Diary of a freediver, Marsa Alam, Part 1

[Boomstick]

Red Sea Safari
Shagra Eco Village
Marsa Alam
Egypt
2006

Diary of Freediver
By
Dan Webster

Day 1.
(Gatwick)
After much organisation from Mig, all members of the group arrived successfully on time, all except two members, but they will remain nameless (won’t you, Martyn & JM).
At the time, we weren’t sure whether they were running late for the flight or really, really early to meet us on our return?
The flight, which left on time and arrived slightly early was fairly uneventful, except for the turbulence, during which, I was inclined to think, it was less to do with air pressure and more to do with the cabin crew training to be stunt pilots!!

We arrived at the hotel just after dusk and found our accommodation clean and tidy. At dinner we proceeded to chow down on some local cuisine, after which, it was a wade out the pier. This caused much displeasure with the staff!!
It was then ‘bed’ for some and ‘bar’ for others, where we discussed the technical merits of world cinema.

Day 2.
After a quick bite to eat at the breakfast buffet it was down for orientation and acquisition of any outstanding items, lead weights etc.
We all changed for diving, except Sal, who felt more sleep was required and she wasn’t alone in this chain of thought.
We entered the sea via the shore, checked our weighting and swam out.
Over the next few hours we were utterly amazed at the sheer, diversity of ocean life within the house reef, parrot fish, flat fish, brittle stars, blue spotted rays, cornet fish, pipe fish, puffer fish, all just metres from the shore.
PB’s were bested by many in the first few hours of the first days diving.

Egypt looks very promising indeed.

Day 3.
Truck Dive 1.
Today’s diving was split over two sites, the first of which, we had been told, could be the place to spot a reclusive Dugong ( Manatee)but, we were unsure if we could spot it due to the shear size of the bay.
As the search went on we found giant turtles, blue spotted rays and guitar sharks
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...iantturtle.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...spottedray.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...uitarshark.jpg


along with a whole host of other fish, then we the ‘call’.
Andy had seen the Dugong out in deeper water and was following it into a shallower area containing sea grass.
It was a true spectacle to behold; we each took it turns to dive down the -4/5mts to get closer to the huge animal and those with cameras, to photograph it for prosperity.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ongfeeding.jpg

After what seemed like an age we left the creature and headed back to shore for cakes and drinks. But on the way back I had one of those special moments only the Red Sea can offer. Just laying on the surface I looked down and saw -3mts below me a huge blue spotted ray, 3mts to the left of it was a giant turtle and 4mts to the right of the ray was another giant turtle!! I just chuckled to myself thought that this is what Red Sea diving is all about.
Once refreshed on the beach we packed up and headed to our second destination.

Dive 2.
The second site was an isolated beach with a fabulous reef system to the North.
We headed out and marvelled at the variety of wildlife, we found another turtle and it must have been camera shy.
Haydn dived down, camera at the ready to photograph it, the turtle swam straight over and proceed to cover the camera lens with its flipper before swimming off??
I had to surface pretty rapidly at this point because I was laughing so hard at -5mts!!

The phrase “Only a Freediver knows the feeling” certainly rang true for me on this day when I found myself freefalling down the reef face to -18mts completely surrounded by vibrant corals and hundreds of colourful fish, including a very large puffer fish (at least 20”).
On the return to shore we stumbled across a pair of lion fish partially hidden under a reef head, the prefect end to a prefect dive.

Day 4.
Sunday, a day of rest some (including myself) for others, it was a wildlife adventure on the immense house reef with creatures spotted including, a very large moray eel, a black tip shark, eagle ray, turtles and a ‘baby’ lion fish seen in only a few inches of water.

To be continued........

[Boomstick]

Day 5.
Two structured rope sessions in the morning by Andy lifted everyone spirits and reminded each individual of their true potential, everyone that attended achieved fantastic results, including many PB’s.
A small number didn’t attended due to the delights of what the Egyptian climate can do to their stomachs (myself included)
That afternoon we all enjoyed a brief dive that revealed a few more delights that the house reef could offer, including a very large crocodile fish.

Come the evening, it was time for the house reef to true delights it had to offer as we prepare for our very first Night Dive!!
Following our safety briefing, we entered the water in buddy pairs and slowly made our way across the north reef.
As the glow from sun finally extinguished, the array of nocturnal creatures was staggering.
Scanning via torch light and with shouts of “look at this” echoing across the bay, a large (and scary) turtle was spotted looming out of the darkness, along with a pair of courting lion fish and a whole host of feeding anenomies.
But for me, the highlight was being called over to look at a large moray eel, only to find that when I finally left it, I spotted an even larger one easily 6ft long and at least 16” around. It was a true sight to behold and in not more than -3mts.
It was around this time the bio luminescence became visible, resulting in a swathe of glowing partials with each fin stroke, gracefully tumbling through the water.
A very humbling experience.
That night we left the water happy, but exhausted and strolled straight into the open air restaurant, for our evening meal.

