Download - Emirates Diving Association
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PORT SUDAN<br />
The Egyptian and Jordanian Red Sea is a<br />
favourite dive destination for many, especially<br />
for divers from this region, not only due to<br />
the quality of the diving available, but with the<br />
travel proximities being so close by. The Red<br />
Sea can get very, very busy during certain<br />
seasons though and it does not always make<br />
a relaxing getaway. It does of course depend<br />
on what you’re going for. But, imagine diving<br />
the Red Sea completely and utterly alone!<br />
Just you and your 3 or 5 dive companions!<br />
Have you ever thought of diving the Red Sea<br />
within Sudan? There are now direct flights<br />
from Dubai to Port Sudan on Mondays,<br />
making this destination so much easier to<br />
get to. When having received an invitation<br />
to go and discover remote diving locations<br />
from Port Sudan for a week aboard ‘No<br />
Stress’, the sailing livaboard owned by French/<br />
Brazilian Captain, Jérôme Émilio; Simone<br />
and I immediately sent our paperwork off<br />
for our visas, packed up our camera and<br />
dive equipment and took that flight over to<br />
discover it for ourselves and give you the full<br />
lowdown.<br />
THE YACHT & CREW<br />
We were met in Port Sudan’s airport by<br />
Chico, Jérôme’s agent who arranged for our<br />
Sudanese visas and who also scheduled our<br />
bus ride to take us directly to No Stress, our<br />
new home for the week to follow. We were<br />
joined by two other fellow divers, Alexandra<br />
Sapicas and François-Xavier Patijaud who<br />
were great companions for the week to follow.<br />
Jérôme has sailed the Red Sea for the past<br />
three years, building on extensive experience,<br />
resonating the joy of life on a yacht to form the<br />
cornerstones of good and positive seamanship.<br />
You will often find Jérôme catching up on<br />
some z’s while you go out on your dives due<br />
to the fact he has been up most of the night<br />
sailing you to your next destination for your<br />
following day’s venue, weather permitting.<br />
Jérôme’s crew is made up of two other<br />
seamen. Steven Surina who is a CMAS and<br />
PADI Instructor and No Stress’s dive guide for<br />
the duration of the trip. As well as knowing<br />
his dive sites back to front, he is a shark guide<br />
specialist and we couldn’t have done it without<br />
him. He has worked on several publications<br />
on the subject of sharks, and held conferences<br />
regarding this threatened species. He actually<br />
runs www.sharkeducation.com.<br />
Abdallah Yagaop, is the third crew member<br />
and the Chef and Fisherman aboard No<br />
Stress. Abdallah is from Port Sudan and is<br />
accustomed to European cuisine. The man<br />
knows how to prepare a good meal from<br />
scratch! Every morning Abdallah prepared a<br />
stack of freshly made crêpes and there was<br />
always a large jar of Nutella to accompany<br />
them! We have missed those crêpes mornings!<br />
The other great part of Abdallah’s cuisine was<br />
the fresh fish he would catch for our lunch<br />
and dinner. His fresh barracuda dishes were<br />
sumptious. He is also known to prepare a<br />
mean sushi platter and his sashimi rocks!<br />
THE EXPEDITION<br />
Maybe it is best to begin with the fact that we<br />
came to do our trip within the month of June. June<br />
is of course the last month of the season and with<br />
it, the larger fish move on to further depths of<br />
more substantial temperatures. Take note that the<br />
diving season in Sudan starts in October. The best<br />
visibility is from February to May where you can<br />
get viz as good as 60m. Our viz during the month<br />
of June averaged about 30m. Water temperatures<br />
start from 24˚C in February to 32˚C in October.<br />
Ours varied between 27-30˚C. Within this realm<br />
of Red Sea in Sudan, the list of large species that<br />
one can expect to see begins a little something<br />
like this: Gray Reef Sharks, Silky Sharks, White<br />
Tip Sharks, Silver Tip Sharks, Hammerheads, Tiger<br />
Sharks, Dolphins, Dugongs, Manta Rays…4 of<br />
which on this list, we were not to expect during<br />
the month of June at all.<br />
1. SHAAB RUMI (Southern Plateau)<br />
Date: 11.06.13<br />
Depths: 31.9m<br />
Highlight: White Tips & Gray Reef Sharks<br />
What an exciting introduction to Sudan’s<br />
Red Sea. First dive in and we’ve already been<br />
introduced to 2 species of sharks. The White<br />
Tip (Triaenodon obesus) and the Gray Reef<br />
(Carcharhinus amblyrhyncos). The coral reef<br />
health is immaculate and booming with life<br />
and colour.<br />
Shaab Rumi is 23 miles north/northeast of<br />
Port Sudan. Some say that this is one of the<br />
most beautiful dives in the world due to the<br />
great variety of species and colour found here.<br />
2. SHAAB RUMI (Southern Plateau)<br />
Date: 11.06.13<br />
Depths: 23m<br />
Highlight: Gray Reef Sharks, Napoleons, Small<br />
Manta Ray, Groupers, Schools of Bigeye<br />
Trevally, Titan Triggerfish, Moray Eels, Anthias<br />
everywhere. Spinner Dolphins at the surface.<br />
This particular part of Shaab Rumi must<br />
have been my favourite dive of the entire<br />
trip. I have never seen as much ambience<br />
and colour all rolled in to one dive. The site<br />
itself was very beautiful and the parade of<br />
fish on display was mind blowing. It was so<br />
surreal that you imagined actually being in a<br />
man made aquarium to actually get the mix<br />
and size of species that were found in this<br />
vicinity. The Groupers, Napoleons (Cheilinus<br />
undulatus) and the Titan triggerfish (Balistoides<br />
viridescens) of enormous size and not far off<br />
from the proportions of the 7 Gray Reefs<br />
(Carcharhinus amblyrhyncos) that circled us. It<br />
was very difficult to keep up with all that was<br />
going on. Every other inch of reef was covered<br />
in splatters of orange coloured Anthias – Jewel<br />
fairy basslet (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) like<br />
little fire crackers bursting out as far as the<br />
eye could see.<br />
44 DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SEPTEMBER 2013<br />
SEPTEMBER 2013, DIVERS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT 45