At first, there were many near misses. We’ve all been there. You return to the boat from a dive to excited chatter from your fellow divers about their thrilling marine life encounter; and endeavour to share in their delight as they recount their tale while querying how on earth you managed to miss it. Or maybe you pick up on the buzz of excitement on a dive, or hear the frantic attention grabbing exploits of a dive guide only to miss the reason for all the excitement.

In truth, these moments just add to the joy when you finally enjoy that thrilling encounter you’ve been longing for. That was very much the case with my first ever whale shark encounter, which I remember vividly to this day. I was working as a videographer on the Andaman Coast of Thailand. Having got the required shots of divers swimming through a photogenic underwater cavern, I exited into the blue to hear that distant but slightly frantic tinging on a tank. Here we go again, I thought. But wait, what’s that. Oh my. A shape was emerging in the distance. Or was it? Yes, it was. Definitely, and it was getting closer! As the scene unfolded, the whale shark made a beeline right for me. The Andaman coast of Thailand is thought to be a nursery area, and this young whale shark was without doubt curious by nature. We shared a magical encounter, and my love affair with whale sharks was born.

These gentle giants are a much sought after animal for many divers and snorkellers, and for good reason. Growing up to 18 metres (albeit most likely closer to 10), they seem to emanate a friendly and curious nature, and are thought to be so ancient that they may even pre-date the dinosaurs! While they are found in tropical waters all around the globe, and can often be encountered by lucky scuba divers, they continue to have an air of mystery around them. Their breeding and birthing grounds are not yet known, although the presence of large pregnant females in the Galapagos Islands suggest this is a hotspot. St Helena in the mid-Atlantic has also become known recently as a place where both adult males and females intermingle, giving rise to the idea that this is also a crucial habitat. In many places where they are found, such as the Maldives or Mafia Island in Tanzania, it is thought to be adolescent males that tend to gather together.

No matter where in the world or how fleeting, any whale shark encounter is likely to stay with you forever, and like me, you will begin a lifelong love affair.

If you would like to have the chance to encounter one of the most  impressive animals to grace our oceans, speak to one of our friendly Regaldive team today!

Nudibranch means ‘naked gills’ and these slippery little jewels live their fairly short lives with their gills on the outside of their body. Yet they aren’t afraid of the presence of a human and pose perfectly for the underwater photographer. It is a thrill to frame them as the main subject of a “still” life and catch their bright, delicate gill appendages swaying in the current. Front rhinophores stand to attention like feathers in winter’s first frost and fuchsia-coloured mothers (or is it fathers?) lay delicate egg circles. To appreciate the tiniest nudibranch however you need to be armed with one of two things – a magnifying glass or super macro lens. Only then can you truly witness this colourful underwater creature.

The crème de la crème of the nudibranch photograph is capturing the moment a cleaner shrimp or parasite hitches a ride on their back, an underwater Aladdin on his magic carpet. Every year underwater photographers of all abilities join the Anilao Shootout in Bantangas or the Lembeh Shootout hoping the genie will grant them just one wish: the best images of these beautiful critters.

The vivid flecks of dots and dashes along the slug warn predators that they wouldn’t be a tasty meal. They prey on sponges, anemones and other marine life while occasionally even turning to cannibalism! They are very clever when it comes to meal times and have a penchant for turning toxins into defensive mucus. They store stinging cells that they have eaten in their cerata until it is needed for defence.

Spotting nudibranchs amongst the sea bed is like looking through a kaleidoscope. Bright lightening-white ardeadoris stand out in a sea of muck in Moalboal, while dark and gloomy funeral jorunna prefer to flaunt their gothic image next to the rainbow colours of the reefs in the Visayas and the Bunaken National Park. The go-faster stripes on a chromodoris give a false sense of speed in this world of the slow! While 'pyjama' usually means bed time in our world, in theirs it is time to get psychedelic! Powder blues and baby pink gastropods rear up like garish mini-pythons as you close in with your strobes primed and ready to flash; blue dragons sway from side to side shrugging their tendrils in the open water with ambitions of becoming alien craft; flabellina curl their back inward like circus acrobats.