Day 6.
Due to gamey ear that was progressively getting worse, I decided to sit diving out today. The others meanwhile enjoyed many hours of diving around the house reef, chasing eagle rays and morays to their hearts content.
Wednesday’s true adventure started that evening with the group separating to take different trips into the desert.
The trip I picked (as a holiday surprise for my ever patient wife, Sarah) involved a 4x4 ride out into the desert, where we then transferred to camels for a ride to a very isolated Bedewin village.
This really did feel like we were on another planet, on camel back riding through a rock valley with a bird of prey circling over head was a very surreal experience.
Only comprising a few adults, one small child, a donkey, x2 dogs, a cat and some goats, things were very sparse in the Bedewin camp. Our party of 6 included Marcus & Rachael Sharpe, Nikki and Haydn Welch, Sarah Webster (my wife) and my self along with 2 local guides.
We were served fresh bread that we had just witnessed being baked, followed by fresh Bedewin tea and fresh Bedewin coffee, whilst we lounged on large cushions in a traditional desert tent. After drinks we proceeded to climb a big hill/small mountain
(Depending on your point of view!!) to its summit and watch a very picturesque sunset.
The way down was a lot more fun, I scrambled down the steep drop off to the side whilst the 2 guides and Marcus & Rachael Sharpe cautiously followed in my foot steps. Meanwhile Sarah, Haydn and Nikki sensibly returned via the winding mountain pat used on our ascension.
What a great day!!

Day 7.
My Birthday!! And what a birthday it turned out to be.
We had previously booked a RIB to take a few of us out over deeper water to look for ‘bigger’ fish.
After much confusion at the dock we received a phone call asking if (for 10 euros each) we would like to freedive Elphinstone, one of the top ten dive sites in the world. With this in mind I virtually ran to the RIB.
It was 9 miles to Elphinstone from our resort and the sea was like a sheet of glass, I’ve never seen an open body of water so flat.
Arriving at Elphinstone, we wormed our way through a small fleet of live-a-boards moored there and jumped in over the North Reef. It was breath taking, the viz was 30mts+ and the variety of fish was amazing. As the others swam on Rachael and myself got caught in a very light current which brought us face to face with a very large free swimming giant moray!!

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...giantmoray.jpg

It was at only around -4mts so we took pictures as one should in these situations before rejoining the pack.
As the pair of us finned over to the group we proceeded to drink up the multitude of colours surrounding us, occasionally being joined by a couple of large tuna.
After a while of gliding up and down the coral heads for a while we got back in the RIB and headed over to the South Reef. We kitted up again, jumped in and swam up-current along the side of the reef, we’d only been in the water a matter of minutes when we heard our boat skipper shouting “ Oceanics, Oceanics!!” Very quickly, we all piled back into the RIB and headed of to the far side of the reef.
We were in the water a matter of second when we spotted it, a large Oceanic white tip shark surrounded by a school of pilot fish,

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...pandpilots.jpg

so many so in fact that it was hard to make out the shark at times. At only around 8ft away it just glided behind me, that was when I noticed the second one out the corner of my eye.

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...k/whitetip.jpg

For what seemed like an age the pair of them made a merry dance around us, circling closer and closer one of them started heading straight for me only to dip down at the last minute and swim between my legs, cutting it so close I almost done the splits (for those that don’t know me, I don’t ‘do’ the splits)!!
In turn, they gave each member of the group a very close call.
When they both disappeared completely it seemed like the fun was over, but then, they re-appeared together around 20mts away. In tandem they headed straight for me, an excellent photo opportunity, but they kept coming…. and coming…..and coming!!
I felt I was going to get a shark snout straight in the chest when at the last second it nipped down and went between my (now rapidly separating) legs, then the second shark followed it through, cutting it even finer, forcing it’s pilot fish to swim around the outside of my legs. An experience I will never forget.
I spun round to see one of the Oceanics looking directly at, what appeared to be Martyn Jones left buttock, I surfaced and called out “ Err Martyn…..behind you??” he turned in time to see it swimming past with inches to spare. These creatures are truly amazing.

Being this close to them a heart pounding experience, that was until Haydn thought he’d test his electronic shark repellent, it was then more heart attack than heart pounding??
Martyn was delicately in the process of making hand to fin contact with the white tip when it flinched and shook its head violently in response to Haydn’s device.
Everyone learnt to swim backwards very quickly at this point. Rachael grabbed my arm and pulled me between the shark and herself, then jumped into the RIB with speed akin to an Olympic athlete.
As the remaining white tip descended into the blue we all felt it was time to leave and scurried into the RIB.
As we were leaving the offended shark proved they were no hard feelings and sidled up next the boat within arms. It held the position for a few moments, and then descended into the deep.
A fitting farewell, from a truly magnificent beast.

The birthday treats didn’t there as I shared the drive back with young Ross. He took the first few miles and I piloted back into port, dropping Haydn of over the side so he could swim the 4ish miles back to shore (he wanted to….. really!!)

Back at the Eco lodge we seemed to put a few noses out of joint as a few of the scubies who’d dived Elphinstone every day for a week had still yet to see an Oceanic white tip shark.

