Blogs
Freediving, Sailing And Yoga On The Red Sea With Sea To Sky
Jeremy from Sea to Sky tells us about his experience on Aziab Yacht
Freediving, sailing, yoga, Red Sea… what a combination!! And combining all.. what an experience.
Even with a Scuba background, as an Instructor and a passionate teacher, never would I have imagined that I would be Freediving off a yacht in the middle of the Red Sea amongst 100’s of dolphins, Corals and a wreck, let alone starting or finishing the day with Yoga.
However, I am delighted I did and even happier to make this trip available to all of our Sea to Sky clients.
The story actually starts for me in Wadi Lahami. I had flown out of Italy, where we live, on the Sunday and arrived in Marsa Alam that evening.
The boat was moored at Hamata Port, not far from Wadi Lahami, so was perfect for me to stay there. It also gave me the excuse to dive the Fury Shoals for a day on the Monday before the transfer on Tuesday morning.
I awoke to a few missed calls from my two guests Sam and Harry. I digress a bit here, as Sam and his brother Harry had booked the trip through us and, as we offer more than a basic buy the trip and see you later type adventure, I made sure I accompanied them to ensure they had the best time.
I had arranged Sam’s hotel in Hurghada and local taxi to collect them from the airport to their hotel.
TOP TIP: buy a Vodaphone Sim card on arrival as this will save you so much aggravation over phone costs and network roaming. €20 will ensure you have enough data to last a week easily, and that’s with everyone hotspotting off you. Oh, and make sure the guys at the Vodaphone stall insert the sim card and activate it for you, as it saves any miscommunication.
Anyway, back to the story. Sam and Harry made their own way to Hamata, which ended up being to Wadi Lahami as they missed the transfer and jumped into a cab, but arrived safely and all three of us waited for the mini bus to collect us. The other guests meanwhile had all been collected in and around Hurghada and were on their way!
After a hearty breakfast, the mini bus arrived and transferred us to Hamata to meet the other guests and crew.
We arrived at Hamata at approx 12pm and introduced ourselves to the other guests and immediately started chatting and getting to know each other. The guests were:
- Nahla (Our freedive instructor and one of the loveliest people you could hope to meet)
- Sarah (A yoga instructor, but not on this trip, who’s passion is Pizza and Pancakes and her husband – in that order!!)
- Megan (An awesome French lady whom I’m sure brought her own banana tree with her, as she ate so many)
- Alex (Our star TV presenter, amazing freediver and all round superstar)
- Ingrid (Downhill skiing yogi who’s single handedly changed my mind about Yoga)
Oh and Sam and Harry – what can I say about those two!! Sam is a great friend whom I’ve know for many years and one person you can rely on. Harry was just an awesome guy – he had one weakness, and that was Pasta. Good god he can eat, love him!
The boat and crew
The boat is called Roaga and is a 50.5 Cyclades with 4 double cabins and one bunk bed style cabin. Two of the doubles have private bathrooms and the others are shared bathroom.
Downstairs was seating, the Galley and charging area, and upstairs is where we spent all our time, either eating or diving.
The boat is immaculately kept and looked after by Captain Mohammed Said, who funnily enough I knew from years ago whilst diving elsewhere. Mohammed number 2, who did everything all the time, Abu Selim the Masterchef and who also helped run the boat, and lastly Mahmoud Hassan, our guide and a funny and caring person.
We LOVED the crew and couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people.
Oh and the crew slept either outside on the deck or bench seating or in the galley area. How they do this trip after trip is beyond me, hats off to them.
Day 1
So after arriving on board settling our stuff into the cabins, it was time to depart and head to Om Elsheikh Island, arriving at 12:45pm, to moor up and have an awesome lunch of fresh lentils, cheese filo pastry and fresh salad.
We spent the afternoon chatting and snorkelling and generally getting to know each other better.
Day 2
We spent the day at the island, which was like someone had dropped a desert Island into the middle of the red Sea, it was so beautiful.
Day 2 was the also the start of our introduction to freediving with Nahla. We covered such areas as Recovery breath, breathing as well, dry static exercises and some static in the water. A great experience and I suddenly realised that freediving was going to be a challenge!!! But a good one.
