We departed late one afternoon, from the great metropolis of Clane, it was grey and cold, there we were with our little bags (hoping they were not overweight) waiting with baited breath in anticipation of a week of warm sunshine and plenty of diving........
We departed late one afternoon, from the great metropolis of Clane, it was grey and cold, there we were with our little bags (hoping they were not overweight) waiting with baited breath in anticipation of a week of warm sunshine and plenty of diving.
We landed in Gatwick and were transported to our B&B only ten minutes away, then on to the local chinky(we didn’t even get an English dinner before departing familiar shores. There we met out fellow divers, “The Golden Oldies”, who I gather were an ecliptic crowd gathered from all corners of . As the local area was not a hot spot we crashed so as to be up in good time for the flight the next day.
Outward journey was uneventful – flight didn’t get high jacked or diverted, and the time frame was bearable, only about four hours.
Landed at Masalama and were transported to our grand accommodation, off the main road, the only road, on to a dirt track (horrors) and there they were, all these little tents in rows! This is my home for the next week. The main reception area and diving gear led us on to the dinning area, all open plan and quite casual loads of food on offer and the times where very flexible, so there would be no panic to dive and think you may miss lunch or whatever.
Further down from there were our tents, this is an ecco village. All these little tents in rows well three actually, some people got preferential treatment and had tents along the shore, but we (Shirley and myself) were in the middle row, I suppose that was because we were being protected (from who?) The bet looked a tad suspect but once one lay vertical they were not as bad as the looked, then we had to bribe the in house tent man for more blankets. We didn’t know whether to tip him with money or offer it up, he kept gawping that much, anyway a few bob did the trick.
We all settled in, took a mental note of the obstacle course that we had to negotiate on the way to the loo, it transpired to be very valuable information when some of us contracted the dreaded “deli belly”
The day started early 6ish rise for the first dive. Hot by seven.
The coral reefs were but a stones throw from our tents, but were taken by boat and thrown overboard and told to pop up the other end in about 45mins.O>K> Phil and Pat and Pat took pity on me and offered to buddy me, everyone else ran off on me, I don’t know why. Well anyway we won’t dwell on that little incident. I suppose you all want to know what we saw. My first impressions, the water was warm, oh the joy, then when we where down, it looked like it had been snowing under the water, the sand was so white and looked more so with the contrast of the coral, what I saw first I cannot remember, because it was like being let loose in a sweet shop. You want everything all at once, plus I can barely remember my buddies’ names, how am I supposed to remember the names of the coral and fish. Ah yes. Trigger fish, my favourite was the blue triggerfish (in that category)Pseudobalistes fuscus to be exact, there fins were top and bottom and they looked hilarious when swimming. Ras Mohamed were glorious colours and hang around in small groups or singly – cute little fellas.
Butterfly fish were everywhere although, I think they should be called Tonto fish, as they have markings around there eyes like mask. Royal Angelfish swim about in pairs or small groups in areas of rich coral growth and seaward reefs, they can be found near caves. Colours were amazing.
The parrotfish were quite big, but I was disappointed to note that they had no feathers, instead they have rather large teeth, which are fused, a distinct characteristic of these fish, used for breaking coral, and some of the fish we saw were quite large and were mainly in pairs. Territorial males maintain harems, but the females of a harem are widely distributed over the reefs. At night time we would see them asleep leaning amongst the coral. There colours were greenery, bluey with yellow added.
By far the most beautiful fish were the lion fish, who are generally slow graceful movers, but when hunting they use their wide pectoral fins to corner prey. If one of these is careless enough to leave is sheltering school, the slow moving lionfish dares forward in an astounding burst of speed and sucks the prey into its gaping mouth.
I was lucky enough to see an octopus, but it had plonked itself into some coral and had changed its colour to blend in, only its head could be seen and that looked like some alien peering at us, we waited behind some fan coral to pretend we had gone but he was having nothing to do with us and was in no way stupid, he could see us! My most favourite fish has to be little memo. They dart in and out of there homes, anemones, they are so sure of themselves, the little critters must know that we were not allowed to wear gloves and that there home would singe the lard out of us, the would come right up to ones mask and try and bite, in fact they can draw blood as one did to one of the guys, there babies as so small and perfect, I could have run off with them.
The fish were to numerous to mention, anyway unless there are pictures of them, would you all know what I am talking about? Ha. There were lots of little colourful slugs around as well as lots of other little didly little other things, shrimps, crabs, shells etc. One day whilst surfacing, in broad daylight, we saw a moray eel swimming away from the coral reef, they are usually tucked away out of sight and can usually be seen at night, I can only imagine he was starving or was checking on his wife.
A common fish called the yellowtail pygmy goby, distinct by its coloration of red blotches on the head dissolving into orange-yellow spots and fine lines on the transparent body and fins, were everywhere, even tiny, they were fantastic because the were in huge groups, and so with the sun on them, the overall effect for wow. The ugly guys where the scorpion fish, lurking around the bottom in the sand, probably the worlds most venomous fish with grooved fin spins and associated poison glands in most fins are a must to be avoided!
Soft and hard coral was everywhere, don’t ask me the names, suffice to say the colours and shapes were the wow factor above the fish, it is unbelievable that they have been there for so long, I hope all the diving that is going on does not destroy, as Egypt only has the pyramids and coral reefs, the rest of the land looks like the moon, desolate, harsh and colourless. Some of us did go to a very old camel market up or down country, didn’t have my compass, oh boy the scenery was bleak, how anyone can live out there is beyond me, a hard taskmaster is not the word to describe it.
One of the trips was to a reef called Elephantstone, I think; it was named after the guy that discovered it
Anyway it was a drift dive, so on entering the water, negative dive, I was told we did that so you not bobbing around for the sharks to have a nibble at ones feet, of course I bl…… believed them didn’t i. Well as it is, a drift dive, lasting about forty mins, it was absolutely covered in “stuff” a bit like being on a rollercoaster, currant quite strong if you wanted to stop and look, but when one got to the end of that, if you survived the Japanese with there high tech cameras pushing you out of the way, into open water and get palsey with the sharks. White tipped ones to be precise. Not very big but can be dangerous, so on that thought when one was headed our way, Martin got a very good view of it! Oops.
We did up to four dives a day, hard work getting up so early, but time for goodies and a nape in-between. One of the days on our way back to the beach, a dolphin was in the bay, lacking around near the beach, so we all got back into the water and watched him from the surface, until some neardy Italian decided to pursue the poor creature, so he swam off, which was such a pity. Well at night we had to supply our own in-flight entertainment, which was drinking and talking, and running to the loo. Some of us got the dreaded trots!
We thank the golden oldies, as we did muscle in on there trip, it was fun and the diving was fantastic, would definitely do it again.
Dianne Coleman.
P.R.O. NSAC
