Red Sea – Page 2 – Learn to Dive Today Blog

Dive sites (Red Sea): Barge wreck (Bluff Point, Big Gubal Island)

There is a barge wreck at Bluff Point on Big Gubal Island in the Red sea, where we did an amazing, fast drift dive along the side of the lagoon. During that dive we did stop in briefly at the barge wreck (its origin and identity is unknown), but it was on a night dive the previous evening that we actually spent a significant amount of time exploring the barge.

It’s supposed to be one of the best night dive sites in the Red Sea, and we were amazed by the amount of life on and around the wreckage. We saw multiple large moray eels, huge basket stars, enormous urchins, and a crazy variety of other life. We jumped off the back of our liveaboard, swam under a neighbouring liveaboard, and found the barge wreck just off its starboard side. It was teeming with divers from our boat and the other liveaboard, but there was so much to see over such a spread out area that it didn’t matter too much.

My favourite thing was the basket stars, of which there were many. We saw some huge ones, with diameter nearly as big as my arm span, and some small, palm-sized ones. They are not the lovely blue-grey colour of the ones we see in Cape Town, but the intricate design of their many arms is the same.

We also saw a number of moray eels. Our dive guide told us that two big ones live on the barge wreck, named George and Georgina. The ones I saw and photographed were extremely large. As with the night dive we did at the Alternatives, the water was very still and very clear, so torch light actually shone an appreciable distance. This kind of night diving is so easy and wonderful that I think it might have spoiled me for night diving in Cape Town!

Dive date: 21 October 2013

Air temperature: 24 degrees

Water temperature: 26 degrees

Maximum depth: 11.2 metres

Visibility: 30 metres

Dive duration: 50 minutes

Video footage of Bluff Point (Big Gubal Island, Red Sea)

So apparently I took a lot of videos on our Bluff Point dive on our Red Sea trip. It was an exhilarating drift dive along the outside of the lagoon wall, and as we came around the corner under the lighthouse we were flung out over water hundreds of metres deep. Let’s start with my favourite video, about which I am expecting a call from National Geographic any day now. Here’s a moray eel swimming down the outer lagoon wall in the sunlight, finding a hole in the coral, and going inside.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQAON1DsFaE&w=540″]

Here are my fellow divers: Tony, Christo, Kate and Veronica.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohI8zlFgqzQ&w=540″]

This shows you how fast the current was moving. I didn’t fin at all while taking this video (or, indeed, for much of the dive).

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ2-muOIABw&w=540″]

Here is some of the coral that we saw. It’s very dense and colourful here.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ftI6fcI5co&w=540″]

Finally, here’s a little panorama taken while we were still against the outer lagoon wall.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyMU2GUF5yE&w=540″]

Dive sites (Red Sea): Bluff Point (Big Gubal Island)

Bluff Point is on the north eastern end of Big Gubal Island. We did a remarkable drift dive there while liveaboarding in the Red Sea last October, starting against the outer lagoon wall and drifting along in shallow water until we were thrown out over incredibly deep water by a rush of current that left me clutching Tony’s arm. The island is at the entrance of the Strait of Gubal, and its eastern side is buffeted by turbulent currents and winds. The current was strong and fast, and we didn’t really have to fin at all, except when we wanted to look at something particular off to the side.

This area is a popular overnight spot for liveaboards, and we did do a night dive here the evening prior, on the barge wreck that is found nearby. On this dive we did go across to it briefly too, but the current was pushing us along and we decided not to linger. The liveaboards tie up to stainless steel rings sunk into the reefs all over the Red Sea. The captains seem to unerringly know where these mooring rings are, and what type they are. Here’s one we found in about 10 metres of water on the outside of the lagoon wall.

Liveaboards tie up to these stainless steel rings in the reef

Once the current pushed us out into deep water, we sent up an SMB and the crew of our liveaboard fetched us on a Zodiac.

