The Blue Hole 26 January 2008

On Saturday, Mark dived two deeper sites, north of Dahab. The Canyon is an eerie experience as you descend into the gloom, going down to 30m. You can turn and look up to see the shafts of light above you. Ahead the Canyon slopes away down to 50m. You swim back up a chimney to exit through the Fishbowl.





The second dive entry is via the Bells - a chimney, open to the sea, down to 30m. You emerge out onto a wall that descends to over 300m.

You swim along the wall to reach the entry to the Blue Hole over a lip at 7m. You can swim directly across, in which case you can find yourself apparently suspended in the blue. Looking down you can't see the bottom, at about 120m, and it feels like an abyss. Alternatively you can swim round the side and view the coral.


After lunch, we were roused from our lazy sunbathing by cries for help. At first we thought it was just a training exercise but then we realised it was a real emergency. A diver had surfaced unconscious and was being towed ashore by a snorkeller. I grabbed our oxygen cylinder and we ran down to where he was being man-handled onto the floating jetty.

Hendrik, our Divemaster, organised a pickup to take him to Dahab for recompression. I held his drysuit neck-seal open so that he had a clear airway for us to administer oxygen. We got a knife and cut the neck-seal to relieve the pressure on his airway.

Later we heard that he had survived. He'd been at 102m and had come to the surface without dong any of the three decompression stops required.

I was relieved that when a real emergence arose I was able to apply the training and help save his life.

Dahab 24-31 January 2008

We organised this trip ourselves and, remarkably, each separate element worked. Mark stopped in Bath after his last exam only long enough for a quick drink with classmates to celeb rate the end of the exams. He dove to meet Jenny, who'd been working in London all day, off the Gatwick Express. We stopped overnight at the Copthorne Hotel, Gatwick http://www.millenniumhotels.co.uk/copthornegatwick/index.html?&cid=nb5534 before our early morning flight to Sharm el Sheikh. The taxi was waiting for us at Sharm to take us the hour's drive north to Dahab. The room at the Hilton http://www.hiltonworldresorts.com/Resorts/Dahab/index.html was spacious and had a balcony and hammock. And Sinai Divers http://www.sinaidivers.com/english.htm were expecting us so we were able to dive straight away on Friday morning.

Our first dive was at The Islands - a lovely site with a tricky entry via a swim-through in a break in the coral reef. Jenny was nervous but was well in control of her bouyancy, which was essential as we wove in and out of the labyrinth of coral outcrops.

Norway 14-17 December 2007

We flew from London to Oslo then connected to a flight to Harsted, about 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Owing to a delay in getting the aircrew for the second flight we arrived too late for the last ferry via Lodingen and so had to go the longer route round via Narvik for a later ferry. On the way to Narvik, the rep from Explore informed us that although the brochure suggested that we would see plenty of killer whales, in fact, this season the success rate was only about 40% of trips saw whales. This was because the herring, which the whale follow into the fjords, were changing their migratory pattern and no onger coming to the area in anything like the numbers in previous years. At a talk by the scientist leading the study at Tysfjord, the following morning we learned that this was to be expected as the migration patterns change every 20 years or so and the herring had been coming to Tysfjord since 1987.

On Saturday we set off about 10am. It was still dark. We spent the day on a converted trawler. The weather was overcast and windy. No other boats were out so there wasn't even the chance of picking up on other people's sightings. We saw nothing. We returned ashore about 2pm, by which time it was dark already. There was nothing to do, so we were cooped up till dinner time. No wonder Norwegians turn to alcohol, in spite of the price (about £8 a pint of beer and wine is even more expensive) and heavy metal.


On Sunday we were kitted out in dry suits and went out on RIBs. It was raining. We saw no whales, again, though we did see a sea eagle in the distance. We had a swm in the fjord to prove our dry suits were working then returned ashore before darkness fell at about 2.30pm.

On Monday, we set off by coach and caught the ferry to Lodingen and back to the airport for our flight home via Oslo. We felt the whole experience had been pretty miserable and that Explore had misled us in their brochure about the prospects of seeing whales.

