1998
My wife Eve and I qualified as BSAC Novice Divers in 1995 and most of our initial diving was based in Eilat, Israel. However when travelling to Eilat in April 1998 I noticed in a Longwoods holiday brochure that boat diving was available in Taba just across the Israeli-Egyptian border. The AquaSport Dive Centre, based at the Taba Hilton was managed by Amanda and on April 27th Eve and I signed up with Amanda for two dives on AquaSport’s Kewet Salem. Our charismatic Argentinean dive guide was Ariel Sztokman. Ariel took us to the Fjord and Coral City, two dive sites south of Taba. We had a great time and so booked three further days’ diving on the Kewet Salem, visiting Marsa el Muqabila, Sunpool, Max’s Reef as well as Fjord and Coral City. The only downside to this was having to pass through Customs Security at the Israeli-Egyptian border twice a day.
We had had such a good time in Taba in April that we decided to stay in Nelson’s Village at the Taba Hilton for a week in July to celebrate Eve’s birthday, once again diving with Ariel on the Kewet Salem as well as enjoying shore dives on the local House Reef and Black Coral.
In September we spent a week in Eilat but could not resist crossing the border for a day in Taba and then in December returned to Taba for a week to celebrate my birthday. While based in Eilat we had met Paul Bailey and Dianne Horlock and had agreed to meet up with them again to celebrate my birthday. Two days after my birthday we had the opportunity to celebrate my 100th dive, which we did by wearing sombreros underwater! As well as the usual shore and boat dives the Kewet Salem took us to Angel Net, south of Taba. Arabie skippered the boat assisted in turn either by Big Mohamed or Khalil.
1999
In May Eve and I again stayed once more at the Taba Hilton diving the by now familiar local dive sites from the Kewet Salem, we were guided by Ariel and Nick Bennett.
In September we returned for another two-week holiday, my dive buddies including Martyn Van Bakel and Mette Nielsen. One of the highlights of the holiday was sighting an adult Spotted Eagle Ray at Max’s Reef, a large green Frogfish in The Canyon at Taba and being atttacked at Max’s Reef by a pregnant Red Toothed Triggerfish!
2000
In April we spent another two weeks in Taba where Huw Watson had taken over as Manager of The AquaSport Dive Centre. Once more we were guided by Ariel and for the first time, Khalil or Khalil Mohamed Ahmed as he signed himself in my logbook, joined me as my dive buddy on my dive 188 on 5th April in The Canyon. My dive 196 at Marsa el Muqabila was memorable in that Ariel had problems with his regulators at the conclusion of the dive and was forced to breathe off my octopus during our safety stop. Unfortunately for Ariel, I was so used to us exchanging jokes underwater about each other’s air consumption, that when he first indicated that he was low on air I simply thought he was fooling around!
In June Eve and I returned to Taba for another week, highlights of which were seeing a dozen Rissos Dolphins from the Kewet Salem, a juvenile Frogfish and for Eve and I a perfect day when by sheer luck, we were the only divers aboard the Kewet Salem. Naturally we were spoilt rotten by Ariel, Aribie and Big Mohamed.
In September Eve and I spent another week in Taba, as ever enjoying seeing the resident Frogfish and Stonefish and juvenile Marbled Snake Eels. On this occasion we also saw a big red Octopus and were attacked by three Red Toothed Triggerfish.
2001
In April Eve and I returned for another week at the Taba Hilton diving mainly with Warren Meredith and his girlfriend Ellie Schneider as well with Graham Hooper and Nick Bennett.
In July we spent another two weeks in Taba. In addition to diving with AquaSport, we also visited the nearby Octopus Dive Centre in Salah el Deen which had been taken over by Nick Bennett. Highlights of this trip included a Humpbacked Slipper Lobster which I saw with Nick, another attack from a Red Toothed Triggerfish while diving the Graham Hooper from the Kewet Salem and some highly enjoyable shore dives with Warren and Ellie. Huw also introduced us to a new dive site he had provisionally called “The Lost Reef” which lay immediately adjacent to The Canyon next to the Taba Hilton.
2002
In June Eve and I enjoyed another two weeks in Taba. Under the guidance of PADI Instructor Graham Hooper and assisted by Paul Basel I qualified as a PADI Rescue Diver. Huw played the role of an unconscious non-breathing diver in the course and would not have enjoyed my clumsy attempts at dragging him out of the water to resuscitate him! When not on the course, I was lucky enough to have Sabina Kaiser as my buddy on my dives. This holiday brought my total dives todate to 500 and for a special treat, Huw arranged for the Kewet Salem to sail beyond its normal Taba dive sites 40 to 50 kilometres south of Taba to Ras Burka. As luck would have it, there were no other divers booked on the Kewet Salem for the day and so with two instructors and three boat crew, Eve and I were very privileged indeed. As I completed my 500th dive, I could see a board floating beneath the the Kewet Salem. I turned the board around and found a message on it: “Congratulations Malcolm 500 Dives”. I had been set up! Back at the Dive Centre Huw met us with a "500 dives"cake and helped everyone toast the occasion.
2004
In July 2004 Eve and I celebrated her birthday with another week’s holiday at the Taba Hilton. MV Kewet Salem looked different. It bore a new name, Kuwait Salem. Apparently the Kuwaiti owner had always intended that the boat be called the Kuwait Salem and a recent dry dock refurbishment had given him the chance to correct this. Ariel had left AquaSport and it seemed strange to be on the now-renamed Kuwait Salem without him although Egyptian Mohamed Ali proved a super dive guide. Only a few years earlier it would have been highly unlikely that an Egyptian would lead dives from AquaSport which is an Israeli-based diving company. Another new dive guide was Mike Perez. Apart from the dives on the Kuwait Salem Eve and I also enjoyed some excellent early morning shore dives with Mohamed Ali and Huw. Fish highlights of the holiday included Octopus, Spotted Snake Eels, Stonefish, a Clamdigger and small Crocodilefish. I would have taken more underwater photographs on this holiday but I failed to correctly fit the o-rings for my Olympus C5050 compact camera with the result that it flooded!
On October 7th a suicide bomber crashed a bomb-laden vehicle into the foyer of the Taba Hilton. The Taba Hilton had been popular with Israelis crossing the border from Eilat and had always seemed a likely target for a terrorist attack.
2005
Eve and I returned to the Taba Hilton in December. The consequences of the October 2004 bombing were obvious to see even 14 months later. The main Hilton building was a construction site, boarded off from tourists and the security arrangements for guests to get into the Nelson Village were very tight. Some things had not changed. Mohamed Ali and Huw Watson were still at The AquaSport Dive Centre, Huw being joined by his family from Wales. I was able to enjoy many dives during the week with Mohamed Ali as well as a couple with Huw and a new dive buddy, Jeff Tanner. I had never dived on Christmas Day before and it seemed rather strange to do an early morning dive with Mohamed on Christmas Day, followed a shortwhile later by a second dive. I even managed to squeeze a third dive in in the afternoon! Fish highlights of this trip were Sea Horses, Stonefish and Frogfish.