Blog – August 2013

This July our divers and instructor Rod encountered Ariel, a four metre Giant manta ray, at our beautiful local dive site Ras Umm Sid. But this was not a one-time lucky sighting: our instructors Cath and Beth had already spotted Ariel at the same dive site in May 2012. But how can we be sure? Fortunately we had photos of both sightings, and by matching them our Eco Tribe leader Cath was able to positively identify Ariel. Cath said "Each manta ray has their own individual markings on their belly that act like a fingerprint. If we get a photograph we can look through our archive to check if we have had a previous encounter." Because manually matching manta photos would be very time-consuming, Cambridge Professor Christopher Town has teamed up with Marine Megafauna Foundation to develop a computer algorithm which identifies manta rays by their markings. The algorithm has been integrated into first global online database for manta rays, Manta Matcher. This groundbreaking system “will allow researchers to track sightings data to establish important life-history parameters as well as determine other ecological data such as abundance, range, movement patterns, and structure of manta ray populations across the world.” Camel’s friend and eco partner Andrea Marshall of Marine Megafauna was so excited about our photo match of Ariel that she described it at the National Geographic Explorer Week in Washington DC. We love citizen science!

Sharm El Sheikh and surrounding areas remain completely calm. There is no curfew in Sharm El Sheikh; a nationwide curfew implemented across Egypt on 14 August was lifted in Sharm El Sheikh the next day. All Camel Dive Club diving and snorkeling trips continue to run as normal. Today we have approximately 35 guests diving with us, with boats departing for daily diving at Ras Mohamed and Thistlegorm wreck. We have plenty of new divers taking PADI courses diving from our beach and diver training pool. Now is the best season for diving and, with uncrowded dive sites, our divers are spotting on a daily basis manta rays, hammerheads and other sharks! See our Facebook page for news of our latest sightings. Guests from six European countries, including Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Finland, UK and Spain, are staying and diving with us at Camel Hotel at present. Our own restaurants, bars and beach are operating as normal, as are other venues in Naama Bay. There are no restrictions on the consumption of alcohol. Internet and mobile phone networks are fully working. Sharm El Sheikh International airport is fully open; scheduled and charter flight services from different European countries including the UK are operating without interruption. Airport transfers are running as normal 24 hours per day.