You have to go to the Red Sea! So I was told by many divers. The water is clear, the fish life is amazing, you'll see Sharks (No), Turtles (No), Manta Rays (No) and hundreds of other fish (Yes). So it was that we flew out to Sharm-El-Sheikh during September for a cheap weeks diving. It is a long flight, about 5 1/2 hours in total, but well worth it. Egypt is hot all day and all night. We arrived quite late but arranged with the tour guide to start diving the next day. The hotel was a 4* Hotel and very nice it was too, its own pool, air conditioning in the lobby and room so it was easy enough to escape the heat.

Monday dawned bright and early and we were met by our dive guide for the week; Mario, or Ahmed or a couple of other names I missed. Anyway, he took us to the dive centre where we sorted ourselves out and organised weights, baskets to keep kit in and the other minor necessities. Soon enough we were off to the port, where we saw the after-effects of the recent bomb - there were police everywhere. Mario apologised but we understood. I'd rather have too many police and be searched than none and risk being blown up. The port hums with activity, cylinders being loaded on boats, food, drink, divers everywhere. Soon enough we were aboard the Lady Emy and off for the first dives of the week. Our first dive was the Temple, a marvellous reef full of life. 40 minutes and 20m later and were smiling! The water is every bit as clear as we had hoped, the life was amazing, fish, coral, wow! After a surface interval we were back in again, this time at Ras-Um-Sid for a similar depth and time as the first, and then later still, a third dive at the Tower. Smiles all round, fantastic diving! The week went pretty much to this plan so I will just describe the notable dives.

Thistlegorm, Max Depth: 29.5m Dive Time: 39 mins + 39 mins. This is THE wreck to do in the Red Sea. The only slight problem is that it is a long way out from Sharm (about 4 hours) but ever the money makers, the Egyptians find a way of charging you for just about everything. Fast boat; that will be extra, through the Ras Mohammed park, that will be extra, lunch, extra, oh yes and diving the wreck, lots extra. It is worth it though, but to hear Mario talk you would think it was the most technical wreck in the world. For some strange reason, we were told to be ready early and I mean early! He had us stood ready to dive over half an hour before we actually got in! I was at the back of the group of eight and he wanted me to put my fins on! No chance mate, I'll do it when I get to the edge. As it is so far out, two dives are done on the wreck, the first does a general tour around then into one of the higher holds. On the way down I noticed the hose on one of the divers wasn't connected to his jacket so went to fix the problem - so much for his buddy check! We managed to lose Mario as we exited the hold, rather than wait for us, he was off. Of course we guessed where he had gone, but got it wrong! After the dive, he really threw his toys out of the pram, telling us we should stay with him, that he can't keep an eye on us all the time, it is too dangerous and if we want to dive again we will do it on our own! Fine by me!

He calmed down and we were soon in again. This time we went in a deeper hold and saw the motorbikes, trucks, guns and other war-related relics that make this dive so spectacular. Once again it was time to leave. I noticed a couple of our team heading for a different shot to the one we came down, and being aware that we were both running short on air, elected to go back to the one we descended on as I knew there was a cylinder at 6m. In the event we didn't need it, but I was constantly checking our air just in case. All was well and we exited with air to spare. It is a long way back but the boredom of sitting on the boat was allieviated by a video that was shot on the wreck featuring all of the divers - nice. I would have purchased a copy but it was about £40 which was a little rich for me. Also we saw some dolphins on the way back which caused a mass exodus from the viewing gallery. I didn't manage to get a photo, they were too far out and too fast - oh well. The sunsets were pretty spectacular too.