The next challenge was Yoga. We all took the little zodiac to the island at 4pm to start session 1, Vinyasa. Wow is all I have to say, I have never been stretched or put into positions since forever, but a great, great session that was loved by all. Ingrid was very soothing and a great teacher. After Yoga we departed for Syaal Island, another paradise not far away.
I wont catalogue what we had for breakfast/lunch/dinner everyday but I can assure you it was fresh, tasted sublime, and we always had too much variety, just exquisite and how chef cooked all that food in the smallest galley in the world is beyond me. We always had fresh dates and fruit and snacks available at all times.
Day 3
Day 3 started with another session of Vinyasa Yoga on the Island at 07:30am, a great way to start the day, and after a great breakfast we had our freediving session. The session included Buoyancy check, how to equalise, duck dive and some line work to 5m. Another great session, fuelling our appetite for more of the same.
This day was also the day we departed for Sataya Reef, home of the dolphins. We left at 3pm and arrived approx 3 hours later, ready and anticipating the following day.
Day 4
The highlight of the trip, Sataya!!!
We arrived at Sataya to be met by hundreds of Dolphins in their natural playground / resting place before their nightly excursions for food. We jumped in at 07:30hrs and stayed with them for just about two hours….the freediving was magical. Just being up close and personal with such creatures was indescribable.
After another amazing breakfast at 10am we had another freedive session with Nahla, covering linework, body position and becoming streamlined in the water – not easy but so satisfying.
Lunch was at 2.30pm and after a brief rest and sunbathe we were back in before the dolphins went out for the night.
Thanks must go to Mohammed Said for constantly navigating the pinnacles of Sataya and dropping us in on top (not literally of course!) of the dolphin pods. I think this day was the culmination of the all the best days together as in the morning and afternoon we were literally the only divers there and could play and swim with the dolphins without stress.
Day 5
Last day at Sataya……. and, after jumping in at 07:30am, we again swam with the dolphins for a few hours, only coming out for breakfast at 10am.
After breakfast we all either relaxed or played off the boat on floaties – or if you were Sam, Harry and Mahmoud, showing off their athletic somersaults from the boat. I have to mention Megan who’s climbing skills were something to behold.
After lunch we headed to Halawi reef to swim with barracudas, a beautiful turtle and amazing Corals that only the Red Sea can deliver, a lovely change.
We then headed back to Sataya to practice our free immersion to 11m, another great experience.
A few games on the boat were followed by an amazing dinner!!! We gave the chef a night off and cooked up a storm in the galley ourselves, mostly Alex who’s passion for chopping really shone through.
Day 6
Last but one day…….we left Sataya at 07:15 and sailed to the Abu Galawa wreck arriving at 08:15ish.
The wreck was a beautiful dive and so many hard corals to look at, a wonderful sight. We dived for about one and a half hours and then had breakfast before leaving for our long sail back to Om Elsheikh where I think by then we had all dived out (only Alex went for a dive).
Then the storms hit us. I have worked and been coming to Egypt for over 15 years and have never seen storms like this, just ask Alex. The lightening was a wonderful sight (and at the same time a little bit frightening!).
Day 7
Time to go home. We arrived back at Hamata in the morning after mooring up in the bay overnight, and after banana pancakes made by Sam and Alex, we packed and said our goodbyes. The transport arrived at 10am to take us all to our respective destinations.
Boat Yoga
So apart from the Vinyasa sessions on the islands we had Yin Yoga every evening on the boat. This, speaking as an expert of course(!!!), is a more relaxed Yoga, holding postures for a few minutes. An ideal Yoga for the limited space on a yacht and with the combination of the relaxed postures, boat sways and Ingrid’s voice, most evenings I left my body and landed I don’t know where – loved it.
Well that’s it for the blog, I think I have covered everything on what was a trip of a lifetime. I have made many friends, and unlike a lot of trips, we will stay in touch and we will meet up again.
Big thanks go to Omar and Yousra for running a professional and slick operation, the crew who I cant praise enough and to each and everyone of you, Sarah, Megan, Ingrid, Sam, Harry, Nahla and of course Alex.
If anyone is thinking of Booking I am more than happy to talk through with you every aspect, so rest assured you can be prepared and a little better informed of the magical experience you WILL have.
