Early on the morning of the 22nd July 2001 eight intrepid travellers set off from the Lleyn on their journey of diving discovery to the Red Sea. What follows are extracts from the secret diaries of two of their number whose identities have been concealed to protect the innocent. The eight were Conga Neil Rawlinson, Edna Dolphin Wood, Hugh Props Evans, Mike “anything for a port hole” Duke, Alan have another sandwich Kibble, Malcolm won’t be a minute Roberts, and his two sons Meic won’t be long Roberts, and Elfed won’t be a second Roberts.
Monday 23rd July 2001.
Fantesea Diving Centre taken from the beach
Morning arrived and breakfast was omelette and 3 bread rolls. Dad (Malcolm) was late as usual. we were taken to the Fantasea Dive Club by a pick up taxi with all our kit. Our first dive was the lighthouse Bay, Dahab, which was a very good one with good visibility. The second was Eel Garden which at 28deg C was warm enough to go without a wetsuit.
Tuesday 24th July.
Even Dad managed to wake up in time for our second breakfast of omelette and 3 bread rolls. Eed, the driver, took us to Fantasea to pick up our kit. Edna came with us so she could dive at Lighthouse Bay whilst we went on to Coral Garden Canyon where the viz was 40 metres. Our second dive was The islands. There was a strong drift and barracuda swimming in groups.
Wednesday 25th July.
All, except Edna, woke up to coolness as we had changed to air conditioned rooms. The adults went diving to 30 odd metres which is about as deep a you can go in Egypt. I went snorkelling for 3 hours without any suntan cream and burnt my back.
Thursday 26th July, 2001.
Every one woke up except for Malcolm and his kids. As usual Neil woke them up. Every one wanted something different for breakfast instead of omelette and 3 bread rolls. Every one had their breakfast at Fantasea. Edna and Elfed stayed at Fantasea to do the lighthouse reef. Elfed had to stay behind because he was not certified and began a PADI open water course. The rest of the gang went to UM SID in the morning. Elfed did the lighthouse reef as an afternoon dive because he wanted to do his course. The rest of the gang went to Three pools for the afternoon dive.
Friday 27th July, 2001.
Every one woke up this time and Malcolm and his kids were early for the first time. We had planned to go on a Quad bike ride in the morning. We went through the desert and Hugh broke down several times. We stopped at an oasis to have a drink. We went back because we had an afternoon dive. As an afternoon dive Elfed went to the Canyon with his instructor Duncan. The rest of the gang went on a drift dive from Rick’s reef to the Canyon. Every one went on the night dive on the lighthouse reef except for Hugh because he was ill.
Saturday 28th July, 2001.
Every one went on a camel dive except for Hugh and Edna. The camel dive’s were next to the Bedouin camps.
This was Elfed’s first open water dive that he had with the rest of the gang. The morning dive was the Trigger fish reef. We didn’t have dinner in between the two dives. The second dive was on Sala’s reef. We had our dinner before we set off back to Fantasea.
We had our supper in the bar called the boat. Elfed and Meic went back to the hotel to get an early night at 11:30 p.m. After a few hours Neil, Allan, Mike and Malcolm returned back to the hotel. They stayed out on the beach to finish off the bottle of Whisky. Neil, Allan and Mike were a little tipsy and fell a sleep on the beach, and Malcolm went to bed.
Sunday 29th July, 2001.
This was the last day of the holiday and because we could not dive we went to see the dolphin in Nuwaybi who had recently had a calf. We spent most of the day there. We had our dinner with the Bedouins. We went back to Fantasea so we could pack our diving equipment. To finish the night off we watched a film called The Full Monty’. When the film finished it was time to set off to the airport. We didn’t have to wait a long time in the airport.
The diving was great. Fantastic visibility, fish of all colours, shapes and sizes. Edna and Elfed saw a large turtle. The food was good and cheap and they even had CHIPS.
