| KEITH'S DIVING HOLIDAYS, | GREAT BARRIER REEF, | MARSA SHAGRA, | MARSA SHAGRA 2006, | KEY LARGO, | ZANZIBAR, | SIMILAN ISLANDS, | BUNAKEN 2005, | BUNAKEN 2007, | JORDAN |
This year it was back again to my favourite house reefs for two weeks and in the second week I was joined by Haydn, as my buddy, Roddy, Sharon, Mandy and Hazel. Another very good trip, apart from the dose of Delhi Belly half way through.
I was very lucky really as the illness only lasted a day and happened at about the time I would have taken my one day off for de-gassing.
I was a little apprehensive about the new restaurant that was being built during my last trip and the implications it has for extra visitors. In fact it has been very tastefully done. It seats 400 but has not yet been filled to capacity.
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View from the back. The tower is for ornamentation and cooling and the dining room is under the dome.
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This is the patio - a very popular area which provides shade and cooling breezes. It has replaced the former dining area.
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Roddy holding court on the patio.
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The diving was excellent again and the visibility was better than last year as the plankton bloom was less. My only problem came to light when I put my pictures on my PC and discovered that I had left the ISO on 400 so they had a lot of noise. Ah well there is always next year!
There seemed to be far more turtles around this year and I think I saw at least one on every dive.
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They love soft corals.
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Here's one going up for a gulp of air and returning to the feast.
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Off into the wide blue yonder.
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Blacktip Grouper
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Orchid Dotty Back
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Red Sea Anemone Fish
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Male Red Sea Bird Wrasse
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Female Red Sea Bird Wrasse
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Chequerboard Wrasse
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Common Reef Squid
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Smooth Cornet Fish
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Indian Ocean Crocodile Fish
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Masked Butterfly Fish
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Lined Butterfly Fish
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Lined Butterly Fish
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Exquisite Butterfly Fish
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Red Sea Racoon Butterfly Fish
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Always looking for a handout
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Reef Octopus
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Banded Pipefish
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Network Pipefish
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Robust Ghost Pipefish
This was the first tme I had seen these little beauties here. As you can see from the first picture they look just like floating seaweed.
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To add to my excitement there were these Red Sea Walkman Fish or Filamented Devilfish close by.
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Blue Spotted Sting ray
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This was my first sight of a Torpedo Ray. It took me by surprise as I was finning through the murk at the end of a dive and swam straight through my legs!!
I am quite pleased with the pictures as I had to perform a somersault to get them.
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Last time I was here I saw my first Gape Fish (Striped Mackerel) but this time they seemed to be everywhere.
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Titan Trigger
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Blue Trigger
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Luminescent Jellyfish
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Black Tipped Reef Shark
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Baby White Tipped Reef Sharks
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White Tipped Reef Shark?
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Swarthy Parrotfish
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Tricoloured Parrotfish
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Oooh! that's better.
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Spotted Unicorn Fish (Naso Tangs)
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Mixed Shoal
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Coral Hind
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Lyretail Hogfish
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Lyretail Hogfish
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Arabian Spinecheek
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Follow my leader
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Rabbit Fish
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Shrimp Goby
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Steinitz' Shrimp Goby
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Orange-spotted Trevally
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Trevallys
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Spotted Trevallys
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Crescent-tail Bigeye
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Crescent-tail Bigeye
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Juvenile Yellow Boxfish
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Bigeye Emperor
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Six-striped Soapfish
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Variation of Arabian Spinecheek & Lyretail Hogfish
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Lyretail Grouper
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Peacock Grouper
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Grey Moray
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White-spotted Puffer
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Spanish Dancer Egg String
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One of many signs - I don't know whether the study is on-going.
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Porcupine Fish
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Sabre Squirrel Fish
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Blue Blanquillo
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An Osprey which regularly fished around the site. There was some speculation that it migrated from Rutland Water in England.
