When I left for a week’s diving in Sharm el Sheikh with Emperor Divers, I wasn't really sure what to write about so I decided to let Egypt surprise and inspire me. I've dived in Sharm many times over the last eight years and I'd always felt that for anyone in search of smaller 'macro' subjects to photograph, the resorts of Taba and Nuweiba further up the Sinai were a better option. However, this was a week that the dive sites of Sharm really delivered for me and my trusty underwater camera.

I could write about the Manta Rays we saw at the local dive sites of Tower and Middle Garden or perhaps the encounter with the beautiful white Rissos dolphins. I even found the elusive Longnose Hawkfish, which hides in the Gorgonian Fans, not once but twice. This shy little fish is normally skittish and hard to photograph but the one I saw on Thomas Reef in the Straits of Tiran was virtually posing for photos.

While these experiences were all part of a wonderful week with Emperor Divers, the most amazing thing for me was the variety of nudibranchs, flatworms and the like I discovered.

The most common of these colourful little slugs I've found in the past is the Pyjama Slug (or Chromodoris Quadcolour). It is a colourful creature with yellow, white, black and blue stripes and can be found on all the dive sites in Sharm. If my memory serves me correctly, I've only ever seen two or possibly three different varieties of nudibranchs but in just five day’s diving, I found 14 different varieties.

As a diver who takes a lot of photos, I think Nudis are great. They are colourful, so look great in pictures, they are , making them much easier to take pictures of than fish and a lot of divers don't always see them making my pictures look a bit more impressive. Last October, I had my first diving trip out to the Far East where Nudis are plentiful so on this trip to Sharm, I was determined to seek out more.

Over the course of the week, the dive boats took me to the Straits of Tiran, Ras Mohammed National Park and the local dive sites close to Na'ama Bay. Many people ignore the local sites but I've always found them to be excellent places to see marine life. My first day was in Tiran and although I had a good couple of dives, I didn't find any nudibranchs. The next day in Ras Mohammed, the Nudis were out in force.

The first nudi I saw was a Chromodoris Africana. It looks similar to a Pyjama Slug but after looking at photos that evening, I realised it was in fact a different species. I've probably made the same mistake a number of times in the past but never noticed. From this point on, I was seeing nudibranchs on most dives, many of which I'd never seen before.

A big advantage of taking pictures of the nudibranchs is that the colours are much more striking than seeing them at 20m on a dive site. Of the 14 varieties I found, my favourite was the Big Horn Nembrotha, which was the most beautifully coloured of them all that I've seen in Egypt and elsewhere. Even though, I've dived in Sharm many times over the years, it has once again turned up plenty of new discoveries and surprises. I'm already looking forward to my next trip.

Rob Atherton

PS And a big thank you to Emperor Divers’ Facebook friends who helped me ID this nudi that had me flummoxed! Yvette Tucker spotted the Hallaxa indecora. Not easy from this pic!

It has been well over a year since we started working for Emperor Divers Nuweiba. It was December 2010, fresh out of the IDC with Steve Prior in Sharm el Sheikh, when we got the job offer to work for Emperor Divers Nuweiba as Instructor and Staff Instructor.

As the idea of working in Egypt had not even crossed our minds, we could only imagine back then how fortunate we were to join Chris Le Plongeon’s team. Very quickly we realized how special the Nuweiba dive sites are.

First of all, it‘s all easy shore diving and you usually have the whole dive site to yourselves! All at a relaxed Nuweiba pace. But the main reason we fell in love with this place is the diversity of marine life found condensed on these reefs. It‘s not unusual to find a grey moray eel with its tail twisted around an undulated moray eel, resting on a porcupine puffer next to a stone fish, which is just being cleaned by various types of shrimps.

During the different seasons our favourite dive sites change according to the special appearances found on each of them. But the house reef Abou Lou Lou is always number one. Having dived it hundreds of times it still brings new surprises. We have been lucky to see various types of frogfish and ghost pipefish as well as shrimps, nudibranchs, sea horses, turtles, mimic octopus just to name a few. During a fish ID dive we easily spot 50-80 different species of fish. What a paradise! A heaven for photographers, repeat guests and beginners alike. The diving in Nuweiba is definitely unique and we have memories of countless special moments!

