Travelogue Dive Cruise Red Sea 2022 with MY Independence III North Tour and Brother Islands
Because of the reporting in advance that especially the Frankfurt airport would have staffing problems with the increased travel volume, we exceptionally planned a pre-evening check-in. However, this also proved to be problematic, as Condor only had two counters open after 6 p.m. and we were only able to leave the airport again after more than 1.5 hours. Surprisingly, the security check on the morning of departure was then remarkably lax, but if one always knew everything beforehand.....
The luggage arrived in any case well, the transfer was short, because the tour was changed at short notice and started in Hurghada. We were 13 divers on board in total, including mostly single travelers in a group, who were almost without exception happy about a single occupied double cabin. Guides were Renate and Mohammed, from the crew some faces were already known to us for many years (M/Y Quick Shadow).
The Independence 3 is the latest ship of Bluewater Safaris, which was only completed in 2022. A few " children's diseases " we had to criticize, which will certainly be turned off in the course of the season, or in the next dry dock.
Similar to the beginning of the last tour in November on the Indy 2, the wind was our constant companion on this trip, combined with strong swell. Unfortunately, there were sometimes problems especially when getting into the Zodiacs, because the dive platform of the Independence 3 is clearly too high. Here it sometimes came to dangerous situations at some dive sites.
The Check Dive took place near Hurghada at Shaab el Erg, the desired dolphins were unfortunately not on the way, so we went on to the first wreck dive in the north at Shaab Abu Nuhas. In total we dived 14 shipwrecks on our trip:
Chrisoula K (Abu Nuhas, Cargoship from Greece, sunk 1981, Payload: Ceramics)
Carnatic (Steamsailer from England, sunk 1869, Payload: Wine)
Giannis D (Abu Nuhas, from Greece, sunk 1984, Payload: Wood)
Barge (Gubal Island)
Rosalie Moller (Strait of Gubal, from Greece, sunk 1941)
Thistlegorm (Shaab Ali, Cargoship from England; build 1940; sunk 1941; Depth 16-31 Meter; hit by a german bomb in WW2; Trucks, Passenger cars and Motorbykes as payload; one of the most beautiful and remarkable wrecks of the Red Sea)
Dunraven (Shaab Mahmut, Cargoship from England; build 1873; sunk 1876)
Million Hope (Japanese Cargoship, sunk 1996 in Sharm el Sheikh, Payload: Kali, Phosphat)
Kimon M (Abu Nuhas, Cargoship from Panama, sunk 1978, Payload: Lentils)
El Mina (Minesweeper from Egypt, sunk 1969)
Numidia (Big Brother Island, Cargoship from England, sunk 1901)
Salem Express (Ferryboat from Egypt; build 1966; sunk 1991; Depth 10-30 Meter)
Balena (Ausflugsboot im Hafen von Hurghada, schöner Bewuchs, viel Fisch und Schneckchen)
The Red Sea has always been an important main traffic and trade route, especially since the opening of the Suez Canal. Reef landscapes, shoals and other obstacles have caused countless ships to sink in recent years - mainly in the northern Red Sea. Wreck divers thus get their money's worth in Egypt.
Our personal favorites were the Carnatic, the Barge (Gubal Island, dive with 7 dolphins and Roland had the camera ready at the right moment), of course the Thistlegorm and the Balena in the harbor of Hurghada with an incredible amount of fish and beautiful vegetation, unfortunately also with cloudy visibility. Directly after the night-dive at Shaab Abu Nuhas two Manta-ray did pay us a visit in week two and showed themselves for quite some time at the surface.
After the many wreck dives in the north and in the Strait of Tiran we made our way to the Brother Islands, a long way with another stop at Abu Nuhas. We had already been happy that there was only 1 dive boat at the Big Brother at the same time as us, but the two days there showed that the trip there was not worth it at all. Unbelievable strong currents at the south plateau of Big Brother as well as at the north tip at Numidia made especially the re-entry into the Zodiacs very difficult. We have never come back from a dive trip with so many bruises and abrasions on our bodies. We didn't see any sharks there, just like on the whole tour. On the 2nd day we could see some dolphins whizzing by at the Little Brother. However, contrary to our original plan, we started our return journey already at noon in order to do a night dive near Safaga in the evening. There was also the visit of the Salem Express on the penultimate day of diving, a beautiful wreck to dive, but this dive site polarizes because of the tragic history with hundreds of deaths.
At some point, the two weeks were over and we returned fortunately all relatively unscathed (apart from bruises) to Hurghada, where we spent another nice evening in a street café. It was once again a very interesting tour, again we got to know new things, e.g. annoying vuvuzelas under water, which were used by guide Mohammed of all people.
Also the "prognoses" on the guiding current situation (glas-ball reading?) did not fit all the time. Partly it seemed as if there were no synchronisation between the two diveguides (group 1 / group 2). One time a warning was given that dangerous current may exist and nothing similar did happen and other times the direction of the current was given to come from a completely different angle. Surely, a diver should be always aware of possible changes of the current but in some of the situations a pre-dive current-check would have enabled a change of the planned dive. That's what we are used to with Bluesater Safaris and it normally did do.
A special thanks goes to Dieter, who tirelessly shot the buoy for us. We wish the crew of the Independence III all the time a good trip, the next tour in the Red Sea we would do again to the south. Inshallah!
