While Eve and I were staying at Soma Bay in June 2003, we travelled forty-five kilometres north to Hurghada to spend a day joining in Emperor Divers' 2003 Red Sea Bash.

One of Emperor Divers' Day Boats, Empress Rachelle took us to three offshore dive sites. This was the first time that we had dived in the area as we had been discouraged by reports that local coral reefs had been widely damaged by careless diving and in particular direct anchoring. The sites that we dived, Abu Ramada South, Gota Abu Ramada West and Magawish-Third Erg, appeared to confirm this. However we could not have had a more enjoyable day and could readily understand why Emperor Divers had won DIVE magazine's Best Dive Centre award for three years running.

The day was efficiently organised and without exception the Emperor Divers staff, including Hamish Harper our Instructor for the day, were very friendly. In the afternoon all of Emperor Divers' Hurghada boats met at Magawish-Third Erg to participate in an underwater Red Sea Bash Treasure Hunt.