TRAVELSPECIAL
Lunesdale ’ s favourite dives
Cath Lee : My favourite was the night dive at Gota Abu Ramada . It had everything ! A feeding frenzy of about six Trevally making high speed attacks on a shoal of small fish . John Adams : I love the wrecks on Shahab Abu Nuhas , ranging from the earliest one , the SS Carnatic sunk in 1869 to the MV Giannis D in 1983 . All provide different settings and opportunities and being ‘ on the reef ’ means you have the opportunity to do a wreck and a reef on one dive . Jim Henshaw : My favourite has to be in the Hurghada marine reserve , where we saw a huge moray eel in the large coral pillar . It was like diving in an aquarium .
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Two-banded anenomefish
Anne Harrison – Club Secretary : It ’ s difficult to pick a best dive . I enjoyed them all so much , maybe because it was my first Red Sea trip . I ’ m going to plump for the early morning dive on the Thistlegorm , diving through the holds with no-one else around . It brought home to me the human impact of the sinking . Philip Reddell : For me it was the first ‘ check ’ dive we did at Umm Gamar . This was my first time in tropical waters ; it was an eye opener for what was to come and the dives just got better and better . Graeme Robson : My favourite dive was early morning on SS Thistlegorm , guided by
Alex and Amr , exploring all its holds . Being a wreck head from Sunderland where this ship was launched in 1940 on the River Wear , it reminded me of family ties to the town ’ s historic shipbuilding industry , and of my dad who worked on it at the town ’ s Thompson yard . Debbie Willan – Trip organiser : Seeing the sea turtle on the surface from the boat when we were moored up over the Thistlegorm . Adrian Willan : The Thistlegorm . Jenny Henderson and Danny Roberts : Our favourite was the last night dive , where we dropped down off the boat to find a large baitball that had been attracted by our lights . We spent the next 40 minutes watching yellow fusiliers and giant trevally feeding on them . Dave Pearce : My favourite day was diving the Thistlegorm for the first time . I had high expectations and it didn ’ t disappoint . Looking at the devastation of the bomb impact site amidships gave me a sense of what it must have been like for the sailors on board . Marie Whitaker , Lunesdale treasurer and membership secretary : The Carnatic was my favourite dive . The sense of history , coupled with the soft corals and the deck beams allowing light into the structure was just amazing . �