It's a little odd at the moment. We are still busy due to our customer base this time of year, and yes, the divers are returning to other centres as well. Tiran wa actually quite busy yesterday. The shore is still closed and diving is only permitted to people with more than 50 dives - the theory being that they will spend less time faffing about at the surface and are, in theory, less prone to panic or would at least be able to deal with an emergency exit in a relatively calm and orderly fashion.
The local dive sites north of na'ama bay (The Gardens up to Ghamila) remain closed to divers since this area is where the attacks took place and for some reason at least one oceanic is (or was) hanging about there. One seems to be lurking at Shark and Yolanda at the moment and has been sighted there a few times.
For the record - only two sharks have been caught and killed - the two in the picture that String kindly posted here. Again, I have this on good authority from somebody involved, and despite rumours and the alleged offers of one month's salary to boat crews who catch it, no other sharks have been killed.
I will admit to feeling a little un-nerved at times in the water. As per my "day in the life" post, I did have a loss of nerves when faced with the possibility I might be jumping on my own with two oceanics underneath me, but I went to Shark and Yolanda next morning with no worries, and yes, my head is swivelling around into the blue a lot more at the moment, but my air consumption has remained normal!!
It has settled down a bit - there was almost rioting on the beach the other day because tourists can't get into the water but there's nothing we can do and I think it's very sensible to keep them out at the moment, actually. The chances of a shark pootling into the shallows in Na'ama bay might be slim, but so were the chances of an oceanic killing somebody in water about the depth of a good bath tub. Sharks do get as far as the 18m house reef from time to time - a grey reef shark was seen there last month, although it is extremely rare.
"Experts" are still in the area and we await their reports but so far the information about probable cause is nothing we haven't already discussed on this forum; overfishing, fish feeding activities and dead sheep. The unseasonably warm water is, I think, a bit of a red herring. Yes it's a bit warmer than last year, but only by a few weeks' difference, and it's starting to drop rapidly; 26C in Tiran yesterday.
That's the way it is at the moment - we are waiting to see what the turn-around in holidays will do for us - the big arrivals and departures are on Saturdays so we shall see what next week holds.
We are still relocating customers to Dahab and I see some of the other big names there also, but we do have to charge the customers extra and for sure some are not willing to pay the surcharges. Yes, it would be nice to offer it for free, and I think other centres might be doing that, but it's a no-brainer in the end.
I should have some time tomorrow to talk with some people in the know - if I do I will update here.
Cheers
C.