The Highlight
I think the highlight for me was Sarah – I have never witnessed such joy on someone’s face whilst swimming with dolphins!
Aziab SeaFaris and Sea to Sky
I have known Omar and Yousra, the owners of Aziab SeaFaris for a couple of years now. Filomena had met Yousra and Omar 5 years ago at Wadi Lahami in Southern Egypt. My first impressions of Omar was what a chilled out and gentle soul he was, very articulate and above all, professional. When we were looking at add an Egyptian based diving, sailing and yoga experience together, we approached Omar to ask if we could collaborate / partner with them, as experts in the region, and we were delighted when he said yes.
Please get in touch to find out more about this fabulous experience.
Join Sea to Sky and embark on new diving adventures! Visit www.myseatosky.co.uk for more information.
It’s time to catch up with 12-year-old Mia DaPonte, New England’s youngest ever female PADI Master Scuba Diver, in her latest blog for Scubaverse!
It’s still a little too cold to get in the water here in New England. I wish I had a drysuit! To get my ocean fix, I asked my mom to take me and my friends to the Biomes Marine Biology Center.
What is Biomes? It’s a rescue center near my house that’s home to all kinds of ocean animals—and they’re all local! It’s truly awesome to experience. There are so many cool creatures there, like skates, sharks, stingrays, horseshoe crabs, tropical fish, lobsters, seahorses, octopuses, and even some reptiles that were given up by their owners.
Darwin the turtle is always fun to watch. He’s huge and has his own home, but he also gets to wander around the place on his own when he feels like it!
They have lots of touch tanks. I got to touch sharks, turtles, and even hold a horseshoe crab! (There’s a little lip on the side of their shell where you can hold them—but don’t do this without permission! Their gills always need to stay in the water.) I also touched stingrays! They felt slimy but rough at the same time.
One of my favorite things to do is see the octopus and watch it play with the toys in its tank. I always check to see if any seahorses are pregnant and look for the babies when they’re born. The babies are kept in their own tank at first to stay safe, and then moved when they’re big enough.
We got lucky this time—there was a baby skate in a mermaid’s purse that was ready to hatch any day! It was in a special tank with a light. When you press the button, the light turns on so you can see the baby skate moving around inside the purse!
As our visit was ending, the owner, Mark, sat down with us and told us how he started Biomes. When he was 14 years old, he began rescuing sea animals. His love for the ocean started when he was young—just like mine! As he got older, he started a traveling business, bringing animals to classrooms and doing shows. Eventually, he turned it into something bigger, and now Biomes is a huge center full of rescued animals.
He told us that most of the fish and animals are rescued from fishing boats or the cold waters of New England—places where tropical fish wouldn’t survive the winter. They try to rescue babies whenever they can, so they have a better chance of adapting. Darwin the turtle actually hatched in Mark’s hand!
My mom gets a pass to Biomes every year because I love going there so much. There are always new animals to see and feedings to watch. One time, I even got to feed the octopus!
If you ever come to Rhode Island, you have to check out Biomes!
Main Image: Bart Heines
Picture yourself floating in the open ocean at night, far from the familiar reefs and sandy slopes. Beneath you, the water seems endless, with no visible bottom, and all around, the deep holds mysteries that most divers never get to see. This is blackwater diving—an exciting, otherworldly experience that reveals the hidden creatures of the ocean’s depths.
Photo: Jürgen Lorösch
At Siladen Resort & Spa, located in the heart of Bunaken Marine Park, our blackwater dives offer a rare opportunity to witness marine life that ascends from the deep during the night, all while being guided by experienced instructors. But before we dive in, let’s take a closer look at the fascinating history behind this unique type of dive.
Photo: Galice Hoarau
A Brief History of Blackwater Diving
The concept of blackwater diving first emerged in Hawaii in the late 1990s, where adventurous divers sought a new way to observe marine life that typically stays far below the surface during the day. The idea was simple yet daring: dive over deep, open water at night, suspend lights from the surface, and see what creatures would rise from the depths.
