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May 31, 2006
Sharm half day boat dives - a perfect holiday mix
Emperor Sharm now offers you the chance to choose some relaxed diving - a perfect solution when you're holidaying with family or non-diving partners.
You can choose to do two dives in the morning or afternoon, leaving you time to lie around the pool, do some shopping, play with the children or even watch the World Cup!
The dive sites will be within 20 minutes of Sharm and chosen for their colour, variety of marine life and calm conditions. And non-divers are very welcome to join in and snorkel or sunbathe on the boat. Of course, you can always choose to dive morning AND afternoon, giving you four dives a day! Just use your persuasive techniques!
PADI Specialty of the Month - Win a holiday to the Red Sea
In conjunction with PADI, Emperor Divers is offering you a Specialty of the Month promotion, every month through to December.
July - Deep Diver
Complete this Speciality of the Month when you dive with Emperor and you can then enter the draw with PADI International. Each month, divers completing the corresponding specialty will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner* will receive a £100 voucher from PADI to spend in their local dive centre. All divers will also be entered into an overall prize draw for a fabulous Red Sea holiday for two, drawn at the end of the year.
This month, learn how to dive safely to depths of 40 metres!
Increase your diving knowledge regarding decompression sickness, nitrogen narcosis, safety stops, emergency decompression procedures, special equipment, descent lines, flying after diving, etc.
Prerequisites:
PADI Adventure Diver or equivalent Advanced certification
15 years of age
Duration: 2 days
This Specialty counts towards your Master Scuba Diver rating – The Black Belt in Scuba Diving
Specialty courses are a great way to refine your skills and define the kind of diver you are. The more time you spend honing your skills and having fun underwater, the more opportunities you’ll have to make discoveries of your own.
Future specialty courses:
August – Wreck Diver
September – National Geographic
October – Night Diver
November – Equipment Specialist
December – Wild card YOU CHOOSE!
* To receive free gifts from PADI, you must be an Open Water Diver and a current PADI Diving Society member
For full details of this month's Specialty Course, click here.
For prices and to book, email reservations here.
May 30, 2006
Sharm receives prestigious PADI award
Emperor's Sharm El Sheikh dive centre has been presented with the PADI Industry Award for 'Outstanding Contribution to PADI Diver Education'. Many congratulations to all the team!
Sam Kirby, Padi International Regional Manager for Egypt, presents the award to Tim Connor, Sharm El Sheikh Dive Centre Manager.
Sharm cleans up the peaches on the beaches
The team at Sharm El Sheikh dive centre recently gave up their day off to complete a beach clean up. Included in the haul were two car batteries, astro turf matting, cushion flooring, clothing, bottles, cans, brochures and peaches! Well done team! The environment is just that bit better for your care and effort!
New form of Red Sea lionfish evolves
According to a study undertaken by Lev Fishelson of TelAviv University, the lionfish, Pterois volitans, found in the Red Sea has changed in appearance over the past 40 years and a new form has evolved.
Rather than the normal ray-like supraocular tentacles, which appear just above the eyes of the lionfish (see above picture), the new form has evolved feather-like tentacles where one or both have a sharply defined black eye spot with a white ring around it.
In adults, these tentacles are much broader at the tips than the ray-like tentacles of most volitans, and look rather like a peacock's feather. They can measure up to 5cm in length and over 1cm in width at the tip.
PS. Thank you to all those who sent in their own photos of the lionfish in response to the article, taken in a variety of dive sites. We will be featuring these in the June newsletter!
Soma Bay to host underwater golf game!
This September, Emperor's Soma Bay dive centre will host John Lax, a PADI Master Scuba Diver, who will be rising to a rather unusual challenge from his work colleagues!
John will be attempting to hit a golf ball 50 metres underwater in a bid to raise money for MenCap, the UK charity for the mentally handicapped. In true style, Denise Fletcher, Manager of Soma Bay, has assured John that her team will be on hand to make sure there is no damage done to the reef - and has even kindly invited the Golf Pro from the resort (who happens to be a Rescue Diver) to give John a few tips!
Anyone know the underwater signal for 'FORE'?
Interesting fact (well we think so)...
The word 'fore' is Scottish in origin, and is a shortened version of the word 'before' or 'afore.' The old Scottish warning, essentially meaning "look out'
OR
'Fore' logically stems from the Middle English meaning of fore as 'ahead' or 'front', as in foreman, foremost, etc., or more particularly 'too far forward' in the case of an overhit ball. Sources suggest the golf term was in use by the late 1870's. The use of the 'fore' prefix in the context of a warning or pre-emptive action was established long ago in similar senses: forewarn, foretell, forestall, and foresee, etc., (foresee actually dates back to the 1200's).
