WE WATCHED an overachieving hermit crab struggle across the sea floor, clearly regretting its rather large choice of shell. Here, 40ft below the surface of the Red Sea, surrounded by coral gardens and thousands of tropical fish, I felt like I was in an alternate universe.

Eschewing the standard lazy week in the sun my friends and I had come to Egypt in search of sub-aqua adventure. With the political volatility of earlier in the year leading to a large drop in tourism along its coastline there were plenty of bargains to be had.

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Taba Heights, the northernmost resort of the Red Sea Riviera, sits prettily between Mount Sinai and the Gulf of Aqaba with wonderful views across the mountains and cliffs of Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia from its three miles of sandy coastline.

The Hyatt Regency, built to resemble an ancient Egyptian village with colourful arches and towering ceilings, was peaceful and secluded with luscious, expansive gardens and five pools, including a seawater lagoon and one of Olympic dimensions.

We had an almost-deserted private beach on which to sprawl out, a spa and access to the Taba Heights championship golf course.

However, we were here to dive.

Our Padi open-water diver course was hosted by Red Sea Waterworld, a beachfront centre surrounded by palms just a short ride away on the free, open-sided Taf Taf bus. The course comprised five "confined water" dives in a roped-off area and four "open water" jaunts to around 60ft. The dives were broken up by mandatory "classroom study" including a written exam and five rather cheesy Padi videos.

Our instructor Andy was a Northerner with a dry wit and penchant for acting out scenes from the aforementioned videos. He was a firm believer in being in the water as much as possible, a welcome prospect with the temperature hovering around 40C.

By the afternoon of day one we had learned how to put our gear together and were ready to practise our skills in our first confined dive. Tanks on backs and masks and snorkels in hand we entered the inviting 27C water.

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Average visibility in the Red Sea is 80ft and it was all too easy to become distracted by its inhabitants. From removing and replacing all of our equipment to practising emergency ascents and using each other's alternate air sources, each dive involved learning and practising new skills.

Andy was fast to pick up on our strengths and weaknesses and made sure the skills we seemed least comfortable with were the ones we practised the most, which helped accelerate our learning.

Diving certainly works up an appetite. That evening we feasted at Lebanese restaurant Tanour at the Hyatt: mouthwatering lamb, beef and chicken mixed grills with freshly made hummus, Lebanese bread and creamy aubergine pulses.

The next morning it was back to the water and Andy was waiting with an excitable grin: today we were going to explore a shipwreck. This proved more of a rotting rowing boat than a majestic galleon but the marine life didn't mind.

The vessel teemed with tiny creatures that had set up home in its hull. Three scorpion fish and a school of longfin bannerfish seemed oblivious to our presence as we peered inside.
For our final dive we boarded Waterworld's resident boat the El Amira Asmaa and headed out to a reef 20 minutes south of Taba Heights. The coral garden here is just 30ft deep but offered some of the most colourful and lively sea life that we'd seen throughout our trip. I watched as an eel caught itself a hearty lunch; a masked butterfly fish.

AS WE came to the end of our dive we knelt on the bottom and completed our final set of skills surrounded by a school of curious angelfish. Satisfied that we were all capable Andy shook our hands underwater and gave us the "OK" sign for the final time. Ascending for the last time we let out a series of whooping noises as we broke the surface. Our achievement was marked with certificates.

Despite having spent five days surrounded by some of the world's most beautiful fish we had no hesitation in hunting out the best seafood for our final meal.

The Taf Taf took us "Uptown", home to award-winning Thai restaurant The Bird's Nest. Tucking into succulent prawn curries on the candlelit terrace we watched the Moon settle over the Red Sea, our first conquest as certified open-water divers.

GETTING THERE

Longwood Holidays (0844 770 4898/longwoodholidays.co.uk) offers seven nights at five-star Hyatt Regency Taba Heights (tabaheights.com) from £559pp (two sharing), half board. Price includes return flights from Gatwick to Taba and transfers. For October 2011 departures, Longwood Holidays can arrange a Padi open-water diver course at Waterworld Taba Heights from £235pp.
Egyptian State Tourist Office: 020 7493 5283/egypt.travel