Egypt - October 2024
Divers:
Luke Connelly, Mark Connelly, Vic Russell, Leonie Russell, Darren Scott, Will Goodbourn, Richard Cork, Lydia Dunbavand
It is difficult to write about Roots Red Sea without getting a little bit sentimental. This is my place, where I first learnt to dive and am now training to become a junior divemaster - not forgetting that this is the place that I shared with some of my favourite people in the world. So, I find being here without my best friends is strange; as though I keep expecting them to emerge out of their rooms for a round of chicken in the pool or darts in the foyer. I miss my old friends, and it hurts to realise the passage of time, knowing that I am a different person to the excited but inexperienced thirteen year-old that came here for the first time two years ago. My first open-water dive and my fiftieth dive have both been here, and it just so happens that my 50th dive was also my first time leading a group of divers. I suppose the cycle repeats itself; the open-water candidate becomes a trainee divemaster, and who knows who I’ll be next time I come here.
Day 1
Having arrived around 10pm, expecting to go straight to bed before a morning of diving, it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted with a very British Sunday roast. The smell of the desert is all too familiar and the stars are just as beautiful as ever. I can tell that most of us are more excited for tomorrow’s day of diving than the big paperwork sort-out of the morning.
Day 2
We started off the trip with some brilliant dives on the house reef - even though a year has gone by, I still remember every nook and cranny of this site. With this previous knowledge, I was allowed to lead the second dive out to the south reef. I always imagined myself royally screwing up my first guided dive - but as soon we got out there, it felt totally natural. Luckily I was granted a great group of responsible divers and I was grateful to not be having my first dive guide experience in Stoney Cove. Don’t worry; that’s next weekend. Either way, I didn’t lose anyone and I’ll take that win!
Day 3
Green Hole, Abu Hamra
When we got back from the shore dives of the morning, it was time for Will to attempt an SMB deploy on the south reef. The plan was simple: Luke would film the deploy and the three-minute safety stop at five metres, while I supervised the troublemakers on the rope below. Unfortunately, the current would have washed Luke, Will, and Darren out to sea so the safety stop was aborted. Meanwhile, I did have to chase after a couple divers (who will remain unnamed) and subsequently gained a bit of a bossy reputation. Sorry Mark. I have to practice my Tracey stare on someone.
Day 4
El Makluf, Abu Hamra
Some brilliant shore dives and another dive on the house reef - in terms of anything interesting, we saw quite a few moray eels. I think we all had more fun learning to tie knots at dinner!
Day 5
Another morning of shore diving at a windy beach called ‘Gasus Soraya’. At this point in the week it’s safe to say that I have tried to copy every visible technique that I’ve seen off of Luke, and I can tell that my frog kicks and back-finning are improving. It’s always when you begin to get too comfortable that you start making silly mistakes, and then you feel like an absolute idiot when you forget your dive computer on the third dive of the day. As Vic and Will prepared to go for another SMB deploy on the north reef at home, I looked down to check my depth and discovered that there was nothing to look at all. Let’s just say, I certainly knew better. Luckily, Darren was kind enough to accompany me back to shore - and not let me wallow in my stupidity. The SMB deploys both went well (from what I heard!) and I had to feel sorry for Luke who was subjected to three safety stops on one dive. All was forgiven and Luke, Darren, and I ended up getting back in the water for a fourth dive - which became one of my favourite dives of the week - we saw a moray eel chilling in his little habitat just watching the world go by.
Day 6
Serib Kebir has been everyone’s favourite dive site since, well, forever. For me, it was where a previous dive guide predicted that I would eventually become a divemaster, and here I am. On the journey there, I listened to a fellow diver named Mike’s stories of the so-called ‘stairway to heaven’ and the amphitheatre on the south reef. The most special part about diving to me is that I get to hear these stories from people that have crossed the world just to be here, to dive this site and relive the memories of somewhere so special that it sticks with you for years after.
A staple of this site are the famous swim-throughs, which are amazing unless you’re like me and should’ve switched out your inordinately long fins for a shorter pair a long time ago. The amount of times I kicked the walls on this dive fully convinced me to invest in something a bit more practical. Apeks RK3s for Christmas, Dad? Mark’s fins, on the other hand, I hope never get replaced. His ‘camp’ finning technique made for some hilarious moments for sure
Day 7
Marsa Waleed, Marsa Shora
The last day of shore diving was definitely my favourite. It was my first time seeing not one, but two turtles, who both decided to come very close.
(it’s me!)
Day 8
Some people can be enthusiastic about leaping out of bed at 5am for a sunrise hike - one of those people is my dad. It has become a yearly tradition to drag the crew up the hills behind Roots on the last day of the trip, and it just so happened that this year I decided to partake. Vic promptly berated me for my grumpy morning demeanour, and then we set off to watch the orange sun poke up above the red sea. I suppose it was worth it.
Thanks Dad. I jumped straight back into bed for six more hours and was awoken by the reminder that the airport bus was leaving in an hour and I hadn’t even retrieved my kit from the dive centre. Whoops. At least conserving my energy in the morning meant that I could stay up and write this entire blog on the plane…
I had so much fun diving with this amazing group, and part of me is pretty certain that fate will only drag me back to Egypt next October for a fourth year running. If you’re a girl and reading this, and thinking about getting into diving, go for it. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that it’s a male-dominated sport. Buy a pair of pink fins and don’t let a guy explain something to you if you already know it. It’s so important to surround yourself with people that you can learn from, that also share your passion - who I am, compared to this impressive group of people, I’m not really sure yet.
