Coming up, Jonathan rides a camel, and witnesses a dolphin pooping!
Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
The Red Sea is known to divers all over the world as one of the places you absolutely
must visit.
It has a reputation for clear water and absolutely breathtaking reefs.
So Cameramen Todd and Bill are joining me in Egypt for a Red Sea dive trip!
And, if you are going all the way to Egypt, you really ought to see the pyramids.
So as our first adventure, we grab a cab to Giza on the outskirts of Cairo, where we do
the tourist thing and take a horse and buggy to a place where we can try riding camels.
Clearly, Cameraman Todd is not an experienced camel rider.
Then our guides lead us out into the desert.
We’re riding camels…to the pyramids!
I’ve seen a million pictures of the pyramids in my life, but I never expected I would get
to see them in person!
As we ride closer and closer, their true size becomes visible.
Walking around the grounds, it’s hard to believe that people built these completely
by hand.
We visit the Sphinx, which is very impressive—and popular.
It’s crowded.
And then later that night we walk around Cairo to check out the local scene.
But then, some bad news.
So, due to some problems with Egyptian Customs, we missed our flight from Cairo down to Marsa
Alam, but it’s okay because instead we’re driving across Egypt from Cairo to Marsa Alam,
seven hours of sightseeing…and it’s going to be fabulous!
Oh and we have no air conditioning!
Our dive boat embarkes from Marsa Alam, 730 kilometers (that’s 450 miles) from Cairo.
We hire a driver and begin a drive across the desert!
Todd and Bill are making the most of it while our driver focuses on the road.
We pass a lot of wind turbines.
It’s nice to see Egypt using their substantial wind to make electricity.
After a while, we reach the coast and drive a road where the mountains meet the Red Sea,
and it’s starkly beautiful.
Finally, nine hours after we left Cairo, we reach our dive boat at the marina in Marsa
Alam.
We board the Seawolf for a week of diving the remote southern waters of the Red Sea.
Because the boat is not full, I get my own cabin, so I can unpack all my gear everywhere.
The next morning we depart for our adventure, sailing out of the marina, past shallow reefs
and out into blue water.
We’re heading south to the very southern end of Egypt, to find some of the most pristine
reefs in the Red Sea!
It’s a few hours before we reach our first dive site.
The crew puts an inflatable in the water to help tie up the boat.
They are securing the boat to Elphinstone Reef, a famous dive site.
Rather than use anchors, which damage coral, the boat is tied to a mooring, which is permanently
attached to the reef.
The captain maintains the Seawolf in position while they get it tied up.
Reefs in this part of the Red Sea rise to within a meter of the surface from depths
of about 30 meters.
These tall reefs are called “bommies.”
Before our dive, we get a briefing, which is where they tell you all the exotic things
they have ever seen at the site that you will probably never see.
And of course, some local conditions and currents.
Then it’s time to suit up!
I hit the water, followed by Todd and Bill, and the first thing we see in the clear blue
water is jellyfish!
These are moon jellies, harmless to people and beautiful to film.
Before we even get below the surface, a pod of Bottlenosed dolphins comes over to check
us out!
They aren’t really interested in playing with us, but they stick around for a few minutes.
They’re accompanied by an Oceanic Whitetip shark.
Ever wondered what it looks like when a dolphin poops?
Well, here you go!
That was awesome!
Once the dolphins wander off, we sink down to the reef and I can’t believe the colors.
The Red Sea is known for gorgeous soft corals in pastel colors, and this is certainly no
disappointment.
As I swim along the wall of coral I am just taking in how beautiful these reefs are.
These lush reefs also provide the ideal habitat for tons of small fish.
Small fish called anthias are everywhere.
Their colors—orange, pink and purple--almost mimic the colors of the soft coral.
Everywhere I go, I swim through clouds of these little fish.
In the overhangs there are schools of glassfish.
These reefs are extremely healthy and vibrant, and everywhere I swim there are anthias by
the millions.
Some of the coral on this reef is actually a mustard-colored hydroid called fire coral.
It’s not a true coral.
If you look closely, you can see what looks like hairs.
It may look soft and fuzzy, but fire coral is bad news if you rub your skin against it.
Those hairs are stingers and believe me this stuff is no fun at all.
There are not many large animals around, but I find a Whitetip Reef shark resting on the
sand under an overhang.
Nearby, a dead surgeonfish with a bite out of it is jammed into the reef.
It was the victim of a hungry moray eel, which no doubt bit the fish but couldn’t manage
to pull it back into its den.
A moon jelly has drifted over to the reef, where a pair of damselfish are nibbling on
it.
The reef is a bad place for a jelly.
As we rise to the surface at the end of the dive, we come across a school of fusilier
feeding on plankton.
Until something frightens them.
Finally it’s time to get out of the water.
Woo!
Soon the captain is moving the boat to our next dive site!
Don’t go away!
On the next dive, Jonathan is going to explore some coral caverns!
For our second Red Sea dive, we will dive from an inflatable because we are going to
a spot that the big boat can’t reach.
We have to time our water entry carefully so we all roll in together and drift with
the current to the reef.
But the reward is an even more spectacular reef.
This particular spot has tons of reef swim-throughs.
Todd, Bill and I have a blast swimming into them and exploring.
They feel a little bit like caves.
They are formed when reefs grow together above, like a canopy in a forest.
But there are tons of openings to let in light and allow divers to leave, so this is not
cave diving.
I call them coral caverns.
Still, swimming through these passages, with shafts of light twinkling around me is a surreal
experience.
On the sand outside the coral caverns, a Blue-spotted stingray is also feeding.
He digs into the sand and vacuums out worms and clams.
Stingrays have a stinger on their tail, used for defense.
After a few minutes, we start making our way back to the boat.
At the top of the reef, we find a Hawksbill Sea turtle looking for something to eat.
Hawksbills eat things that most animals could never digest, like sponges, crinoids and in
this case, soft coral.
It doesn’t look particularly appetizing.
Finally we surface at the inflatable.
As the sun goes down, I reflect upon the day.
The reefs of the Red Sea are truly astonishing and they definitely live up to their reputation.
I can hardly wait to see what they look like on a night dive…
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