In 2001, I did my first dive on SS Thistlegorm as part of my Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Advanced Open Water (AOW) dive certification. For non-divers AOW requires 5 dives Deep (30m) and Underwater Navigation are required. For my optional 3 I did Wreck, Night, and Drift.
In 24 years, the wreck has deteriorated some. I have too!
Changes
The Thistlegorm is a very popular wreck in Sinai, Red Sea, Egypt. I remember summer dives in 2001 with 20-30 dive boats of 15-30 divers each on the site. It wasn’t difficult to get lost under all the boats. One definite improvement is boats now often put down a line with a flag and the boat name.
Liveaboard Boat Underwater Flag
Nitrox Cert
In 2020, I added a scuba certification. Officially it’s Enriched Air Diver. But everyone refers to it as Nitrox, because instead of breathing normal compressed air, you use a mixture with more Oxygen. Did you know the air you breathe is not pure Oxygen? Good thing it’s not. Pure O2 can be toxic to breathe and is VERY combustible, like spontaneous combustion.
Normal air is mostly Nitrogen!
- Nitrogen (N2): 78.08%
- Oxygen (O2: 20.95%
- Argon (Ar): 0.93%
- Carbon dioxide (CO2): 0.04%
Enriched Air can be up to 40% Oxygen. Each tank must be tested by the diver, before every single dive. The air mix can vary and it’s important to know the exact percentages. After measuring, the percentage must be entered into the dive company or liveaboard log and your dive computer.
The benefit of Nitrox isn’t deeper dives. It’s less Nitrogen in your body. In practical terms, longer at a specific depth, not a longer dive and potentially shorter surface intervals because you have less Nitrogen to off-gas.
I find Nitrox dives less tiring, especially by the third dive of the day.
Red Sea Sailfin Tang and Bluefin Trevally Above Thistlegorm
Cameras
I had a 35mm film point and shoot camera with underwater housing that took mediocre photos at best. I upgraded to a 1.2MP digital camera that probably took worse photos. But now I use a GoPro Hero11 Black. It’s not perfect, but is so much better, while not costing more than my first 3 cars combined. (Some pro photographers camera rigs are $15,000+ and individual lenses can cost $1,000-10,000 each.) I like my GoPro because it can be used for much more than diving, doesn’t take a dedicated piece of luggage, and floats not sinks.
During that first dive, I was getting used to the depth and my new dive gear so I completely missed the tank. In my defense, it was upside down and looked unlike a tank.
Not exactly camera, but definitely camera adjacent is the apps available to a correct the colors of underwater photos.
My fav is UwEdit for Android because it has a low one time cost, batch processing of photos and videos, and more. I can even edit very old digital photos with it. Like this one from diving the Thistlegorm in 2001.
Going Down
For my first dive on the Thistlegorm this trip, it was an afternoon dive (actually the third dive of the day) there was only one other liveaboard boat there. We toured the outside of the wreck and the surrounding train wrecks that were blown off the deck when it was bombed.
Insights
My memory isn’t what it used to be and I don’t remember spending any time with the trains before. I can now say I’ve seen, ships, motorcycles, cars, trucks, tanks, trains, and planes underwater. And even some fish.
Personal Insights
I didn’t do the night dive. I’ve learned I’m not a fan of getting into a cold, wet, wetsuit after I’m finally warm and dry. And I don’t like going to bed with wet hair. Unless someone can promise me something EPIC, I generally skip night dives. While it may not seem like diving is exercise, it can burn 300-700 calories in an hour. And four dives 3 for 60 minutes and 1 for 45 can be 1100-2500 calories in a day.
I will get up early on a dive trip, but I find some surface time to relax on my vacation is worth it.
I also knew we’d have 2 more dives on the Thistlegorm the next morning!
I like being helpful, so I submitted an update to Google Maps to mark the wreck. 27.80850, 33.91866
Stay Tuned for the SS Thistlegorm Penetration Dives.
