Freediving, sailing, yoga, Red Sea… what a combination!! And combining all, what an experience.
Even with a Scuba background, as an Instructor and a passionate teacher, never would I have imagined that I would be Freediving off a yacht in the middle of the Red Sea amongst 100’s of dolphins, Corals and a wreck, let alone starting or finishing the day with Yoga.
However, I am delighted I did and even happier to make this trip available to all of our Sea to Sky clients.
Find out more about my trip below.
The story actually start for me in Wadi Lahami, I had flown out of Italy, where we live, on the Sunday and arrived in Marsa Alam that evening.
The boat was moored at Hamata Port, not far from Wadi Lahami, so was perfect for me to stay there. It also gave me the excuse to dive the Fury Shoals for a day on the Monday before the transfer on Tuesday morning.
I awoke to a few missed calls from my two guests Sam and Harry. I digress a bit here as Sam and his brother Harry had booked the trip through us and, as we offer more than a basic buy the trip and see you later type adventure, I made sure I accompanied them to ensure they had the best time.
I had arranged Sam’s hotel in Hurghada and local taxi to collect them from the airport to their hotel.
TOP TIP buy a Vodaphone Sim card on arrival as this will save you so much aggravation over phone costs and network roaming. €20 will ensure you have enough data to last a week easily, and that’s with everyone hotspotting off you, oh and make sure the guys at the Vodaphone stall insert the sim card and activate it for you, saves any miscommunication.
Anyway back to the story, Sam and Harry made their own way to Hamata, which ended up being to Wadi Lahami as they missed the transfer and jumped into a cab, but arrived safely and all three of us waited for the mini bus to collect us.
The other guests meanwhile had all been collected in and around Hurghada and were on their way !!
After a hearty breakfast the mini bus arrived and transferred us to Hamata to meet the other guests and crew.
We arrived at Hamata at approx 12pm and introduced ourselves to the other guests and immediately started chatting and getting to know each other. The guests were:
- Nahla (Our freedive instructor and one of the loveliest persons you could hope to meet)
- Sarah (A yoga instructor, but not on this trip, who’s passion is Pizza and Pancakes and her husband in that order !!)
- Megan (An awesome French lady whom I’m sure brought her own banana tree with her, as she ate so many)
- Alex (Our star TV presenter, amazing freediver and all round superstar)
- Ingrid (Downhill skiing yogi who’s single handed changed my mind about Yoga)
Oh and Sam and Harry, what can I say about those two!! Sam is a great friend whom I’ve know for many years and one person you can rely on. Harry was just an awesome guy, he had one weakness and that was Pasta, good god he can eat, love him !!
The boat and crew
The boat is called Roaga and is a 50.5 Cyclades with 4 double cabins and one bunk bed style cabin, two of the doubles have private bathrooms and the others are shared bathroom.
Downstairs seating, Galley and charging area and upstairs is where we spent all our time, either eating or diving.
The boat is immaculately kept and looked after by Captain Mohammed Said, who funnily enough I knew from years ago whilst diving elsewhere, Mohammed number 2!!, who did everything all the time, Abu Selim the Masterchef and also helped run the boat and lastly Mahmoud Hassan our guide and a funny and caring person.
We LOVED the crew and couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people.
Oh and the crew slept either outside on the deck or bench seating or in the galley area, how they do this trip after trip is beyond me, hats off to them.
Day 1
So after arriving on board settling our stuff into the cabins, it was time to depart and head to Om Elsheikh Island, arriving at 1245pm, to moor up and have an awesome lunch of fresh lentils, cheese filo pastry and fresh salad.
We spent the afternoon chatting and snorkelling and generally getting to know each other better.
Day 2
We spent the day at the island, which was like someone had dropped a desert Island into the middle of the red Sea, it was so beautiful.
Day 2 was the also the start of our introduction to freediving with Nahla.
We covered such areas as Recovery breath, breathing as well, dry static exercises and some static in the water. A great experience and I suddenly realised that freediving was going to be a challenge !!! but a good one.
The next challenge was Yoga, we all took the little zodiac to the island at 4pm to start session 1, Vinyasa. Wow is all I have to say, I have never been stretched or put into positions since for ever, but a great great session that was loved by all. Ingrid was very soothing and great teacher. After Yoga we departed for Syaal Island, another paradise not far away.
