Friendly Dungong

[Peter]

Pics of a friendly Dugong who wanted to play with us near El Queseir, Egypt

[sorvju-f]

Pics of a friendly Dugong who wanted to play with us near El Queseir, Egypt

Wellcome Peter!

The first one is impressive with dark blue background!:D

What kind off set you have?

Jukka

[Peter]

Nothing spectacular, just a point and shoot Sony DSC-W15 with an underwater housing.

[Ken Hawk]

Nice pics Peter.
Welcome to Underwater Chat.
Ken

[Jonathan Bird]

Cool shots!! I really want to photograph a Dugong. How easy is it to photograph Dugongs around that area? Is there only one friendly one or more??

Jonathan

[Peter]

Hi Jonathan,

I have been to Marsa Alam and El Queseir a few times and I have always tried to find a Dugong but hadn't had much luck.
The usual place is Marsa Abu Dabab, however this is always busy with lots of snorkelers and liveaboards so when the Dugong (Dennis) does appear he is swamped and harrassed by them.
I was there in February with about 6 divers, we had finished our first dive without seeing him and were on a surface interval, taking a break when he arrived, he was immediately swamped by a couple of dozen snorkelers.
Not my scene, I do not like harrassing wildlife in anyway and any interaction must be their choosing so I didn't enter the water.
Two days later a friend and myself went north of El Queseir with a dive guide, we were aware that there was another Dugong in this area but we were totally unprepared for our experience.
We had been down for approx 30 mins and were just at the turning point, 100 bar, when the Dugong appeared.
We saw him initially swimming overhead and the dive guide used a tank banger to attract his or her attention.
The next thing all hell broke loose, it came straight down to our position, started turning somersaults, trying to flick us with its tale, doing barrel rolls. It was the biggest friendliest animal you could ever meet.
It swam beside me and put its fin under my arm and started pulling me along.
I took quite a number of photographs, some didn't come out too good as I was trying to watch out for his huge tail which it kept using to flick us with. What I will say is be careful if you do come across one as he did try and surface me a couple of times.
We were so lucky to have this encounter with the Dugong and it made this trip special.

Happy hunting

Peter

[Jonathan Bird]

Fantastic story and a once in a lifetime experience!! Thanks for sharing the story and pics! Gives me something to look forward to someday experiencing myself!

Jonathan