DIR Explorers - View Single Post - Red Sea Explorers Trip, Already booking the next!!

Davey Willo · September 30th, 2006, 08:35 PM

Well just got back from what is without doubt my most memorable diving holiday to date, 20 of us have just had a most awesome week diving from the Red Sea Explorers liveaboard, a fantastic mixture of Rec and Tec diving that has blown us away.

Quite a few DIRX members there including myself, Jenny Cowling, Rick Huggins, Andy Bryson, Dave Dowson, Dom Delegros, Rob Dobson, Marianne and John Ollerton (although I'm not sure if John is a member)

What a bloody great set-up, awesome in every respect, DIR to the core but with the very real and added value of making it all fun fun fun.. Faisal and AG are a team to be reckoned with and they made our holiday one to remember for ever, these guys and their crew of TDave, Mo and others went that extra mile to make this predominantly DIR trip a bit special.

I say predominantly because not only did we have a collection of PADI trained friends along but also my little boy Brad and my wife Diane who have both been training with PADI doing a referral course in the UK, confined water dives and exams over here in the UK, open water experience dives over there in the Red Sea... Spoilt rotten they are...

Well I'm delighted to say that Andrew Georgitsis (<<-- AG himself no less) and Dave Smith (TDave) were the two that looked after Brad & Di and had them hovering DIR stylee in BP's harnesses and single tank wings like a pair of old pro's, even had them frog kicking along the reefs, needless to say both passed with flying colours and saw so much more than a pair of noobs would of done normally thanks to the hands on, one on one support given by both Dave and Andy... too cool!

We dived wrecks, we dived reefs, we swam with sharks, dolphins, turtles, and even a dugong.. we dived single rigs, doubles rigs, single and multiple stage dives, we used scooters, we even played in the shallows with BP's, a stage and a scooter (fondly termed as monkey diving by the crew, a liberating and extremely good fun way to play around the shallow reefs)

Our gas mixes were always spot on, the fills were always on the mark. The equipment always ready to rock and roll, trimix analysers handy, kit fettling was done in an instant, there were 80's and 40's clipped along the side, we used bottom stages to save helium costs (suggested by AG) we had a crew of grinning, singing egyptians that would lift our gear all day and do magic with zodiacs making our ingress/egress simple even when the sea's became choppy..

The cabins were clean and comfortable, the food.... (Oh My God the food!!!) was incredible, copiuous amounts of fresh coffee, chilled juices and water always on tap, there were CD's, DVD's even a PS2 to please those who felt the need, although most of us hit the sack early each night as the days were full and started some mornings as early as six am.... gulp!

A quick example of the fun we were having.. Parked off the side of Elphinstone, we jumped in and free swam with dolphins and an oceanic white tip (Doms photos of how close he got to the shark are quite scary) back on board we analysed our gasses, then climbed into one of the zodiacs with doubles and stages, dropped down and hovered inside Elphinstone Arch at 55m with three, yes thats three napoleon wrasse.. deco'd all of the way up the reef, at no time more than a few feet from a visual feast, either from the myriad of fish living on the reef or the shoals of barracuda and other larger life hanging off it, we hit a glassy surface after a 65 minute run time only to be picked up by a waiting zodiac and whisked back on board RSE for..... breakfast!!

LOL... yep, all this before breakfast, followed by an even better tec dive a few hours later on the north end of Elphinstone..

Do I sound pleased??? well thats an understatement, I was blown away by it all and my depression flying home was balanced only by my constant thoughts of returning and the dives I'll be persuing with these guys.

I'm booking another trip straight away for next year (rec & tec) so will be taking a list of names, pm me if you're interested in joining us on the next one.

I'll be linking to some pics and video when I get them sorted, I don't know if any of the other guys from the trip have got anything to post on here for now.

Cheers ya'all
Dave.

September 30th, 2006, 08:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
Davey Willo(Offline) New Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cleveland Posts: 197	Well just got back from what is without doubt my most memorable diving holiday to date, 20 of us have just had a most awesome week diving from the Red Sea Explorers liveaboard, a fantastic mixture of Rec and Tec diving that has blown us away. Quite a few DIRX members there including myself, Jenny Cowling, Rick Huggins, Andy Bryson, Dave Dowson, Dom Delegros, Rob Dobson, Marianne and John Ollerton (although I'm not sure if John is a member) What a bloody great set-up, awesome in every respect, DIR to the core but with the very real and added value of making it all fun fun fun.. Faisal and AG are a team to be reckoned with and they made our holiday one to remember for ever, these guys and their crew of TDave, Mo and others went that extra mile to make this predominantly DIR trip a bit special. I say predominantly because not only did we have a collection of PADI trained friends along but also my little boy Brad and my wife Diane who have both been training with PADI doing a referral course in the UK, confined water dives and exams over here in the UK, open water experience dives over there in the Red Sea... Spoilt rotten they are... Well I'm delighted to say that Andrew Georgitsis (<<-- AG himself no less) and Dave Smith (TDave) were the two that looked after Brad & Di and had them hovering DIR stylee in BP's harnesses and single tank wings like a pair of old pro's, even had them frog kicking along the reefs, needless to say both passed with flying colours and saw so much more than a pair of noobs would of done normally thanks to the hands on, one on one support given by both Dave and Andy... too cool! We dived wrecks, we dived reefs, we swam with sharks, dolphins, turtles, and even a dugong.. we dived single rigs, doubles rigs, single and multiple stage dives, we used scooters, we even played in the shallows with BP's, a stage and a scooter (fondly termed as monkey diving by the crew, a liberating and extremely good fun way to play around the shallow reefs) Our gas mixes were always spot on, the fills were always on the mark. The equipment always ready to rock and roll, trimix analysers handy, kit fettling was done in an instant, there were 80's and 40's clipped along the side, we used bottom stages to save helium costs (suggested by AG) we had a crew of grinning, singing egyptians that would lift our gear all day and do magic with zodiacs making our ingress/egress simple even when the sea's became choppy.. The cabins were clean and comfortable, the food.... (Oh My God the food!!!) was incredible, copiuous amounts of fresh coffee, chilled juices and water always on tap, there were CD's, DVD's even a PS2 to please those who felt the need, although most of us hit the sack early each night as the days were full and started some mornings as early as six am.... gulp! A quick example of the fun we were having.. Parked off the side of Elphinstone, we jumped in and free swam with dolphins and an oceanic white tip (Doms photos of how close he got to the shark are quite scary) back on board we analysed our gasses, then climbed into one of the zodiacs with doubles and stages, dropped down and hovered inside Elphinstone Arch at 55m with three, yes thats three napoleon wrasse.. deco'd all of the way up the reef, at no time more than a few feet from a visual feast, either from the myriad of fish living on the reef or the shoals of barracuda and other larger life hanging off it, we hit a glassy surface after a 65 minute run time only to be picked up by a waiting zodiac and whisked back on board RSE for..... breakfast!! LOL... yep, all this before breakfast, followed by an even better tec dive a few hours later on the north end of Elphinstone.. Do I sound pleased??? well thats an understatement, I was blown away by it all and my depression flying home was balanced only by my constant thoughts of returning and the dives I'll be persuing with these guys. I'm booking another trip straight away for next year (rec & tec) so will be taking a list of names, pm me if you're interested in joining us on the next one. I'll be linking to some pics and video when I get them sorted, I don't know if any of the other guys from the trip have got anything to post on here for now. Cheers ya'all Dave.