Recently in Marine Life Category

The dive sites visited by Emperor Divers in Safaga with speedboat 'Mimi' are home to many species of rays. The rare Thorny stingray is found here and in addition to the many Fantail stingrays (photo below) spotted there are also frequent encounters with single or even small groups of eagle rays.

And then we have the 'mystery ray'! It's a large black ray with pointed wings and a very long tail, which is white with black spots at the base. It's been seen swimming in the shallows of the reef and occasionally near the bottom.

Various identification suggestions have included the Southern stingray and the Mangrove stingray - only problem is the former is found in the Bahamas and the latter only exists in the Indo-Pacific!

So far our mystery ray has eluded our budding photographers, but we will keep you posted on further sightings. And any research suggestions are welcome!

The Dugong survey is going strong with more and more details coming in from guides and guests alike. Recently, the team has seen pairs of Dugongs and identified the same individual as a 'local' at one of the closest sites. The ever popular Abu Dabab shore dive has also given some amazing encounters with Denis and Lucy the two resident Dugongs.

The photo of the week competition always causes debate over which diver has taken the best picture but this fabulous one was taken by a non-diver happily enjoying a day out snorkelling! So it just goes to prove all that gear does not make the perfect picture. Well done to all our budding photographers.

Under the supervision of Marsa Alam's 'Resident Instructor Dugong Spotter' (RIDS!), Mo, guests have had no less than 10 encounters this month including two dugong at the surface a couple of times.

The team is looking at the relationship of weather, tides and moon phase to see if there is a pattern that would allow them to predict when the sightings increase. So far, surface sightings seem to be in rough seas and almost all sightings are around mid day.

One strange idea was that they are attracted by singing underwater...however, this seemed to have had the reverse effect but if you have heard the guides sing you would completely understand why!