Egypt, just the name conjures up romantic visions of pyramids, camels and Bedouins on Arabic horses charging across the desert with swords drawn ready to protect the beautiful princess from the invading infidels. The actual reality is somewhat different as Andy and I found out on our recent trip with the club to Sharm El Sheikh. After surviving the horrors of Sharm airport, if there had been a flight straight back to the UK we would have been on it ! But, being the ever resilient brits that we are, we decided to stay and give it a couple of days to see if our first impressions were right.

First day, round to Emperor Divers for booking in and getting all the kit sorted and onto the boat. Couldn't fault the professionalism of the staff. Being "newbies" we totally relied on everyone else to tell us what to do, where to be, and at what time ! Nobody let us down. Onto the coach and we're of on our first scary ride to the harbour. Being a truck driver for more years than I care to remember, I thought I'd seen all the different types of driving there was but nothing had prepared me for :- " Egyptian Kamikaze Coach Driver !"

First dive of the week was at Ras Katy. A quick buddy check and then it's into the Red sea for our first dive ! The only thing that I can really remember about the first dive is the amount of fish and thinking Archbishop Holgates pool isn't like this ! We came up with very big grins on our faces after that introduction to diving ! The second dive of the day was a drift dive through "fan forests" at Ras Umm Sid noseying about watching all the unusual fish. Maybe Egypt did have something to offer after all.

top left: Andy 'noseying'

top right: Sea fans, Ras Um Sidd

Bottom left: Pyjama Slug

Bottom right: Reef panorama

The following day it was out to Ras Mohammed national park and a dive on Shark and Yolanda reefs. We swam round Yolanda and saw the "toilets" and then we started to get low on air. Terry the dive guide instructed us to do our safety stop and then surface and get on the boat. It couldn't possibly go wrong could it ? How hard is it to surface and get on a dive boat ? Well, the surfacing part went relatively smoothly but on the surface there was quite a swell so we were bobbing about quite a lot and enjoying the taste of the red sea (literally!). Then we had to find our dive boat ! It had never really crossed our minds that there might be more than one boat on the surface and that they might all look similar, but there was, and they did ! Visions of "Deep Water" sprang to mind. After waving and shouting at various boats ours eventually came into view. How they knew it was us I don't know but we were very relieved to be picked up.

top left: Clown Anemone fish

top right: The infamous toilets on the Yolanda

bottom left: Lagoon Ray

bottom right: Scorpion Fish

This was the start of Andy's problems. Because he had swallowed quite a bit of sea water, once on deck he started to feel sick. We went through all the checks including checking his computer to make sure that he hadn't done anything wrong on his dive and wasn't suffering from DCI. No, everything was fine, time for a fish feeding session from Andy. There was rather a big swell on the way to our next dive and it claimed another two casualties, Russ and James. If the swell had carried on any longer then it would have got another one, ME !

On arrival at Ras Ghazlani it was obvious that Andy wasn't going to be able to dive so he stayed on the boat and it was off into the blue for me. There were lots of different kinds of fish to see and it was topped of by seeing a Hawksbill sea turtle. What a magnificent creature ! It just seemed to glide through the water with a slow kick of its flippers. It was a privilege to dive with something as majestic as that. The coral might say something different though as it doesn't half chew it up ! Back on the boat and it's back to shore but not before we are treated to a quick display by the odd dolphin. Another first for us ! This is getting better and better !

We all decided that we fancied doing a night dive so Terry the dive instructor organised one at Ras Katy. Lots of Lionfish and it was fun looking in the coral and seeing all the fish that come out during the day resting at night. It's a different world down there when it's dark !

top left: Hawksbill Turtle

top right:Basket Star

bottom left: Lionfish

bottom right: Porcupine Fish

The following day and the sun is still shining but not on Andy's world. He's now leaking from both ends ! Breakfast went through him like a Porsche and he daren't stray more than 10 seconds run (knees locked together) from a toilet ! He's not having a good time of it and I'm beginning to feel a bit sorry for him as he's going to have to miss today's diving. Jackson reef is the first dive today and we've got a videographer with us as well, (yes I did get a video of the day).

When you look at programmes on the television with underwater footage, everything looks in colour, but the actual reality is that most of what you see is a greeny blue except near the surface where the sunlight penetrates the top few metres. This is a drift dive and we are under instruction not to go too far round the edge of the reef as the current could take us away and into the main channel. On this dive we saw two turtles and a rather large moray eel. The coral up near the surface was so vividly coloured it was almost competing with the fish ! The drift part of the dive was great but turning around and swimming back against the current was not as easy as I thought it would be ! If you've ever seen a snow globe when it's been shaken up that's what it was like swimming back. The sea was washing over the top of the reef and stirring up the sand near the moorings dropping the visibility considerably.