Now a new opportunity awaits us as we head further south where we will be working for Emperor Divers Marsa Alam, joining Luke Atkinson’s team. We are so enjoying exploring the dive sites and marine life in this region, especially with the opening of the new dive centre where the possibilities seem endless.

We would like to take the opportunity to say, Thank You! to all of you who dived with us in Nuweiba. It was a great pleasure to meet you.

And now we look forward to meeting you on your diving holiday in Marsa Alam. Don’t wait too long!

Kathrin and Tarkan

The mask was clear. Weights just right and with an intake of air DJ was able to rise, exhale and we descend! The nearest thing to flying under water! The reef lay in front, the rest of the group above; Terry signals up and DJ realises he is over 30 metres deep! Wrasse, Parrotfish and Surgeonfish cruise the reef, whilst the photo enthusiasts take shots of the Emperorfish, Bannerfish and Sweetlips hanging around the pinnacles. Dive 64 is really turning out to be one of the best. Keeping well out of the range of the Trigger Fish DJ follows the others now at a sensible depth (for him) around the reef into the current! 42 minutes and yet another dive with the normal safety stop, into the Rib and back to Superior.

Leaving from Port Ghalib, we sail to Small & Big Brothers with wonder-wall diving, large pelagics and kaleidoscopic colours.

20.09.11 Check in at 9 am. Set sail 10 am
23.09.11 Return. Check out 9 am

Price includes: Transfers from Hurghada or Marsa Ghalib, 3 nights onboard, 3 days diving (1st day 2 dives, 2nd day 3 dives, 3rd day 3 dives), full board, soft drinks, snacks, guides, tanks, weights, Nitrox, Marine Park/Port fees, tax.

Not included: Alcohol, diving equipment, tips, flights/visa, hotels.

Book your place today at info.safaris@emperordivers.com

See more on Elite and what she has to offer here

In May my girlfriend Agnes and I took the PADI Dugong Appreciation Distinctive Speciality Course at Emperor Divers in Port Ghalib. In the morning we had the theoretical part of the course in which we learned a lot about the dugong species; about how best to search for it, about how to approach it when you find it and about the data gathering of dugong sightings by Emperor Divers. It was a nice informal session and you could tell our instructor Luke really enjoyed showing the presentation.

After the theory-session we had two dives at Marsa Mubarak in which we put what we learned into practice. We searched on the surface with the speedboat for the Dugong but we were not able to find it at first. During the two dives we saw a lot of turtles on which we practiced approaching big marine life in a sensitive way. It was really great to be able to get so close to a turtle without scaring it away!

Regular guests of Emperor Divers have more than likely encountered one or more of these fantastic creatures, riding the bow wave of your dive boat, or the really lucky have had the opportunity to spend some time in the water alongside them diving or snorkelling.

Dolphins are a common sight in all areas of the Red Sea, from Taba down to Sudan, but how much do you really know about these intelligent animals?

On April 22, the world will be celebrating Earth Day - a time to honour our natural environment and to lend a helping hand in keeping it clean and tidy.

Emperor Divers' centres will be doing their bit and inviting guests to join in. For instance, Emperor Sharm El Sheikh is offering a free 3rd dive on all our boats as a clean up dive; El Gouna is organising an underwater clean up in conjunction with the Movenpick Hotel from our day boat; Nuweiba will be taking part with an organised clean up too and the chance to win an exclusive Nuweiba Oscar at the end of it! Hurghada and Marsa Alam will also be doing their bit to help the Red Sea environment.

So if you're out diving with us on the 22nd, grab some feel-good factor and do your bit to help make the Earth - well, the Red Sea - a better place to live.

• North boundary: the southern limits of the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba
• South boundary: a line joining Husn Murad and Ras Siyan

Our newest fishy favourite in Marsa Alam is 'Kermit' the Warty Frogfish. First spotted by our dive guide Sarah, Kermit now resides near a table coral in Marsa Mubarak, meaning you can see stonefish, scorpionfish, crocodilefish and a frogfish on one dive!

Over the past two months he has grown from about 5 cm to nearly 10 cm...although being a warty he won't get much bigger!

Dive Marsa Alam - book today!