Through good times and bad, JAMES L’ESTRANGE has retained his faith in the power and poetry of diving from Sharm and the Gulf of Aqaba, and he makes an annual pilgrimage to Egypt. This August he decided that going tec would help him get fitter, too
I GOT THE DIVING BUG about 10 years ago, and did an Open Water course in Tenerife. Then I discovered Sharm el Sheikh,“Playground of the Pharaohs”, nestled against the desolate Sinai mountains that pass through various hues of purples and pinks as you watch them through the day from the deck of a dive-boat chugging up the Gulf of Aqaba.
The Red Sea is ancient and special, and offers some of the best diving in the world. Supposed to have got its name from a red tide of plankton, it has hosted the likes of Jacques Cousteau, who discovered the Thistlegorm, offers reefs like Shark and Yolanda, Thomas Canyon and of course the infamous Blue Hole in Dahab, where a Siren is said to live. She is a jilted and jealous Bedouin lover said to have lured many divers to their death.
Sharm has had a bad rap and a lot of bad luck, with one calamity following another since 2005 – bombings, shark attacks, kidnappings and the Russian airliner terror attack of two years ago, which devastated tourism.
And yet I still feel safer in Sharm than I do in the centre of my hometown of London.
Over the years, I’ve kept visiting Sharm and doing various PADI courses. Pirates Dive Club is always my home for the 14 or so days I spend there every August.
I trained up to Master Scuba Diver with exceptional instructors such as Kamel Mohammed Kamel, or Kimo.
He subsequently moved on from Pirates, started his own club, Eagle Divers, and became a technical-diving instructor.
Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Diver.
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Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Diver.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Appointment with Dr Anemone
It seems that marine-life could hold the key to improving many aspects of human health. Which is fine as long as the creatures we dive to see don’t have to be sacrificed in the process, says LISA COLLINS. They might not have to be
The Wreck Of The Zenobia: Disneyland For Divers
The Zenobia is one of those wrecks most divers have heard of, even if they haven’t dived it, but what is that makes some return to Cyprus year after year to revisit the site? DAVID BAKER, Chairman of Richmond Sub Aqua Club, has been asking around
Well And Truly Tested
MIKE WARD does the honours as a new Apeks regulator hoves into view – and for the rest, it’s all a matter of shedding light, with new products from Mares and Weefine
Man Jailed For First- Time Diver's Lake Death
THE OWNER OF A WELSH online company that sold golf balls retrieved from lakes has been jailed for 32 months for manslaughter, following the diving death of an employee.
God's Pocket
This coldwater Pacific classic can create dilemmas for photographers, says MARK B HATTER, torn between tiny rockfish and huge ‘GPOs’ in British Columbia.
In The Glassy Ripples
Tonga is a place of myths and traditions, and until 1978 whales were welcomed there only as food. Now things have taken a very different turn, as JENNY STOCK, only slightly hampered by her wetsuit, relates.
Baby Diver
Father-to-be HENLEY SPIERS decided that he needed a better understanding of diving and pregnancy.
Sumbawa
It’s alway good to feel that you might be ahead of the pack – we often hear about Bali and Lombok on one hand, and Komodo and Flores on the other, but what lies in between? JOHN LIDDIARD finds out.
Nudi GB
When you get your eye in you realise that colourful sea-slugs are not confined to the tropics – southeastern Scotland, for example, can also be a happy hunting-ground for macro enthusiasts. RICHARD ASPINALL drops into the Scottish Nudibranch Festival
Early Learning With Alligators-That's So Sick
The arrival of children can change divers’ lives – you don’t know if they will share your passion as they grow up or – inadvertently – stifle yours. So CHARLIE OLDFIELD went through a range of emotions when son Dylan announced that he wanted to dive…