Tony riding Kate's cylinder — Tony riding Kate’s cylinder

Dive date: 22 October 2013

Air temperature: 27 degrees

Water temperature: 26 degrees

Maximum depth: 14 metres

Visibility: 40 metres

Dive duration: 46 minutes

Video footage of Sha’ab Abu Nuhas (Red Sea)

Prior to diving some of the wrecks there, we did a lovely reef dive on the sheltered side of Sha’ab Abu Nuhas reef in the Straits of Gubal. A school of beautiful blue fusiliers followed us (or seemed to) for much of the dive, just on the edge of the reef. I found their presence to be very soothing. They are gorgeous fish.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBcm2P2gUv4&w=540″]

Tony wanted to show me damage to our liveaboard’s hull, caused by repeated blows from waves (not reefs, fortunately!). This is him swimming off under our boat at a brisk clip, and then making the universal hand signal for “the hull has marks on it that look like it’s been struck by something hard”. Did you get that? Me too.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k7czvBOY64&w=540″]

Dive sites (Red Sea): Sha’ab Abu Nuhas

Sha’ab Abu Nuhas is best known as the “ships’ graveyard”, a treacherous triangular reef in the Straits of Gubal on whose north side at least four wrecks lie within recreational diving range. In preparation to dive some of those wrecks, our liveaboard was anchored on the south side of the reef, and we did a dive there off the back of the boat while we waited for better conditions. The site is very beautiful, with rich corals and abundant fish.

We were shadowed by fusiliers for the duration of our dive, which was done in still water with almost no current. I found a couple of rays on the sand, and this site in particular felt very much like a dive in an aquarium, as we were surrounded by clouds of fish. The side of the reef where the wrecks are is very exposed, often with rough surface conditions and strong currents, but the opposite side of the reef is sheltered and suitable for even inexperienced divers.

After the excitement of a vigorous drift dive at Bluff Point, this was a very relaxing way to pass an hour!

Dive date: 22 October 2013

Air temperature: 25 degrees

Water temperature: 26 degrees

Maximum depth: 11.6 metres

Visibility: 30 metres

Dive duration: 54 minutes

Kate's middle finger — Kate’s middle finger

Article: Aeon on the question of dolphins’ special bond with humans

Are you tired of photos of diving in the Red Sea? Are you tired of stories about other people diving with dolphins? Here’s a change of pace: a fantastic article by Justin Gregg for Aeon Magazine, on whether dolphins and humans share a special bond.

A lot of bumpf about dolphins can be found in a variety of forms and forums, not limited to claims of their apparent ability to heal people. Gregg manfully attempts to cut through the noise and make a final pronouncement on whether dolphins really are as friendly and well disposed to the human race as their smiley faces suggest.

Read the full article here.

Dive sites (Red Sea): Dolphin House (Sha’ab El Erg)

Dolphin House is part of a larger, horse shoe shaped reef called Sha’ab El Erg. We did our check dive (the first dive of our liveaboard trip in October 2013) at a site on this reef called Poseidon’s Garden. Because of the shape of Sha’ab El Erg, it is possible to find a sheltered area almost regardless of the conditions. We retreated here towards the end of our trip, on quite a windy day. I should have listened more closely to the briefing, and paid more attention to the name of the reef. A pod of dolphins is reliably sighted here, and indeed, my companions (and everyone else on our liveaboard) did see them, and Tony took this National Geographic quality photo as they swam past:

Dolphins at Dolphin House, Sha'ab El Erg — Dolphins at Dolphin House, Sha’ab El Erg

I surfaced from the dive completely ignorant of any cetacean presence, and, upon going through my photographs afterwards and matching timestamps, I figured out that while the dolphins were swimming by, I was considering a tiny goby, well camouflaged on the sand. Veronica kindly mounted my cylinder, shook me bodily, and gestured enthusiastically, but I interpreted her signals to mean that I had a small leak on my first stage, and thought nothing more of it. Ah well.

In addition to gobys and dolphins, we saw several of the mucous cocoons pictured above. Some species of parrotfish, and other reef fish, extrude mucous from their mouths at night, forming a protective layer around them while they sleep. These cocoons may hide the scent of the fish from predators, or provide an early warning system when the cocoon is breached or disturbed. In the morning the fish simply breaks out of the cocoon and swims away.