The whale tours were run from the Tysfjord Tourist Centre:
http://www.tysfjord-turistsenter.no/safari/english/

London 8/9 December 2007

Owing to the possibility of engineering works delaying our journey, we caught the 6am train to London and, in consequence, arrived very early. Even after a second breakfast at Paddington, we arrived at the O2 Centre an hour before Mary and Tim could be expected to emerge. When they finally arrived they looked decidedly worse for wear having been drinking cocktails in the Savoy the night before.

Tutanhkamun exhibition was interesting. http://www.superbreak.com/go/RH089/tutankhamun-exhibition/about.htm People queued appallingly badly but we managed to get round without needing embalming.

After lunch we tried to get into The Ritz but failed on account of our being unsuitably dressed. And the Royal Academy on account of the Friends Room being closed for refurbishment. So we gave up and went to the hotel.

Dinner with Mary and Tim at Smollensky's on The Strand.

A late start on Sunday, so late in fact that Mary and Tim beat us to The British Museum, a feat unparalleled in living memory.

The Terracotta Warriors exhibition was fascinating, housed in the old library. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/the_first_emperor.aspx Like the Tutanhkamun exhibition it was dramatically lit in a darkened space and the queuing again left much to be desired.

A whistlestop tour failed to justice to the museum (Rosetta Stone and Elgin Marbles only).

Then off to the Masters tennis at the Albert Hall. http://www.theblackrockmasters.com/ Highlight the mens' doubles final, won by Mansour Bahrami and Henri Leconte. We didn't buy the DVD!

We were booked on the 8.07pm train back but it was cancelled. Fortunately we were early and so got the late-running 7.27pm train and changed onto a bus service at Swindon which actually got us home at more or less the expected time.

Tallin 18 November 2007

Later start on Sunday morning. Tallinn old town is very compact and much prettier than Helsinki. It isn't as cold either though we still took every opportunity to get inside to warm ourselves up.

The City Museum had an excellent display on how the Communist propaganda obscured the truth about the occupation of Estonia. The curator, who had lived through the Second World War, explained how the Red Army conscripted men at the start of the war and how the occupying Nazi forces conscripted men later so that brothers could end up fighting on opposite sides.




Made our way up the Toompea Hill for excellent views over the city. The Toomkirk has a bizarre private chapel like a railway carriage set half way up one wall overlooking the pulpit.


Went into the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral while an orthodox service was taking place. It was so informal. The congregation was either crowding round the priests at the front or else sat chatting around the perimeter of the church.

Lunch was a mediaeval banquet using traditional foods (at last something vaguely local even if it was actually Hanseatic League German tradition).

Ridiculously early for the flight home but switching to the preceding flight would cost £200 which is a bit excessive when the original cost was less than £60. So we didn't bother.

Helsinki 17 November 2007

Got up ridiculously early after our late arrival and got a taxi to the Nordic Jet Line ferry terminal to catch the early morning ferry to Helsinki. http://www-eng.njl.fi/

Jennifer Susan slept most of the hour and 40 minute crossing of the Gulf of Finland, which was flat as the proverbial millpond.

Entered Helsinki's narrow harbour shortly after dawn as the weak winter sun filtered through the clouds. Cold and snow greeted us, but very few people.


Visited the orthodox Uspenski Cathedral first, glad to get into the warm. Then made our way across the practically deserted Senate Square to the Lutheran Tuomiokirkko, which in contrast to the gilt dripping icons of the orthodox church was a simple pale blue interior (though still warm).

Having taken in the Stockmann department store (largest in Europe) we finally found somewhere open for an early lunch - Iguanas, Mexican cooking...

By the time we had looked around the Finnish National Museum and found the City Museum it was already getting dark in the premature nightfall so far north.

We ate dinner (Spanish...) and got the ferry back to Tallin.

Had to try the Ice Bar at the hotel for the vodka shots in glasses made of ice.

Estonia 16 November 2007

Flew to Tallin with Estonian Air http://www.estonian-air.ee/index.php?lang=ENG. The evening flight from Gatwick was delayed while they re-configured the plane but got there ok, shortly before midnight. Taxi took us to The Merchants House http://www.merchantshousehotel.com/, a small boutique hotel in the middle of the old town.