Oceanic Whitetip Shark Soap Opera (with Slugs)

This "bonus" week stared out a little slowly on the nudibranch front.  In fact, I almost didn't compile a list at all, since the few nudis I saw were already on last week's list… and then a dive on the SS Thistlegorm came through and I accumulated 15 unique species!

There were only eight divers this week who were really cool.  

We had quite an encounter with an Oceanic White Tip Shark. 

When Adel did the briefing for the Shark and Yolanda Dive Site, he was honest with us that the day before, an Oceanic White Tip Shark attacked three snorkelers.  People are not allowed to snorkel at this dive site, but this group did.  The Egyptian snorkel guide suffered a bite to his middle.  A Ukranian Mom/Son were also injured.  Hers weren't bad, but the 10 year old son lost an arm and was seriously injured.

But Adel assured us that the shark probably wouldn't show up and even if it did, it wouldn't be interested in people on SCUBA.  He told us how to stay safe:  Look it directly in the eye, don't thrash or look injured and don't spend very long at the surface when getting in the zodiac.

The dive was fun and nothing showed up… but Adel found a pair of child's shorts that were completely ripped up and showed them to me underwater.  The thought came to me that maybe Adel was playing a practical joke on us (David in particular).

Then four of us were at our safety stop:  Adel, Amin, David and me.  Then the exact shark that attacked the snorkelers showed up and acted erratically.  It was swimming close to us, checking us out.  It was swimming on the surface and even "tasted" the ladder of the zodiac.  

This was no prank.

As it took a turn to swim away, I knew it was our chance to get into the zodiac.  David went first and went up with his full kit still on… and then he got caught on something and had trouble ascending the ladder, so I messed with him and used my hand to bite the bootie on his foot.  Then I took off my fins quickly and climbed up in my full gear.  I have never gotten into the zodiac so fast!!! 

I captured some crappy GoPro footage, but here is Adel and David's video footage, which is much better:

https://youtu.be/lxaXZS4ZJss

Official press release from the Egyptian government:

https://www.facebook.com/EGY.Environment/posts/2716301891942197

Dive Magazine UK:

http://divemagazine.co.uk/eco/9170-shark-seriously-injures-sharm-snorkellers

It was like a shark soap opera on the boat all week.  Zoe had updates on what the government was saying and what others were saying on social media.  It fluctuated from all three of the snorkelers died, to all of them survived, to the shark should be killed.  Ugh.

Here is what I believe is true:

- The shorts were the kid's shorts.  Adel sent a photo of them to the Egyptian government and the Mom confirmed it.

- All of the snorkelers lived.  The child lost an arm and the guide had serious injuries to his middle region.

- The Egyptian Government closed all of Ras Mohammed region to both snorkeling and diving for at least a month.  I am so happy I got to dive it last week and this week.

On a different topic, Josh made it into the video this week with a Chromodoris quadricolor crawling over him.

When I rebooked my flights, I didn't realize that my last dive might butt up into my "no fly" time.  Gah!  I chose to do my last dive, but I didn't stay that long since the wreck started at 80 feet deep.  My dive computer cleared within an hour of the 4am flight time.  Whew!

I made Iron Diver three weeks in a row.

Our final dinner out at Heaven where we celebrated Alex's birthday:

Here are the nudis I saw:

1 - Chromodoris quadricolor

Specific to Red Sea and Tanzania

2 - Chromodoris africana

3 - Unknown

I looked at this one many times wondering if this was a nudi or not.  If you look closely, it seems there are rhinophores on the right and gills on the left.

Expert Marli Wakeling weighed in on this:  Likely not a nudi, but a snail.

4 - Hexabranchus sanguineus

5 - Flabellina rubrolineata

Specific to Red Sea, Arabian Sea

6 - Tambja kava

It was so small and laying eggs!

7 - Phyllidiopsis sinaiensis

Specific to Northern Red Sea

Expert Marli Wakeling weighed in on this: Not P. sinaiensis; need to see the rhinophores to narrow it down. 

