Sudan on Royal Emperor, October 2007

by Eddie Clamp

Journey (a cautionary tale).

For reasons that will become obvious I have left my journey details to Sudan and back until the end of this write-up. This will enable those who are only interested in the diving to read what they wish and discard the remainder. For those who are travelling to Sudan - beware the pitfalls!

Diving

Royal Emperor is part of the Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel (TBST) Tornado Marine fleet of which details can be found at:
Website.

For those unfamiliar with liveaboard routines visit:
This Report for a brief description.

Nitrox is available onboard at a cost of USD120 for a week or USD10 a fill. I used nitrox three times but was content to dive mostly on air. All divers must have a computer. All divers provide their own basic gear. Torches and DSMBs and other gear can be provided onboard, if requested. I had booked the use of a 15-litre cylinder before leaving the UK at a cost of £25 for the week.

Sudan offers a seascape that is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and complete in the world. Shaab Suedi and the wreck "Blue Belt" is a ship loaded with Japanese cars of all sorts. The south point of Shaab Rumi where part of Jacques Cousteau's research station "Conshelf II" still sits mostly intact on the sand among the corals.

Sanganeb Reef has a large lighthouse, linked to the water by a long catwalk. You can spend days or even weeks at this site exploring the great diversity of the areas natural bounty.

Wingate Reef and the Umbria Wreck. The wreck "Umbria" has a cargo of 360.000 bombs that makes the exploring of the wreck still more exciting. The "Umbria" is one of the most famous sunken ships in the world. Lying in the shelter of Wingate Reef, just outside Port Sudan and largely unaffected by currents and tides. It is within easy reach of Port Sudan harbour. The wreck lies at an angle on her port side with her starboard davits breaking the surface. At a maximum depth of 36m the Umbria is shallow by most wreck divers' standards. With plenty of light and good visibility, entering most of the ship is easy. The hull itself is completely intact, if heavily encrusted with marine life, and can be explored internally and externally along its entire length.

Other famous dive sites in Sudan are Abington and Angarosh. More details of the reefs of Sudan can be found at: BSAC Sudan Page

Day One.

Dive One - Shaab Suedi Ganoup - 20m - 60 mins. Dive two -Shaab Suedi - Blue Belt wreck - 38m - 62 mins.

We were woken from our slumbers around 1100. Do not ask me when we left Port Sudan after our late arrival around 0730. All I can say is that we arrived on site. I am sure James said we were to get five hours sleep but nevertheless after just three we arose and were up for our check dive. As usual at this time in a liveaboard trip the long safety brief is all. On completion I followed James into the water and spent a very relaxed dive inspecting the coral life and fish of which couple of largish Sweetlips figured. At the end of the dive I deployed my DSMB as a practice. Sea temperature was a warm 30°C.

We then moved on to dive the Blue Belt wreck. The ship was a Saudi Arabian general cargo vessel built in Germany and launched in 1950. The wreck's bows are at 21m while the stern is at 83m. She was sailing from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia to Port Sudan with a cargo of cars and trucks when she struck Shaab Suedi Reef during December 1977. The wreck is upside down so we were able to swim deep between the wreck and the reef. We then followed the drop-off to reach an area resembling a coral garden. Spending some time here just looking and admiring the colourful reef I reluctantly deployed my DSMB to signal the surface RIB to come and pick me up. A great dive.

Day Two.

Dive One - Blue Belt Wreck - 30m -65 mins. Dive Two - Quita el Banna - 25m - 65 mins. Dive Three - Merlo - South West Ledge - 21m - 58 mins.

Another dive on the Blue Belt wreck. Some volunteered for the inner wreck tour but I decided to swan around taking pictures of the decaying Toyota vans and trucks which had fallen from the wreck. Follow the drop-off here to the coral garden if you can.

We then sailed for Quita el Banna. The urge while diving here was to follow James out towards blue water in the search for the elusive shark. I did this for a while then returned to the reef wall to inspect the pristine corals. We then moved on to dive the southwest ledge of the Merlo reef. Swimming along with this reef we encountered a profusion of colourful angelfish and later a large anemone with many "Nemo" fish.

Day Three.

Dive One - Angarosh - "Mother of Sharks" - 39m - 60 mins. Midday - Mesharifa - Snorkelling with Mantas. Dive Two - Abington South East - 32m - 65 mins.

On reaching the plateau at Angarosh we immediately sighted a Tiger shark. I watched as another steamed through a bunch of divers below me. Too fast to get the camera going. As I came shallow towards the end of the dive I was passed quite closely by a Whitetip shark.

Midday we were taken by RIB to the reef at Mesahrifa. Guaranteed Mantas here we were informed. As we approached we could see groups of two or three mantas splashing around on the surface. First manta reached and everyone exited the Rib. Excitedly swimming towards the manta only to have it dive and disappear. It was only when we were split into groups of two or three snorkellers did we get anywhere near them. Snorkel in quietly and obliquely towards them. Outstanding!! I had mantas come right up close, eyeball me and turn slightly away to avoid me. A never to be forgotten experience! Groups of happy divers left the area, returning to Royal Emperor full of their own individual stories.

