We left Pataya Beach using a speedboat to get out into the Tiran Straits,and find this old wreck.Lara as she was later named was originally called the Nopal when launched in 1956.Strangely,the freighter ran aground on it`s first venture up the Gulf in december 1981 and had little fuel on board so many suspected it was done for insurance purposes.

Originally called Antonia in 1956,in 1978 she was renamed Loullia.She ran aground september 1981 and all crew were safely removed within four days.The ship is not diveable and there is a lifeboat from her sitting upright nearby.

She weighed in at 3461 tonnes

Sadly she is decaying at a fair old rate of knots as they say.

I shot this back in 2005 on an old Kodak but you can see there was a lot more of her back then.

After seeing the wrecks,we land on the Saudi owned island of Tiran.

It takes on an almost lunar like appearance at times.

A multinational force sits high up on top keeping watch on things.

The colour of the sea is wonderful

Moon-like terrain

I would love to go snorkel over there

We had perfect temperature when we visited..about 78 degrees

Lagoon

Pano

Looking over towards Sharm El Sheikh

North view

Shall I go snorkelling?..ok then!

Now we are in the Mangroves,a park that is about 10km north of Sharm.There are no facilities whatsoever here!!

Some folk spend the night here building a fire for a barbeque

Look how far out the see goes right out to the reef.

SS Marie Schroder lies on the reef

Look at how the rocks have all fused together

I calculated,the ship is about 500m away from the shore

More colourful rocks