Well so far the trip is just perfect. The first day catch was ideal, some groupers, emperors & a couple of Doradas "featured in this picture to the right". Now it’s the fresh morning breeze. We have sailed from our docking spot which was protected from the high waves to our first diving spot. This is the same spot that we have discovered by coincidence yesterday.
Now it was Ihab & myself who went first. The rest were still rising & they couldn’t actually understand how come we are already back to the same place we were at yesterday! Simple, the captain & his crew were just outstanding. They have exceeded our expectations in every single thing they did. So far this was the best crew, boat & captain we had.
Ihab & I started to gear up & we have discussed our fining course. This time the boat was a bit closer to the newly discovered dive site. We were a bit confused about the direction that we should head to however; we managed to make some calculations based on faraway landmarks. Yes we can see the shore but can barely see the developing buildings on the coast.
As we filed silently into the water; we noticed the comfortable warm temperature. The visibility was acceptable, only this time it’s about 5 to 6 meters maximum. We both started powering smoothly along with the current for about 10 minutes & we have not yet found our spot. It’s still a sandy floor with scattered rocks here and there. Small silver fishes swim around us in thousands like the stars. We kept going on until I have suddenly & unexpectedly spotted a group of emperors swimming on top of the sand. They usually do this since it’s their best camouflage. Sand bars & sand floors, this is where you will mostly find them, because the sun light is reflected from the sand onto their silver bodies & they blend into the sand color. If you have an “eye for the fish” you will quickly spot them in the blue. Here is a picture that features the Emperor. A very tasty fish & is known with its premium quality white meat. They are quite challenging as they always keep distance in addition to the fact that they have amazing reflex speed. I will be posting in the future some techniques that I have learned on how to hunt such wonderful fish.
When I spotted this group coming towards us, they were about 5 emperors, decently sized. The smaller sized ones where at the front while again; unexpectedly, a big guy about 7 kg appeared at the tail of the parade. They usually come to take a peak about what’s happening in their territory. Ihab was ahead of me to the right hand side & has managed to spot the “not to be missed parade”. I have noticed that he did while I was completely submerged in about 4 meters lying down on the sand to attract them towards me. I was targeting the big guy but; Ihab decided to use his big guns to hunt it from range. Ihab takes the shot on the big guy, barely misses it & in less than a second the parade vanished. 
I popped my head out of the water to check on the boat & the fellow hunters’ status. Seems that they are still recovering from last night & no one is in the water yet. Ihab did a course check again & we talked to each other then changed our direction. Finally after 15 minutes we managed to reach the destination. The sound of corals is popping in our ears & getting louder. The water is getting crowded with several reef fish & other species. We were both in the area so we drifted apart and started scanning the bottom & the caves for our pray. I have seen a red grouper yesterday which is not supposed to be found at these ends. Red groupers "featured in this picture" are so tasty & there is abundance of them in the red sea. I found it again & aimed my RA at an approximate range of 3 m, my RA has a double wrap of mono line which allows me to aim at targets up to 4 m far. The shot was an excellent one, a kill shot that I have enjoyed due to its range & accuracy. It seems that my new rubber bands are working just perfect.
Ihab made several shots; I can hear him boogie in the water. For me, I’m a bit picky when hunting & I save my loading energy for any unexpected appearances. I spotted during that part of the day several decent sized Groupers " featured in this picture to the right". I shot 2 in addition to the red grouper that I had first.
All hunters where in the water by now & it seems that everyone is having a piece of these generous reefs. As our dive started to come to an end “5 hours” & all the hunters are now back to the boat, I have came across Ximo who was still in the water. We talked about a nearby reef that had several Doradas & we decided to have a go on them. It was the other way round at the far end of the reef. We met a large eagle spotted ray that was too scared & disappeared into the blue. When we reached the area we both tied our floats into the rocks & decided to swim freely in search for the doradas. We weren’t that lucky after 30 minutes of searching; seen some decent sized ones but where far out of range.
So we stayed still for some time to recharge our bodies & again we meet the emperors. Ximo proposed a trap hunt by having a perimeter between us which is about 15 m in width & facing the current. One of us spears & the other receives the runaway emperors. After 2 attempts we miss the 7 kg big guy again however Ximo managed to hit a 5 kg emperor in the trap before we get back to the boat.
Ximo & I are now back to the boat, having the debris of breakfast. We had monsters, not normal human beings on the boat!! Breakfast was almost gone but thankfully Sherif & Ahmed thought about us & saved us a plate of food. It was 11:30am now & we were ready to head back from where we started. The trip should take 6 hours however; we must make a very important & mandatory stop at our trophy dive spot. I personally went to sleep to regain some of my energy & I actually didn’t sleep that much the night before. I gave my body some rest & my mind some space to dream about the beauty of the ocean, its mysteries & the giant trivially that I should meet in 3 hours. Our operator for the afternoon was Capt. Soliman & he sailed the boat smoothly as per the course. Although I was sleeping during his task however; I can say that the ride was smooth & he was pretty in control.