In the afternoon we moved to Abington Reef. A lovely dive along the wall to another plateau. I departed the main group of divers to enjoy the wonderful corals and small fishes abundant here. While exiting the water I sighted small whitetip swimming along the wall.

Day Four.

Dive One - Shaab Rumi - South Plateau - 31.5m - 65 mins. Dive Two - same site - 28.5m - 54 mins (Nitrox). Dive Three - same site -28m - 35 mins (Nitrox). Dive Four - Shaab Rumi - Conshelf Two - Night dive - 14m - 32 mins.

Shaab Rumi Reef is some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast from Port Sudan the reef here has a plateau at 9 metres (30 feet) and a steep drop-off. What can I say about this site? I enjoyed it immensely. So much so that that I forwent the Jacques Cousteau Conshelf Two orientation day dive to dive the plateau again.

James had told us prior to the first dive that there was a clearly identifiable shark-cleaning station here. I took immediate notice of this so that when the majority of divers were obviously heading for a possible deep hammerhead experience I peeled off on my own to sit in a sandy gully by the rock phallic symbol identified by James as next to the station. Almost immediately five or six whitetips came swimming by from the deep channel followed by a large group of barracuda. They swarmed all around me. Fantastic. It was only when the dive group rejoined me that the fish disappeared to return later in smaller numbers. For my second and third dives here I elected to dive with Nitrox, as I knew I would not be going below 30m. For these two dives I sat in another sandy gully next to the plateau drop-off and watched and filmed the many whitetips swimming both along the reef and over it. During one of the dives I swam up into the schooling barracuda to have them swimming all around me. Barracuda all around me and sharks below!!!

This is also where Jacques Cousteau and his team mounted an underwater base in order to study the effects of long term underwater stays on divers once they are fully saturated with gases. In the evening I night dived the Jacques Cousteau Conshelf Two site. All that remains are the underwater tool shed and the garage for the saucer type submarine. Very enjoyable, if quiet. Night dives were available most evenings. They do not figure in my story as I chose to relax in the evenings - three dives a day mostly being enough for me.

During the day we were joined by the Royal Evolution. The Evolution trip is from Port Ghaleb to Sudan and back and lasts fourteen days. Its itinerary can be viewed here:
Website
I had thought, initially, that this boat was part of the TBST Tornado Marine Fleet I have since been informed that it is not.



Day Five.

Dive One - Shaab Rumi - South Plateau - 26m - 61 mins (Nitrox). Sanganeb - North Plateau - 39m - 65 mins. Sanganeb - South West Plateau - 27m - 44 mins.

We were up early to be first on site when Royal Evolution came steaming by to drop her 23 divers off on the reef. So we waited a little time to give them the pleasure of being the first. When we eventually entered the water - no sharks but quite a lot of barracuda. I was very glad that I had missed the Conshelf Two day dive to dive the Plateau the previous day.

Sanganeb Reef is found about one and a half hours north of the Umbria wreck. This reef rises from 800 metres (2,625 feet) depth to the surface. The reef is said to have the richest coral displays in the Red Sea. A British built lighthouse is situated on the reef. There are two Sudanese men who take it in turns to live in the lighthouse. They rotate every 4 to 5 weeks and love to welcome visitors. It is possible climb to visit the lighthouse and look out over the crystal clear coral reef. The southern plateau of Sanganeb is a good dive with both soft and hard corals, along with schooling jackfish, barracuda, tuna, and snapper. The northern plateau is an outstanding dive. This is a deep dive with a lower plateau at 45 metres where schooling hammerheads are common.

As usual the divers in the quest for the elusive Hammerhead headed into deeper waters of the north plateau while I turned back to follow the edge of the shallower plateau and ended up my dive in the coral gardens with colourful antheas, a small humphead wrasse and a free swimming moray eel. Diving the southwest plateau we were met immediately by two curious whitetip reef sharks. Apparently they had been fed in the past and were always ready for an inspection of any group of divers. Not being fed by us they moved on after ten minutes or so. A curious dolphin that took to imitating their ways followed two of our group briefly. After the sharks a few of us were taken up by the search for the Longnose hawkfish. So much so that by becoming so engrossed in our photography we had crept down to 28m and started to accrue a deco penalty. So it was out with DSMB and to the surface after a short deco period.

Then we sailed to Wingate Reef and the last days diving on the wreck of the Umbria.

Day Six.

Dive One - Wingate Reef - Umbria Wreck - 23m - 69 mins. Dive Two - Umbria 18m - 63 mins. Dive Three - Umbria - 25m - 64 mins.

I spent all three dives today exploring the bows, midship and stern areas of the wreck. I especially enjoyed grotting around in the holds with all sorts of bombs, detonators, building materials, a few Fiat cars and much more. My last dive of the day was spent on an off-piste tour with DM James in to the crew accommodation, the galley, engine room and last but not least the boiler room. James said it was tight and was it ever! I shall not forget that squeeze through that small hatch in a long while (thank you James). I ended up my last dive of the trip looking at the colourful fish and coral as I rose to the surface. Even here on the Umbria there is a profusion of metal encrusted corals surrounded by many coloured fish.