Phyllidiella pustulosa, phyllidiopsis, ocellated wart slugs, nebrotha guttata – how on earth did scientists come up with such ugly names for these stunningly surreal creatures??

Images by Cath Bates

In July 2013 at dive site Ras Umm Sid, guides at Camel Dive Club in Sharm el Sheikh encountered Ariel, a 4 metre giant manta ray (manta birostris). This was not a one-time lucky sighting however as our sales consultant Cath (who once ran their Eco Tribe department) had already spotted Ariel at the same dive site in May 2012.

How could they be sure it was the same animal? Fortunately Cath had photos of both sightings and by matching the markings on the belly she was able to positively identify Ariel. Each manta ray has its own individual belly markings that act like a fingerprint but depending on the size of your archive, manually matching manta photos can be very time-consuming. Therefore a Cambridge professor teamed up with Marine Megafauna Foundation to develop a computer algorithm which identifies manta rays by their markings. This algorithm was integrated into the first global online database for manta rays called Manta Matcher. According to scientist Andrea Marshall, the groundbreaking system “will revolutionise global research on these threatened rays and help change the way field researchers approach scientific research on wild animals by means of successful and meaningful public involvement.” At the time Andrea was so excited about Camel Dive’s photo match of Ariel that she described it at the National Geographic Explorer Week in Washington DC!

Manta rays do not just migrate through Egypt however. Many of our partners abroad take great pride in actively encouraging manta ID. The Nautilus liveaboard company have a library of previously identified individuals in the Socorro Islands and give a presentation during the trip about giant Pacific manta rays. Both Manta Point and Manta Alley in the Komodo National Park are world famous for their aggregations of reef mantas feeding and being cleaned. Local liveaboards contribute their encounters to various databases including Manta Matcher as well as logging any injuries or deformities they come across. Also in the Maldives, Emperor Divers help log the mantas local to the Northern Raa Atoll for the Manta Trust database.

So unearth those belly shots of manta rays from your holiday and submit them as an encounter on the Manta Matcher website. Upload the photograph along with the date, time, depth and dive site. You will be helping to conserve the smartest fish in the ocean. This World Earth Day make small impacts matter!

Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa and phylum Cnidaria – incidentally the same class and phylum that sea anemones belong to. The individual coral animal is called a coral ‘polyp’ and typically many identical polyps will join together to form the overall coral colony.

Image by Emily Chappell

Many types of coral exist, but the two main groups are hard and soft corals. Hard corals are reef-building corals and are primarily responsible for depositing calcium carbonate through the process of calcification; governing three-dimensional reef growth. Reef growth depends on several factors including temperature, irradiance, pH, salinity, nutrient availability and water turbidity. Corals’ stringent growth requirements generally restrict tropical reef distribution to between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn (30^oN and 30^oS of the equator) as these latitudes have a sea temperature range of 18-36^oC. Well-known for its high diversity of corals, The Coral Triangle is one of the best places for reef diving, extending from Indonesia to the Philippines, and reaching the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The distribution of corals allows us as divers to enjoy the beautiful structures in which they form and reap the benefit of diving in nice warm seas in the process!

Most corals contain single-celled algae called zooxanthellae (pronounced zoo-zan-tha-lee), which are plant-like organisms. Housed within the protective surroundings of the coral tissues, these microscopic algae utilise the coral’s metabolic waste products for photosynthesis. In turn, the corals benefit as the algae remove wastes and produce oxygen and organic products from photosynthesis that the corals need to grow and thrive.

Image by Emily Chappell

This mutual relationship is why hard corals have proven their worth as effective reef-builders for over 250 million years. They have created some of the largest living structures to date and the longevity of their ecological communities rivals that of vast forests on land. What more can you ask for from your favourite animal?!