Photo: Leo
What they discovered was remarkable. From larval stages of fish and invertebrates to rarely seen jelly-like creatures, blackwater diving quickly became a favorite among divers eager to explore the ocean’s mysterious nighttime migrations. The original goal was to observe the vertical migration—the largest animal migration on the planet, where millions of creatures travel from the deep toward the surface under the cover of darkness to feed.
Photo: Brandi Mueller
What Makes Blackwater Diving So Unique?
Blackwater diving is unlike any other night dive. Instead of staying close to the reef, you’re diving in the open ocean over very deep water. Lights suspended from the surface attract marine life from the depths, giving divers a chance to witness creatures in their larval stages. These tiny, often transparent organisms offer a glimpse into the earliest stages of marine life—juvenile fish, squid, shrimp, and other species that look completely different from their adult forms.
Photo: Bart Heines
The sensation of floating over seemingly infinite water, with nothing but your dive light illuminating the creatures drawn to the surface, is both exhilarating and humbling. Each dive feels like an exploration of the unknown, with new and strange creatures appearing each time.
Photo: Galice Hoarau
A Different Kind of Thrill
One of the biggest draws of blackwater diving is the thrill of discovery. Because you’re diving in such deep water, you never know exactly what you’ll see. There’s a sense of mystery and excitement that comes with each dive. Every moment feels like a potential encounter with something new—perhaps a larval octopus, a juvenile fish species, or delicate plankton moving through the dark water.
The experience of blackwater diving is both meditative and exciting. You’re floating in the open ocean, focused entirely on the small creatures illuminated by your light. It’s a chance to witness the ocean’s deep-water ecosystem in action, all while suspended in what feels like the vast unknown.
Photo: Jürgen Lorösch
For the Adventurous Photographer
If you’re into macro photography, blackwater dives offer a chance to capture rare and tiny creatures in ways you won’t find on any other dive. The creatures drawn to the lights are often small, fast-moving, and incredibly unique. Photographing them requires patience, focus, and an eye for detail, but the rewards are worth it. You’ll come away with images of marine life few people ever get to see.
Photo: Brandi Mueller
Not Quite Ready for the Deep? Try Bonfire Diving First
While blackwater diving is an incredible experience, we understand that diving over very deep water at night might feel a bit daunting, especially for those who are new to night dives. If you’re curious but not quite ready for blackwater diving, we recommend trying bonfire diving first.
Photo: Leo
Bonfire dives are conducted closer to the reef, with lights set up near the ocean floor to attract marine life from the surrounding area. These dives are less intimidating but still offer an up-close look at nocturnal creatures, including larvae, squid, and shrimp, all drawn toward the light. It’s a perfect way to get comfortable with night diving while enjoying the incredible diversity of marine life after dark.
Photo: Bart Heines
Why Try Blackwater Diving at Siladen Resort & Spa?
- Expert Guides: Our team is experienced in blackwater diving and passionate about sharing the wonders of the ocean’s deep-water migrations. You’ll be in safe hands as you venture into the unknown.
- Private, Small Groups: We keep our blackwater diving trips intimate, with a maximum of 4 guests per trip. Each dive is privately guided, ensuring a personal and focused experience tailored to your comfort level and curiosity.
- Unforgettable Encounters: With each dive, you’ll see creatures that most divers never encounter. Whether it’s juvenile fish, larval cephalopods, or tiny plankton, every blackwater dive brings new surprises.
- A Safe and Controlled Environment: While blackwater diving may seem daunting, it’s conducted with the highest safety standards. Our team ensures you’re comfortable with the equipment, the dive environment, and the procedures so that you can enjoy the thrill without worry.
Photo: Jürgen Lorösch
Ready to Dive into the Unknown?
If you’re looking for a diving adventure that pushes the boundaries of exploration, blackwater diving at Siladen Resort & Spa is an experience you won’t forget. Whether you’re fascinated by the idea of seeing life from the deep or just eager for a new underwater challenge, blackwater diving offers an unforgettable look into the ocean’s hidden worlds.
Photo: Brandi Mueller
For those looking to ease into night diving, start with our bonfire dives—a thrilling and accessible way to explore the nocturnal ocean before venturing into the deep waters of a blackwater dive.
Photo: Leo
For more information, please contact us at reservations@siladen.com.
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