well the air temperature is only sixteen degrees at the moment, and we had some fierce twenty one degree thermoclines going on) we headed back for the jetty a little early. Still the wind was properly picking up behind us, so this was probably a good thing anyway.
Become a DiveBunnie and sign up for our free newsletter here!
Tweet
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment