Taba Heights , March 2011

Frog Fish (aren't they hard to photo!)

What with a few tourists being nibbled by an Oceanic White-Tip shark a few weeks ago and political unrest in major cities like Cairo & Luxor , it might not be surprising to learn that the occupancy rate for hotels in Taba Heights was lower than normal.  Of course, no marine life incidents have been reported recently and it was quiet and very peaceful  during my visit.

My visit was a 'Holiday with Diving' status trip , as opposed to a diving holiday! I went with an ol'buddy who I taught to dive some years ago, his son and our better halves!  The airline's as SUCH a pain these days, for the first time I decided to hire a wet suit rather than take my own (and carry the weight!).

We had planned to do only four dives , but my plans were reduced by 50% when on the second day, it transpired the wet suit on board was (despite assurances from Waterworld to the contrary) was used by another diver ... well he got to it first and there were no other hire suits on board!  So the second day was a 'lovely' boat ride along the coast of Taba Heights. Waterworld did (thankfully) refund the whole day.

So my TWO dives were :-

a). Mugabila , 47mins at max depth of 21.3m , and

b). Jack's Tables, 46mins at max depth of 18.6m

The better dive was the second dive at Jack's Tables, as the names suggests plenty of big table corals. Highlights on that dive were sightings of an octopus, a big green and red frog fish, stone fish and a devil scorpion fish.

The water temperature was 21/22 degrees C and the air temperature varied from 26 to 34 degrees, it was quite breezy on occasions , but that is not unusual in that part of the Sinai.

A very pleasant and relaxed trip ... oh, if any finds a fuji underwater camera (no , not mine) , my buddy managed to part company with his on a second Jack's Table dive!

Clown Fish (You always have to photo one!)