Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Back on Blue Voyager this week with Jose and Tarek for Best of Wrecks itinerary. Following a long bus journey down to Port Ghalib and a wait for our Swedish guests to arrive the following morning we headed out to take the check dive before heading overnight to Big Brother. We dived Big Brother Reef, The wreck of Aida but it was to rough for Numidia so we dived Small Brother instead. The next day we dived Salem Express twice and a reef before heading further north that night. Some rough overnight travelling conditions due to wind and a 1 degree drop in water temperature since last week at Brothers suggests that winter is coming. Then we spent a day on The Thistlegorm with 3 dives and a night dive at Shaab Abu Nuhas before diving Giannis D, Carnatic and Chrisoula K the following day. The final day was El Minya and a local reef to Hurgarda. The shorty wetsuit is well and truely packed away and the 4mm suit is out

This week I have been on Blue Fin working with Elke and Luke on the Project Shark, Best of Brothers itinerary. As its name suggests, we went looking for sharks at Big and Little Brother. We dived at Ras Disha and Tobia Arbaa (no sharks) on the way to The Brothers and then we saw loads over the 4 days that we were there. Every dive had sharks on it somewhere. In one dive at Small Brother I saw Threshers, Grey Reefs and Oceanic White Tips. Around 15 - 20 different Oceanics were seen over the week. Unfortunately there were at least 3 with hooks and lines in their mouths, two with damaged dorsal fins (possibly from propellers or lines) and a number with bite marks and bits of fin missing from other sharks. Copies of my video and photos have been supplied to Red Sea Sharks and once all these sharks have been identified they can be found on the website and we will know how many there were. There were 17 dives on offer this week to the guests and I did 13 of them. ...

This week I have been working on Blue Voyager  with Chrissie and Tarek on the Daedalus and St John's itinerary. We visited a number of great locations including Paradise Reef, St John's Caves, Sataya as well as 2 days at Daedalus and a quick trip to Elphinstone. An Oceanic was spotted at Elphinstone as well as Mantas and Hammerheads at Daedalus. 16 dives on offer to the guests this week and I dived 14 of them guiding an 72 year old client. The turtle pictured above came to interact with us at Paradise Reef. Water was a toasty 26-27 degrees and I am still in a shorty wetsuit.

This week I have been working on  Blue Melody alongside Tifa and Line on the Northern Wrecks and Reefs itinerary where we dived wrecks such as the Carnatic, Chrisoula K, Dunraven, The Barge, Giannis D and of course the Thistlegorm plus reefs at Ras Mohammed and elsewhere. Over the week we offered 19 dives to our clients but unfortunately I was unable to dive for two days due to blocked sinuses but that didn't stop me doing the boat based jobs. We saw Dolphins early on in the week which made for a great start. The water has been a constant 26 degrees and I have been in a shorty all week.

From the 29th October 2014 to 30th January 2015 I will be working with Blue O Two in The Red Sea. Should be weeks of sun and warm water diving. Hopefully I will be able to do some stuff with Red Sea Sharks whilst I am out there and might even see "Henry" who I sponsor I will be on live-aboard dive boats most weeks so am likely to post weekly on my return to dry land.

My last clients of 2014 were Toby (12 today) and his dad Steve. We started at Haytor where Toby and Steve followed me up Bulging Wall before Toby led Step Across on Pre-placed gear and the second time with a mixture of pre placed and placing his own. After a short lunch we headed round to Hound Tor to see if it was any less windy (not really) where Toby led Paddy twice placing his own gear. We also looked at abseiling, reading a guidebook and coiling ropes. A busy day with nice weather but very cold in the wind. The next post explains why these are the last clients of 2014.

This week I have been again working in my role as a member of Bridgwater College staff with 70 apprentices at Runnage Farm for a week of outdoor activities. Due to the numbers involved, my main job was managing the 10 instructors and other staff but I did get out and about at some points. During the week, the students went rock climbing either at Sheeps Tor, The Dewerstone or Dart Rock if raining. They had a days off road cycling and a 2 day expedition with some challenges involved. Even with the weather not being great, we managed to get a lot done during the week. In the evenings we had an interesting talk from Darren Swift about his expedition to Everest back in 2003, watched Touching the Void and even a Disco in a marque. My thanks to the team of instructors involved.