Unfortunately, this is the best I was able to capture so it will have to remain a mystery.

8 - Chromodoris magnifica

Expert Marli Wakeling weighed in on this: Chromodoris quadricolor

Darn it, I thought this was a unique one.  

9 - Phyllidiopsis krempfi

Expert Marli Wakeling weighed in on this: Not P. krempfi; probably P. zeylanica

That's also a new one, so that's good!

10 - Phyllidia schupporum

Specific to Northern Red Sea

We had quite a debate about this on the Facebook Group Nudibase!

I love it when there is some chatter on the ID.

11 - Phyllidia rueppelii

Specific to Red Sea

From Marli Wakeling: I would post on Nudibase and Nathalie Yonow will chime in.  We've had some discussion about P. ruepelli and P. schupporum lately. The photo in NSSI2 of P. ruepelli is likely wrongly IDd. 

12 - Halgerda sp. 7

Specific to Red Sea

13 - Phyllidiopsis dautzenbergi

Specific to Red Sea

14 - Phyllidia ocellata

From Helmut Debelius Red Sea Guide: This color form has been described as the distinct species Phyllidia undula but is now included in this highly variable, wide ranging species.  However, this very distinct colour form is found only in the Red Sea and at the coasts around the Arabian penninsula.

15 - Pteraeolida semperi

So these three weeks gave me 67 dives bringing me to 2045 lifetime dives.

Nudis in the North

What a fabulous week on the Red Sea Aggressor II.  Although I'm not really a wreck diving enthusiast, the diving was pretty fun.  And there was enough macro marine life to keep me happy.  

For those into wrecks, we did the following:

• Caropia Wreck

• Tile Wreck

• Gianni D Wreck

• Dunraven Wreck

• Yolanda Wreck

• SS Thistlegorm Wreck

• Ulysses Wreck

• The Barge Wreck

The Barge Wreck was my favorite for macro marine life, but the SS Thistlegorm is ENORMOUS and was carrying SO MUCH CARGO.  Planes, Trucks, ammunition and hundreds of motorcycles.  It is crazy.  Supposedly, there is a really nice Tambja that lives in this wreck, but we never found it.

I did however get to snorkel with bottlenosed dolphins.  One of them was feeling frisky!

Lots of us made it to Iron Diver this week, where we make every single dive:

Several guests for the charter the next week couldn't make it.  Two tested positive for COVID.  Two missed a connection in Istanbul and one fell and hurt his back.  So with a little help from Mandy, the travel agent onboard, I was able to change my flight for a very small charge and I'm staying another week.  So is Mandy and her husband Jason.  So cool!

Here are the nudis I found this week:

1 - Jorunna funebris

2 - Pteraeolidia semperi

3 - Hexabranchus sanguineus

4 - Aldisa zavorensis

5 - Gymnodoris sp. 9

6 - Chromodoris quadricolor

Missing a rhinophoer!

Specific to Red Sea and Tanzania

7 - Gymnodoris inornata

8 - Chromodoris africana

9 - Chromodoris sp. 4

Specific to Red Sea

10 - Chromodoris magnifica

11 - Phyllidiella sp. 2

Specific to Saudi Arabian Red Sea

12 - Platydoris pulchra

I couldn't figure this one out and I had to post it to Nudibase to get an answer!

Southern Species

The Red Sea Aggressor III was seriously the nicest boat I have been on.  The features were very beautiful and so streamlined.  The crew was also extremely helpful.  They would do EVERYTHING for us including helping us on/off with our wetsuits (and rinsing them for us).  Whoa.

The diving was very warm and nice easy diving.  I think there was only one time we were in an unexpected current, but it wasn't so bad.

Of course I spent most of my time looking for the small stuff, but there were some big things that were good like an oceanic white tip shark and turtles.  I was surprised by a crocodilefish on the last dive, which I haven't seen since Palau.  There was even a little snorkel with spinner dolphins!

I hit 2000 dives on this trip.  Here is my dive log entry:

Mahmood had me hold a slate at the beginning of the dive celebrating #2000.  