The evening’s events culminated in a surprise party! We had a traditional Egyptian candle lit meal on the beach, comprising freshly baked bread, soup, salad, baked potatoes and a whole slow cooked goat.
A birthday cake was presented to me as the initials F D (for freediver) where set ablaze in the sand and a bon fire ignited to help warm our celebration.

There’s not too many birthday that will top this!!

Final Day
Leisurely swims and last minute sun bathing were the order of the day.
We packed our bags and said good bye to a truly wonderful week.

The airport departure would have been slightly ‘less’ stressful if a member of our group who shall remain nameless (Martyn!!) hadn’t decided to lose his ticket home in the hope of staying a bit longer. But we soon put a stop to that and made sure he got on the
plane with the rest of us!!


Between the 26th May and 1st June 2006, Marcus & Sally Greatwood, Marcus & Rachael Sharpe, Nikki & Haydn Welch, Martyn Jones, Arnaud Palu, Andy Laurie, Jean-Marc Kuffer, Simon & Ross Kidd, Sarah Webster (my wife) and my self shared an experience that will live in our hearts and minds for many years to come.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these exploits as much as we enjoyed having them and that in some way, may they encourage you to look for adventures of your own.


Dan Webster
dan@notanx.com
www.notanx.com


PS.All photos were taken by me with a kodak disposable camera.

[Haydn]

Oh Dan, that Shark, I am still smiling about it. Hope your ear has sorted itself out. Mine is still 100% deaf and after a week on pennicilin I am beginning to think I have a real problem developed and the doc cant see me again for two more weeks. He thinks I may have equalised too much and effectively forced my ear drum outwards too far and separated it from the tiny bones it is connected to inside. To me that sounds like real deafness, rather than just having sinusitis or glue ear. Anybody got any experience?

[cdavis]

This is a long time back, but a buddy of mine did not stop to equalize on a scuba dive to 70 feet and blew his eardrum. Before it blew, one of the three bones in the middle ear got pushed into his inner ear and the other two disarticulated and fell down in the bottom of the middle ear. He had a operation to fix it and got some hearing back, but not nearly all of it. Yours doesn't sound nearly as bad and the docs are a good bit more skillful today.

Good luck

Connor

[Haydn]

Thanks for that Connor. Its odd because I did gentle equalising all the time and had no real pain. Maybe I mis -recognised the usual feeling of needing to equalise, maybe I felt some discomfort caused by equalising too much and it made me equalise even more, thinking I still needed to equalise. Anyway, I am still deaf in one ear (apart from the usual tinitus which is now really loud). I thought being deaf would be peaceful.....lets hope its an easy fix, but knowing english national health, it will probably take a year. Bang goes any chance of getting a freedive medical signed off, just as I hoped I was well enough after my heart opperation to get it back.

[fcallagy]

great read cheers dan

[Boomstick]

Haydn,

My ear feels much much better now, but I went through hell and back over the last week or so. The Doc's put me on Co-Dyramol for the pain and I would have had more relief by eating 'smarties', the put me on the strongest dose possible and didn't believe me when I said it wasn't working. The infection tranfered to my other ear so they put me on a combination of ibuprofen, paramol and Co-Amoxiclav (pennicilin) which has seemed to work.

None of it was as good as the Morphine they had me on out there!!!

I hope you get yours fixed soon, I was only deaf for a few days and that was bad enough, I do feel for you.

Dan

PS. Will aim to add pics to the diary soon.

[Haydn]

Hi Dan,

Trouble is, I dont have any pain, so I guess I have a different problem and maybe no infection. I have finished my course of pennicilin but I am still totally deaf in that ear. Anyway, off to Sardinia on Friday, maybe a good dose of freediving will do the trick...................... might even leave the shark shield at home.

[Boomstick]

might even leave the shark shield at home.

Good idea, it's a great gadget if you've got a boat near by to jump into but, the dam shark came back pretty quickly after you used it, didn't it????

[Haydn]

Wouldnt have seen him for dust if I left it on for 4 hours though. Mind you, we wouldnt have had half the fun though either. The shark shield would be great for a line diving session or competition day, just fixed to the barge. Fancy diving the blue hole during the triple comp and seeing a hammer head during the last few seconds before top, would you get a time penalty for delaying the dive? Still deaf...........

[Boomstick]

Fancy diving the blue hole during the triple comp and seeing a hammer head during the last few seconds before top, would you get a time penalty for delaying the dive?

No time delay...... I'd probably go down quicker, knife clenched between teeth and all that....

[Soul Deep]

Nice write up Dan, you missed the Reef shark and Silky on day 2 but the White Tips kinda pushed that to the back of our minds

[Boomstick]

Mate,

I didn't forget the reef shark or the silky, I never saw them.


Ta boomstick

[Boomstick]

A quick note to anyone wanting to enjoy experiences like my own, contact Marcus at Notanx freedive club, freediving in london for upcoming dates, times flights etc.....

[samdive]

Where did you dive in marsa alam? people keep telling me its too shallow and too exposed down there...