September 1997
My dives 45 and 46. Eve and I and new dive buddies Bill Rodgers and Simon Edmonds joined a one-day Red Sea Sports Club Jeep safari from Eilat , Israel to Dahab , Egypt for two dives at The Canyon and The Islands. The Dahab Canyon is the classic canyon, up to 10 metres deep and virtually closed over at the top, it snakes its way down to the depths giving the appearance of the fluted mouth of a clamshell. The shallowest end of The Canyon begins in a large glassfish-filled coral dome known as The Fish Bowl at a depth of about 12 metres. The Canyon has two other main openings, another large bowl opening at about 20 metres depth and a narrow exit at 52 metres.  In between these three openings the walls have grown together to virtually close over the top of the Canyon. Although these three main openings are the easier entries/exits there are other possibilities albeit not so straightforward. The Islands site, close to the Laguna Hotel is another top dive site: three underwater coral islands teeming with fish life.

September 1998
My dives 95 and 96. Eve and I joined a two-day Aqua Sport Jeep safari from Eilat , Israel led by Linda Chappell. The first day of this safari was spent diving south of Nuweiba before staying overnight at The Canyon Dive Resort opposite The Canyon dive site. Eve and I had the opportunity to sleep outside instead. We wish we had! The next day we dived The Canyon twice, my buddy on the second dive being Diane Horlock who was celebrating her 200th dive.

September 1999
My dive 144. I took a taxi from Taba , Egypt to spend the day in Dahab diving with Jacqueline Mays, a Dahab-based Canadian divemaster. We dived The Canyon  (Dive 143) to 41.4 metres followed by The Bells. The entry to The Bells site, just north of The Blue Hole site, was truly spectacular. We descended headfirst down a deep vertical groove in reef wall emerging under an archway into the blue to begin a gentle fin towards The Blue Hole site concluding our dive in the shallows of The Blue Hole lagoon.

April 2000
My dives 206 to 213. Eve and I returned to Dahab for three days, staying at The Dahab Hilton. Once again I dived with Jacqueline Mays diving Sharks Cave to Three Pools, Lighthouse, Abu Hilal/Small Canyon twice, The Bells, The Islands, Eel Garden and a drift dive south from Ricks Reef to The Canyon. Our first dive encompassed two dive sites, Sharks Cave and Three Pools, the latter being a gently sloping expanse of hard coral stretching with fan corals on a slope that descends to 20 meters. The final part of the dive was quite challenging with a strong surge. Lighthouse was our second dive and is known as Dahab's first recognised reef. It is an easy place to learn to dive. Abu Hilal translated means Headland of the Crescent Moon this being a reference to a crescent-shaped reef about half a kilometre south of The Canyon. A sloping bay leads to a broad ridge and at the end of this ridge lies the kilometre long Small Canyon which begins at a depth of around 30 metres. Our penultimate dive was at The Eel Garden. This is located on the north of Dahab and is named after the colony of eels that populates its sandy slopes. Our final dive was intended as a drift dive from Rick's Reef, a small wall dropping roughly five meters to a rocky slope with hard coral, to The Canyon but the current quickly died away.

June 2000
My dives 223 to 225. I travelled from Taba to spend a day doing 3 dives in Dahab with Jacqueline Mays. The first was at Abu Talha (Huts). The colourful coral landscape was particularly memorable. The site is not well known and there were no other divers present, whereas there were many divers at the nearby Canyon site.  Our second dive was at The Canyon and our third was an attempted drift dive from Eel Garden to Lighthouse. Unfortunately the moderate current eased off.

