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Freediving, Sailing And Yoga On The Red Sea With Sea To Sky

Published

6 months ago

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freediving

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.

freediving

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.

freediving

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.

freediving

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.

freediving

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.

freediving

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.

freediving

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.

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Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 1)

Published

4 days ago

on

July 22, 2024

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In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea.  While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!

The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October.  Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze.  After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center.  Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.

Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe.  The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal.  They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!

In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience.  Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site.  The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.

Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos.  This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see.  We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life.  As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here.  We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total.  The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home.  We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.

Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality.  This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.  

The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better!  These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous.  The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands.  The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went.  Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.

The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography.  The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue.  Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins. 

Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!

Thanks to:

Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/

Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/

Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/

Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/

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Mamma Mia! Diving Skopelos (Part 2)

Published

6 days ago

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July 20, 2024

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Our second days dive itinerary was to the famous Christoforos wreck! This is arguably the best dive in Skopelos and though only open to divers with deep diving experience, this 83m long wreck is well worth the visit.  

The Christoforos sits in 43 meters of water with the deck at 32 to 35 meters.  A 30m dive can give an impressive view of the wreck, though such a large wreck needs a few dives to truly do it justice.  Given its ideal location just a 2 minute boat ride from the dive centre dock it is an excellent first dive of the day.  The sheltered site is also diveable in all but the absolute worst weather so although deep, the water is usually clear with little to no current making it a very pleasant dive.  The site is superb for technical diving and a great training site for the Tec 40 and 45 programs, offered by Skopelos Dive Center.  

The Christoforos wreck was originally a collier ship built in 1950 at Grangemouth shipyard under the name “Thomas Hardie”.  In 1976 she joined the Greek merchant fleet as “Christoforos”.  On the 2nd of October 1983 the Christoforos was carrying 2600 tonnes of cement from Volos to Piraeus Port. During the voyage the weather turned, resulting in the ship developing a 7 degree list, whereby she changed course for safe anchorage at Panormos, Skopelos.  The ship reached Panormos at 16:00 with a list of 17 degrees and water ingress to No. 1 hull.  Though attempts were made to right the vessel, the crew were ordered to abandon ship at 22:00.  The captain, lieutenant and the quartermaster remained to try and save the ship, but had to abandon the attempt themselves and the Christoforos finally sank at 05:30 on 3rd October 1983.  She now sits upright in 43 meters of water less than 200m from shore in Panormos.

Diving has only been allowed here since 2018, so the wreck is very well preserved and a real treat to dive.  Permission to dive here was granted by the authorities after lots of incredibly hard work by the Skopelos Dive Center staff.  Having a fantastic wreck in such an amazing location and in excellent condition is a real privilege.

Of all the sites in Skopelos this was the site Mike and I were most keen to experience.  Having kitted up and zipped across the bay to the mooring, we left the surface and followed the descent line until the wreck emerged spectacularly from the blue at 15m.  She is a big and beautiful wreck, sitting as though calmly continuing her journey along the seabed.  With most of her original features still intact there were points of interest everywhere, including the anchors, winches, ships telegraphs, the wheel and RDF antenna.  

We found that aquatic life had colonised the ship, with schools of fish, electric blue nudibranchs, a large moray eel and the resident scorpionfish lurking inside the bridge.  The Christoforos was truly a stunning wreck and despite maximising our time at depth we eventually had to say our goodbyes and begin the slow and steady return to the surface. 

After a superb morning dive we had the afternoon to do a little sightseeing of the island, with a trip to the church of Agios Ioannis Kastri made famous by the blockbuster movie “Mamma Mia!”. Mike and I spent a happy afternoon pootling around in our little hire car before meeting up with Lina from Skopelos Dive Center.  An underwater archeologist as well as a dive professional, Lina had offered to show us a rather special attraction, the Christoforos shipwreck Digital Spot public information and awareness centre.

A fantastic initiative made possible from the collaboration of the government and hard work of the staff at Skopelos Dive Center is the “Digital Spot” in Agnontas port.  This information center has a number of displays on the history of the Christoforos wreck, the process by which the wreck was allowed to be opened to the public for diving tourism, other sites of historical interest in the area, a video of the wreck and the best bit, a virtual reality dry dive experience!  The beauty of the VR system is that non diving members of the family can see what you have seen on the wreck, or you can see areas that you may not have explored during the dive due to time or depth limitations.  It was a truly immersive experience and a great addition to the dive itself.

After a wonderful day we celebrated our last evening on the island with an exquisite meal in Skopelos Town with fabulous views over the town and bay, washed down with the excellent local wine.  The lamb with lemon and potatoes was a meal which I could happily eat every day for the rest of my life! 

Skopelos is an island that truly has it all.  The diving is excellent, the landscape is beautiful with plenty of non diving activities, the locals friendly and the food and drink superb.  Given how accessible it is as a holiday destination it has avoided becoming overcrowded and even in peak season offers a fun yet relaxing atmosphere.  We highly recommend giving Skopelos a visit.  We will certainly be back again!

Thanks to:

Municipality of Skopelos (https://skopelos.com/) 

Skopelos Dive Center  (https://sporadesdiving.gr/)

Ionia Hotel (https://www.ioniahotel.gr/en)

Dolphin of Skopelos (https://dolphinofskopelos.com/)

Ta Kymata restaurant (@takymata)

The Muses restaurant (https://www.facebook.com/TheMussesMousses/)

Aktaiov resturant (https://skopelos.com/listings/aktaion-taverna/)

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