We'd like to ask our happy customers to vote for their favourite diving centre in the Diver Awards 2009! By voting you could win a pair of Sea-Doo Sea Scooters worth £1000!
Go to DIVERNET.COM and help us winning for a fourth year in a row!

When and where will the courses be?
Dates for the workshops are 25th January, 26th April, 12th July and 18th October. Stuart is also offering personal one to one tuition on request and this can either be held either at Red Sea Waterworld in Taba or at the Red Sea Diving College in Sharm. There will also be one very special Liveaboard workshop week aboard VIP-1 from 27th of June. This is the perfect time of the year for wrecks, reefs and big marine life sightings. VIP-1 has just been made photographer friendly with camera dunk tanks, safe storage areas and even a dedicated computer editing suite. Spaces are very limited so try and book up early.

How much will the workshops cost?
The Photo Workshop Holidays are being offered through Longwood Holidays a well established UK Tour Operator. For a full breakdown on the courses including costs, dive sites, hotel accommodation and content go to website www.longwoodholidays.co.uk Contact Stuart directly at adventurediving@yahoo.co.uk if you have any more questions or need any more information.

The first DSAT Tec 40 diver trained by PURE has just successfully completed his course in Sharm el Sheikh. Congratulations go to Dennis Solovyev and his instructor Andrey Sokolov! The new training programme from DSAT, the technical diving branch of PADI, offers an easy way to jump into technical diving adventures. This way, PADI divers can now learn to dive safely beyond the limits of recreational diving. To go further and stay longer!

The Tec 40 program is the first subdivision of the full DSAT Tec Deep Diver course and consists of four dives. Because one of these dives can be conducted in confined water (such as a pool), some divers decide to start their training in the winter time, ready to continue in open water when spring arrives. But hey! You don’t have to wait that long! Come and join us now under the generous and ever present sun of Sharm el Sheikh and you will be able to complete your training right away in the clear and warm waters of the Red Sea, teeming with incredible underwater life. Also a bit more attractive than a swimming pool, we'd like to think.

During this course, you will learn:
• How to use decompression software and dive computers to plan and make decompression dives (up to 10 minutes of decompression time) to a maximum depth 40 metres.
• How to use a single stage cylinder to make your "deco" stops with a Nitrox mix containing up to 50% O2, improving your decompression and giving you an extra safety factor.

Obviously, everything you will learn will be credited for the next courses, i.e. the DSAT Tec 45 and Tec 50 courses. Having taken these three programs, you will have achieved the Tec Deep Diver level and you’ll be able to jump into the trimix adventure with the Tec Trimix 65, and finally the Tec Trimix course. Equipment requirements will progressively move from a slightly adapted recreational diving rig, to a full technical diving rig using twinsets and a double bladder wing. You will also learn safety procedures and diving techniques step by step in order to master more challenging dives in the future. Our dedicated and professional instructor team will be there to guide you every step of the way. Why not go all the way and advance to the Tec Trimix level, the highest certification level in the DSAT program? Do not hesitate, join us now and…………..

Welcome to the dark side!
For more information, please contact cave@purediving.com.

If you can’t beat them, join them. This is what started off the thrilling drift dive which makes the currents work for you instead of against you. There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot off along a strong current and watch the reef pass you by as you sail along effortlessly. It’s almost the equivalent of sky diving underwater. Here are a few pointers that will help you enjoy drift diving even more and make it a little safer as well.

1. Follow the three ‘S’ of drift diving: Surface float, Surface Supervision and SMB
Whether you drift dive with a surface float line or not, it is essential that you have surface supervision on a drift dive. The surface supervision team also spots and picks up any divers that detach from the group. All divers on a drift dive should carry an SMB or a deployable high visibility signaling device that can help the dive boat spot you should you separate from the group and have to surface. A whistle attached to your BCD might help as well in such a situation.
2. Watch that Depth Gauge like a hawk.
Once you’re riding the fast currents, it is really difficult to monitor your depth. Divers can be carried upwards or downwards at great speed depending on the strength of the current. This can be dangerous if you are diving in deeper waters, and a nightmare if you have trouble equalizing. Keep a constant check on your depth gauge.
3.Stay close to the Bottom or the Wall
The current is almost always lesser at the bottom or a wall, so if you need to slow down or wait for the group to catch up with you, go lower to the bottom. While descending, a quicker decent to the bottom will give you a bit of time to regroup. Those that take longer to descend or have trouble equalizing will get carried away by the stronger currents at the top so watch your buddy closely and stay together at all times.
4. Go with the flow, not against it
I guess this is one of the most common tip for drift diving, but somehow several divers still choose not to accept it. Swimming against the current however can lead to exhaustion, and rapid air depletion. Once you learn to go with the flow, you quickly realize that there is no need to even use your fins, other than to correct course, and you can dive for longer and cover much greater distance on a single tank of air.
5. Drift dive in good visibility only
Moving at high speeds along a reef in poor visibility poses a risk of running smack into something. Poor visibility can also make it hard for the group to stay together, which is critical on a drift dive. Losing a buddy and having to meet up at the surface is extremely challenging in strong currents, so make you can maintain at least visual contact with everyone in your group.