There are a few hot spots where sightings of octopus could almost be considered common place and these tend to be the muck diving capitals of the diving world. A number of locations within the coral triangle are famed for providing the perfect habitat for our eight armed friends- that’s right; arms not legs or tentacles.

Image by Bernard Ravener

Lembeh Strait in Indonesia is often thought of as the premier muck diving destination and if luck is on your side it’s here where you can expect to have encounters with the enigmatic mimic octopus. Their uncanny ability to imitate more than ten different animals including lionfish and flatfish is unique to this most bizarre and advanced mollusc.

In Bali and North Sulawesi the octopus opportunist has the chance to spot all manner of critters including the fascinating coconut octopus, named for the behaviour it exhibits when using coconut shells to conceal itself from would be predators. When they’re not displaying this clever trick they’re often buried in the sand exposing only their eyes.

A visit to the Philippines to Anilao or Bohol should also be on the bucket list if like me, the octopus ranks highly on your favourite species list. It’s possible to see the tiny but highly venomous blue ringed octopus which technically has enough venom to kill upwards of ten grown men! All octopodes have venom but the recorded number of total deaths worldwide from the blue ringed (the most venomous) is thought to be no more than a dozen or so. When approached sensibly and with caution they do not pose a significant threat to a diver.

The octopuses (not octopi) ability to solve problems and puzzles is the subject of scientific research and ongoing questions about their intelligence. Their lifespan can be less than 6 months, with the largest of species - the giant pacific octopus - living the longest at just 3-5 years in the wild. They are also the most devoted mothers on earth, with mother’s starving themselves and sacrificing their own lives to protect and nurture their eggs. Males are rather less impressive, and are thought by some to lose much of their memory after mating.

With a central brain and large numbers of neurons within the skin acting as ‘mini brains’; controlling each arm independently, three hearts, blue blood and the ability to camouflage by changing both colour and texture it’s easy to see how this seemingly alien creature captures the imagination. As a recreational diver and general enthusiast, I always keep my eyes peeled whenever I’m in octopus territory. A sighting no matter how fleeting it may be always makes me smile.

What’s your favourite marine creature?

The one awe-inspiring moment that stands out for me was diving a site called ‘Aquarium’ which was located on the outside of one of the islands in the North Male Atoll; famous for its manta cleaning station.

Before we even entered the water, a pod of spinner dolphins were jumping ahead of the boat. The captain turned off the engine and they appeared at the side of the boat.

Wetsuits donned and scrambling into our gear in the quickest time possible, we made the giant stride in on the corner of the reef.

I caught a very brief glimpse of the pod underwater before they clocked us and went into the blue.

As we made our descent, there were hard corals galore, decorated with anthias and surgeonfish swimming in the water column.

We went with the current, getting pushed along at quite a rate, so there was little time to observe the macro, though white-tip reef sharks and stingrays glided by.

As we approached the ‘end’ of the reef, where it makes a sharp turn at 90 degrees, the manta station was there. Our leader made the signal to hook on with our reef hooks, my mask was being pushed off my face and my hair was doing a ‘medusa-like’ dance in the current, but I managed to find a rocky nook to hook on to. As we waited, within minutes two glorious manta rays came into view in the distance.

We watched as they did their graceful dance in the current and then they began coming towards us.

Closer and closer they came until I found myself staring at one face-to-face. It went right over the top of my head, casting a dark shadow beneath and at that moment I was only thinking about how lucky I was.

After the excitement of the mantas, the signal was made to un-hook and as I went to do so, I noticed a sea anemone to my right. Inside this anemone something was moving. It was a tiny porcelain crab.

The crab had its feather-like appendages out; filter-feeding from the water column. It was almost like it was a conductor in the orchestra.

Such a beautiful dive, both big and small made an appearance and it is an experience that has stuck with me.

Take a look at our selection of resorts and liveaboards in the Maldives here, or for more information, speak to the Regaldive team today on 01353 659999. 

(main image by Emily Chappell)

"Having been dropped off in Jackson Reef, my best mate and I allowed the gentle drift of the current to push us back towards where our small dive boat was moored.

