Dahab, December 2008
Well, the credit crunch is giving cause for concern, so I decided to take an uncomplicated week in Dahab. It seemed like a good place to get to grips with my new camera (more later) as well.
I stayed at the Bedouin Moon again, and dived with Reef 2000.
It was a bit quiet there as well, and John (my buddy for the week) and I had the boat to ourselves on the Wednesday. The food at the ‘Moon has really improved.
It was actually just coming up to the full moon – I don’t know if this affected the life at all.
The boat day was the highlight for me – 6 long-nosed hawkfish (on Nabq) in two dives ! The currents were on the strong side, though.
The Blue Hole was also the best dive I can remember on that site – lots of jacks and tuna swerving in from the blue – and a cornetfish shadowing Adam, our guide.
We also managed a night dive in the Canyon – the first time I’ve seen flashlight fish.
Camera-wise, I’ve replaced the flooded E-410 with an E-520. The transition was fairly straightforward, although I was limited to a single strobe.
I had wanted to try out the 14-45mm kit lens, to see how this would work as a general-purpose underwater lens. Sadly, it doesn’t really work for me underwater – certainly compared to the quality of the 50mm and 11-22mm lenses – so I maybe need to think about other options.
Where it did work was on the night dive, where I found the extra flexibility (compared to the macro lens) really useful.