We were on a little wreck.  I didn't spend much time on it and quickly followed the others through the site.  It was fine.  Sorta boring.  I came across a blue spotted ray.  A little blue and yellow fish.  Anemonefish.  The suddenly, what seemed to be really early people were going up.  Grrrr... I hadn't even considered doing my safety stop yet so I signaled to Debbie that I was going to and then suddenly Mahmood was back by my side saying let's keep diving.  Woo Hoo!  That was good, but I just wasn't finding anything else.  I kept searching hard and then I started thinking about the wreck again.  But it was nowhere in sight and I wasn't sure if that's where we were headed.  Then at what seemed the last moment, I saw the wreck off in the distance and I quickly swam over.  Nudis love wrecks but as I surveyed it very slowly, I was finding nothing.  Then as I was about 3/4 of the way through I saw these orange bubbly things sticking out ever so slightly from the railing of the wreck.  I thought that maybe this was the margin of a nudi but I just couldn't see down below... and I didn't think I could get inside the wreck to look at it.  So I stuck my camera down under it and took a "hail mary" shot (which didn't work).  Then I realized I COULD swim inside that wreck... so I did it and got several shots.  Woo Hoo!  It was a new nudi to me.  I thought maybe it was one I had never seen but upon further research and the bubbly things, it turns out that it was a Phyllidia ocellata, just a color variation.  But hey, that's still cool.  I also shot some coral that might be good for my art project.  After the dive, the crew "Made me a cake" and put flour, eggs and blueberry sauce on my head.  Pictures were taken.

Aggressor's Captains log:

https://www.facebook.com/AggressorAdventures/posts/10164114158560398

Red Sea Aggressor III Adventure Log

Charter Date – 10th October 2020

Guests: Pam, Scuba Steve, Debbie, Travis, Hannah, Jenn, Brian, Marie, Alex, Alexa

Crew: Captain - Mohammed

Cruise Director – Mahmoud Abdella

Chef – Sherif, Alaa

Engineer – Ebraghim

Seamen – Mohammed, Araby, Wael, Yahia

Stewards– Hegazy, Waled

Dive Pro: Katia

Conditions:

Sea State: Light

Avg. Air Temp: 29C+/84F

Avg. Water Temp: 29C/84F (recommended 3mm suit)

Avg. Visibility: 100+ft

Avg Wind Speed: 5-16knots

We have a little extra elbow room this week with only 10 guests onboard. The Red Sea Aggressor III crew are lucky because they are incredible guests hailing from the US and Russia. We got everyone settled into their State Rooms and reviewed our new Covid Sanitation Procedures and general safety. Afterwards, Chef Sherif prepared an incredible meal for us and we relaxed on the sundeck before retiring for a restful night's sleep.

Day 1 – Sunday 11th October

Guests are awake at 7 while the captain is gaining our boat permissions. Permission granted, the captain fired the engines and headed to the first dive site of the week. The guests gather for a dive briefing so that everyone knows what to expect for the week. As soon as that is over, we all head down to the dive deck and get ready for our first dive in 7 months at Marsa Shouna. The first dive is always a checkout to get the nerves calmed and make everyone comfortable. Weights checked, gear all ok, we descend down to the reef following the reef around to the left then back again to right and after 60mins back to the boat. Nice easy shallow dive, guests get to see a few scorpion fishes, blue spotted rays, pipefish, parrot fish, angelfish, banner fish and much more. Lunch was served and guests enjoyed relaxing before 2nd dive at El Torfa. Guests jump from the back of the boat and descend to 15m. No current so it is an easy and relaxing dive. We get to see more scorpion fish, pipefish, trumpet fish, a hawksbill turtle. After the dive guests enjoy snacks and relax while the captain is moving the boat to Abu Dabab ready for night dive. We admire feather stars, moray eel, cuttle fish and much more. Marie and Alexa complete their first night dive. Well done ladies!