Stopping to look into the small nooks and crevices, we shallowed our dive, enjoying the contrast of the beautiful open water and the compactness of the reef system.

As we hung at 5m to complete our safety stop, I turned my back on the reef, taking my time to stare into the deep and vast blue, with a sense of wonder.

A fish caught my eye. Was this a Jack? It got closer and bigger. It was coming right at me and it was a very, very big fish. I grabbed my mate and spun him around off the reef. I could hear him shouting and swearing at me as I rudely interrupted his last moments of peace, but he had to admit, it was worth it. No more than 3 meters in front of us, a very large adult scalloped hammerhead shark had come to check us out. Being my first interaction with a Hammer, that moment will live with me forever."

Charlie Munns

"The crystal visibility at Gordon Reef gave me the sensation of flying as we drifted over the corals. The reef was busting with life, it was incredible to see that the coral were so vibrant and to watch as the Anthias pulsed in and out of hiding. My favourite moment was watching a lionfish chase an octopus over the hard corals, watching the octopus outsmart the Lion time and time again made me very happy. A truly magic dive site."
Joanna Charter

Image by Orca Dive Club

"On an early morning dive on a well-deserved day off, my instructor buddy and I jumped on the wall of Shark Reef full of the anticipation of Summer.

The reef was spattered with colour as usual, with the orange anthias facing upwards, gently swimming against the current.  It was silent, devoid of the sound of boat engines above that you might hear during the late morning.

From the corner of my eye, I caught the shimmer of a shoal of barracuda.  They circled together, chasing each other’s tails in a mesmerising dance of silver.  Out of nowhere, a solitary Limbatus (black tip oceanic) pushed through the school into the blue.  The barracuda scarpered and then went back into formation almost immediately.

Then two oceanics darted through the school like bullets, turned and waited on the perimeter of the silver turning orb.  As we marvelled excitedly to await their next move a third, then a fourth shark came into the game.  It was as though they were herding the baitball. 

We watched motionless.  There would be either no movement for some time or sudden shafts of silver speeding by.  It was a ballet of strategy from both parties.

I realised we had lost the reef and looked up to orientate myself to the sunlight.  The sharks and the barracuda gradually moved forward, we followed and I could make out the darkness of the looming coral tower ahead.  They had kindly navigated us back to the safety of the wall.  If it hadn’t been for the falling needle on my pressure gauge I could have watched their dance all day long!"
Cath Bates

"Jackfish Alley was always one of my favourite sites; it always felt like the kind of place where anything might appear out the blue. On this particular day, we had come to the end of our dive, and the one turned to zero on my computer as my safety stop came to an end. I took one last look around, as we all do at the end of a dive… just in case.

Appearing from the distance were two magnificent eagle rays, locked in an elegant dance. They came so close, circling and swooping around me in a truly magical encounter. Needless to say, my safety stop lasted a little longer than it needed to on that particular day!"
Phil North

To book your diving adventure to Sharm El Sheikh, speak to a member of the Regaldive team on 01353 659999! 

Regaldive are sad to hear that Thomas Cook UK Plc (including Thomas Cook Airlines) has entered into liquidation.

Please be assured that any clients who have booked Thomas Cook flights through Regaldive are covered by the Regaldive ATOL Licence (number 10544).

For those abroad at the moment, the UK government are already repatriating from many destinations including Egypt. If you are unable to board one of these flights we will look at alternative arrangements to bring you home. 

For those clients who have yet to leave the UK our staff are making contact with everyone to look at alternative arrangements, or a full refund.

Please bear with us as our priority must be those clients already abroad, or leaving the UK imminently. 

My wife and I are both eager divers. In recent times, with a young family to nurture, diving opportunities have been limited to my work adventures rather than something to share together. Earlier this year, however, my eldest turned eight. Given his eagerness to discover what all the fuss is about with his parent’s diving obsession, we decided the time was right for a family diving and snorkelling holiday.

