Trip Log 8 October "a quicky"

Trip Log 8 October 2010

Trip Start : 04:00am
Trip End: 09:00pm
Divers: HN, AN, KG, IM, KK
Type: REEF/BLUE
Temp: 27-30 C
Wind: 9-11knts NW
Viso: 7m

We started our day with the mother of nightmares; waking up at 3:00am after 2 hours of sleep. This is the worst part but hey things usually get better. I was about 50% pre-prepared with my gear from the night before however, I had to do another check before hitting the road. It all started with a nostalgic phone ringing sound, It was Ahmed on the phone; the usual early riser. Oh yes yes Ahmed I'm all is packed & well, I just need to freshen up & get into the Car.... no worries. In fact, from my voice I was sure that Ahmed noticed that none of that was true. But it wasn't that bad, by that time I was 80% ready & all what I needed is to wake up.

The nightmare continues with a long drive to our first meeting point. It's about 70km from where I am, so the drive was great with all these empty roads. After the super drive I met with Ahmed & Karim, we squeezed our gear in 1 car & peacefully hit the road.

It was a nice & smooth drive all the way; having our usual chats about many many interesting subjects related & non related to the usual addiction. We didn't feel the time & felt like the nightmare just vanished once our eyesight fell on the blueish shiny surface of the mighty sea. The weather was just perfect, ideal temperature, sun is shining & a nice breeze was in the air. As we reached our sailing point, we started moving our gear to the boat & greeted our colleagues who arrived at the same time. Today we were planing to enjoy ourselves at the most, regardless what catch we will have. So it was the usual conversations, group breakfast & enjoying the day while the boat rocked us delightfully.

As we closed up to our first spot, we all take a look at the water to try predicting the visibility. The place looks good & may have great potential but the water seemed to be like vegetable soup "Ximo". Every one of us raced to get ready for the first dip. It was fantastic, seamless coordination between us as we go in teams into the water. Ahmed being the usual scooter he was the first to drift away while we all followed. 

It is amazing when you start debating yourself that a lucky day may or may not exist, but for me; it exists. On some trips we come up with a big zero in terms of our catch. Other days just wont stop giving us great results. At the end; its the whole package as I mentioned before; the gathering, information exchange, funny moments & the whole experience. So it was a lucky day.

In less than 5 minutes in the water, as I approach Ahmed & Karim; I only heard a trigger snap in the water since the visibility was not that good. Another snap happens in less than 10 seconds. I suddenly look into the blue & see a massive Wahoo powering towards my direction. When it came closer I noticed the double impact made by Ahmed & Karim. It looked beautiful & I enjoyed watching this massive fish swim in circles, diving deeper & fighting with all its strength. It was a perfect hit. We were so glad since Wahoos are too rare to be speared in the Red sea, unlike other regions in the world like Australia or New Zealand. Here in Egypt they are commonly caught by trolling.

Here are some information  from www.fishbase.org Info about Wahoo  about this fish 

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 23 - 27; Dorsal soft rays (total): 12 - 16; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 12 - 14; Vertebrae: 62 - 64. Mouth large with strong, triangular, compressed and finely serrate teeth. Snout about as long as the rest of head. Posterior part of maxilla completely concealed under preorbital bone. Gill rakers absent. Interpelvic process small and bifid. Swim bladder present. Body covered with small scales. No anterior corselet developed. The back is iridescent bluish green; the sides silvery with 24 to 30 cobalt blue vertical bars which extend to below the lateral line. 

Biology

An oceanic, epipelagic species frequently solitary or forming small loose aggregations rather than compact schools. Feed on fishes and squids. Eggs and larvae are pelagic (Ref. 6769). An important sport fish in some areas (Ref. 9340). Marketed fresh, salted or spice-cured slices of meat; also frozen (Ref. 9987). Flesh of very good quality (Ref. 9684).

On we go

Our first spot was extremely interesting. The formation on the bottom showed great potential for allot of groupers many of them where fast & the caves where so complicated to the extent that we lost allot of them. I came across a colorful rock, the depth was only between 9 & 10m. I quickly spot a decent sized grouper so I aimed. Then a bit farther from the rock I spotted a large emperor so I switch targets, In the background there was a humongous grouper that was 100% out of its cave. Must have weighed over 40kg. Seriously it was pretty large. So the confusion was at its utmost in these moments at 10m. So its the trophy that I decided to go after, leaving behind 2 100% kill shots on decent fish. I approached slowly & quietly but somehow the grouper noticed me approaching, turned to face me while I start taking the aim & in split seconds it was way inside its cave!! Some crazy stuff mood swinging situation isn't it ?

Made several drop dives on the cave & even explored it half body in. No signs of this massive chunk, I would also add that I didn't carry a torch at that time. Which made my life even more miserable. I found a huge black stingray in the cave that refused to move. Then I called in Ahmed & Karim to manage a group plan. We kept diving & fetching this grouper for about 40 minutes with no luck. The maximum Ahmed could see in the cave with his torch & almost all of his body is inside the cave, was a big golden eye that keeps peeking from the end of the cave every now & then.

Was a great spot & I guess we will come back there later. We have seen many decent fish & got several decent sized groupers. Some of our companion friends where enjoying some line fishing. In fact every one of us was enjoying the getaway from his usual routine.

The wind was so variable but the ride was enjoyable. We made a stop at another considerably shallow reef spot however, we didnt project any potential out of it. We sailed again to check another area but the wind & current by that time where starting to be an irritation. Again we all jump into the water headed for the reefs. It looked Okay but not super. We managed to catch some groupers again but what actually happened on that spot was unbelievable. I was separated by current from Ihab & was perfectly between him & the other team Karim & Ahmed. When I popped out my head out of the water to check them out, I barely spotted them, the waves where moving us up & down. I managed to spot them in 1 up lifting wave, I waited for the second one to calculate the distance but, I see like 20 dolphin fins swimming towards Ahmed & Karim. That was interesting, they where just swimming right into them. 

I managed to swim to them with some good effort then the party began. We all pointed down our spear guns & started to swim with them. They looked fabulous in every movement they did. They circled and made close eye contact. It seemed that they enjoyed our company as much as we did enjoy theirs. The good thing about it is that it was in the open sea with wild dolphins. The situation was just too good to be true.

We had our 15 minute party & decided to return to the boat. It was getting late & we had to start going back from where we started. The Captain managed to clean most of the fish on our way back since someone forgot to get the ice again this time. Any way all was well, a perfect quicky that will keep wonderful visions coming back and forth inside our minds. A smooth drive back home then it was the unpacking & gear washing activity. We really enjoyed this short trip, the Dolphins party was a big score & the fish as well. Now it's time to perform the mother of all sports "Sleep".