Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone on MY Fraser, May 2007
by Eddie Clamp

Journey

I flew from Gatwick to Marsa Alam on Astraeus Airlines and returned via Euro Atlantic Airlines. Both flights were acceptable, if cramped.

All divers are given an extra 5 kg of baggage allowance on production of their dive qualification. I was not asked for this at Gatwick but had to show my BSAC card to the departure staff at Marsa Alam.

On arrival in Marsa Alam the Regaldive representative arranged our visa. There was some confusion in the arrival hall as one Regaldive representative gave me my visa and asked for my air ticket as collateral for payment of £15. On meeting the main Regaldive guide outside after paying I mentioned this and was immediately given a refund of £4, as the correct visa cost should be £11. On arrival at the bus, which was to take us the short journey to Marsa Ghalib Port, we were given a short briefing on our holiday.

We arrived on Fraser early evening and were met by our dive marshal Anneke who aided by Aziz would be briefing and guiding us on our dives for the next week. The rest of the evening was given to a television briefing on the boat, setting up of gear on the dive deck, checking our dive qualifications, gear requirements and allocation of cabins. We then settled down to our first meal onboard and a good nights sleep before sailing. Unfortunately due to the more than normal amount of jellyfish in the harbour, which were constantly blocking the engine seawater intakes, the air conditioning could not be operated. Apparently we could not leave harbour to spend the night at anchor due to harbour restrictions. This made for a slightly warm and sticky cabin, which made sleep somewhat uncomfortable. Some slept on the upper deck.

On the last day we were taken from the boat to a local hotel around 0900 and remained there until mid afternoon chilling out by the pool and having lunch with a few beers. From there we went to the airport. Confusion reigned over seating arrangements on the return flight as we were informed in the departure lounge that there would be a free for all for seats even though we had all been allocated one. This was revised back to allocated seating on boarding the aircraft after the initial rush. Result - chaos!!!

Diving

Emperor divers: Website run a fleet of boats at different Platinum, Gold and Silver levels. MY Fraser is on the Silver level. Details of facilities onboard Fraser can be found Here.

For all those familiar with Liveaboard diving the daily routine onboard would come as no surprise. We were normally called at 0530 for an early morning brief and dive. A two hour surface interval followed during which time we had breakfast. Next we had another dive. Then another surface interval with lunch followed by the third dive of the day. Being more senior than most I found this schedule quite strenuous and normally took myself off to bed after the evening dinner.

Having recently completed a PADI enriched air diver (EAD) course at Mulberry Divers, Selsey: Website I did most of my diving using 32% Nitrox. There is a payment for Nitrox onboard Fraser although I believe it is free on Emperor platinum and gold boats. Other "must haves" for all divers included: dive computer, torch and DSMB. My charges included: Marine Park fees - 80euros, Port fees - 20euros, 15 litre cylinder for the week - 30euros, Nitrox charge - 60euros. A voluntary fee of 7euros is payable for deco chamber support. Other than this I provided all my own equipment. Divers must have a minimum of 50 dives to participate in this "Simply the Best" itinerary.

We were informed that no night diving is permitted in the Marine Parks. A night dive was organised towards the end of the holiday when we were closer to the shore at Abu Dabbab.

Day One

Dive One - Ras Torombi - 14m - 48mins. Dive Two - Little Brother South - 23m - 46 mins We departed Marsa Ghalib port at 0800 the morning after our arrival. On arriving at our check dive site we were given a complete and comprehensive brief on all aspects of our future weeks diving. Thereafter all dive briefs were much shorter and to the point. Anneke informed us that the check dive was not just for them but also for us to check our gear and weighting out. We then dived Ras Torombi. As usual with these sites close inshore there was not much to see and the viz was less than could be expected in the Red Sea. Nevertheless we had an enjoyable dive at the end of which we all had to deploy and prove our DSMBs. We then sailed for the Brothers Islands.

The Brothers Islands are situated 67 km offshore east of El Quseir and south East of Safaga. The two islands situated there are only one kilometre apart. The dive sites are mostly wall dives and deep drop offs. Big Brother has a couple of wrecks. One - the Aida, an Italian ship that was carrying troops one night in 1957. A large wreck with much intact superstructure, its shallowest point is at 15m. and ends below 45m. The other - the Numidia is sitated on the Northern tip of the Island. Often there are strong currents running straight onto the wreck. This wreck starts at a depth of 8m and lays on a steep drop-off at an almost vertical angle with soft coral covering it to a depth of 55metres. The stern is raised and provides a nice rounded poop deck below which a large propeller is found at a depth of about 80m (only for tekkies).

We arrived at Little Brother Island early evening and dived the south face. Being the only liveaboard there we were able to tie up in reasonable comfort and safety. Our first dive was just a step off the dive platform into the water. We followed Aziz around the southern corner of the island coming upon many Tuna and all types of small fishes and coral. Returning shallow we were able to carry our obligatory three minutes at five metres safety stop in the shadow of the reef before making our way back to Fraser.

Day Two

Dive One - Little Brother East - 28m - 51mins. Dive Two - Little Brother West -24m 44mins. Dive Three - Big Brother West - 23m - 36mins












We carried out two further dives around the Little Brother Island today. Both were carried out from the two Fraser Ribs. Worthy of note here is that this type of fast current diving requires a little negative buoyancy and a smart exit from the rib onto the reef below. There is little time in such fast currents to linger around the rib. The technique is to squeeze all air out of the BCD, which together with a little extra weight should allow the diver to exit backwards from the rib on command of the driver, then turning around and making for the reef wall underwater. All the time keeping an eye out for your guide and dive buddy.

During our second dive today we sighted two Thresher sharks at different times (ok could have been the same one twice - but who cares :))

Due to the wind and sea blowing up Captain Salah decided to move to the relative shelter of Big Brother Island where we carried out a further dive on the west face in front of the lighthouse.

