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Well where to start – how about at the end ? For Pete J, Pete G and Ian that meant 20 dives later. For all of us it meant that relaxed yet excited feeling you get when you've seen some fantastic things, enjoyed good company and are left with vivid memories. Memories of dolphins, turtles, sharks and rays as well the innumerable species of other fish life that I usually categorise as small fish, medium fish and the biggies.
Ian's expectations of the trip revolved around mainly around food. What's the food like? What should I do about stomach upsets? In fact Pete G did remark that Ian had brought with him enough pills for an 'anti - diarrhoea sandwich'. Needless to say they weren't needed. The food on board was plentiful and tasty.
Back to the start. After dumping our stuff at the hotel off in search of something to eat and a cold beer and then getting to know other group members. An easy process – diving is the priority and most divers are quite civilised animals.
Next morning onto Karim, grab a cabin, get dive gear sorted, and then off for a check dive.  After that a change of plan not to Tiran – strong southerlies caused the skipper to head for Ras Mohammed Marine Park. A number of us thought an odd idea as it was to the south. Right into the wind. But the skipper knew best and for the next few nights we were in sheltered lagoons and with excellent diving. The second dive of the first day turned out to be the most memorable for Nick and Jackie. It was late pm when we jumped in (because of the change of plan) and that dive turned into a night dive. A good one too. On surfacing Jackie's tank started to slip off and buddy Nick 'helped' out – resulting in Jackie being dunked at few times. The Red Sea is very salty – as she found out first hand. Nick was only helping though. Over the course of the trip Jackie ended up with numerous bruises – most were accounted for but some still remain a mystery.
Each day 5.30 wake up call, get a cup of tea and watch the sun rise, gear up and get in. The Dunraven on Day 2 morning was brill. The wreck, then dolphins, then a spectacular reef – Pete J voted this the best dive. Those morning dives are the best as far as I am concerned. Plenty to see and plenty of light to try and take my piccies. Speaking of photography – Ian hopes to get 7 good photos from the 7,522 he took.  Pete G DID take the club camera down and ( I believe) actually took some photos (yet to be checked!) . Nick specialised in sun rise and sun sets – and there were many spectacular ones – but he did spend about 10 mins encouraging a surgeonfish on the Kingston to keep still long enough to get a good shot.
 The wrecks and reefs of Ras Mohammed take some beating – Little and Big Crack, the Thistlegorm, the Alternatives are just some we dived. Dolphins by Dunraven, Leopard Shark and a Feathertail Sting Ray on Big Crack, Red Anenomes by the Kingston, Turtles on Jackson are just some sights. But what we didn't see were …......... other divers. Good liveaboards are about that – going into the water when others are out – great.
What to do when not diving? Well eating and then sun bathing – Pete J was always the first on the sundeck closely followed by yours truly and Pete G and Nick. Ian was busy checking his piccies and Jackie split her time between Kindle and the sun. The evenings got shorter and shorter as we got more in need of sleep. Probably Monday night was the most interesting when , with the help of gin (2 brands), whisky (2 brands) and rum, the 'meaning of life the universe and everything' was fully discussed.  Pete J took the discussion v seriously. But I still think that the mind has power on our life and environment. So there!
There were 6 Tamsac divers and 6 'unknowns'. Did it matter? Not a bit - in fact it made the trip all the more interesting. Having only 12 berths on board ensured we got to know everyone v quickly. So the company was good, the Karim was comfortable and importantly, the quality of the diving – excellent. Roll on the next trip
Itinerary – there was so much to see
Sunday Temple Alternatives
Monday Dunraven Little Crack Big Crack
Tuesday Thistlegorm Thistlegorm Kingston Dunraven
Wednesday Shark/Yolanda Jackfish Alley Ras um Sid Gordon R
Thursday Jackson R Jackson R Laguna Bay Laguna B
Friday Woodhouse R Gordon R Thomas R
Saturday A LIE IN - BLISS! SHOPPING AND SUNBATHING
The trip was organised by KLJDiverTravel www.kljdivertravel.co.uk
Group members;-
Nick and Jackie Hitchcott, Ian Clifford, Pete Glover, Pete Jeffery and Ian Frudd, Dave McPeake, Paul Duckett, Keith Jones and Rene van Erven.
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The first day’s diving was Sunday and the two cars set off, separately, for the dive shop about 45 minutes away. Sadly only one arrived on time and three divers missed the first dive. This was a bit of a check dive with no real excitement so they didn’t miss much.
Friday - difficulty in getting the co ordinates into the Sat Nav meant that we missed the Hera but found a pretty (???) kelp forest 
. Not much luck with the second dive too. We were looking for the Subs just outside the harbour. We took landmarks as guides and must have only just missed them – we did find more kelp though.
Half the group were in B&B's and the rest were camping on the cliff side, just a 10 min walk down to the harbour. The boats were already in the water by the time we arrived and after getting the tents up it was a stroll down the cliff path the meet the up with the others and have some fish and chips – well it was the seaside after all! A serious meeting then ensued (with plenty of liquid refreshment) to decide where to dive. There is such a big choice so the meeting did last quite a while which in turn meant a walk back up the cliff in the dark with no torches. OK at first , we just kept the fence on our left, until we seemed to reach a dead end. BUT we had missed the way of the correct path and ended up v close to the cliff edge – it could indeed have been a 'dead end'.
An uncomfortable trip back to harbour and some advice from the harbour master meant the the afternoon's dive was off. So what to do? Well go for a walk along the beach to Freshwater and back over cliff to West Bay. Fantastic coastline.
An evening meal at the George ended the day. This time there were 4 torches on the way back up the cliff – no mistakes this time!
Bob's RIB had gone off to dive a shallow reef under Golden Cap as the Heroine at 30m was too deep for Ruth. Ian and Steve J dived there too and although the reef wasn't that good they did manage to pick up a bag full of scallops. 
