Dugong 4K GH5

[matdiver]

After many attempts, I finally saw a dugong in the Red Sea:


No-one knows for sure how many are left in the Red Sea, but probably very few. There don't seem to have been any sightings of juveniles for years, and this one has clearly suffered some sort of injury on its side.

Matt

 

[dcvf2]

hi Matt

Very nice video.

Where did you see the dugong ... the Red Sea is vast?

In free diving (always for me), I saw and filmed dugongs six or seven times at "Torfa Tanny", "Abu Dabbab", "El Nabab" where it was the first meeting in 2004 and in 2008 very young fearful

In 2011, in Hamata, taking the boat to Sataya, I learned that a local tribe was allowed to kill one of the 3 dugongs in the area ... to eat it.

dcvf

 

[matdiver]

Hi dcvf,
thanks foryour comments. I saw the dugong at a site called "Sheik Malek". It's in an area in the Southern Egyptian RS, near Port Ghalib (so also near the sites you mention I think). Best to get there early in the morning (like we were), or very late afternon, because otherwise there's a risk of crowds of snorkellers!
Incredible to believe that anyone would kill and eat one of these amazing - and rather rare - creatures
Cheers,
Matt

 

[dcvf2]

Hi "matdiver"

... Best to get there early in the morning (like we were), or very late afternon, because otherwise there's a risk of crowds of snorkellers!
Matt

Yes early in the morning ...at the sunrise for me...next octobre it'll be my 21 time in the red sea.
Twenty years ago (as everywhere else), we could see more creatures.

Last year, I was disappointed in Abu Dabbab compared to what I had seen in 2008.
I've done a "go back" by taking my video of the time...reissued with MacBook Pro.
Sorry, the introduction is in French ...
I summarize below the essence of this introduction
The rest is a little ... untranslatable humor

Warning
It was in 2008 with my first video camera (SD not HD) whose underwater white balance was mediocre.
Please choose 720p
Red Sea Retrospective Abu Dabbab 2008 =>
dcvf

 

[matdiver]

Hey dcvf, very interesting - and don't worry, I think we all had pretty crap cameras back then!
As for more vs less marine life, I'd really like to think it's just nostalgia, but you may well be right that the marine life is getting more scarce or becoming more shy of divers. For this reason, I personally just don't feel comfortable with the super bright video lights that we can get now. 5000 lumens can produce lovely colours, but what's the effect on the marine life? Not sure, but I find it hard to believe that it would make fish want to come closer!
Cheers,
Matt