Red Sea Liveaboard - what a first experience.

By -- Sue Green

In spring 2022 I returned to diving and completed Ocean Diver training. It had been some years since my last dive and during the summer I did a number of training dives at UK inland sites at Stoney Cove and Guildenberg, followed by one lovely day of diving on the south coast. Then, in November 2022, I was fortunate to be able to join the club trip to the Red Sea, my first club trip and first liveaboard experience.

13 SISAC members and friends joined a 'Wrecks and Reefs' trip organised through RegalDive.

We arrived in Hurghada, joined the liveaboard and diving began after breakfast the following day. The subsequent day, the first dive was before breakfast with 4 dives most days. Some of the sites were popular, with other dive boats present but late and early dives often provided the opportunity for less crowded dives and more active marine life. The trip was well organised with informative briefings and the chance to extend my experience including diving from a RIB, drift diving, night diving and wrecks.

I was expecting to be blown away by the reefs, the marine life and the scenery. And I was: the trip provided a range of beautiful reef settings, fantastic hard and soft coral and a huge array of marine life.

What I had not expected was how much I loved wreck diving and the opportunity to dive on some of the iconic wrecks in the Red Sea.

I also very much appreciated the chance to dive with more experienced members of the club and to develop the skills I had been learning in the UK. Doing several dives each day and practicing in warmer clearer waters gave me the chance to get familiar with kit and improve skills as well as starting to develop new ones. I came back more confident and feeling excited about doing more diving in the UK.