Tara and I have both been very fortunate to be well travelled; exploring, living and working in all manner of destinations. So while there was a temptation to go exotic, the practicalities and costs of a holiday with a young family persuaded us to look at destinations closer to home.

Abu Dabbab Diving Lodge in the south of Egypt. I had met the Abu Dabbab team of Rita, Khaled and Isabela after an introduction and recommendation from an industry friend in the know. It had immediately caught my attention as something different, and a little special. Abu Dabbab Bay is known as one of the finest bays in Egypt, a sweeping bay of white sand, with green turtles eating on the seagrass and coral reefs fringing the bay on both sides.

Having spent many years living in South East Asia, and having a preference for smaller, more intimate resorts, the 60 or so wooden bungalows set amongst tropical gardens, oleander and hibiscus appealed greatly. Less than half an hour after my excited family exited Marsa Alam airport, we were enjoying a welcome drink and settling into our bungalow. For us, it was perfect. The bungalows are simple but charming - and well appointed with everything we needed. With four it was a touch cosy, but we are used to that. For two or three, the bungalows have ample space. It didn’t take long for my daughter to get changed and launch herself into the child-friendly pool, full of smiles, laughter and joy.

Then we headed down to the beach and the dive centre. The diving lodge is set back from the beach, just across a dust track, a very straight-forward two minute walk away. The diving centre is run by Blue Ocean, who also manage the lodge. The spacious and tastefully decked out dive centre is right on the beach. With house reef diving available, plus boat diving to sites only a few minutes away, it was ideal for us. We arranged a Bubblemaker for my eldest, and also some diving for Tara and I, swapping diving opportunities with parental duties.

One of the really big draws of Abu Dabbab is its proximity to Elphinstone. One of Egypt’s most celebrated dive sites is usually only the preserve of liveaboards, but is a mere 25 minutes by speedboat from Abu Dabbab Bay. Plunging reefs almost heave under the weight of marine life, with the signature anthias in abundance, plus all manner of other marine life. A silvertip shark greeted those divers paying more attention than yours truly, but the real highlight was a small pod of dolphins cruising past excitedly, seemingly on the hunt, their energy and presence almost palpable.

One of the other unique aspects of Abu Dabbab is the opportunity to do an overnight dive trip. For those who have never done a liveaboard, this is the perfect introduction. The kids were keen, so we booked on and headed south to Hamata, 90 minutes away, to pick up the boat. We headed out to the reefs of Wadi Gamal and Sataya Dolphin House. We were given a family cabin at the front of the boat, which was just perfect. After enjoying his first experience, my son made a second ‘dive’ - he’s clearly got the diving bug too. Tara and I also got to enjoy some beautiful dives with no crowds, but the big highlight was Setaya. Dolphins use this protected area to rest between hunting sorties, and sightings are very regular. We had the opportunity to snorkel with the dolphins twice in shallow, calm, azure blue water. You could clearly see the bonds amongst the dolphins, hear their chatter, and appreciate their playful nature. A thrilling experience for an adult - let alone a child.

After five nights in Abu Dabbab, with its relatively simple and natural vibe, we spend the final two nights of our trip at the all-inclusive Sunrise Marina Resort in Port Ghalib. A very different resort, but the perfect end to our holiday where the children could enjoy the facilities of the aquapark, leaving my wife and me to relax in the sun.

For those with families, I should also mention how wonderful all the staff were with our children, showering them with genuine and heartfelt attention and affection; far beyond any job description. It helped make the trip all the more magical; one that will live long in the memory of our family.

So who is suited to Abu Dabbab? In addition to families looking for a more simple experience that is closer to nature, Abu Dabbab is also ideal for singles, couples, and dive clubs looking for a low key, but superb quality dive adventure in the southern Red Sea. Diving is available for all abilities.

Find out more about Abu Dabbab Diving Lodge, the newest offering in our extensive Red Sea portfolio here, speak to our friendly Dive team on 01353 659999, or send us an email.