When me & my hubby go diving abroad, we’ve always gone land based and usually gone with several club members whom we’ve dived with many times.

I’m usually the one flitting around, looking underneath pinnacles, into coral and inspecting the seabed searching for the hidden critters, the nudibranchs, a shy octopus or a camouflaged stonefish, whilst my husband calmly captures images of them on his larger than life Olympus Camera set up … it’s an unsaid routine…

I’m usually the one signalling like a frantic air-traffic controller that the rest of the dive groups’ bubbles are just disappearing and we really need to move on from the last photographic shot to catch up…

Quite often I’m the one that soon finds a new non-camera wielding buddy & and temporarily dump my hubby whilst he partners up with another camera buddy… another unsaid routine…

So this November, I was really excited at the prospect of our first ever live aboard trip together, to explore the Red Sea’s Northern Reefs & Wrecks.

However, when I saw further details of the trip, which was designed to focus on photo friendly dive sites including 1:1 tuition & presentations, I truly didn’t know what to expect. A week at sea with a group of camera wielding strangers including photo professional Paul Duxy Duxfield onboard, with me having only really used my camera with any purpose other than to document try divers or students.
Maybe I was more apprehensive at the thought of a week afloat with my lovely but overly enthusiastic other half, who seemed to be packing much more than a cabin full of camera gear… it was going to be interesting…

After reassuring communications with the Scubatravel team and Duxy before the trip, who advised that I could dive with or without a camera, I decided I would seize the opportunity and hopefully maybe learn some new skills. So I packed my vast array of photographic kit into a ‘Finding Dory’ lunchbag,… an inherited Canon 960, a borrowed strobe, my PC, and a variety of chargers. Guess which one of us got our kit checked in security???

On arrival we were swiftly escorted by the super efficient Scubatravel team, through the airport visa control, baggage collection and onto the impressive Hilton, as we’d opted for a day & night in Hurghada prior to boarding the MV Whirlwind.

On board I was stunned at how beautiful and spacious the Whirlwind really is. Our comfy en-suite cabin had so many storage compartments, we never did use them all!

With our crew and guides straightforward inductions and constant friendly assistance, we quickly absorbed the rules of the boat, booked our Nitrox, built our kit and met the other divers.
What a great mix! .. some repeat customers diving along with fellow club members, some travelling alone, some undertaking Rescue courses, all with a variety of diving experiences and photography experience. We also had the company of five amazing freedivers whose holistic approach included daily yoga sessions, in which many of us enjoyed learning amazing relaxation and breathing techniques.

Our first night gave us the opportunity to bombard Duxy with a variety of questions,.. each evening we continued to receive hands-on advice, not just about our cameras or how best to set them up but also about the marine life that we might encounter and the environments that they inhabit. We enjoyed some great talks based around Lightroom editing, image storage, video editing, Go-Pro advice, all delivered with great humour and anecdotes.
It was clear from the outset that we were diving with a really experienced and approachable team of guides. In planning daily dives they blended their knowledge and skills with Duxy’s expertise and his very specific knowledge of the Red Sea too. Our route would take in a variety of sites including ones in Tiran, Ras Mohammed, Temple Reef, and The Thistlegorm.

Prior to mooring at each site, we had the most informative dive briefings ever, extremely direct but with specific environmental information, history and stunning visuals. We then had the option of an initial guided dive on each site or where appropriate we could dive with our buddies. Further dives could then be planned in our buddy pairs, groups, with or without guides or Duxy.

The benefits of Duxy’s Red Sea Relaxed itinerary’s ‘Open Deck’ policy soon became apparent… we had the freedom to dive at one site for several dives, at times which we chose, being limited only by our surface intervals and mealtimes.
This meant as well as the most brilliant night dives, we could also opt to experience the changing light of an early morning dive, as the deck usually opened at 530am.
On one occasion, one of the two zodiacs took just 3 of us out at 6am, to a most beautiful but little-known pinnacle, where I put into practice Duxy’s initial advice on using my little Canon manually, practicing white balance and concentrating on positioning myself where I would at least give myself a fighting chance of an image I could recognise later!

I realised that the time spent travelling and building kit on our previous land based trips, was being much better utilised, generally on an extra dive or two per day, or on talking with some of the other divers, looking at what they had been doing, totally different to me but on the very same dive site.

We compared how we dived too, discussing tips on buoyancy, on approaching different animals in different ways and their habits. We were also intrigued by the graceful exploits of the freedivers and sharing the experiences with them too.

I particularly enjoyed photographing the giant morays which populated most of the sites, but especially the huge occupants on The Barge.

I found myself becoming more and more determined to get a better image each dive, but without wanting to agitate the same animal over & over again. Quite simply this became possible not just down to the number of morays, but moreover the fact that I could try again & revisit that particular dive later the same day. It was amazing to observe the changing behaviours and inhabitants of a section of reef or wreck from sunrise, throughout the day, into dusk and then at night.

I’ve often heard divers who have returned from a live aboard trip enthuse about the great number of dives they’ve accomplished in comparison to being land based. I guess it’s true… This being my first live aboard, I can’t compare this Relaxed trip to the usual routines of a live aboard firsthand.

However, what I can be certain of is, that the real beauty of the ‘Open Deck’ is to have the opportunity to witness the variety of changes on a dive site .. it really is a privilege.
Having this opportunity WHILST being able to learn new skills to try to capture some images from these experiences, is the added extra of the photo itinerary with Duxy.

My hubby may be secretly cursing that he’s now got a new camera buddy!!!
The images he produced throughout the week are stunning and again testament to the many conversations he had with Duxy and also by observing how he takes images whilst he’s in the water.

I’m really proud of just how much I’ve managed to accomplish in just one week… Having access to Duxy’s expertise and his straightforward guidance has really given me a new perspective. I’ve learnt so much, gained more confidence and have many more new reasons to get underwater.

Safe to say we will be back to learn more …. we’ve already booked again for the spring!!! … It would seem we’ve developed a new unsaid routine…

Katie & Tony Barrett 2016

Winter Warmer Trip Click Here for details

Duxy

Wishing you all a very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year