Why was Thistlegorm in the Red Sea and what is her historical importance?
The wreck of S.S. Thistlegorm is the “Jewel in the Crown” of the diving delights of Sharm-el-Sheikh.  It is recognised as one of the best wreck dives in the world and attracts more divers than any other dive site in the world.  It is only a few hours by boat from Sharm-el Sheikh and, with a maximum depth of 30 metres is accessible to all advanced open water divers.

What is the story behind this great shipwreck, and why is she so important to divers and historians alike?
These are common questions asked about this fabulous wreck, so we here at Red Sea Diving College will begin a series of articles in our newsletter to enlighten you and hopefully answer some of your questions.

Thistlegorm was one of a number of general purpose cargo ships (otherwise known as “Tramps“) owned by the Albyn Line which was founded in 1901.  All their ships names began with the word “Thistle” and  the suffix “Gorm” means “Blue Thistle”.  She was built by Joseph L Thompson & Sons Ltd at Sunderland on the River Wear in County Durham, England.  At the time of her construction the British Shipping and Shipbuilding Industries were slowly recovering from the effects of the “Great Depression”.  As war appeared a possibility, the British Government initiated financial grants to owners ordering new ships in anticipation of the passing of  the “British Shipping Assistance Bill”.  This grant was gratefully accepted by the owners and construction of the £115,000 vessel began.  Thistlegorm was launched on 9th April 1940 and as WWII was already a reality, she was completed as a “Defensively Armed Merchant Ship“.  She was fitted with an obsolete 4-inch gun right at the stern and a 3-inch  anti-aircraft gun in the middle of the poop deck.  Concrete slabs were fitted round the bridge and superstructure to protect against machine gun fire and shell and bomb splinters.  Her fateful final trip was only her fourth voyage.

The war was going badly for Britain in the latter part of 1941.  In the Mediterranean the Germans had driven the British Forces out of Greece and had captured the vital Island of Crete in a daring parachute launched invasion.  With the loss of Crete, access to the Eastern Mediterranean was shut off from the West and all supplies from Britain to the Navy, Army and Airforce in Egypt had to be brought round the Cape of Good Hope and up through the Red Sea, a voyage of about 12,000 miles, and then through the Suez Canal. 

The British were attempting to build up their supplies and forces in Egypt in order to confront and expel Rommel in “Operation Crusader” and Thistlegorm was one of the many ships bringing these urgently needed supplies to Egypt.  She was loaded at Glasgow in July 1941 with war supplies destined for the newly formed 8th Army and for the Royal Navy at Alexandria.  This army was in the process of re-grouping and being re-equipped to make up for the massive equipment losses suffered during the disastrous military campaigns in Greece and Crete and in the desert. The Navy was desperately short of anti-aircraft ammunition, comprising 4-inch shells, 2-pounder pom-pom shells and 20 mm Oerlikon Cannon shells.  In the battle for Crete alone the British Navy fired 8-10,000 4-inch shells and more than 20 times that number of the smaller shells.

Thistlegorm had a Gross Registered tonnage of 4,898 tons but this was deceptive.  When fully loaded she displaced (weighed) nearly 13,000 tons and she was loaded to capacity with an incredible mix of war supplies. Her holds were filled with ammunition of all types for both the Navy and Army, Bren Gun Carriers, lorries, motorcycles, naval mines, rifles and ammunition, aircraft engines and parts, generators, medical supplies, Wellington boots and many other items.  Gigantic 15-inch naval shells are still visible, each one weighing 1920 lbs and could be fired up to 18 miles. On deck she carried two large steam locomotives each with a coal tender and a separate water tender needed for operations in the desert.  The safe arrival of this cargo was of vital importance to the British Campaign in the Middle East.  With this unique cargo, much of it still in place, Thistlegorm is an underwater time capsule from nearly 70 years ago.  Tragically she is also a war grave.

Keep an eye out for our next newsletter, where we will tell the story of her final voyage and it’s tragic ending.  RSDC runs weekly trips out to this outstanding wreck.  You can dive it for fun or integrate the dives into a speciality course such as “Wreck Diver” or “Deep Diver”.  Check out our web site for more details on the courses and how to pre-book them.

Commonly seen but seldom acknowledged creature ... they're right under your nose.
Christmas Tree Worm
'This the season, so why not have a look for these festive creatures?
Up to 1.5cm in width, they are found at all depths and on all dive sites, they come in a wide and varied assortment of colours and are embedded in living coral.
The part the diver sees (the spiral structure) are the worms highly developed respiratory organs and are also used to transport prey to the worms mouth.
When threatened the worm retracts into its tube.
Take a closer look but don't expect to see presents underneath! Although if you are lucky you might be able to photograph one with a Turkeyfish or Fairy Basslet nearby!

You want to take that perfect picture of a Christmas tree worm? Sign up for the Digital underwater photography course and learn all the details for your winning shot.