In
June 2003 a group of fifteen divers from the club travelled
to Egypt for a diving trip to the far south of the Egyptian
Red Sea.
We flew from Gatwick to Marsa Alam, a town on the east coast
of mainland Egypt then undertook a two hour journey by bus
down the east coast road to a place called Hamata about seven
kilometers north of the dive camp at Wadi Lahami which is
located just north of the Ras Banas penninsular.
From here we boarded MV Coral Princess and headed off for
the far South to a region known as St. John's Reef.
The
following pictures tell the story of that trip.
The chart on the right shows South Eastern Egypt and the
location of Wadi Lahami, Fury Shoal and St. Johns Reef.
M.Y.
Coral Princess is a steel hulled, twin screw motor yacht. She
is 30 metres long and has berths for fifteen passengers. She
has ideal specifications for long-range dive cruises, with water
desalination and comprehensive navigation & safety equipment.
The ample aft deck is thoughtfully laid out for ease of kitting-up
and the spacious transom is ideal for water entry when not using
the zodiac tender. The salon is air-conditioned, as is the comfortable
twin berth cabins, all of which have en-suite facilities.
MV Coral
Princess
We
headed south towards the Sudanese border for the first half
of the trip to dive the various reefs that make up St. Johns
Reef then we headed north to dive the reefs of Fury Shoal.
The maps below show the areas we visited and some of the sites
we dived during our trip.
The Team Lyn Eade, A.N.Other, Peter Swarfield, Ceri
Jones,
Billy Whizz, Huw Jones, Peter Rees, John Greig.
Colin Smith, Jeff Canning, Mac Webber,
Viv Griffiths, Phil Dewhurst, John Upright,
Dicky Taylor.
The quayside at Hamata where we boarded
Coral Princess at the start of our charter.
Coral Princess is the boat on the right.
Looking back
at the jetty from on board Coral Princess. The town of Hamata
with its mosque
can be seen in the background.
The crew preparing to tie on to a reef. This particular
reef has a shallow lagoon in the centre.
The crew tying up to a mooring alongside a reef.
.Hattam - Our dive guide
for the trip.
The DO on tour.
The
President resting his eyes...
One of the many superb reefs we dived
during the charter.
Many of the reefs in this southern
section of the Egyptian Red Sea
are in superb condition.
Another superb
example of a
coral reef in the far south.
