Let's get all the bad news out of the way, shall we:
Mine, and one of the other guys', bags were "misplaced" on the way there, and we didn't get them back until the day before we left. This meant that we had to rent the majority of the dive gear we used, and we had to buy and borrow clothes enough to get us through. When our bags finally arrived, there were a few things stolen from mine. Not a train smash, lets just hope either the airline or my insurance pays me out for the rentals gear and the stolen items.
That's it. There's no more bad news. The rest of the trip was great!
I don't have any underwater photo's, but Andrew Taylor is going to post his soon - check it out here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrews_underwater_images/
Update:
Andrew has finally finished his photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrews_underwater_images/sets/72157607008835804/
There were nine of us in the group, seven from the club (Ivan, Brian, Mike, Adriaan, Jenny, Andrew and myself) and two newbies (Cyriaan and Deborah) who were in for an interesting trip with us. We flew to Sharm el Sheikh, and immediately got on the live aboard boat - The Tempest. It was a fantastic little boat and, because there were only nine of us, myself, Andrew and Mike ended up having cabins to ourselves.
The food on board was delicious, and there was plenty of it. We would wake up between 06:00 and 06:30, have a briefing and dive. Then breakfast would be served - eggs any style! There was a dive before and after lunch, and then one after dinner. We ended up changing this for the last few nights, due to several cases of indigestion.
The diving was just incredible, we did quite a few reefs, and a lot of wrecks. The water was never below 27C, and the vis was generally very good. Our two dive guides, Sergio and Sameh, were friendly and very good divers. Sergio's briefings were always detailed and acurate, and often entertaining.
The places we moored were breathtaking, and every evening at sunset we rediscovered why they call it the red sea. The water was always so blue, and calm, and inviting, and the weather was just this side of perfect - I have started building my tan.
The following is a list of the wrecks we dove:
The Dunraven - a steam ship that sank in the 1870's
The Chrisoula K - a cargo ship that sank in the 1980's
The Carnatic - a steam and sail ship that sank in 1860's
The Giannis D - a cargo ship that sank in the 1980's - we had a large pod of dolphins swimming with us at the end of this dive
The Ulysses - a cargo steam ship that sank in the 1880's
The Rosalie Moller - a steam ship carrying coal that was bombed in 1941
The Kingston - a steam ship that sank in the 1880's
And then the mother of them all: The Thistlegorm - a british cargo steam ship that was sank in 1941, only a few days before the Rosalie Moller.
We did three dives on the Thistlegorm, including one night dive, each one was better than the last, but there was still so much of this wreck that we wanted to see.
Words can't really describe what it's like to dive the Thistlegorm, there is so much history to see down there, it is a living underwater museum.
There are trucks, motorbikes, ammunition, boots, and even locomotives.
It is the best wreck dive, and the best night dive I have ever done, and the only reason I need to go back to the red sea.
We brought a few beers on board the boat, but never managed to drink more than two each, we were knackered after a day's diving, even with some naps in between. On one night, though, the crew decided to give us a show, which mainly consisted of making fools of us with practical jokes and party tricks.
We spent one night in Sharm - gaudy and touristy - and then took a bus to Dahab for two more excellent dives, including the Blue Hole.
All in all, I did 23 dives on the trip. I didn't miss one.
I also managed to do my 200th dive without anyone knowing and making me do something stupid.
Suckers!
And just for the record, here are the dive names of everyone after the trip:
Jenny "SMB and coke" Jay
Adriaan "Dad" Johnson
Deborah "Bobbera" Dragone
Cyriaan "Goldmember" Theunessen
Mike "Goosebuddy" Nortje
Andrew "GPS/Grumpy Smurf/Grand Pappy Smurf" Taylor
Ivan "The Egyptian" Napoleon
Brian "Kakhuis" Murray
Ronelle "Broad Shorts" van Niekerk - I think it's better than "Fat Ass"
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