Sharm el Sheikh - February 2002

Seven divers set off for Sharm el Sheikh on 14th February, to sample the Red Sea at the coldest time of year... We all knew that whatever we experienced, it would be warmer than the UK!

We travelled with Mosaic Holidays and used both the Camel Hotel and the Camel Dive Centre.

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The Hotel is clean, well organized, and offers Tandoori and General Restaurants. There is an excellent pool in the centre, used for SCUBA training and relaxation. The Dive organization is standard in many ways but it works well, with staff speaking several languages.. Our Guide for the week was Martin, who had just got back from the UK himself. We also had Miguel on the first day for the Check-Out dives.

	Martin briefed us well on each site, his site maps were a work of art..... while our gear sat securely below, ready for a quick donning and entry off the stern platform of the "Dream Sea"
	The visibility was good, if not brilliant. February is the coldest month in terms of sea temperatures. The fish life was abundant though different from the summer season. Plenty of larger fish too, the Jacks, Sweetlips, Barracudas and Groupers were all there...
	One of the highlights was this Torpedo Ray in White Knights. There was also a very patient Lion Fish who posed for 5 minutes...
	Despite being the "winter" we saw: Yellow Goat Fish, Puffers (including one at over a metre) Napoleon Wrasse, Masked Butterfly Fish, Spanish Dancers, Chequerboard Wrasse, Barracuda, Jacks, Sweetlips, Picasso Trigger, Blue Trigger, Circular Spade Fish,
	Bluefin Trevallys, Surgeon Fish, Batfish, Sergeant Majors, Crocodile Fish, Arabian Angel Fish, Schooling Banner Fish, Fusiliers, Turtles, Clams, and one Moray with a head the size of a football... who let you stroke that head (gently!)...
Not bad for a week in the coldest part of the year, with the water temperatures at 22 deg C Max. We also had certain tasks outlined prior to departure and these added interest to the diving.
The night dives were a little disappointing but the Lion Fish hunting, using our video lights, was an unforgetable sight. Brittle stars, and Urchins feeding, added interest.

At the end of each day there was plenty to do... Sharm has changed in the last 3 years - dramatically.

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The dives covered the following sites: Temple (Day and Night), Middle Garden, Woodhouse Reef, Jackson Reef, White Knights, Ras Umm Sid, Ras Nasrani, Shark Reef, Yolande Reef, Far Garden, Ras Katy (Night)...

By the end of the week, Julie Goddard had qualified as an Advanced Open Water Diver, and Sue Meakin, Jean Bishop, and Robbie Wilson had completed the Drift, Night, and Navigation Specialties. The assistance of the Camel Dive Centre was much appreciated. Our Guide Martin worked hard to ensure that we selected the appropriate skills as we arrived at the dive sites. As always the Crew (of the Dream Sea) assisted in any way they could and produced wonderful lunches...

At the end of the week we took Martin and Charlotte to dinner...

Camel Divers continues to be the best Operator in Sharm, in our opinion.

Image on this page are Video Stills, for more images from this trip go here: More Pictures

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