Day Three

Dive One -Numidia - Missed (ill). Dive Two - Aida II - 32m -47mins. Dive Three -Numidia - 33m - 46mins. Devastated this morning as I had contracted a stomach virus overnight and was not fit enough to dive the Numidia. This was very reason I booked this trip as I had missed diving on the wreck from another liveaboard (MY Sea Serpent) five years previously.
Anyway, I had recovered sufficiently to join the second dive of the day on the Aida. After more than 40 years underwater, the Aïda is now permanently concreted to the Reef on which she has slowly become a part. There is considerable coral growth all over the ship. With decreasing intensity as one ventures deeper. We found a wide variety of soft corals and hard corals with the shallower parts of the wreck being a veritable living confusion of colour. During the return to the boat along the reef we were accosted by a large Napoleon Wrasse.
Later my fellow divers and guides took pity on me and arranged to dive the Numidia again. Four of us dropped off the rib onto the wreck and descended to 33m. We were immediately greeted by a large moray swimming free over the wreck. We spent twenty minutes or so taking photos and exploring the profuse fish life and corals before we departed to take the long swim along the west face back to Fraser. Coming shallow we carried out our safety stop, put up our DSMB and were quickly picked up be the rib. A great dive!!! On completion we sailed overnight to Daedalus Reef.

Day Four

Dive One - Daedalus Reef - 31m - 43 mins. Dive Two - Daedalus Reef - 25m - 55mins. Dive Three - Daedalus Reef - 25m - 46mins












Daedalus Reef is a small, isolated reef that lies in the open sea almost halfway to Saudi Arabia. The reef is less than 800m (0.5 miles) across. It is marked by a lighthouse that forms the only break on the horizon for many miles in any direction. The reef has steep drop-offs on the east, north and south sides. The southern side offers excellent shelter from the prevailing north winds and is the preferred mooring point for visiting boats. Due to the prevailing winds we were only able to dive the west side of the reef. This caused few problems, as we were able to dive, exit the water, and be dropped for the second and third dives to continue along the reef from where we had exited the water previously.

High spot of these three dives was undoubtedly Aziz's unerring instinct for shark finding. Constantly on the outlook into the blue he sighted the resident shoal of Hammerheads. A number of them came to investigate our group much to the joy of we photographers!! We were later passed closely by two dolphins and then a white tip reef shark. Bliss!!!

We then sailed for Elphinstone Reef.

Day Five

Elphinstone Reef is 300 m long with sheer sides, and runs from North to South. At the middle it is just 1m deep, but the walls drop steeply into the depths. The currents here can be very strong, which is good as it means plenty of fish life. Visibility is usually around 20 m.
Dive One and Two - Elphinstone Reef - 28m - 43 mins, 25m - 46 mins. Dive Three -Abu Dabbab 2 & 3 -17m -54 mins. Night dive - too tired!!

Every time I dived Elphinstone in the past I have met up with those wonderful Oceanic White tips - sadly not this time. We did two dives here but weather conditions deteriorated so we moved closer inshore to spend the night. Nevertheless this very busy, over dived site was enjoyed by all for the varied small fish and coral life.

Day Six

Dive One - Marsa Abu Dabbab - 17m -54 mins, 16m - 67 mins. Marsa El Shona -13m - 63mins The last day! Always a sense of anticlimax on this occasion. Having moved inshore we could not expect the adrenalin surge that we experienced on the outer reefs but I always enjoy swimming along the reef on the last day of diving and staying a little while to observe the shimmering effects of the coral, antheas and glassfish. Always a lasting memory for me.

However there was one final holiday memory. The search for the elusive Denis the Dugong in the bay at Marsa Abu Dabbab. We exited the rib into the water with Aziz guiding. The bay consists mostly sea grass that is fringed by a small reef. We spent 67 minutes criss-crossing the sea grass to no avail. However, we did see numerous large turtles chomping away at the grass together with their associated remoras and also a guitar ray on the way. We went back happy! We were later informed that we were to be the last liveaboard to be allowed to dive here.

The boat

I found Fraser a boat full of character - not the smartest in the fleet - but one of the happiest working dive boats! Captain Salah is an old time sailor who runs a taut but happy ship with a very friendly crew. Anneke and Aziz were also very able and friendly dive guides.

Breakfast in the morning was one of the best organised meals I have had on a liveaboard. My fried eggs on toast came almost immediately to the plate. Personally for lunch I could have done without a sit down meal, preferring a buffet style at this time of the day but that was just me. Dinner was a gathering to discuss the events of the day and always a memorable occasion. Food was always excellent and well served. Fraser was very clean and neat throughout.

If I had one reservation about the trip it was the fact that a number of we divers suffered from some sort of tummy virus at different times during the week. Obviously not food poisoning but something else. Who knows??

Liveaboard diving is the epitome of Red Sea diving for me. When I am day boating there and I see a liveaboard I am green with envy. It is where my heart belongs. I hope to extend my travels there towards Sudan and Djibouti in the not too distant future.

Many thanks to all my fellow divers on the trip, especially those of the Baltic Exchange BSAC Special Branch who all took an old Sailor to their hearts. I enjoyed your company immensely! Thank you very much. Hope to see you all again one day.

My holiday was booked through Regaldive: Website who offered me a 5% discount as a current BSAC member.

Finally

I also thank my lovely, long suffering non-diving, expert quilting wife who has followed me around the world with our family, both while I have been diving and working. After thirty-eight years of marriage I decided that maybe I could quilt as well. So my efforts of Big Brother Island and Daedalus Reef will hopefully be shown next to the actual picture of the same. Was I right??? :)

Eddie Clamp
June 2007
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