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A letter from the owners on their dream to build MY Rosetta

www.diving-lessons.co.uk

At the end of May, Michelle took a group of fearless divers further than they'd ever been before. . . Well, almost!! We went out to Egypt for a one week liveaboard on MY Rosetta. The trip started with a coach transfer south from Hurghada to the boat. We then spent the week slowly making our way north, back to our starting point, with plenty of diving in between.

The trip included 17 dives over 6 days - an awful lot of dives. Only two divers were up to the task, competing for the much coveted title of 'Fish of the Week'. In the end it was a close run thing. In second place came Paul Harris, who clocked up a monumental 13 hours and 57 minutes underwater, but in the end he could not keep up with our winner, Chris Ward, who spent 14 hours and 11 minutes of the week underwater!! But what is most intriguing about these figures, is that Chris and Paul were buddies for the whole week - so how did Chris manage 14 minutes longer underwater - what were you doing in the missing minutes, Chris??!!

We were completely spoilt for the week. Every dive site we visited, we had to ourselves - a welcome break from the 'diver soup' we have come to expect as normal in more Northern locations. We encountered many reef sharks, turtles, different kinds of rays, and some of the group were even lucky enough to meet hammerheads!! The diving was luxurious, and wonderfully warm, between 26-24°C (it gets cooler as you go north). The coral was untouched, and the fish life magnificent. Along with the exciting encounters on dives, we also had visits from dolphins almost every day. Michelle and Dave were lucky enough to snorkel within a couple of feet of a large pod of spinner dolphins (somewhat shyer and smaller than bottlenose), and for their other visits, the dolphins managed to time their appearances nicely in order to disrupt dive briefings as frequently as possible!!

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There are many other dive stories from the week, but I would bore you to death if I carried on, so pop in to the social at the end of the month to see the photos, hear the stories, and generally wish you had gone too!!

Not only was the diving superb, we were also blessed with a fantastic crew. The food was first rate, and as it was an all inclusive, you could eat and eat and eat until you could hardly move. Mahmoud was a fantastic chef, and he always had your tea/coffee ready for you first thing in the morning, as you emerged bleary eyed from your cabin. Nothing was too much trouble for the crew, and they kept the ship spotless for us. The instructors were equally dedicated, and during the week they certified two Advanced Open Water Divers, and two TDI Nitrox divers. Congrats guys!!

And it wasn't all diving!!
On the last day, four of us used our no-diving day to see a different side of things. We were driven 35km into the desert, from where we took quad bikes a further 45 minutes into the desert to a Bedouin camp. There we sat and had tea, and learnt about the Bedouin way of life, before hopping back on the bikes and heading back to 'civilisation'. It was a brilliant opportunity, and we all came away COVERED in dust, but feeling very rewarded for our efforts. And again, some fantastic photo opportunities - the desert proved to be surprisingly beautiful.

And so we all arrived back at Gatwick airport a very tired bunch, but also very satisfied with the week, and some divers vowing never to do day-diving again!! It was a fantastic week, and we are all more than grateful to all on MY Rosetta for making it a trip to remember.

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