We’re still with the ridiculously early mornings, the alarm waking us up at 6.45 when we crawled out of bed, chucked swimwear on, grabbed bag and headed out for breakfast, picking up our packed food. We were ready and waiting at 7.25.

One of the pickups, Barry from London, failed to be at his hotel lobby at his designated time due to alarm failure. Impressively he went from snoring to being on the bus in less than ten minutes.

At Sharm harbour we found our boat for the day to be Maka who is rather large. Especially for just seven divers and two guides. But at the same time, pure luxury, as the boat boys dedicated much of their muscles to myself and Alison, an opera singer. A rarity, as usually the boys have to help lots of people at the same time.

Our guide for the day was Hamish/Mohammed/Hassan, his name depending entirely on the time of day and who he was talking to.

And the best bit about our little group? We were all experienced divers, and not just in name, but in practice also. So we had nice long dives, around an hour each, and covered depths from 27 metres upwards with no drama or crises. Plus, eight pairs of eyes watching out for stuff, so lots were seen.

The first dive was Shark and Yolanda, the reef and wreck that had the cargo of loos. The loos are still there. There was almost no current, and more wildlife came out to play, especially the common lionfish on full display, and the biggest, fattest crocodile fish I’ve ever seen. There were also a couple of stonefish lurking, confident that we couldn’t see them.

Jackfish Alley is my favourite dive of all those in Sharm, and this was an excellent second dive. A huge napoleon fish joined us at the beginning, just after the cave we went through, and stayed, coming very close at times and keeping a big eye on what we were doing. He was so intent on us that he failed to spot the titan triggerfish nest he passed over, as one of the titans zipped up and tried to munch his tail. But the napoleon came back around carefully avoiding the titan’s conical territory. I also had a blue triggerfish keep me company a part of the way.

While waiting for the others to go into a chimney (I was last as I had the camera), I spotted a tiny baby pyjama nudibranch which was very, very cute. And a broomtail wrasse chased a goatfish off; it seemed very cross.

The dive finished with a great solo barracuda. He didn’t want to come near us, unfortunately.

The third dive of the day was at Temple, a nice little safe and shallow dive. The first thing we saw was a porcupine fish free swimming and gorgeous. Below him, a clearfin lionfish was hunting and didn’t care that we were there. Chris spotted a conch shell with it’s original snail inhabitant shooting across the seabed at the speed of light. But when it noticed that it was being watched, it did an emergency stop and hid inside its shell.

Much to Chris’ joy, there was a blue-spotted ray convention going on, with several scattered about under rocks and corals. The diesel damage that is so prevalent in Sharm was obvious here, which is a real shame, and the knowledge that just by being here and diving, that we’re propagating that is somewhat humbling.

A moray eel popped out for just a moment before retreating inside the reef beyond sight. And the dive was finished off with a big blue triggerfish hunting for food.

On the way back, we stopped for tea and ice cream at the pool bar and chatted to a nice couple, before heading off for a much needed shower.

We had the pizza and pasta option for dinner, which again was gorgeous. I’m quite certain that dysentery is going to come and bite me at some point, but until it does, I’m enjoying myself. And today, we earned it.

Tomorrow we have a lie in and don’t need to be up until gone seven.