We dragged our gear over to the dive boat at 0800. We managed to get onto the nicest of the three dive boats at the hotel, and, except for the boat in Port Douglas, is by far the nicest dive boat we have been on. It has a big cockpit area for the dive gear, a large salon with plenty of tables and seating for everyone, and an upper deck full of couches for sitting in the sun. There were about 20 divers on board.

The dive spot we went to is called Marsa Mubarak, and it is in the Port Ghalib bay, near the entrance. We lounged for 40 minutes after we were moored before we finally suited up and jumped in. We headed north. The dive spot is quite pretty, but not spectacular. The hard coral is sort of in scattered mountain formations here and there instead of in a wall type formation. The landscape is dominated by a light pink soft coral that looks kind of like a geranium, ranging in size from tiny flower tops to large ones. At several points along the dive it actually looked like a flower field more so than a coral reef. There was also a lot of fire coral, which is bright yellow and looks like distorted pieces of lattice, like something that you would see in a Dhali painting. There were two especially large hard coral rock formations that the dive master referred to as “cleaning stations”. There were zillions of tiny fish swimming about, including glass fish and some goldfish. Those two spots were very pretty.

All in all, there weren’t a lot of fish out and about. We did see a few large fish, including a grouper and a couple parrotfish. There were quite a few unicorn fish with the horn thingy on its forehead, and a lot of orangespine unicorn fish, which doesn’t have a big horn, and is pictured below:

We also saw quite a few butterfly fish with purple stripes, different from any variety of butterfly fish we have seen before. In the photo, you can’t see how vibrant the purple really is.

There were some trumpetfish, gobies, blennies, clams, soldierfish, red sea bannerfish, a blue spotted eagle ray, and a couple eels. There were a few anemones and anemonefish, which are always pretty. Everyone was excited about the little shrimp they found in the anemones, but we stared and stared and couldn’t see them. Here is a mystery fish that we saw a few of:

Eric is doing awesome on air consumption. We had one of our longest dives yet at 54 minutes, with Eric finishing the dive with quite a bit more air than Christi. That is a first. Christi had no buoyancy issues, and hopes she’s got the proper weight figured out now.

After the dive, we waited for over an hour for lunch, then another hour plus after lunch before going in again. It was very windy and cold, so most everyone sat on top for the warmth of the sun. Lunch was excellent. Definitely the best lunch we’ve ever had aboard a dive boat. It was a buffet with a large assortment of food, enough food for 60 people. This is the first time we have been with a dive company that waited so long in between dives. They were in absolutely no hurry to get back.

The second dive was at the same place, but this time we headed south. We went through some coral, which looked much the same as the other side. There was also some raspberry coral and cene coral that we noticed, as well. We saw an eel completely out of its hole, which is rare. Eric noticed two moses solefish, one moving along the ground, and one still. When the moses sole is moving it is hard to see, and when still, it is virtually impossible to see. It is just two tiny eyes sticking out of the sand. There were more unicorn fish, some triggerfish, some chromis, as well as a couple of masked puffers and white spotted puffers, and another spotted eagle ray. Here is a masked puffer.

Within a few minutes, we were past the coral, swimming through grass. We had expected long, thick grass, and were surprised that it was very short and sparse, mostly sand with splotches of grass here and there. We were told that we would see ghostfish, and possibly some turtles and a dugong (relative of the manatee) eating the grass. No such luck on any of the above. Most of the dive was through the grass. We came upon a very small rock, which from a distance looked of no interest. But, up close, we were surprised to see it had 7 lionfish standing on it, with lots of goldfish, Moorish idols, chromis, and sweetlips swirling about it. The rock more than made up for the disappointing grass.

BTW, the photos are courtesy of a very nice English couple that we met on the dive.

Upon return from diving, we called the marina office. No bag had arrived. We called the airline. They had attempted to deliver the bag today, but the marina office was closed at the time of delivery, so they sent the bag back to Cairo. Argh! They would not send it a second time. We’d have to go to Cairo to claim it. Grrr. After some begging, the agent said he’d see what he could do and to call back tomorrow. He warned us that if he could get the bag shipped, we’d probably have to pay for it.