Ingrid achieves Silver Course Director status
Ingrid Wittmann is Emperor Divers' Chief Instructor and IDC co-ordinator. Born in Germany, Ingrid started diving in 1989, became Dive Master in Hurghada in 1992 and Instructor in Sharm in the same year, then a Master Instructor in 1996. In 2004, she became a Course Director and was recently awarded Silver Level Course Director for her achievements.
Ingrid has certified more than 1.200 PADI divers at all levels, logged more than 5000 dives, taught over 100 instructors in less than two years with 50 being IDC candidates. She has also received several Certificates of Recognition for Excellence for outstanding customer service and professionalism in PADI scuba instruction since 1995.
And Ingrid has a fair old depth of location experience having worked as an instructor/dive guide in Sharm, Dahab, Hurghada, Safaga, Taba, Eilat (Israel), Seychelles, Comoros Islands, Indonesia (Gili Trawangan/Lombok), Maldives, Germany and Austria (fresh water lakes!).
On top of all that, Ingrid is certified to teach most PADI Speciality Courses and is a DAN Instructor Trainer. Oh and she's fluent in both German (obviously!) and English.
Many congratulations Ingrid! So what's next on the agenda?
May 02, 2006
Mantas, Threshers, Hammerheads...all on one liveaboard
MY Emperor Fraser 24 - 31 March 2006
Brothers Islands & Elphinstone
Report by Fefe Morisod
Photo by Penny Hands
If only we had the room to carry the full, riveting report from dive guides Fefe Morisod and Christiaan Jansen - but, alas, space denies it.
Not to be thwarted though, click here and you can read the full glorious account, complete with masses of photos. In the meantime, we will endeavour to bring you a taster of what's in store behind the click!
Coastguard trouble / Grey Reef Sharks / weather not on our side / rare Thresher Shark / curious Napoleon / giant Manta / stunned / banging tanks / Hammerhead shark in the blue / snorkelling with Silkys / speechless / jumping around / calm down / huge storm / thunder and lightning / beautiful rainbow / calm / giant Green Sea Turtles / Guitar sharks / Nitrox kings / remembered / thanks.
May 01, 2006
Dugong at Soma Bay's House Reef
Two lucky divers at Soma Bay's House Reef spotted a dugong as it swam south towards the sea grass beds around the islands off Safaga. Instructor Birgit Kayser was accompanied by Joachim Gietl, who managed to snap this shot!
Soma Bay helps improve the environment
Emperor Soma Bay recently hosted marine engineers from Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA).
On the request of Director Amr Ali, the engineers visited 14 dive sites, 9 reefs and replaced 25 - 30 mooring ropes as well as carrying out a full survey of further work. Denise Fletcher, Soma Bay's Manager, wishes to thank HEPCA for their support and is happy to play host at any time in order to help improve the marine environment. You can find out more about HEPCA here www.hepca.com
Hurghada signs up for the Sharks & Dolphins Sighting program
Emperor Hurghada has joined the Sharks & Dolphins Sighting program, organised by the Abu Salama Society, which started its research activities in 1995. It aims to record sightings of vertebrates, including both dolphins and sharks through a network of volunteers who are concerned about the large marine vertebrate’s welfare.
The Society doesn't have the resources to cover the 800km of Red Sea coast and, therefore, needs help to identify and measure threats. Sighting information can tell us a lot about dolphin and shark movements, providing vital information that can be used to determine future research and management priorities. See below for some fascinating sightings in Hurghada!
Abu Salama Society is a non-profit organisation based in the Red Sea. The Society aims to protect the marine mammals on the South coast of the Egyptian Red Sea.
Rare Manta sighting on Carnatic
Report from Caroline Worley aboard day boat Amelia
What better way to finish a North Safari than with a manta sighting? Something that you would typically expect to find on the big wall dives of Ras Mohammed, the Marine Parks or St Johns All aboard Amelia this week were delighted - not to mention a little shocked - to be joined mid dive at the Carnatic by this large pelagic!
The Carnatic is a firm favourite with divers both on Northern Safaris and daily divers from Hurghada, famous for the soft corals and exposed beams - perfect for nudibranch hunting and scorpion fish spotting. Whilst working our way around the wreck, the peace was shattered by someone rather urgently shaking a rattle to get our attention. Then we all spotted her. Sailing in gracefully from the blue at about 10m was a very dark manta, about 3 metres point to point. She floated right up to wreck itself, in no hurry, giving all of the divers from Madrid more than enough time to check her out. Moving towards the stern section she appeared to be leaving, when she did a smooth 180 and looped back to travel down the length of the entire wreck, before disappearing back off into the blue. A brief but incredibly exciting encounter.
So for those who think they have seen it all in the North, think again. Add to this a week packed with turtles and dolphin, and the Red Sea's reputation for awesome Spring diving is confirmed - just a taster of what the next couple of months will hopefully bring.