I woke up on Ahmed’s pokes; he said: Hisham we are almost there & it’s only 15 minutes to reach the spot. Its 4:30pm my God I had almost 4 hours of sleep, that’s more than enough & now I am so energetic & ready for the long awaited moment to see again the giant trivially. When the boat arrived to the destination, Ahmed made sure that it’s safely tied. The usual briefing took place & we all split into territorial teams. I was supposed to go with Ximo however, we made a shuffle & I went with Ihab. Ihab preferred to stay at the first point of the diving spot & he had his camera fixed on his Nile Tec locally handmade masterpiece. We swam together to the point all was in the water, the waves where pretty high & gave us a nice shake. The water was like “vegetable soup” Ximo said while stationed at the middle of the point with Ahmed. At least it’s not chocolate. Karim & Sherif were at the end. We waited & waited without any sightings; we meant to be very silent since GT’s are so sensitive & would never waste a second to be kilometers apart from us. Where I was; I made a duck dive up to 15 m just to check out what’s beneath us, I have sighted a massive GT that showed me his unbelievable size & swam down deeper. This GT must be at least 80 kg + I was frozen from the view & I wonder how my gear would be able to land such mass.
No one did any action, teams were so far apart but there is no trigger sounds in the water. Suddenly a school of GT’s appear beneath us & Ihab films them. I have placed a couple of clips from Ihabs' camera right here. below this paragraph. You can also see them in the video that I have added at the end of this post as well.
They were between 30 to 40 kg each swimming slowly & proudly trying to take a glimpse of us. Then they dive deep again. We waited for about 10 minutes & the GT’s started circling us again & they are even coming closer now. I decided to dive on this school while Ihab watches me go. As I dived they became faster & they were going deeper. They disappeared for about 15 minutes then a loanly GT appeared to Ihab & he decided to take a shot at it; again Ihabs shaft barely touched the GT.
10 minutes later Ihab had to go back to the boat since he told me that his mask started to leak & he was not feeling comfortable about it. By that time Sherif joined me & he experienced several sightings of GT’s. I decided to take a shot at a 30 kg one but my shaft barely touched it. Karim also joined the party & now it was the 3 of us waiting for the moment to hit the trophy.
We have made several dives without any success. It’s been about an hour now without any luck, not even for any of the other teams. We were the luckiest because our area had most of the GT’s appear. Ximo & Ahmed have seen a GT only once. We used several techniques to attract the GT’s like BTB diving but again, with no luck. In an instant I decided to try the dead fish technique so I made a very slow dive, smooth & silent while Karim & Sherif watched from the surface. The water was so murky & I can’t see anything. It was becoming as chocolate & the light is getting dimmer. I stopped using my fins & adjusted my position by bending my knees & having my left hand behind my back. I was sinking slowly into the deep; I was dropped from the surface.
While I was sinking slowly I saw a couple of GT’s to my right & I slowly started pointing my RA towards them but they were still out of range. I can only see their big lips & fins that glowed into the murky water. They never came into range & started to descend again. In my sight range to the left, I have noticed a lonely GT coming up to me to check me out; I was almost out of breath but I have decided to go the extra bit. I never looked it in the eye but kept it in my eyesight while it approached & I never repositioned my RA towards it. I was completely frozen. Once it became in range I swiftly turn my RA towards it without turning my head; I made the decision & looked at this beautiful & massive GT. It was for sure above the 40 kg mark. I made my shot, it was perfect & hit exactly behind the eyes in the upper part of the gill. The reflex was a movie of its own, my Shaft hit the GT hard & it swam upwards taking my RA, I & my line with it. I kept hold of my gun to make sure that the shaft is intact but to my bad luck; my shaft snapped out from the GT body!! Giving it the chance to dive deep so fast that I couldn’t see it. You know how this felt? So bad I assure you. I almost landed the trophy fish of the entire trip. I surfaced & Karim witnessed my anger moment on top of the water; he actually witnessed the whole thing. All what I got from this GT was some debris of his white flesh on my shaft barb. I lost this GT mainly because of two common reasons; the first one because it was so large & its mass thickness was beyond my dual 16mm rubber band thrust power. Ironically the second reason was the fact that my spear tip was completely blunted from my reef shots on the groupers I caught today morning. So penetration was fairly impossible & finally it was not destined to be my trophy.
I couldn’t stay any longer in the water with all these thoughts running into my soaked head & we all decided to go back since no GT’s will return. Not for now at least. We know that & it’s a logical reaction. The entire GT tribe will gather around the wounded one & start checking it out for some time & logging what occurred into their visual memories. It is amazing how such beautiful & breathtaking fish behave. These creatures have brains & hearts. They have their own law & regulations just as us human beings. They impress me with their meaningful eye contact & body language. Truly we should respect & admire what nature gives us & demonstrates to us the secrets of this world that we are always tapping on.As we board the boat, the boys voted whether to go for another BWH stop before going back to the port or not. The result was yes, BWH here we come. It was only Sherif Karim & Ximo who wanted to go. I stayed on board with the rest, trying to get myself together since the flashback of the whole GT situation will keep haunting me for some time. I was completely drained too, so next dive was not for me anyway.
It was dusk now, Ximo, Sherif & Karim are in the water but it seems that they have only seen some young tunas passing by. All divers are now out of the water, we headed back to land. Our time machine “The boat” is set to reach our destination in 1 hour.
Overall this trip was fantastic. It’s not only what we caught or what we lost; it’s what we learned & what we enriched ourselves with. At the end we have paid Mother Nature a visit & she welcomed us to her endless & roomy cuddles. The sea or ocean will stay a mystery & we still need to learn about it; simply as we still need to learn a lot more about our environment & our planet before striving to discover solar systems.
Ximo & I got into my car, drove back to Cairo with fantastic memories & endless conversations about spear fishing, dogs, turtles & making so much fun of Spanish & Egyptian bad words.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this trip report, one more thing left for you is to enjoy the following round up video of the closure of this great trip........
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