I wont catalogue what we had for breakfast/lunch/dinner everyday but I can assure you it was fresh, tasted sublime, and we always had too much variety, just exquisite and how chef cooked all that food in the smallest galley in the world is beyond me.
We always had fresh dates and fruit and snacks available at all time.
Day 3
Day 3 started with another session of Vinyasa Yoga on the Island at 0730am, a great way to start the day and after a great breakfast we had our freediving session, the session included Buoyancy check, how to equalise, duck dive and some line work to 5m, another great session, fuelling our appetite for more of the same.
This day was also the day we departed for Sataya Reef, home of the dolphins, we left at 3pm and arrived approx 3 hours later ready and anticipating the following day.
Day 4
The highlight of the trip Sataya !!!
We arrived at Sataya to be met by hundreds of Dolphins in their natural playground / resting place before their nightly excursions for food. We jumped in at 0730hrs and stayed with them for just about two hours….the freediving was magical. Just being up close and personal with such creatures was indescribable.
After another amazing breakfast at 10am we had another freedive session with Nahla, covering linework, body position and becoming streamlined in the water, not easy but so satisfying.
Lunch was at 2.30pm and after a brief rest and sunbathe we were back in before the dolphins went out for the night.
Thanks must go to Mohammed Said for constantly navigating the pinnacles of Sataya and dropping us in on top, not literally of course, of the dolphin pods. I think this day was the culmination of the all the best days together as in the morning and afternoon we were literally the only divers and could play and swim with them without stress and ease
Day 5
Last day at Sataya……. and, after jumping in at 0730am, we again swam with the dolphins for a few hours only coming out at breakfast at 10am.
After breakfast we all either relaxed our played off the boat on floaties, or if you were Sam, Harry and Mahmoud showing off their athletic somersaults from the boat. I have to mention Megan who’s climbing skills were something to behold.
After lunch we headed to Halawi reef to swim with barracuda’s, a beautiful turtle and amazing Corals that only the Red Sea can support, a lovely change.
We then headed back to Sataya to practice our free immersion to 11m, another great experience.
A few games on the boat was followed by an amazing dinner !!! we gave the chef a night off and cooked up a storm in the galley ourselves, mostly Alex who’s passion for chopping really shone through.
Day 6
Last but one day…….we left Sataya at 0715 and sailed to Abu Galawa wreck arriving at 0815ish.
The wreck was beautiful dive and so many hard corals to look at, a wonderful sight. We dived for about one and half hours and then had breakfast before leaving for our long sail back to Om Elsheikh where I think by then we had all dived out and only Alex went for a dive.
Then the storms hit us, I have worked and been coming to Egypt for over 15 years and have never seen storms like this, just ask Alex. Wonderful sight of the lightning and not so at the same time.
Day 7
Time to go home………we arrived back at Hamata in the morning after mooring up in the bay overnight and after banana pancakes made by Sam and Alex we packed and said our goodbyes.
The transport arrived at 10am to take us all to our respective destinations
Boat Yoga
So apart from the Vinyasa sessions on the island’s we had Yin Yoga every evening on the boat. This, speaking as an expert of course!!!, is a more relaxed Yoga, holding postures for a few minutes.
An ideal Yoga for the limited space on a yacht and with the combination of the relaxed postures, boat sways and Ingrid’s voice, most evenings I left my body and landed don’t know where, loved this.
Well that’s it for the blog, I think I have covered everything on what has been a trip of a lifetime.
I have made many friends and unlike a lot of trips we will stay in touch and we will meet up again, I know I will.
A big thanks go to Omar and Yousra for running a professional and slick operation, the crew who I cant praise enough and to each and everyone of you, Sarah, Megan, Ingrid, Sam, Harry, Nahla and of course Alex.
If anyone is thinking of Booking I am more than happy to talk through with you every aspect so rest assured you can be prepared and a little better informed of the magical experience you WILL have.
The highlight
I think the highlight was Sarah, we have never witnessed such joy on someone’s face whilst swimming with the dolphins, this was the highlight for me.
Aziab SeaFaris and Sea to Sky
I have known Omar and Yousra, the owners of Aziab SeaFaris for a couple of years now, Filomena had met Yousra and Omar 5 years ago at Wadi Lahami in Southern Egypt.
My first impressions of Omar was what a chilled out and gentle soul he was, very articulate and above all professional.
When we were looking at add an Egyptian based diving, sailing and yoga experience together, we approached Omar to ask if we could collaborate / partner with them, as experts in the region, and we were delighted when he said yes.