Day 2 – Monday 12th October

Early the next morning the crew is up early, excited to be back on the water. The guests slowly start to wake up to coffee and continental Breakfast. When we get in at Elphinstone reef the current is present, but the divers love it, especially considering they don’t need to swim just relax and enjoy the wall and abundant marine life. They get to see a hawksbill turtle, groupers, trevallies and a myriad of other fish. We do another dive here before lunch, drifting from north to south along eastern wall of that famous reef. Then everyone eats a great lunch. After a power nap, the group is again excited to jump in. Another gorgeous dive with turtles, giant moray eels and an Oceanic white tip shark. And all divers enjoy the beautiful wall. We then cruise over to Abu Dabab 6. This time we see lots of little gobies, red banded shrimp, blue spotted stingrays, pipe fish and much more. We do night dive here before dinner. On it, we would see snapping shrimps, a Spanish dancer, flounder, crabs. At the end of the day everyone goes to bed quickly after dinner. 5 dives in a day is a lot of diving.

Day 3 – Tuesday 13th October We sail all night to reach Daedalus reef where we spend day 3 of the trip. 5:30am wake up time and 6:20am we are in the water. We explore the northern part of the underwater mountain on our first and second dives. Divers get to see a couple of hammerhead sharks, Napoleons, trevallies, nudibranchs, gropers and a variety of reef fish. Steve is extremely lucky as he is able to shoot a sail fish swimming toward him! For the afternoon the divers jump in at the south plateau. There’s no current so we head west for about 60 minutes along the wall. There we see several white anemones, a stone fish, napoleon wrasses, schooling trevallies and corals in perfect condition. Then it is time to visit the Lighthouse. After walking and climbing more than 100 steps to the top we get back to the water. Dive 4 is dedicated to Anemone city and all divers were happy to spend time with numerous nemo fish. It is a nice and easy final of the diving day. We encounter a school of barracuda, torpedo rays and Napoleon wrasse once again. We also spotted transparent cleaner shrimps on an anemone, a few scorpion fish on the wall. We then set sail to the deep south where St.John’s is located.

Day 4 – Wednesday 14th October

Small Gota St. John’s is where we start our day today. The life here is amazing, we have a beautiful dive as the seas begin to lay down. The current relaxes and we have plenty of reef creatures swimming along with us. Spinner dolphins pass the yacht saying good morning and congratulates Debbie with 1000 dives! After our morning dive we head over to St. John’s Caverns, where we get to dive through many caverns, between stunning pinnacles looking for gobies, nudies, stingrays and much more. For dives 3 and 4 we move to Paradise reef. This reef is home to so many anemones you can’t count. Our divers are more than happy to count the 3 blue spotted stingrays, a pijama chromodorid, a couple of wart slugs, 1 giant free swimming moray eel, lemon gobies and a popcorn shrimps. Dive 4 is so beautiful as the day said goodbye we are greeted by a reef full of tiny predators! Free swimming moray eel, many starfishes, scorpion fish. We meet several crabs and Spanish dancer crawls out to say hi!

Day 5 – Thursday 15th October

GOOD MORNING!! Last full day of diving and we are ready to go. We couldn’t be more excited to head to Sataya reef and see if we can swim with dolphins today. After our morning dive at the south-east side of that long reef we move to the south-west lagoon where spinner dolphins live. More than 20 dolphins greet us in the crystal clear water. Perfect conditions for shooting and snorkeling!Next up is Shaab Claudia. Gorgeous mountain corals, swimthroughs, nudibranchs, anemones, scorpion fish and a couple sexy shrimps! Such a fun dive! After the second dive, the guests get lunch and a nice nap as we move the boat up to Abu Galawa, a dive site with a wreck and healthy coral garden reef. We also celebrate Pam’s 2000th dive! We prepare a famous Aggressor’s cake for a milestone. Keep it up Pam! After all that the divers waddle their way to the dive deck for the night dive. They would see sea stars, a gymnodoris, a glossodoris cinta, an moray eel clinging crab, red sea crab, lots of basket stars on the corals, and lots of other nocturnal marine life. For dinner the guests were treated to turkey with various side dishes and a silky-smooth cake from chef Sherif.

