Sharks Bay Liveaboard August 2008

The "August holiday gang" were reunited at Luton, all excited about being together again for another week of laughter and diving. After a 5 hour flight to Egypt and a speedy transfer, we arrived at our "home away from home". Only two of the group were new to Sharks Bay, but this was the first time for this group to be doing a liveaboard.

Adel, our friend and trusted dive guide, was waiting to greet us and join in our first beer of the week before we moved onto Freedom VIII, our home for the next five nights.!

Peter King
Tom King
Nicky Ranner
Michael Ranner

Rob Poole
Dom Waller
Tina Richardson

Five nights scattered around the decks, apart from the lucky two with the double bed in the Captain's cabin. Special mention to Michael who was the only one to brave the fierce desert winds every night without wimping out! Also a comment to Dom: you don't smell or snore so have no idea why no one would share a whole deck area with you! 

Once back on land, we stayed in the newer Bedouin rooms, apart from Helen who was too lazy to walk up the steps and prefered a room opposite the bar!

Once those members of the group who prefer to use their luggage allowance for alcohol supplies instead of dive gear had found equipment for the week, we headed south to the wrecks. After a short check dive, we went straight to the Dunraven for the first of many wrecks to come. Note to Barb: when looking for a wreck and you see an outline that does not look like any reef you have seen before and is the shape of a boat, then it is probably the wreck you are going to be diving on!

After the Dunraven, we dived the Thistlegorm. For the first dive, we had the wreck to ourselves with perfect conditions. The second dive however was slightly more hectic with strong currents and every diver taking cover inside the wreck.

The wreck theme continued at Abu Nuhas. Although there were 12 other liveaboard boats in the area, our captain moored up away from them all and in five dives, we only once had to share the wrecks with another group. Conditions were superb and the aim of diving all six wrecks (Ghiannis D, Carnatic, Chrisoula K, Kimon M, Thistlegorm and Dunraven) during our week had been achieved.

We returned to Tiran via Ras Mohammed with two beautiful dives at Shark/Yolanda and the most memorable dive of the week at Ras Ghazlani where most of us saw a 7m whale shark. Note to Dom: if you ever see Helen move quicker than 1 mile an hour under water, it is worth following at speed.

Our final dives were on Jackson Reef, with perfect calm conditions and hammerheads below. A successful dive week was enjoyed by all.

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