Thistlegorm 30 January 2008

Another early morning start for Mark, a taxi at 5.30am to go to Sinai Divers in Sharm, where he would join a trip to dive the Thistlegorm - a 2 1/2 hour voyage from Sharm in the Gulf of Suez. We made our way to the (again surrendering passports) before boarding the boat run by Wreck Adventures http://www.wreckadventures.com/ .


We had breakfast as we left port then set up our gear. There were only 9 of us diving (plus the guides) and, when we reached the dive site, we were the only boat. In the height of summer you could expect to be jostling with up to 25 boats carrying maybe 400 divers, but we had it all to ourselves.

Our first dive was around the outside, going from bow to stern. The 3m swell in the force 5- winds made it a bit like being in a washing machine as we held onto the line to do our 5m safety stop. While we were doing this, one of the lines within the rope snapped, and after we were all back on board a second line was put down.



Our second dive, Mark's 100th, was to penetrate the holds of the wreck, seeing the motorbikes, trucks and aircraft parts it had been carrying when it was sunk.

In one chamber there is an air-pocket which you can pop up into and talk with your buddy.

Mark's shortie was the subject of much comment on the boat. Everyone else was in either a long wetsuit or a drysuit. They didn't know whether I was mad, foolish or just plain macho (or some combination of all three). In fact, it was much warmer in the water, out of the wind. So it was a relief that the interval between the dives was barely an hour, which time I spent sheltering with hot sweet tea to maintain my body temperature till I could get out of my suit.

An added bonus from being the only divers was that the video shot during the dives by one of the crew was wonderfully clear and I got a copy to preserve for posterity.