Sharks Bay

Sharks Bay 'Red Sea Diving'

May 2007 - The Fyfe Brother's (and Chris's) trip to Shark's Bay in Sharm El Sheikh was a great success! Brian went from Open Water Diver to The Thistlegorm in a week collecting his Advanced OW on the way. James arrived early and made friends with all the staff and got us the best rooms. Chris Noakes was a honorary Fyfe brother for the week (he will be out of therapy soon). Keith had some of the best diving for a while and got to dive with his brother's.

Many months ago it occurred to me that it might be fun for all three Fyfe brothers to get together for a week's diving to celebrate a few major birthday's. Brian turned 40 in April 2007 and James turned 50. Our sister Gillian is wishing she was a boy. However, there was one small point that stood in our way. Whilst James has 50+ dives under his weight belt (he was originally trained by the Argentinean Navy) our Brian had only been snorkelling. We originally talked about Brain getting his OW done in Sharm as part of the week but Oh No! Brian only went and completed his OW in Scotland, in a dry suit, in March with snow on the ground! He is a true Fyfe.

Brian (on right) just after his first Open Water dive. Loch Long in Scotland.

After contacting a few of the regular diving operators to Sharm we settled on Oonas Divers and they recommended Shark's Bay Umbi Diving Village. Thanks to our "Shark Girls" Alison, Sharmin, Caroline and Lydia - they were such a great help in putting our trip together. Chris, Brian and I travelled from the UK but James flew in from Saudi Arabia where he lives and works. The Shark Girls sorted out the AOW course for Brian and James on the first two days, B&B, transfers, dive packs, night dives, etc etc.

Sharks Bay Diving Club at Umbi. The new Bedouin Village accommodation
with views out over The Tiran Straights.

We had great views looking
over to the Tiran Islands. The Bedouin cafe at Umbi which strangely we
didn't have time to sit in. Why was that guys?

On our first day's diving we met up with Scott Gilchrist who was also starting his Advanced Open Water course that day. He quickly became the fifth member of the crew and an honorary brother for the week! See you again next year Scott!

Scott and James.

We would thoroughly recommend Sharks Bay Umbi Diving Village. The new Bedouin rooms were rustic and comfortable, the hotel staff were always smiling and helpful, the restaurant food was good and there is also an Italian restaurant along the beach. Sharks Bay is much much quieter than Naama Bay (thank God) but if you need the bright lights it is only 15 minutes away by taxi.

The Dive Centre is very ably run by the delightful Sama. Her shining smile will be remembered by all for many years to come. I think I am husband number 42.

Sama and The Boys. Hussain and James.
Best of buddies.

Thanks must go to our guide for the week Karim El Bendary who we always managed to worry on every dive. Mo was our guide on the Saturday and he lead a very cool ship. We met Hussain at the dive centre everyday when he finished with his students, he always had a smile and a story for us.

Yasar was Brian and James's instructor for the Advanced Open Water and he deserves a medal for getting James to complete all his knowledge reviews just in time.

Scott, James and Brian with their
AOW Instructor Yasar. Keith and Karim share a joke.

Final thanks and admiration go to the hard working Skippers and Crew on the Freedom boats which were all beautifully maintained. Especially on Freedom V where the lunch was always awesome, the Skipper never ran over us once and the crew were always there to help us with our kit. The Chef was also a Doctor who ably tended to Brian's scratches from the Thistlegorm! They are a special bunch of guys.

All that said, here is the whole trip in words and pictures .......