Aggressively Irresponsible: Act of tomfoolery and or stupidity, usually driven by bets, dares and general competitive mindset. Mainly affects males in their mid 20's
It all started with a T-shirt. Tory and I were checking out the ruins on the Aswan-Luxor corridor. When we spotted an odd looking fellow wearing a tight white tee. The line on his shirt read "I dived the Thistlegorm!" At first we thought it must have been a Dungeons and Dragons game or something. We checked the name and truns out it's one of the best wreck dives in the Red Sea!
The picture above is the only surviving shot of the British merchant ship, taken on April 9th 1940. Seeing as the Nazi's controlled most of the Mediterranean, British controlled Egypt was severely isolated when it came to replenishing supplies. Having gotten pummeled by the Axis forces headed by commander Rommel, the Allies needed fresh supplies for a renewed offensive. The only way to get this gear to the port of Alexandria was by circumnavigating Africa, with a stop in Cape town and Yemen. A couple of Nazi bombers spotted the convoy by chance on their way home (Cyprus) from a failed mission. The ship was sunk with two bombs.
Click on said picture for larger zoomNobody in Sharm El-Sheikh would take me, so I hopped on a bus back to Dahab. The guy at the shop asked me how many times I'd dived before. It's supposed to be 50+ for wreck dives. Without flinching I told him 10. He started at me for about a solid second then signed me up...I love Dahab.
There were two dives at Thislegorm and one at Ras Mohamad national park. Like a giddy school girl, I was so excited (and nervous) and ended up using up my entire tank in under 30 minutes!
Overnight 1am departure time. Sweet military style sleeping bags(face uncovered). Earplugs + gravol = sweet dreams
Gear is setup the night before.
It was pure chaos trying to maneuver with 30 other divers. Tanks and scuba gear lying everywhere!
The second deep dive took us into the wreck itself. Ford trucks, spare tires, rubber boots, a full locomotive (blown 30M clear off the boat by the German bombers), rows upon rows of motorcycles. We checked out the kitchen and captains quarters. The ship guns and massive rotor were particularly stunning. I was fairly relaxed for the second dive so the air lasted me a while longer.
Dave pointing aggressively "something behind me?"...added stress at 30M below in dark rooms
Watch your step
Prop
Anti-air gun
My dive buddy Dave, these underwater pics are from his cam...thanks bra! Dave had about a thousand dives under his belt, instructor status and wicked old school gear. He had no octopus or secondary breathing aparatus....so if I ran out of air it was going to be some mad air share.
Surface intervals. Waiting for the nitrogen to dissolve in the blood before heading back down again. 
Got a little too close
Purple coral really spiced the place up
Great colours in Ras Mohamed
Party must have rocked on that boat!
1 comment:
Dude.... are those sharks in that one pic??? I thought they were dolphins for a second... but they're sharks, aren't they??? Shit. I would have shit my wetsuit. What kind of sharks were they?
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