tim(Offline)

Sounds great by the end :-) I had a somewhat mixed week in the Deep South a couple of years back with a long spell of seasickness interspersed with great dives, and was wondering if this was unusual.

The currents sound fun - past experience has suggested that Egyptian 'strong currents' are the kind it takes a few minutes to work out which way they're going, so proper drifts sound super. Quite agreed that diving in moving water is very satisfying indeed when it goes right.

It sounds like there's a story behind your lionfish comment; do tell!

Tim

dlegros(Offline)

Nah - it just fancied a bit of Aberdeen Angus!

The currents on the first dive at Big Brother were pretty brutal - massive up and down drafts, but a real rush to dive.

Elphinstone was incredible as the day before everything had been blown out and we got there to find the surface was about as rough as Stoney Cove!

I cannot praise the crew of Tala highly enough - to look at she (the boat, not the real Tala! ) is not much to look at.

We had a diverse range of divers from OW students to Tech 1 and everything in between; yet we were all accommodated and found dives we wanted to do.

The boat-hands could not be any more helpful, and Mahmood (the Steward) obviously takes immense pride in his work.

Dom

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Davey Willo(Offline)

Rick had an altication with a Lionfish during one particular night dive, I think he had in mind a fish supper but the LF was having nothing to do with it...

As far as strong currents were concerned, on one dive on Big Brother they shuttled the more experienced of us far out north into the current and dropped us into the Big Blue... The current was ripping out here and so the plan was for negative entry and then ride the current back into the islands reef, suck the air our of the wing, and on the count of three we simultaneuosly rolled off both sides of the Zodiac and finned like mad men straight down until we hit 10m and then gathered into our teams and literally flew, arms stretched out, laughing hysterically (albiet with a little fear from me, theres bloody great sharks out here dontcha know!!)..

Nothing but blue, blue and more blue... Checking the depth gauge, checking the compass, checking your team mates grinning faces as the bubbles streamed out of their regs when all of a sudden right there, in front of us and slightly left appeared Big Brother, we started to kick like crazy to bring us closer and deeper, well it went perfectly, we screamed in at about 20m, flew over the Aida, turned 180 to watch it receed into the distance, spun to face front again, the vertical wall on our left a blur of colours and fish, the sound of muffled yells from regs as Thresher sharks were spotted below us and people frantically pointed at them, Barracuda, large Triggers, Napolean Wrasse, all there to see as slowly the current died, the noise receeded and we ended up in still water, grinning and laughing like we'd just climbed off the worlds best roller coaster..

Now the dive became a gentle one where the wonder of everything could be taken in at a more sedate pace, the wall went straight up and down and was adorned with so much splendour that I felt close to tears, here we met lots of other divers from the other liveaboards spread around at many different depths, probably happier taking a more gentle approach to a dive but boy... what we just did was friggin awesome and took drift diving to a whole new level, its a Must Do Again as far as I'm concerned..

tim(Offline)

Wow, Davey, why didn't you put that in your first report! WHAT a dive that sounds like! I thought the Manacles on full flood was fun, but that sounds like an entirely new definition of fun. Sharks and wrecks and reefs, I'm very envious indeed!

Jecowling(Offline)

For me, one of the best things about the holiday (other than the amazing diving, amazing fun, amazing crew, amazing food and amazing Bejar camels) was being given the freedom to dive without guides. After a quick check out with AG to make sure we weren’t complete numpties, and then one ‘guided’ Tech dive (basically your normal team Tech dive with one of the guides watching from the sidelines), we could do whatever we wanted. Just tell them the plan, what gas you need, and then jump on the zodiac and do the dive, instead of having to be patronised by some mediocre dive master who’s been diving for less than three years but insists you traipse round after him like you’re going in circles on a toy train. In which case I’d rather stick pins in my eyes.

It was like having the same freedom as you get diving at home but with warm water, great viz and infinitely more fish. If we moved to a new site and we wanted to dive with a guide in order to check out the currents, that was no problem either. The consideration to safety was exemplary in all areas, and it was a big compliment that we were given the freedom to dive like we did (apparently most of the groups they get on board aren’t trusted quite so much…!).

There were all sorts of different levels of divers on the boat, wanting to do all sorts of different dives. Every single person was catered for individually, with the crew working their asses off to make sure we could get to do the diving we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it. Having all the stages available meant if you got up in the morning and didn't want to do the tech dive you'd planned, just let someone know and they'd fill a stage of 32% in a few minutes so you could do a rec dive and save your backgas. Want an AL80 of 50% instead an AL40? No problem, just grab some ‘21’ tank decals from the kit store and convert a stage into a deco bottle. All the stuff you could ever need is right there. Custom made tail-weights, backplates, spare bungee, spare deco regs, spare primary lights - you name it, they can have it sorted out for you straight away. Bust your ankle during the trip? (bad luck to John Ollerton…). No problem, they’ll provide a dive guide to scooter with you for the rest of the week and then you get to follow white tip reef sharks up close out in the blue – not a bad consolation prize.

These guys *really* understand the level of service needed to make sure everything runs smoothly whilst still keeping an incredible level of flexibility so they can provide tailored diving to each individual on the boat. We were all blown away by the set-up they have and the efforts they made to make it the best possible time – it’s clear the crew genuinely care about showing you just how beautiful their country is, and just what friendly, happy, smiling, thoroughly decent people they are. Don’t even think about diving any other boat if you’re going out to the Red Sea – the others just don’t understand diving like these guys do.



Jen

Davey Willo(Offline)

^^^^^^^^^
What she said!!

Well done Jenny, you articulated their efforts much better than I could of done...

Dave Dowson(Offline)

To add to what's already been said .... (although probably not as well articulated as Jen put it )

Obviously the Red Sea is an awesome place to go diving irrespective of the boat, however as mentioned by Jen and the others; the MV Tala is more than just "any other Red Sea dive boat". It is one of a kind in the Red Sea - a true DIR dive boat kitted out with more DIR equipment than you can shake a stick at, crewed by the most helpful bunch of Egyptians you'll ever wnat to meet and owned and ran by some very switched on DIR divers (AG and Faisal).

Worth mentioning too that the Ratio Deco mini (discussed here 5thD-X Ratio Deco "Mini") is only one of many "minis" ran on the boat, and that they can also host "full" length training. I realise that this thread may sound like a "praise the Red Sea Explorers", but you've got to realise - we're all just telling it like it is! For more info, go see Red Sea Explorers - Info@redseaexplorers.com

Enough said on the boat and organisation, a closing remark on the trip - for me it had everything, swimming in the deep blue with dolphins and then having an Oceanic White Tip join the party. As well as 16 other dives with monster sized turtles, beautiful wrecks and more fish than the London Aquarium.

Bring on the next trip!

Dave

p.s. You've gotta feel for TDave - his 21st birthday week and he worked his socks off non stop; blending, diving, teaching, and on and on ..... no rest for the wicked!

neilh(Offline)

Damn I wish I'd been able to join you all - sounds like an awesome trip!

What time of year are you thinking?! Not sure how the next year is gonna work out yet, but I'm not sure I can face another report like this from you all!!

sazza(Offline)

Excellent reports guys, green with envy here!!!!.

errrm being new to this site and ever so slightly thick where do i find the pics???????? Its says some where posted but i cant see them or any kind of link!!!!! HELP!!!!

saz

GLOC(Offline)

Look in Andrew Brysons post and the last 'HERE'.

I have asked Stuart to change the font of links as they are sometimes lost as they are not underlined and they are the same colour as the thread font.

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