TRAVEL REPORT #6: EGYPT WITH THILO EISENHARDT
The sixth round of the #apneaworldtour: Egypt
The next destination of our #apneaworldtour is Egypt. Thilo Eisenhardt discovered the El Quadim bay on the Red Sea together with our Apnea Diver Automatic. In his detailed report he tells of exciting encounters under water and relaxed moments on the beach:
We’ve been scuba diving in seas and lakes for many years now. More recently, however, my wife Nadine and I have become interested in the whole ‘less is more’ principle. Which is why this time, we left behind jackets and cylinders, and dived into our element equipped only with wetsuit, fins, mask and snorkel – and of course the DAVOSA Apnea Diver.
When we reached El Quadim Bay in the Red Sea, a trip we had planned for some time, our focus shifted back again. We returned to some scuba dives, however our fascination for how much closer you get to the underwater world without cylinders, without the loud noise from the bottle on your back, continued to captivate us on every dive.
We already knew the bay from previous holidays and had already been lucky enough to dive with eagle rays and dolphins in the past. We’ve also snorkelled there already. This was the first time we’d been there quite so early in the year, and we were curious to see what we would see this time. We were pleased to find things were not busy, neither in the hotel nor at the dive centre. But for the first few days, it was still too windy to dive and very cool. Even when preparing by floating on the water’s surface, you were shaken about by the waves. However, the wind grew less as each day passed and the sea grew calmer and calmer.
And with it, our excitement at rediscovering the bay as freedivers grew. With the Apnea Diver on my wrist, it was finally time to climb into my wetsuit and start the next session. On the very first afternoon on the northern face of the reef, a Napoleon wrasse shot past us. If Nadine hadn’t pointed behind me from the water’s surface, I would have missed the fellow. But he was much too fast for my camera. We met him again though on a later dive. The bay is incredible. Full of fish, colourful and always something new to discover.
Nadine and I had lots of fun practicing our newly learnt skill of freediving in the bay. For minutes, we dived at the Playground on the sand bank, at the metal scaffold with the coral and also to Erna Block. Erna is a moray eel that lives in the bay and she has her own coral block in approx. 16 m on the sand bank. Erna is almost always at home and her roommates are also a beautiful sight. They include a hermit crab, an anemone and numerous tiny fish.
While taking breaks above water, we sat on the beach looking out to sea and breathing in the warm sea air while practicing our breathing exercises. We enjoyed ourselves a lot and the DAVOSA Apnea Diver is a beautifully simple tool, which has everything you need for breathing exercises, allowing you to train in the best way possible.
Time passed in a flash and so we said goodbye for this trip and began our homeward journey. With mixed feelings, as always, but fortunately our next adventure is already booked.