Day 6 – Friday 16th October

We are closing the week out by diving on Abu Dabab I and III! These sites are truly amazing. So many pristine corals and thrilling swim through. The reef is in spectacular shape and an abundance of life. It was a great way to end a great week of diving. Later at the wine and sushi party, we celebrate Iron Diver awards by completing all the dives we offered this week. Pam, Steve, Debbie are new Iron Divers. Our congratulations to Hannah for completing the UW Photographer course and to Alexa our new Advanced Open water diver! We look forward to seeing you all again on the Red Sea Aggressor III!

The Captain and the crew of RSA III

Here are the ten species found and photographed on the Red Sea Aggressor III Southern Itinerary:

1 - Phyllidia multifaria

Specific to Red Sea!

2 - Phyllidia varicosa

3 - Chromodoris quadricolor

This one is the most common in the Red Sea and I'm sure that I have a better photo of it.  I'll try to change this.

Specific to Red Sea and Tanzania.

4 - Hexabranchus sanguineus

We saw at least three of these on the night dives.  It is so big that it won't all fit in my macro lens, so I did a creative shot of the gills.  Sometimes there is a shrimp in there, but not this time.

5 - Phyllidiella pustulosa

6 - Hypselodoris ghardaqana

This was my absolute favorite one on this trip.

Specific to Red Sea, Oman, Myanmar, Thailand.

7 - Phyllidia ocellata (color variation)

This is the one I found on the wreck on my 2000th dive.  :)

From Helmut Debelius Red Sea Guide: This color form has been described as the distinct species Phyllidia undula but is now included in this highly variable, wide ranging species.  However, this very distinct colour form is found only in the Red Sea and at the coasts around the Arabian penninsula.

8 - Gymnodoris inornata

9 - Glossodoris andersoni

Specific to Saudi Arabia

10 - Phyllidia rueppelii

Specific to Red Sea

Red, Red Sea

I am headed to the Red Sea to take two back to back 7 day cruises with Aggressor!  The Red Sea Aggressor III charter will do the southern itinerary and then the Red Sea Aggressor II will do the northern itinerary.  I got quite a deal as each itinerary was only $1000 for each week and airfare was less than $1000 round trip.  I also think I am going to break 2000 dives on this trip.  Woot!

Here is my itinerary:

Thursday, October 8

9:40pm Turkish Airlines flight 6P Departs Chicago 

Friday, October 9

4:20pm Turkish Airlines flight 6P Arrives Istambul

Saturday, October 10

1:40am Turkish Airlines flight 702P Departs Istambul

3:20am Turkish Airlines flight 702P Arrives Hurghada

4:00am Transfer from HRG to Marriott in Hurgada

Sleep, Eat, Shower

12:00pm Transfer from Marriott Hurghada to Port Ghalib (takes 3.5 hours)

3:00pm Board Aggressor III

10/10/2020 to 10/17/2020

Red Sea Aggressor III: Southern Egyptian Red Sea and St. Johns

Saturday October 17

8:00am Leave Aggressor III

8:00am Transfer from Port Ghalib to Hurghada (takes 3.5 hours)

12:00pm Hang out at Hurghada Marina with shopping and restaurants

3:00pm Board Aggressor II

10/17/2020 to 10/24/2020

Red Sea Aggressor II: Northern Red Sea, Ras Mohamed, Straits of Tiran

Saturday October 24

8:00am Leave Aggressor II

8:00am Transfer to Hurghada Marriott Resort

ALL DAY Day Room at Hurghada Marriott Resort for accommodation in SGL Standard Sea view room

Sunday October 25

1:00am Check out of Hurghada Marriott Resort

1:00am Transfer to Airport

2:30am Check in at Airport

3:50am Turkish Airlines flight 703P leaves Hurghada

8:00am Turkish Airlines flight 703P arrives Istambul

3:00pm Turkish Airlines flight 5P leaves Istambul

6:55pm Turkish Airlines flight 5P arrives Chicago