BSAC London No.1 Branch

Come the end of the season 10 of us decided to treat ourselves to a trip to slightly warmer waters and find out what the Red Sea had to offer some hardy UK divers.  2 “extras” joined us for the trip, so 12 of us and 7 other divers made for a pretty full boat.
Saturday 27 October
On arriving in Sharm El Sheikh we had our first brush with Egyptian efficiency when a guy met everyone going on Tony Backhurst boats (and there were quite a few of us) and made us stand in random groups before collecting our visas from him in an orderly scrum.  Those who hadn’t pre-purchased their visas felt very smug indeed as they wandered off to get their visas cheaply and quickly from the kiosk in the airport.  Thankfully all our luggage arrived so once our passports had been thoroughly checked many times, we made it out of the airport and on to the bus to the port. 
At the port we were subjected to the strangest customs check.  We all had to get off the bus and walk through a scanner in the middle of a warehouse.  Our large bags were also all scanned, but hand luggage was fine to leave on the bus….  At least we all know where to hide our contraband/bombs next time!  After a drive of about 100m across the concrete we finally reached MY Cyclone – our home for the next week and were greeted with a nice cold drink and, most importantly, the first of many excellent dinners.

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