Egypt - Diving with a Dugong

The first scuba diving liveaboard I have been onto, for one week back in 2009 in Egypt on the M/Y Thunderbird. The diving trip started in Hurghada and was going down to the St. Johns Reef, covering a distance of 400km each way with a schedule of 2-4 dives per day.

August 6 - The Liveaboard experience

Not only the first diving liveaboard but also the first time Ive been on a boat for such a long time in a row. Every routine is new, how to store and prepare the equipment on board, where to sleep, when to sleep, where to eat and of course also... where to shit :). This week I learnt lot about diving and the behaviour of the diver itself. It taught me that divers are different kind of human being, especially when they are on a liveaboard and this is meant in a positive manner :).

Diving with Dolphins and Dugong

Top experience of this week was definitely the dive where the swarm of dolphins came along. It happened while I was having a dive for practising for the AOWD certification. Had to navigate with a compass from A to B to C and suddenly a big swarm of dolphins was just right above my head, doing some circles and then all disappeared in the blue.

Diving with the Dugong however, was almost better than the dolphin dive.

This funny creature that looks like a comic character is living always in the same place. A relatively shallow area, not too far away from the shore. Its eating sea grass all day long and is swimming from bottom, where it is eating, to the top for breathing and then back to the bottom to eat :).

The photos from this trip are not the best, but considering that they are taken from an underwater camera from year 2009, the results are OK.

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