top left: Russell Fish

top right: YSAC and boat crew

bottom left:Steve and James

Bottom left: Russell and crew member

Gordon Reef was the next on the list. Was that a torpedo whizzing past me into the blue ? No, it was Phil ! He'd seen an Eagle ray in the distance and was off to investigate, followed by me. It might be big but it makes us look extremely cumbersome and ungainly in the water. A couple of flicks of it's wings and it's gone. As we are all finning back up the slope it reappears, this time a lot closer and everyone with a camera is snapping away as if their lives depended on it ! Turtles, Dolphins, Morays, and now an Eagle Ray ! How cool is that ?

top left:Eagle Ray at Gordon reef

top right: And onwards to the Thistlegorm...

bottom left: Mooching around the superstructure

bottom: Ladder on the Thistlegorm

Thursday, and Andy's alive and sort of kicking. Today's the day we're off to the Thistlegorm. Bags packed and it's round to Emperor Divers for the early morning adrenalin rush with: - "Egyptian kamikaze coach driver". (I'm missing that now I'm back in the UK !). Onto the boat and it's off we go.

Neither Andy nor I knew what to expect as we went down the shot line, so when 9,000 tons of boat suddenly looms up at you from the sea bed it is quite an awe inspiring experience ! No wreck penetration on this dive, it's just a look around the outside to gain our bearings and just try to get used to a different environment. The second dive in the afternoon was a different affair altogether. This was a dive in between slack waters so there was a bit of a current flowing. You could hang on the shot line like a flag ! This dive we were to penetrate the wreck and swim through the holds. There were noticeably more fish around on this dive including crocodile fish and jackfish. Once inside the wreck it was very apparent that good buoyancy was the order of the day to avoid getting snagged on things. It's at times like these when you find out if all the training that you have done has come together. You certainly don't want to be suffering from claustrophobia or panic attacks !

top left:The Captain's bath is still in his cabin. Luckily, the Captain isn't.

top right: Torpedo on deck

bottom left:Patrolling Jack

bottom right: Lurking Moray on the Dunraven

There's a lot to see down there with the old motorbikes, trucks, rifles, and various other artefacts. It's easy to see how the "Rust Bunnies" become addicted to this sort of diving as the history of it leaves you with a feeling of respect for the sailors who were on this ship. Third dive of the day on the Thistlegorm and this time it's a night dive ! Unfortunately sea sickness has got Andy again so he missed this one. It's an eerie feeling when you're waiting in line to jump in, knowing that below the surface is a ship that you can't see from topside, and that it dwarfs the boat that you're on. It's a whole different world down there at night. There are so many different kinds of fish using the wreck as shelter that it's difficult to know where to look next ! Down in the holds the fish were shoaling, and in the wheelhouse, although I didn't see it, there was a turtle.

I'd watched the sunset the previous night so I had to watch the sunrise. It certainly doesn't hang about going up or down in this part of the world ! Time for an early morning dive to work up an appetite for breakfast ! We swam out and had a look at the locomotive on the seabed and then came back to the wreck. I decided that I had to swim through where the propeller joined the hull, just because it was there ! We then swam round by the damaged area and I had to have one last rub of the "shells" before we went.

top left: Towel origami! A strange gimmick in Sharm hotels - the room staff fold towels, clothes etc into elaborate designs

top right:Spice stall

bottom left: Camel Dive Club?

bottom right: The hotel

"Anchors away" and we're off to the Dunraven ! This is certainly a smaller wreck than the Thistlegorm and is a lot less imposing. There seemed to be a lot more light and also a lot more marine life. We swam in through the stern area and through the engine room looking at the boilers and then out of the bow. In the bow area was the biggest moray that I'd seen all week ! As I was last in line, when it started swimming towards me I was off !

Last dive of the week and it's Jackfish Alley. We managed to see two turtles on this dive. With it only being a shallowish dive (18m), there was so much more to see. The colours of the coral stood out more and the shoals of small fish that used the coral for protection were more plentiful. We swam through a couple of small "caves" and found another moray, (not quite the size of the one we had seen earlier though !) and then carried on with a wall dive. All the time I'm looking into the blue, but the one thing that I wanted to see on this holiday unfortunately was going to elude me. We never saw one shark. There may have been some who would count this as a blessing but it would have finished the week off nicely thank you very much !

top left: Geoff kits up for the Quad safari
top right: Quad bike safari in the desert

bottom left: Chilling out

bottom right: Windsurfing

Back on the boat, and the crew have made another cake for us, (we always got cake after the last dive of the day). I can honestly say that the crew were fantastic on the Empress Theresa. They were helpful, polite, and although they didn't speak English you were made to feel welcome. The dive guides, Mary Gleeson and Terry Axain of Emperor Divers did a sterling job of looking after us all especially us "Newbies"! Also thanks to Steve Varney for organising the whole trip. It was on of the best holidays I've been on and believe it or not, even Andy enjoyed most of it !, and thanks to everyone else who made us feel more than welcome, and shared their knowledge with us to make our dives a more enjoyable experience.

Thats all folks!