Many people say that diving in the southern part of the Red Sea is like diving in the northern part 30 years ago. I can't say whether that's true or not. But there can be no doubt that there is a big difference between diving in Sharm el Sheikh and in the ‘deep’ South. Nothing is spoilt by the massive influx of divers who are unable to balance themselves, thereby destroying the corals.

The further south we went, the better it got. There were plenty of wall dives and nature dives in amazing rock and coral formations. The fish population is bigger in the southern part of the Red Sea, well, the fish are just bigger. There were sharks every single day. But also giant Napoleon wrasses, sea turtles, gigantic (and I mean gigantic) moray eels and many other fish that made you take a deep breath.

Dolphins on the surface were not uncommon, and when we passed Sha'ab Samadei, we ran into a huge pod that obviously didn't want to play that day.

We were not idle during the six days we were on board our own diving vessel, MY Sea Fair. We were up to 4-5 dives per day. Including night dives.

When we weren't diving, we enjoyed the chef's culinary magic and socialised while getting some sun on our pale bodies. The trip is highly recommended.

In this section you'll find a copy of the captain's chart, where the dive sites are indicated.

We had a great guide, Ralf, who gave us some very detailed briefings before we entered the water. You'll find extracts from the logbook along with maps of the individual sites.

Have a great read.

Saturday, 8 July
Departure with Egypt Air from Copenhagen to Cairo. Accommodation at Novotel Cairo.

Sunday, 9 July
Early morning departure with Egypt Air to Hurghada. Then transfer to El Quisir (south of Hurghada) where we boarded the Red Sea Fair.
- Erg Malik

Monday, 10 July
- Sha'ab Maksur North
- Sataya Soraya
- Sataya North West x 2

Tuesday, 11 July
- Sataya Barr
- Sha'ab Maksur North
- Abu Galawa x 2

Wednesday, 12 July
- Sha'ab Claudia
- Hamada
- Sha'ab Kronborg
- Dahar Wadi Gimal

Thursday, 13 July
- Sha'ab Sharm East
- Sha'ab Sharm West
- Elpinstone North Plateau
- Naba

Friday, 14 July
- Elphinstone North Plateau
- Abu Dubab III
- Sharm Shoona North
- Mangrove Bay x 2

Saturday 15 July
- Ra's Malik
- Sireep

Transfer to Hotel Melia Pharoah south of Hurghada - a super 5-star hotel with everything your heart could desire.

Sunday 16 July
At leisure - which most people used to recover from the rigours of the week by trudging through Hurghada in 45 degree heat!

Monday 17 July
By plane to Cairo and then home to Denmark

The map was traced from the captain's chart and then scanned in.

The dive sites are numbered in the order in which we dived them.

1. Erg Malik
... Finally sharks: 1 grey and 2 white tip but far away. Giant moray eels, groupers, triggerfish, bluespotted and spotted eagle ray, almost "tame" angelfish, bannerfish and angelfish, jackfish on the surface and not least the "anteater fish". An okay dive ;-)

2. Sha'ab Maksur North
Really good!!! Across the reef to the wall and then down a bit, along the wall and then finishing manoeuvre across the reef at 4-6 m. Huge turtle, 3 white tip, 3-4 very big tuna, humphead wrasse, groupers, parrotfish, very big emperor angelfish and much much much more :-)

3. Sataya Soraya
Greatest reef so far. Amazing formations with caves, "mountains and valleys" and passages where the buoyancy really had to be controlled in order not to touch. Very big wrasse. Played a little kung-fu with Melanie on s-stop.

4. Sataya North West
Dropped by the zodiac NW of boat. And there was Thomas - waiting for his lead. Went down to 30 along the wall. Not much to look at. However, big blue trigger and barracuda. A little countercurrent to begin with. Nice little freestanding corals. Made pyramid. Patrick and Merete danced twist.

5. Sataya Barr
Looking for sharks but only Erik and Melanie saw one. Big fish on the hunt down in the depths, Flemming equalised pressure all the way down. After s-stop inside the reef at 1-2 metres with Patrick to have a look. Poked bubbles.

6. Sha'ab Maksur South
Down along slope to approx. 30 to edge of reef, up again and along wall. Very nice coral formations and quite a few soft ones for once. Giant moray (which just fooled me in terms of size). Finally into a cave with a cold sea current and voila - a white tip right in my face *gasp* They say I did a Houdini with my air bubbles.

7. Abu Galawa
First we went for the wreck of Tien Sing - old tugboat. Very nice vegetation. Group photo. Back to the other side with great formations. Quite a few triggerfish, including two that attacked each other - but otherwise not aggressive. On the way back to the boat I found a giant moray that had bitten on a fishing hook and was stuck in a nylon line in horn coral. I signalled Ralf, who came with a pair of pliers and carefully cut it off while I had to distract it, hmmm. But it went well.

