Red Sea Digital Underwater Photo Expedition 2006 Trip Journal

What we dived today:
18: Dive#1 Jackson Reef – South Outside
19: Dive#2 Jackson Reef – Coral Garden
20: Dive#3 North Laguna – Anemone City
21: Night# South Laguna - Inside

We started the day with a wonderful early morning dive at the south corner of Jackson. The Light was just perfect to do some nice sun ball shots. We finished the dive at the calm outside in the south of Jackson Reef. Surprisingly we did not meet a single turtle but tons of fish. I have to correct this: As Sylvie and I split from the group we just missed two turtles on the plateau. Jackson Reef in the Strait of Tiran is considered to be one of the richest reefs in the Area with the high chance to meet sea turtles underwater and on the surface.

After breakfast we observed how a gang of juvenile Eagle Rays mad it’s clumsy way onto the top of the reef. Their wings were constantly flipping out of the water. It was too far away when I got my camera on deck. I found that with all the underwater photography my lens portfolio is too wide-angle orientated and that it is urgent for me to get a decent tele-zoom beyond the 200mm range for topside. Especially as I now use a full frame camera.

While caught in photo philosophy the other divers on board started to look at a huge liveaboard that was mooring not far from us on the same reef. I was not sure if the size and shape raised the discussion or just the fact that we had been the only liveaboard for almost a week on the reefs we visited. When the boats name “Typhoon” was mentioned it sounded familar. I had read something online about that vessel recently, but could not remember details. So I asked our dive guide to which operator it belongs. The boat was British and that immediately rang a bell. Could it be? Our dates had been close this year… It was worth to try,.. So I asked the crew to bring me and my camera onboard the other ship.

When I entered the boat my assumptions turned out to be true. On the back-deck stood the British underwater enthusiast and publisher of Underwater Photography Magazine Peter Rowlands, who just came back from a dive with his lovely wife Debbie. The last time I had personally met Peter was on DEMA and since then and before we have been in Email contact. Also just returning from a dive, where he probably just practised “The Art of Diving” came up Dr. Alex Mustard. Alex was a little surprised to see me. Later on he admitted that his first thought had been to climb the wrong boat. We both knew each other by email and telephone for some years now. But we never met in real-life and just had seen the other person on photos published on the Internet. After realising that this was the right boat and seeing my big camera lens Alex immediately started clowning around (left picture). Peter went on a higher deck and gave Alex some time to dry off. We all gathered on the upper dive deck and had a small chat about the famous filters, photo courses, digital underwater photography and how it had changed our lives during the past five years. The summit ended when the crew called in for breakfast. I had to neglect an invitation by Alex and Peter as I already had eaten on the King Snefro and promised some digital lectures to my trip participants. So we said goodbye and promised to visit each other soon. PS: I did not expect that to happen before several weeks passed but actually I met Peter and Debby on my next dive.

Why don’t I mention the second dive? Because: you can see all the wonderful pictures in our trip gallery. It was the coral Garden at Jackson Reef with good current until we went around the corner. After that and a cute female turtle during our safety stop we went to the North Laguna Reef. It was the first time for me to dive there and I really like the real “Anemone City” you can find there around 20 metres depth. Also the shallow part near the end of the dive is very rich. I still have a shot in my mind that I want to do there when going back.

We drove along the Laguna Reef in totally flat sea and topside photography was rewarded with some jumping flying fish. I think I managed to capture a few really nice ones of the fish jumping up. The weather was just perfect for doing this and the images make me really happy when I look at them. Enjoy!

So is there anything special to mention about it? Very special indeed was that Barbara did not plan to do a night dive for the first time on this trip and I did by force, because I wanted to bring the video down. When we switched on the big lights on the boat the site first looked a little bit poor. But with 20 minutes patience a huge bait ball showed up. So I finally got my chance to film it at night and the HD Video turned out very nice also featuring a dancing Spanish Dancer. Also Barbara changed her mind and went night diving after we saw a huge turtle passing below in the light of our boats. Five minutes later a free swimming moray went out. I admit that everybody who did not join the dive already got a real good show on the boat. But we also came back smiling as Hannes managed to take some shots of the two shrimps living on the Spanish Dancer I found. This night we fell asleep exhausted even with the tons of Nitrox we had breathed over the whole week. We needed the rest for our last dives on the next day to come.