Just got back from holiday in Egypt where I did a shed-load of diving. I also managed to get some biking in though, hiring a KTM 125SX for a blast round a motocross track followed by a 640 LC4 for a trip into the desert. A couple of pictures here:
http://66.232.152.169/~damonspe/offroad02.htm
And, if anyone’s into that sort of thing, some of my diving pictures here:
So, LB doesn’t get the full write-up BCF did? Discriminatory!
Hahaha! 
Gimme a break, it’s late. BCF didn’t get a link straight to the site, or as many pictures! 
Oh, good, as the pics were amazing! Goes off to check the new ones here
/EDIT: The Batfish one is a gorgeous photo! Wow!
Glad you like it. I got a few of those guys, here’s another that came out well.
I LOVE the diving pictures…I was about 2/3 of the way through the P.A.D.I. instructor course when I moved from Boston to Kansas. I would dive every week-end off Cape Ann…Gloucester, etc…Good times.
I would fancy a trip to Egypt for some diving…thanks for sharing the pics!
Silver, the pictures are amazing, and even better that you could mix in some biking into your holiday! I would be having withdrawl symptoms otherwise!
Brilliant photos mate i’m going to atart a diving cause next year now i’m free HAHA
Mate, loving the photo’s … The Bat fish came out tops 
I’d really like to get some more info about being able to dive and motorbike as Dawn could drive the quad ( not being a rider )
I LOVE diving… I’ve got well over 600 dives to my name, then again I did spend a year teaching in Thailand 
For those that haven’t done it, it’s something that words really cant match. I’ve been to places and seen stuff that you just think WOW…
And KS, man if your well on your way to instructor ( dive master or AI ), then finish it ! PADI is a bit of a cash cow, but it’s a great standing …
here are some on my person favorites…
And this “used” to be home before the Tsunami ( Koh Phi Phi ) … Now it’s still a lot of splinters and wood 
Thanks Lee, I think you’ve just gone and cost me a lot of money…
Always happy to help people spend money…
get yourself a nice ikelite housing for your digi slr and you’ll be well away …
Always happy to talk diving 
Guys, this post really makes suffer… I miss the beach so much… I used to dive hunting myself…
Beautifull photos, please keep posting !
Nice, but what if you don’t have a wetsuit, can’t you just hire them when there? The camera cases are very expensive, from what I remember, but it would be nice to have some shots, for sure! Hrm… Foxy, fancy it next year?
I’ll agree to most of that what Tony said, apart from the gear being cheap mine is well into the region of what I paid for the SV but that said you can imagine I went through 3 wettys, one BCD and my regs… Diving is and MUST be an expensive sport, this is space age stuff that provides you air under 3 or 4 atmospheres of pressure. Cheap isn’t good when your life is at risk.
When you learn to dive you’ll be good to 18 Meters, the stuff from the dive shop will be good if it’s a PADI affiliated dive shop. Look at the kit the instructors wear, if the shop kit is decent then the instructors will wear it to, I always did and still do .
Hire everything out there as when you buy a net wetsuits it’s so buoyant, learning buoyancy control is going to be a nightmare, you’ll have no chance
Depending where you dive, will depend on what you wear. for instance I ALWAYS wear gloves as, as an instructor you’ll always get knocks and scraps. but in the red sea it is now illegal to wear gloves as the rule of thumb is that give people gloves and they want to touch stuff… Again I always dive in a 2mm shorty but in Thailand the water is 21/23 degrees. When wreck diving cover yourself up, unless you want a few scars that the women are supposed to like.
Get out there, listen and watch the instructor and don’t worry about anyone one else while learning. Let your certified instructor do that, the easiest way to get yourself hurt is chasing someone or bolting for the surface…
if you ever want to talk about it, grab me at one of the evenings.
PS : as for camera’s while learning that’ll be a no no , its against standard for an instructor to take one, but after you pass in Egypt every shop will hire you an underwater digi… Just take what you know about photography and forget it
Tony, I’ve been to Thailand twice. The reason I would prefer it to the Red Sea is for the bigger fish; I’m a massive shark fan! Best place I’ve dived to date is the Maldives. Absolutely incredible! I’d really like to go to the Cocos Islands (Hammerhead Sharks by the hundreds ) and Micronesia for Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon and all the wreck diving. Both are very expensive though!
The thing that struck me most since I last dived in Sharm (4 years ago) is how much busier it is. Can’t be good for the reef.
LCaller, I recognise that dive shop - I dived with Hippo Divers when I was in Koh Phi Phi! 
Jay, the underwater cases don’t have to cost a lot. I used an IXUS 430 with the Canon WP-DC800 case. The case is about £120 from memory and will go to 40m (a lot deeper than you want to be trying to take pictures with that setup anyway). It just needs a lot of practice to get the light right; you can’t use the flash for anything over half a metre away before it just reflects all the crap in the water straight back into the picture. If you don’t use the flash then everything comes out blue (albeit in different shades). What I really want is a dedicated underwater camera and a couple of strobes on stalks… there goes £900! Agree completely with what LCaller says though; don’t even consider taking a camera down until you have your underwater balance / bouyancy sorted. When you first start you’ll be flapping your arms everywhere, overcompensating, going up too much and then going down too much - it’s normal. The last thing you need is to try and frame pictures at the same time. Nothing worse than seeing people crashing into coral. Give it a few dives and you’ll know when you’re competent enough to have another distraction.
Also, on the kit hire front, you can hire everything you need from the dive company. I’ve got most of my own kit, but the people I was just diving with would hire a full set of kit for £17 a day.
And what’s with all these people in their massive, thick wetsuits? My 0.5mm does me just fine! (I do get some funny looks from people struggling with their 5mm suits though!)