8. Sha'ab Claudia
Really fun cave diving. Very few places where we could not see light at the other end. Very nice formation. Many fish seem to be finding mates, because there are a lot of territorial fights. In the centre somewhere a small dome filled with blue fish - nice nice nice nice. Also the viz, probably the best on the trip. Also saw a couple of bluespotted stingrays and a bluespine unicorn. Plus a clownfish pair with 4 babies *sniff* so cute.

9. Hamada (wreck)
Forbidden area but what the heck! Wreck dive with 12 people throwing themselves uninhibitedly over the wreck. Great fun. The wreck lies diagonally on its side, approx. 70-80 metres, and has been on the bottom for 10 years. Flemming and Thomas went penetration crazy, and Lene looked after us all a bit. Fun dive. Parrotfish and surgeonfish peeled the hull.

10. Sha'ab Kronborg
Unknown location! The guide only had an approximate position but it worked. Down along the anchor rope to - surprise - a very beautiful spot with lots of fishes that didn't care about us. Pure coral garden with a bannerfish trying to kiss a balloon fish, well :-) Big white tip was circling us. At the s-stop Ralf signalled to me and Patrick to go out to see a hammerhead. With 80 bar left we whipped over to the other side *gasp* and there it was. Tried to uv it but ran out of air. On Ralf's octopus back to another s-stop.

11. Dahar Wadi Gimal
Quiet and pleasant night dive. Thomas had the big spotlight with him and attracted glassfish en masse so he couldn't see. Puffer fish seem to be blind at night and drive their snouts into everything. Back under the boat we were doused with rice - leftovers from dinner, yum yum

12. Sha'ab Sharm East
Deep dive along the edge looking for greys and hammerheads but alas. Instead I dove along the southern edge: Very nice - vertical down to 80 with beautiful formations, small caves and grottos. Including one where I could just get my head in and see a school of squirrelfish. Big, big titan trigger that looked a bit aggressive. Slowed down on the way back at 5-6 metres.

13. Sha'ab Sharm West
Work dive: For some reason the current was against us all the way round - ugh! But got 3 white tips. First 1 in depth and then 2 on the way round the corner. Got past/into the stretch where we were this morning. The big trigger was still there with someone sleeping! And the boat wasn't there: we had missed it and swam 150-200 metres too far. Bummer!!!

14. Elphinstone North Plateau
Dove down at 30 and swam out onto the plateau to look for sharks. Ralf was pointing like Superman and the whole group was looking at 3-4 grey reef sharks. Then the hammerheads came out of the blue. First one, then gone. Then two, then gone. Suddenly about 15 of them were circling below us. The whole group went into a tailspin, sank 10 metres and drifted NE in the semi-strong current before disintegrating. Some went back down to the plateau, others up. One went empty, general helplessness and not mate friendly. Flemming and I stuck together and went up to avoid deco together with Melanie, Erik and Lene. Ralf and Patrick also went dry during auxiliary action. Anyway, fantastic with the sharks. A bit of a thrill, actually.

15. Naba
Assistant to Foto-Jack on this night dive. Fun. Saw a lot: Stonefish, Spanish dancer, sea cucumbers, crayfish, shrimp, wrapped up parrotfish, black and red lionfish, large bluespotted stingrays, pipefish, hermit crab, nudibranchs and much much more. Really good dive.

16. Abu Dubab III
With Ralf as our guide dog and the rest of us on a long line, we swam into a labyrinth of a cave with only one entrance and one exit. But plenty of space and not as exciting as Sha'ab Claudia. In another cave system Flemming and I had a great time.

17. Sharm Shoona North
"Poor" visibility but then it was also easier to go into detail. So great dive. Firefish family under large table coral. A small cave that Flemming and I got a tour through. Huge colony of black lionfish (at least 12) in different sizes and not least a ship's rudder (the wreck diving gene also favoured).

18. Mangrove Bay
Night dive with Abdou, the ship's cook. Saw a few red lionfish. Was a bit busy keeping an eye on the cook, who went berserk with Erik's torch. Later two octopuses and a giant moray eel right under the boat. Lots of small masked pufferfish.

19. Ra's Maelik
Morning dive. A bit of a boring nature dive. First down - nothing to see, then up - still nothing to see (apart from the usual but you get picky). Then up on the plateau and then out to the boat, which they had moved. Hrmfff...

20. Sireep
Great dive. With Flemming into the caves, which in some places were cul-de-sacs, in other places I had to give up, and once I had to pull Flemming through the hole because he got stuck. Looked a bluespotted stingray straight in the eye and decided to back out of the hole again. Really great dive. Finished at depth and once back at 5 metres Flemming went dry. Back on the boat I was congratulated by the crew on dive 100 by being doused with flour and getting 4 eggs smashed on my head :-)