The Beginning

Three snorkel trips made, 50 species noted, 30 falafels eaten and it’s only day two.

All six of us - Lydia, Emily, Michael, Guy, Anna and I - made it safe to Dahab on Saturday evening and were straight away treated to Egypt’s warm hospitality (and climate!). The clear starry sky and mountainous dunes made the drive to the hotel very memorable.

Day one was straight down to business - getting kitted out, exploring the area, safety brief, snorkel brief, project brief…you get the idea, lots of briefs! Then it was straight out to practice our snorkeling skills. I think it’s fair to say the girls out preformed the boys but of course they blamed their equipment and a second snorkel soon sorted them out. Everybody had a great time getting to know the fish and coral species we will be concentrating on in the next few weeks. 

Exploring the town

Kitted up, waiting on the boys as usual

Day two started with a hearty breakfast and more briefs. We were asked to go snorkeling with Sheikh Salem - Bedouin tribe leader and co-owner of the research and dive centre. This was a real treat and we were super impressed with his diving skills! 

Heading out for a snorkel

Showing us how it's done

We even have briefs in the sea

The abundance of fish and coral at this snorkel site was amazing - butterfly fish, puffers, anemone fish, parrot fish, wrasses and even some trevally and snappers! Not to mention the diverse coral cover, anemones and other invertebrates. Soon the waves got a bit too much for some of us (Emily…) and we called it a day.

An Indian bird wrasse

Trevally in the deeper reef

Masked puffer amongst some branching and massive corals

Indo-Pacific seargent with some pretty pink finger coral in the background

Right now the sun is shining and we are busy preparing for snorkel #4 which will be to practice identifying fish to species level. Tomorrow will be our busiest day yet with a 6 am start to find the perfect project locations and to practice swimming transect lines. It’s hard work, but so far we can’t complain…

OK!

Jenny x