After the dive we sailed into harbour where it appeared the main interest of the Port Sudan inhabitants was us. We slept onboard over night and were taken to the airport after lunch after making our sad farewells.



Journey

Flying to Port Sudan calls for a journey using Egypt Air via Cairo where an overnight stop is required before travelling on via Sudan Air. On Saturday, the day after our arrival we received the news that our flight to Port Sudan had been cancelled and that we may know some news on Sunday. On Sunday it appeared that the only real option for us all was to rebook our flights back to the UK on Monday after another night in the hotel. This flight rebooking cost us 40 US each. We were never given a reason for our cancelled flight. TBST assured me that it had never happened before.

On return our insurance companies informed us that they would not cover compensation for our cancelled holiday as we had already left the UK. Individual tour companies were liable it appears. Tony Backhurst offered me another tour at no further cost and with a further £70 off. An offer I accepted after a brief discussion with my long-suffering wife. Only four of the original six were able to take up this offer

A month later we flew to Cairo again on Egypt Air. No weight allowance is offered to divers but my bag, even though overweight, was passed through without comment. The flight was comfortable if basic. Egypt Air does not offer alcohol on their flights - soft drinks, tea and coffee throughout.

On arrival in Cairo we were ushered through immigration and onto our bus. Travelling with TBST we had no visa costs to pay as this is covered by the company both incoming from UK and returning from Sudan. The new style Egyptian visa was stuck into our passports. This visa clearly shows the price as USD15, so there can be no argy bargy about this cost any more.

This time we were accommodated in the Hilton Ramses located next to the Nile and near the museum. The rooms were very nice but the hotel was not quite as nice as the Le Meridien where we had stayed during our first weekend stay. We awaited the following day with some trepidation.

The day arrived. Some went on the offered city tour (£40+). Our flight was delayed and we eventually departed our hotel at 2100 for the airport. Although we had been allocated seats when we boarded the aircraft it became obvious that it meant nothing, as we had to find our own seating. The flight was fairly comfortable, if full. Arrival in Port Sudan was early morning just as the sun was rising. We had to put our watches forward an hour as Sudan time is an hour in front of Egyptian.

Arrival in Sudan can be problematic. We were fortunate to be met and escorted through what can be a very bureaucratic system. We were given our visas to show to the officials and then handed over both them and our passports. We did not see either again till the end of the week, as they had to be sent to Khartoum for stamping. We then passed through to the baggage reclaim area to the squeakiest, oldest, tattiest luggage carousel I have ever seen. Needless to say the locals were not queuing. It was a free for all! When we eventually gathered our baggage we had to submit to a chaotic baggage search before being allowed to depart the terminal.

Finally we were taken by bus to the boat. Never was a liveaboard so glad to be seen, as was the MV Royal Emperor that early morning. We were met by James who was to be our dive marshal and guide for the week. He gave us a short safety brief after which we paid up our visa fees of 250 US (180 entry and 70 exit) then set up some of our gear and then went to bed.

On the return trip to UK our flight from Port Sudan was on time (which apparently was unusual). Unfortunately we had to go through the bureaucratic system similar to that of our arrival. Again we were ushered through the system. We gave in our bags at the arrivals desk and hung around while a local rep took our passports to various offices to have them checked. We then passed through into immigration where our passports were checked again. We then found a mountain of baggage from which we had to select our own and have it manually searched. Once this was over we placed our baggage on a carousel to be sent to the dispatchers. After this we went through hand baggage x-ray into the departure lounge and final departure. The toilet facilities at this airport, both male and female, are disgusting.

In Cairo we were accommodated at the Hilton Ramses for the night although my schedule from TBST showed the Le Passage hotel that is located next to the airport. Nevertheless we had a comfortable night and were driven to the airport at 0600 for the uneventful flight back to UK.

I make no apologies for including all the above in my trip report. I feel anyone who makes this very worthwhile trip to Sudan should be au fait with the travel and associated stress it brings with it.

Booking.

My holiday was booked through Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel:
Here who gave me a 5% BSAC member discount based on the original price of the holiday as it had already been discounted once.

Finally.

Sudan is a third world country with all its associated problems. It operates strict Islamic Sharia Law. Alcohol is not permitted and may not be imported. Non-Muslim women are not expected to wear a veil, but visitors should dress modestly while ashore and respect local customs and sensitivities.

I was very aware that during my first abortive trip and later that the country was suffering enormous problems with catastrophic floods and also the prospect of United Nation's troop intervention, albeit at a distance from where we were headed. This placed our small troubles into a greater, local perspective. All of this must be taken into consideration when planning a holiday in this area.

Did I enjoy my holiday? A resounding - Yes! Will I go back again? Already making plans! Great diving from a great boat!


Eddie Clamp
November 2007

Photography by Eddie Clamp and Denise Bray.



Sudan main page