There’s been this rumour going around Sharm El Sheikh.

Now everybody knows, there aren’t any tigers in the Red Sea. Grey reef, white tip, black tip, silkys, hammerheads, possibly even the occasional oceanic. I’m convinced I saw a bull shark last year but no one believed me, because there aren’t any bull sharks in the Red Sea either………………….

Tiger shark (883 KB)

One fine Friday in August, I decided I’d been working far too hard and really should go for a plop somewhere to cool off. It’s all very well living in a land of perpetual sunshine but it does get a touch too warm occasionally. The only way to chill, is to get out on a boat and, you’ve guessed it, go diving. Without further ado, I brushed the accumulation of dried salt off my dive gear, grabbed the video housing and jumped on a daily boat – full of tourists – heading off to Tiran for the day.

Having arrived, the dive guide announced that the first dive would be a drift along Gordon Reef. How very exciting, I thought. I haven’t dived Gordon for years – for good reason. Here am I, a rufty tufty diving instructor with some of the finest reefs in the world in my back garden, reduced to drifting around in a snorkellers paradise. Never mind, at least the submarine view of topless Italian Thong fish should keep me amused. Maybe the next dive we can do the outside of Jackson.

The group of 15 wannabee divers giant-strided off the back of the boat and descended 15 metres to the sandy bed. They split into two rather uneven groups, the first large group heading northwards with the guide, the second group of four heading towards the drop off. I drifted over with the smaller group, fiddling with my video, and wondering whether I should be here after all. Within a couple of minutes, the instructor started making sharky type signs and pointing down over the edge. I hit record, since I’ve been caught out before, and followed his directions. He must be narked in 15 metres, I thought, he’s spotted a Tuna in the blue and wants to cheer up his guests. I could see absolutely nothing but sand and rocks. I finned down the gentle slope, onward and outward, and suddenly realised that he was right. There was a definite silhouette of a shark, no two, hang on, there’s three of them. I switched to turbo mode and headed on an intercept course, expecting them to shy away from this bubble blowing monster as usual - but I was wrong.

Off with the turbo and on with the brakes. They’d changed direction and were coming up to see me ! One of them split away and skirted along the reef about 10 meters below me. I looked up and back to see the other guys just above me – a touch deep for PADI divers I thought. However, I didn’t really have a chance to think much more as a 4 metre long shark with stripes came straight at me. A big shark, with stripes, heading straight for me………………the Doors started playing inside my head and half my life flashed before my eyes – I’ve only ever had half a life – as I froze. This awesome creature, significantly higher up the food chain than myself, was on a direct collision course. She, ( they’re always she’s ), twitched at the last minute and split me away from the reef I’d formerly been hugging, cruising nonchalantly past before veering off and down over the ledge to the ocean floor in some 80 metres. I began to breathe again. Whadda rush. It wasn’t over yet though. As I took a little peek over the ledge to see what was happening, her friend popped her head up and gave a little shake, pecs dropped, and fortunately veered off again. For the following lifetime, well about 10 minutes actually, I was ‘entertained’ by these three playing a form of tag as one would be circling around to one side of me, another would be strutting her stuff in front of me, and the third was, well, I wish I knew where the third one kept coming from.