April 2001
My dive 320. The Blue Hole is the most famous of the Dahab dive sites, considered by many as a top-notch world-class dive site. It is literally a hole in the reef that is around 55 meters wide. The most important feature of the Blue Hole is the Archway, which exits into the Red Sea . The Archway can be dived at depths ranging from 58 metres to 120 metres. It is reputed to be the most dangerous dive site in the world and has claimed many lives, plaques near the dive site recording the names of some of these divers. Entry to the site is through a large lagoon in the reeftop, the lagoon being the 'blue hole', which gives the site its name. It is the top of a vertical shaft which is reported to extend over 300 metres straight down. A shallow lip at about 6 metres leads from the lagoon to the outer reef. Deep within the hole, the Archway also links the reef face to the Blue Hole itself. One of my concerns about this deep dive was the risk of the mind-clouding effects of Nitrogen Narcosis. Prior to this dive I had only experienced mild Nitrogen Narcosis but then I had never dived this deep before. Scientists are doubtful, but many divers who frequently go deep believe that they become less susceptible to narcosis. Whatever the reason for this resistance to narcosis, I do believe that a series of deep dives helps against narcosis and so I did a number of deep dives immediately prior to travelling to Dahab. Early one morning I met up with Jacqueline Mays and local Egyptian divemaster, Sherif Madyan and we made our way to the dive site. Sherif and I dropped down 4 or 5 metres from the surface of the lagoon to check that all our equipment was working satisfactorily.  In addition to a main 18-litre tank I also had a 3-litre pony cylinder. Sherif and I descended into the Blue Hole. At a depth of about 45 metres the light fell rapidly as we approached the Archway.  Once inside the darkness of the Archway I could see the blue water of the outer reef at the far end. As we finned further into the Archway, we were forced to descend as the Archway angles downwards. Some divers believe that the highest passable part of the Archway roof is at a depth of 55 metres.  I estimated that the ceiling of the Archway at the outer reef end was at a depth of around 58 metres. Anyway it is deep! Fortunately the effects of Narcosis were proving to be mild, perhaps the series of deep dives before this had paid off. Reaching a maximum depth of 59.7 metres, Sherif and I began a slow and very careful ascent up the outside wall of the Blue Hole. Despite the slow speed of our ascent, the Decompression Stop requirement cleared on my computer very quickly. Of course we had not been at a significant depth for very long but I had expected this compulsory stop to be longer. We carried out a lengthy safety stop before finally surfacing. As a final precaution, I stayed the night at the Dahab Hilton, the route back to Taba being mountainous.

July 2001
My dive 379. Waking up at 4.15 a.m. in Taba, I took a taxi to Dahab for an early morning “repeat dive” with Sherif at the Blue Hole. Conditions were perfect. As before I had prepared with a number of deep dives and I again had an 18-litre tank plus a 3-litre pony. One of the recent fatalities in the Archway had been caused by a divers octopus becoming snagged in the roof so I intended to dive a metre or so deeper than before, hopefully eliminating this possibility. However this would leave me slightly more vulnerable to a sudden Oxygen Toxicity attack. An attack can cause unconsciousness or a seizure. Scuba Diving Agencies have different views on the safest depth divers can descend to without risking an Oxygen Toxicity attack, opinions varying from 52 metres to 73 metres. Our initial decent was faster than on the previous occasion, dropping 40 metres in 3 minutes whereas previously we had taken almost 6 minutes. Perhaps was the cause of a sudden and strong sensation of nitrogen narcosis causing me to misjudge my buoyancy control and hit a maximum depth of 70.4 metres as we exited the Archway. Within a minute I had ascended back up to 61 metres, three minutes later 50 metres and two minutes after that, 36 metres.  As I ascended higher, all feelings of narcosis quickly left me. But not the realisation that I had pushed my luck by underestimating the danger of narcosis at depth. I have no intention of pushing my luck again. Dive 379 will be my deepest dive.

February 2005
My dives 1018 and 1019. Staying in Naama Bay , Sharm-El-Sheikh for a weeks diving with Emperor Divers while Eve and my dive buddy Richard Preston spent a week on a Sinai walk from Dahab, I spent my final full day of the holiday in Dahab in order that I could meet up with Eve and Richard.  I joined my buddy, Martyn Doherty and the rest of my small dive group, at the Emperor Divers' Dive Centre in Naama Bay at 7.00 a.m. and we began a rather bumpy ride to Dahab. I really enjoyed both dives, The Bells and The Canyon, our dive guide, Ian Elwood, ensuring we all got the most out of the dives.