Heart made by dive guides from broken coral pieces

Kate and Veronica pose for a mother-daughter shot

The dive site comprised two pieces of reef separated by a wide sand patch with a coral garden on it. We found the current on the sand and the furthest piece of reef to be quite strong, so we stayed mostly quite close to the boat, exploring the section of reef to which we had tied up. Even without the dolphins, this was a lovely dive. Kate spent most of it in a meditative pose…

Dive date: 24 October 2013

Air temperature: 26 degrees

Water temperature: 26 degrees

Maximum depth: 12.3 metres

Visibility: 30 metres

Dive duration: 60 minutes

Video footage of the Alternatives (Red Sea)

The Alternatives are a series of approximately fifteen small reefs, or pinnacles, situated off the Sinai Peninsula just on the other side to Ras Mohammed National Park. They are in a very sheltered position and serve as alternative dive sites when the “big ticket” sites such as the Thistlegorm are too exposed to poor conditions. The coral here is quite special.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lyv5qyKltc&w=540″]

Here’s some more:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvCEPMb2CLU&w=540″]

When we dived here there was pretty much no current, which was an absolute pleasure. We covered a relatively small area, but quite thoroughly. When we dived the same spot in darkness a few hours later, we found moray eels sticking their heads out of coral outcrops, and lionfish followed our torchlight as we explored.

Dive sites (Red Sea): The Alternatives

Despite their unromantic name, the Alternatives are an extremely appealing dive site. So-called because they offer a sheltered alternative to diving SS Thistlegorm when conditions are poor, the Alternatives are a series of about fifteen coral pinnacles just around the corner from the Ras Mohammed National Park. We dived the furthest one along (closest to the Park), doing both a day and a night dive there.

After giant striding off the back of the boat, we headed towards a series of small pinnacles and coral heads surrounding a large pinnacle that split in two from about half way up. I was amazed by the sea fans – we saw one enormous one completely filling the space between two pinnacles. I took a photo of it, but it was backlit by the sun, so it’s not very good. We made our way around the large pinnacle, and headed slowly back to the boat.

The night dive we did here I enjoyed more than any other night dive I’ve ever done. It was warm, still, and clear, and there was so much to see! I found it helpful that we’d done a dive at the same site hours earlier – without that, I might have found the many small pinnacles confusing and disorienting. There were flashing strobes tied to a weighted line and flag under our boat, for navigation purposes, but some people did need fetching when they surfaced away from the liveaboard. That’s what Zodiacs are for!

Tony and Christo with the flag under the boat

Dive date: 19 October 2013

Air temperature: 26 degrees

Water temperature: 27 degrees

Maximum depth: 12.1 metres

Visibility: 25 metres

Dive duration: 57 minutes

Video footage of SS Thistlegorm (Red Sea)

SS Thistlegorm is a British World War II wreck lying near Ras Mohammed. We did two successive dives on her in rather currenty conditions. On the first dive, when the current was mild, the visibility was of the order of 40 metres (we could judge this based on the length of the wreck, and how much we could see when we were in the middle). By the second dive, when the current had picked up a lot, visibility was down (!) to 25 metres. Nothing to complain about for divers from Cape Town!

I particularly liked the bow of the wreck. This turned out to be quite lucky because it was hard to leave the bow owing to the current on our second dive. So I hung around and met crocodilefish, scorpionfish, glassfish, stripy fish that look like zebras, and a whole lot of other life. This is what the bow, with its huge winches, looks like:

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSRseD7o01I&w=540″]

We arrived on the wreck via a line tied from our liveaboard to a winch on the bow of the Thistlegorm. Both times we dived her the current was strong, so we hung on tight to the line all the way to the wreck. Here are some divers from another liveaboard arriving on the bow, where we were trying not to get blown away by the current.

[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nHUxlg9EUY&w=540″]