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Dahab 2012

A wonderful week diving with Red Sea Relax in Dahab, Egypt.

2012-11-03 Dahab_0001.jpg Evening in Dahab, after driving to Manchester over snow-covered roads.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0007.jpg Just about the first thing we saw on our first dive was a turtle - the first we've seen in Egypt. I love turtles, and it was fun to watch this one munching on some soft coral.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0015.jpg Ruth on our first dive.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0016.jpg The reef at Lighthouse goes pretty deep - last time I was in Egypt I was doing technical dive training down there somewhere but it's nice shallow diving for me this week.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0018.jpg I don't think we've seen one of these Filamented Devilfish before - nice find Ruth!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0021.jpg Our second dive was at Islands, where parts of the coral collapsed in an earthquake a decade or so back.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0022.jpg Much of the reef is still in perfect condition though.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0023.jpg The Islands has a resident shoal of Yellowtail Barracuda.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0025.jpg Coral.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0026.jpg The colours of the coral are wonderful, but muted compared with the orange Anthias that are all around us at times.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0031.jpg Anemone Coral.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0035.jpg Giant Clam.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0036.jpg This tiny Laopard Blenny hides right down in the coral, and looks like it has amazing eyelashes!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0046.jpg Ruth makes friends with the local kittens over lunch.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0049.jpg About to descend for a dive at Moray Gardens.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0050.jpg Moray Gardens is a sandy slope with coral outcrops of a variety of sizes.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0052.jpg A lizardfish poses in front of an anemone.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0053.jpg Ruth at Moray Gardens.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0072.jpg In the afternoon we dived a site called "Caves". There is one small tunnel that goes into the reef for a bit opens up to the surface, allowing in rays of sunlight.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0076.jpg Unicornfish - I love these!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0081.jpg Ruth and Karim in the main cave.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0082.jpg Ruth with her camera at caves.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0085.jpg A yellow-spotted burrfish. They look so unusual and unlikely!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0088.jpg Red Sea Anemonefish.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0089.jpg Ruth again! This time at Three Pools.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0091.jpg Karim descends towards the entrance to Canyon.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0092.jpg Karim disappears below me into Canyon.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0094.jpg Looking up from the bottom of Canyon.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0097.jpg Canyon is just visible as a crack in the seabed at the bottom, with streams of bubbles from the divers inside heading for the surface.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0104.jpg Another cloud of Anthias.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0116.jpg Coral Gardens (near Canyon) has some of the best coral around.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0118.jpg These blue-green chromis form a cloud around thier coral-head. The closer I get, the smaller the cloud until they are all inside the coral.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0119.jpg Ruth looking at me disapprovingly at Coral Gardens.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0120.jpg A Red Sea Racoon Butterflyfish. The name's a bit of a mouthful!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0121.jpg Ruth in Churchill's Bar with a Sakara.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0123.jpg Coral and fish diving from Bells to Blue Hole.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0124.jpg A Giant Clam.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0127.jpg A Cornetfish wriggles past - while Ruth takes a photo from below.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0128.jpg Red Sea Anemonefish.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0129.jpg The wall between Bells and Blue Hole is spectacular in scale, even if the coral isn't the best.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0131.jpg Freedivers in the Blue Hole.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0132.jpg A self-portrait at Blue Hole.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0133.jpg The wildlife is much better to the right (south) of the Blue Hole
2012-11-03 Dahab_0134.jpg Ruth with some Anthias.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0137.jpg Blue-green chromis.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0140.jpg A freckled Hawkfish near the saddle at Blue Hole.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0143.jpg Our truck taking us back from the Blue Hole overtakes a lot of camels!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0145.jpg Ruth and I at Bannerfish Bay, messing around while we wait for someone else to do some skills.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0148.jpg Three Moray Eels (the first we've seen this trip) living in an old tyre.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0149.jpg A flatfish on a mound of sand, with an old tyre behind and Karim in the background. Bannerfish Bay isn't the cleanest site, but there is some great life there.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0155.jpg One of the bigger coral heads in the area.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0161.jpg A tiny Shortfin Dwarf Lionfish - I've not seen one of these before.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0162.jpg A pipefish (a close relative of the seahorses we were looking for) emerges from the seagrass.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0164.jpg At Mashraba a stone throne lends a surreal moment to the dive.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0166.jpg Under a big table coral, a Lionfish yawns while a Yellow-Spotted burrfish looks on.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0170.jpg All I can see is a cloud of Anthias...
2012-11-03 Dahab_0172.jpg A Bigeye. They lurk under ledges and look black until a torch or the flash of the camera catches them.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0176.jpg A Dentex Goby lurking right in amongst the coral.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0176-2.jpg I took the chance to jump in for a night dive on Lighthouse. The reef is transformed at night - not least by these featherstars coming out to feed.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0177.jpg Another night-time reef dweller - a Basket Star
2012-11-03 Dahab_0183.jpg A rather well disguised cuttlefish - I've never seen these in daytime in Egypt.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0184.jpg Two rather large Octopii impersonating the coral they are sitting on,
2012-11-03 Dahab_0187.jpg Hanging out at a bedouin-style restaurant before our first dive of the last day...
2012-11-03 Dahab_0189.jpg Our dive at Golden Blocks started well with a Blue-spotted Ray.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0190.jpg Some feather duster worms.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0192.jpg Red Sea Anemonefish. There were tiny juveniles in this anemone too, along with some cleaner shrimp.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0193.jpg A thumb-sized African Chromodorid.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0199.jpg A pair of Threadfin Butterflyfish swimming past.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0200.jpg Regal Angelfish
2012-11-03 Dahab_0204.jpg A rather impressive table coral. I've never seen a chair coral though...
2012-11-03 Dahab_0206.jpg A starry puffer the size of a large dog just lying on the seabed.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0211.jpg Colourful corals and Anthias in the shallows.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0214.jpg Ruth and I again.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0216.jpg Pipefishes on the stony entrance slope at Um Sid.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0219.jpg Garden Eels at Um Sid.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0220.jpg A colourful wrasse.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0221.jpg A Gian Moray eel - not seen a lot of these this trip, but this guy was huge!
2012-11-03 Dahab_0223.jpg Sunshine on Um Sid.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0224.jpg The water is so clear it's like an aquarium.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0227.jpg A Devil Scorpionfish (with very poisonous spines).
2012-11-03 Dahab_0230.jpg Ruth somehow looks like she's tip-toeing.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0231.jpg The sun streams over the mountains onto the shelters we hang out in between dives.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0238.jpg Ruth at "Friends" restaurant, one of our seafront hangouts in Dahab.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0240.jpg The road to Sharm El Sheik - we always seem to be heading back toward the airport as the sun is going down.
2012-11-03 Dahab_0242.jpg All we have left of our Egyptian currency!
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