El Gouna dolphins

El Gouna, Egypt, February 2006

El Gouna, an Egyptian town 25 kilometers north from Hurghada, offers great diving sites, unspoiled reefs and best chance to meet dolphins. That's what I read on the Internet before booking the trip and the diving packages. Is all of that true? Were we that lucky? Just read on.

The fewer days to takeoff, the bigger my excitement is, the harder to sleep and easier to wake up. This trip was a family one - Igor, my brother, and I went diving, while our parents were discovering marvels of Luxour and Cairo. That means we are taking two sets of diving equipment plus underwater photography stuff, which is a heap of luggage to tug, I can tell. But every diving is worth of it, especially the tropical one in February!

A few words about the destination. I didn't pay much attention to the place we were staying in, because most of the time we were going to spend on the boat anyway. But I must say I was surprised very positively: El Gouna, despite being one big resort, a town designed from the scratch entirely for tourists and the rich Egyptians, is an interesting and beautiful place to visit. There are no classic hotels; all must fit into the strict architectural concept. Every building is literally unique, but all of them have common traits: Afro/Arabic arches and domes, thick walls, lots of geometrical shapes, and colors varying from yellow to crimson brown. The whole town lays on small peninsulas or islands connected with bridges (there's much shuttle boat traffic too) across artificial channels.

As was said, dolphins remained the number one target for this trip. I never dived with them before, although I heard them once. But to take some decent pictures of them, boy, that would be sweet!

day 1

It is the first diving day, we take our boxes on the boat, put the jackets on the tanks and prepare all the other gear. Shortly after that we are crossing open sea to meet the first diving site, which takes about one hour.

After buoyancy checks we make small round on the location called Dolphin House. I decide not to take my camera for the first day to make more space for adjustments during the first check dives. After while I regret the decision bitterly... There is a big turtle resting on the bottom, feeding on some coral parts, spitting out clouds of sand occasionally. Daaamn! ;-)

day 2

Contented with the day before, but hungry for more, we leave the marina again, with camera this time. It takes about an hour to reach Shaab Umm Kamar. We are greeted by a couple of nice clownfish, pufferfish and other Red Sea classics:

Several noble lionfish wait for us to present themselves majestically:

Only several meters away from our anchored boat quite a big moray eel hides in the fissures sticking its head out. We approach very close to observe its huge body. It waits calmly opening its mouth while breathing. Its teeth remind me to keep my fingers closed and together while taking these close pictures.

day 3

The weather today is just perfect. The sea is as calm as it was a small lake. No wind at all. Another kind surprise comes out when we are entering the boat. There is just one guy and we diving today so we feel like on a private trip having the whole boat for ourselves. Another hour to reach Sakwa location and we are ready to jump into our suits. Immediately after descending we can see, no, we are delighted to be informed by Nour, our Dive Master, there is something hidden on the plateau. It takes concentration to find out that Nour is pointing at the master of camouflage, stonefish. Few meter away a colorful marine snail nudibranchs can be spotted.

I'm hovering easily with nose stuck into the reef, taking macro pictures and waiting for flash to charge when Igor hits my elbow and shakes me like mad. I'm almost starting to give him my spare regulator for breathing, but I see he is ok. Now I see what's going on. There are four huge bodies very close to us. I was completely surprised by a group of dolphins, which came to play and check us out.

They are really close, and I wish I had wide angle lenses, because it's hard to fit the whole dolphin length into the display.

We are swimming and playing together. Nour shakes his rattle to attract them even more.

The dolphins are scratching their bellies and backs against the soft corals. I almost feel anxious that they'll leave great mess and tear off the soft corals, but after all they know what they are doing and swim gently without even moving their tail fins.

I guess we were smiling so much that our masks must have been leaking. Our wish was fulfilled. We used almost all the air for staying with dolphins, so it's time to come back on the boat. I'm using my safety stop to make a few shots of nudibranchs and corals found on the top of the wall.

Before entering the ladder I admire a delicate medusa, so transparent that it's hard to be seen. Our friends passed one more time near the bottom to say good-bye.

After two-hour rest we move to a different location. It's called Shabaha which means The ghost. The reef is hard to find so that explains the name. The sea surface is extremely calm, totally dead, and we can see all the corals from the upper deck. It's almost not necessary to dive to admire the bottom ;-)

The visibility is marvelous. The reef is small, round shaped and pretty regular. There is a slight current, so we keep ourselves to the reef edge. A nice school of cornetfish welcomes us.

We have so much luck today that the next dolphin encounter comes virtually without surprise. This group is different than the one from the other diving, and you can see there is one dolphin baby.

Then we meet another Arabian angelfish. I immediately loved this fish, as it likes to show off and is not shy at all (in contrary to parrotfish which will always turn its tail to you ready to escape).

The place is very rich in aquatic life and the corals are superb. I play with light and make several shots more or less against the sun.

There is a scorpionfish taking a nap on a table coral.

Before returning to the boat, I'm giving the camera to Igor and instructing him via the slate how to make the shot of his life. ;-)

day 4

The weather changes. When I saw our captain with a scarf on his head I knew it's going to blow. And it did. The water was splashing up to the upper deck and soon our jackets and sunglasses were covered with salt. The current was stronger that day and even the school of bannerfish kept themselves close to the reef.

day 5

This is unfortunately the last diving day. The weather has calmed down, and the visibility is all right. We are going towards Abu Kalawa. After jumping into the sea looong chain is passing by for hours... :-)

We decide to swim on the sandy spots to search for bluespotted stingrays. We are finding couple of them plus one pufferfish gratis...

For the next dive we are planning to enter the nearby lagoon. So we swim over the corals, seeing two rays further away. Unfortunately they have no intention to wait for us.

In the lagoon we find beautiful bluespotted stingrays.

Nour covers his head with his palms and shakes his head to the sides. Ah, got it, there is a fish called Red Sea walkman.

That would be the summary of our excellent trip. I would like to thank to TGI diving, the company we dived with. I was a bit hesitant to book and pay the diving package in advance, but after all it was the right thing to do. I can really recommend them; nice people and good service (transport from and to your hotel is included). The water temperature in the first half of February was 22-23 degrees but it can blow on the sea so better take a jacket and a cap.

Back in Prague I'm sipping Egyptian karkade tea wishing I stayed there longer. But I hear some voice - it's my dry suit calling to give it a rinse... :-)