Have been slacking for ages, so need to catch up. And what better way than details on a Red Sea trip. The pics can be found at the link below and the highlights are...

March 19-26th 2006
Aboard MV Typhoon liveaboard
Programme was 'Get Wrecked'
Accompanied Marcin Kaluza, all round great guy, a top flight mixed gas diver, HLPlanner author and tough to find better company.

Dives undertaken, in order where:

Ras Katy, Dunraven, Carnatic, Markus, Giannis D, Ulysees, The Barge, Rosalie Muller twice, Kingston, Thistlegorm afternoon and night, Thistlegorm very early, Shark and Yolanda Reef, Million Hope, Jackson Reef
http://www.flickr.com/photos/auswomble/sets/72057594092007445/

The weather, for the entire week was stunning. Clear blue skies and hardly a breath of wind. The water temp averaged 22 degrees, with a high and low, according to guages, of 24 and 19.8. Lovely. Vis averaged 20m. I did all dives in just my 3mm. Both Marcin and I typically dived a single ali 80, but as depth and bottom time dictated we took a slung stage rather then mess about with independant twins. There were 20 divers on the boat from 4 on courses (PADI AOW) to Inspiration rebreather boys. Only Marcin and I looked hogarthian. :-)

Wherever safe to do so we mooched around inside the wrecks; Marcin is an engine room freak and he did just about all of the booking and chasing, so he lead and I followed with the camera. We did manage a couple of reefs too, and Marcin even got excited at the sight of a turtle, so everything worked just fine.

The only spot I did not follow through on was a 5min whip around in the lowest level of the Rosie's engine room. I stayed on the middle level, a max of 3m above Marcin on an open mesh gangway. He did a look around the boilers and stuff.

So what were the dive highlights?

The Thistlegorm came good on dive 3. We arrived as most of the day boats had left in the afternoon and did three dives, one in the afternoon, one at night and a third at 06:00 the folowing morning. The first dive was around the holds, bow and deck levels at the wrecks pointy end. It was a nice dive, but there was no wow factor. The night dive was atmospheric, with the wreck lit from odd angles by dive torches and more colourful growth on her, but again no wow. The bikes and trucks in the holds are cool and both dives were very nice, but I had expected to be blown away. The morning dive, however, was fantastic. The plan was to get up at 05:30 to enter the water by 06:00 and have the wreck to ourselves. We were going to dive the deeper stern section and to maximise bottom time we took our stage cylinders.

As intended we got the wreck to ourselves, and I think that is what made it so special. We toured the stern guns, the railway engine on the sand, the toilets (always a good photo opportunity) and then headed over the blast section. From there er spotted an entry point for a penetration that would take us through the (remaining) centre part of the wreck and into toe forward holds. The entry spot was easy to spot; Baz the dive leaders arse was sticking out of it as he tried to wiggle through in his rebreather. Alas he did not make it. Strike 1 for the boys with the stages! The third and final dive on the Thistlegorm simply felt good. We did a decent bottom time and left the water after an hour wishing we could have just a bit more time.

The Kingston was another highlight for me, though not to everyones taste. More reef than wreck, it is covered in corals and fish life. Some of the wreck purists grumbled about it being a flowepot, but that for me was great. The water was crystal clear and you could look up and through pars of the wreck through clouds of fish. It also had some entertaining Arabian Surgeon Fish that would angrily defend their territory against all comers...such as divers.