After eating we did what any other Brit abroad would do and headed for the nearest bar ( remember don’t drink and dive, it makes your beer salty ). After the long day’s travelling we only managed a couple of beers before it was time to sleep. It seemed that no sooner than my head hit the pillow and I began to dream of  the forthcoming weeks diving than the peace was shattered by the arrival of some members from the other group of Bromley divers. So like any other disturbed British tourists would do some of us got up and went out for more beer.

Next day we finally departed Hurghada and headed for our first dive site. At this point “Hatim” our dive guide said he wanted to check us out so we all ended up knelling on the bottom mask clearing and removing our regs, ( I’m just glad I remembered how to do it! ). Anyway we all managed this basic test and the week’s diving proceeded in a very relaxed manner in fact “Hatim” was so relaxed he pretty much let us do whatever we wanted.

On the second dive of the first day we were given our briefing and told this was a good place for “Leopard sharks” , I straight away thought “yeah yeah heard it all before the biggest thing I’ll see on the dive will be my buddy. After the briefing Ray Russell my buddy for the week and I kitted up and went in. During the dive Ray gave the signal for shark ( hand on top of the head pointing up like a sharks fin ) then pointed and there to my surprise just ahead of us laying on the bottom was a 2 metre long “Leopard shark”  we approached cautiously but the shark slowly swam away. Later during the same dive we saw spotted a slightly smaller one. On surfacing we were both pretty chuffed at having spotted them but I was so glad we were slow moving lumbering air breathers when I discovered Ray’s plan had been to grab their tails!! As far as I was concerned it couldn’t get much better 2nd dive and seen 2 sharks already.

The next day we dived the wreck of the “Giannis D” , a fairly modern ship broken into 2 main pieces. We entered the wreck and slowly our made our way through to open water between the bow and stern sections. On emerging from the wreck there in front of me was a 2 metre long dolphin, it didn’t rush off but seemed interested in us , I looked at Ray but he was looking away so hadn’t seen the dolphin so I started calling his name through gritted teeth, eventually he turned and was confronted by the sight of a dolphin. By now other divers had arrived on the scene and the dolphin kept swimming amongst us even returning after surfacing for air. This encounter for me was without a doubt the highlight of the week.

Wednesday evening and our boat met up with the other boat containing Bromley divers so we could have a beach party to celebrate Mick Fields 50th birthday, it wasn’t until after he’d received 50 bumps in the sea that he claimed he was only 48! Oh well never mind I suppose he’s lucky we didn’t think he was 60. The party quickly degenerated into a water fight, I managed to stay dry for a while by claiming I was holding a camera. This worked well until someone looked closer and discovered my camera was actually a beaker of wine.

The weeks diving was fast coming to an end and it was with great reluctance that we found ourselves doing our last dive and then starting to wash down our kit and hanging it out to dry. Finally we arrived back at Hurghada were we had to depart our boat to spend the last night ashore in the Marriott hotel. This stay in a hotel turned out to be a real result as due to an error most of us ended up in a room on our own with ensuite facilities. And so our last night in Egypt had arrived so we made like British tourists and headed downtown for beer and boogie. At this point Mehmet “mad-dog” Kavaz lived up to his name and took to the dance floor to out boogie the local space cowboy and his equally spaced out girlfriend. You’ve got to admire people like “mad-dog”  because despite the embarrassment of those with him who had to watch he didn’t care and just had fun.

Last day and only one thing left to do “shopping”. A group of us headed downtown having made sure we had all the essentials; money (well concealed) and dark glasses (so the shop keepers don’t see the fear in your eyes). Most of us were happy with a selection of dodgy T-shirts but Ray had to get himself a Shisha (hubbly bubbly pipe) probably so he and the other “chemical brother” Mike Rountree could do the “huff and puff” independently.

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