I was very excited to be going out on Bella with my family having not dived since the end of last Summer.We crammed 4 lots of diving kit into our car and set off for Gatwick where we were met by Help me Park.This was so easy as they picked up our car from outside the terminal building and they were there waiting there for us when we returned. (Very welcome at 03.30 in the morning!)
When we arrived we were met by a Representative who handed us our visas and then showed us to our coach for the short transfer to the Military Marina where Bella was waiting for us. After saying Hello to some of the excellent Tornado Marine staff we had met on previous trips we went aboard and met our Dive Guides for the week, Richard and Sylvain.
After a short boat briefing we put our equipment together. This then stays in the same place all week making kitting up really easy. Then it was time for a much needed excellent dinner. We fell into bed exhausted knowing that Richard would be waking us all up at 06.30 ready for the 1st dive.
Morning arrived and we all helped ourselves to drinks and cake and assembled in the Saloon ready for our dive briefing. Every dive is preceded by an excellent briefing giving details about the site, the dive plan and things to look out for, all displayed on the plasma screen.
The 1st dive was a nice and easy group check dive at The Alternatives.
We climbed back onto Bella where there was instantly someone on hand to unzip your wetsuit and hand you an orange juice. Almost immediately breakfast was ready with omelettes and fried eggs cooked to order. While we all relaxed in the sun Bella crossed to Abu Nuhas where we were to make the next few dives.
Several guests decided to take the opportunity to do some extra training. My children finished their Advanced course and the Deep, Wreck and Nitrox specialities were very popular. A Liveaboard trip is an ideal way to get some great diving experience and improve your skills.We had a great couple of days diving at Abu Nuhas diving the wrecks of the Carnatic, Markus and GiannisD. Next it was off to Gabul Island where The Ulysses is always a popular dive and the wreck of the Barge is a fantastic night dive as it is so full of life. This area is also very popular with dolphins so there is always a good chance of seeing them at some point.
Early in the morning we set off by zodiac to dive The Ulysses. Within minutes our boat was accompanied by dolphins! We reached the wreck and descended straight onto a turtle. After a minute or so I wondered why no-one else was looking at the turtle and turned around to a dolphin about a metre away from me, three dolphins had decided to come and play and stayed with us for about 10 minutes! We then headed towards the world famous Thistlegorm, arriving just after all the day boats had departed. It is always really exciting to dive this wreck as it is such a fantastic museum. The night dive was particularly eerie.
The next morning Richard got us up at about 5am so we could be the 1st on the wreck. We descended just as the sun was coming up over the mountains and had the whole of the Thistlegorm to ourselves! We motored away long before any day boats were within sight and arrived at the stunning reef of Shaab Mahmoud shortly afterwards. Here we dived Small crack, The Dunraven and the main reef itself. Don’t miss the night dive here. Several octopuses and stone fish galore were spotted. It amazes me how stone fish look just like a lump of rock, but they are somehow a bit easier to spot at night.
Next it was off to Ras Mohammed and the dive site Shark and Yolanda.We are going to dive one of the top ten dive sites in the world announced Richard. It didn’t disappoint with a huge school of barracuda hanging in the water and lots of big jacks. Our last day on Bella was fast approaching and we were going to be diving Jackson Reef at the Straits of Tiran, where hammerheads had been recently spotted. We got up at 6am all desperately hoping we would be lucky. We had just started swimming into the blue when a silver outline came into view, a Hammerhead shark! It circled us a few times before swimming off.
Our last dive was on the inside of Jackson reef where a turtle obliged us by staying with us for most of the dive. After a fantastic lunch it was time to leave Bella for our last day on shore.
As the flight back is quite late we were wondering where to eat before leaving but needn’t have worried as the Bay View Hotel where we stayed offered the option of a poolside BBQ for a very reasonable price. This was a last chance for all the guests from Bella to sit together and exchange memories from our fantastic week.
