Red Sea by Cristian

Red Sea, 1999
Author: Cristian

Diving adventures on the Red Sea (Part 1)

After months of research, preparation, emails, posts on the board, and making time for my vacations, I was on KLM'S flight from Guatemala in Central America to Amsterdam. After a couple of hours of stretching our legs at Schiphol Airport we took off to Cairo. Finally after almost 20 hours of flight plus 10 hours difference we arrived at Sharm el Sheik. A small Bedouin town, and military outpost at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula that has transformed itself into a world class diving and recreational area. Discovered by Israeli troops, while they occupied the territory in the late 60', this area is now a main destination for Europe's divers. Italians, French, English, Germans, and Spaniards are all catered by a huge fleet of boats and operators trying to lure them to the wonders of the RED SEA.

My diving buddy (my teenage daughter) and I stayed at the NOVOTEL Hotel at the beautiful beaches of Na'ama Bay. A four-star resort owned by the SOFITEL Corporation and operated with divers in mind. Our In House dive operator was Divers International. A well established operation with some 25 years experience and with operations at the towns of Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, and Dahab.

Other hotels in the area that we would recommend at this price range are the GHAZALA Hotel in combination with SINAI DIVERS. If you have a larger pocket you can stay at the Hilton FAYROUZ, the Swiss MOEVENPICK or the new American MARRIOTT. Other dive operators with good reputation would be SUBEX and CAMEL DIVERS. If you were on a shoestring Dahab would be a better destination. At Sharm there is not a vast selection of small hotels, hostels or campsites from where to choose. There are other Hotels not on the main beach strip with good prices. The ones we visited and would gladly stay on future visits are TROPICANA and ROSSETTA TIVOLI but if you want to combine diving or diving courses with cheap lodging, the best bet would be to sign up with the RED SEA DIVING COLLEGE. This operation runs with the support of SCUBA PRO and Divers International. If you take a course ej. (Advance Open Water) the lodging goes for $10.00 a night in a clean but Spartan, shared bath, rooms. OW, AOW, RESCUE courses go for about $ 175-250. Dive Master or Open Water Scuba Instructor is also available. They also have packages of ten dives with lodging included for $290.00 a week in their dormitory type accommodations.

The area we call SHARM EL SHEIKH is actually two towns. Sharm and Na'ama Bay are separated by only 3.5 miles (6 km). Sharm is still a town with traces from the time it was a military outpost and more Middle East atmosphere. It is here were most workers live and the budget lodging and places to eat are found. Na'ama Bay is the well-developed tourist trap. A beautiful bay with all the pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels and shopping centers necessary to accommodate the endless divers flying in from London, Rome, Frankfurt or Madrid at the top of the hour. (Very much like the Ixtapa-Zihuantanejo dichotomy in Mexico)

There are three diving protocols you can choose from. The first one is to stay at Na'ama Bay and take a day boat to the different dive sites in the morning and enjoy every night the amenities, restaurants and cultural exchanges the town has to offer. This will allow you 2 dives per day at a cost of $30.00 per dive (if you sign up for a full week of diving the cost can go down to about $21.50 per dive + gear if you need it). The further destinations have a surcharge of $5.00 per trip for Marine Park fees and you have the chance to take an optional 3rd dive per trip. Further destinations like Ras Mohammed Marine Park or The Straits of Tiran are full day trips leaving at 0800 hrs and getting back at 1700 hrs. Regular day boat dives leave at 1000 hrs and are back at 1600 hrs. The seas can get rough so most boats are 35' and over with cabin, huge sun decks, WC and a small galley. Some single screw, some doubles screw (no skiffs with outboard motors here) depending on where you are heading. All dive operators charge you $1.00 per day as a donation to the local Hyperbaric Chamber and during the surface intervals a crewmember acts as a chef and prepares for you a great lunch onboard for an extra $5.00 with all the Cokes, coffee and tea you desire included.

The second one is to take a live-aboard experience with the many boats available and dive the furthest and less crowded dive sites. Price range from $100-250 per person per day depending on how fancy the boat is, what is the destination chosen and if you have private Toilet/Showers, AC, etc. This will get you full board and room, unlimited diving (about 4-5 dives a day) and the chance to dive the best sites before the day boats arrive with the hordes of divers.

The third one is to sign up to a Desert Safari. You can do this either by Jeep or by Camel and trek through the desert, camping Bedouin style, and dive remote uninhabited shore sites during the day. Price range between $100-125 per person per day. This will get you all your camping gear, the chance of sleeping under the stars, 2 shore dives a day and full board.

Our diving vacation was planned sharing the day-boats and a 2-day live-aboard experience.

During the next days we will try to take you along on our journey. We hope you enjoy it.

Diving adventures on the Red Sea (Part 2)

The Henry de Montfried

Some hours later, after taking a nap and partially recovering from the jetlag, we paid a visit to Divers International Headquarters, a nice building with a lot of activity to be a dive shop. We were greeted with a big smile and the traditional "al salam aleokom" welcome.

After settling our financial obligations, showing our respective C-cards and Logbooks and signing the waiver forms we were given the last minute details for the boarding procedures of the Henry de Montfried. This event would take place next morning on the jetty (a very British way for describing the public pier) of Sharm el Sheikh.

The Henry de Montfried is a double mast Egyptian design sailboat, built in 1995 at one of the best shipyard of Alexandria. It has a length of 75 feet, a beam or 19 feet and a draft of 5 ft. Put into service last year as a sailboat reconfigured for diving purposes it can take 10 guests on what they call mini dive-safaris. For the next 2 days we would dive the best sites of Ras Mohammed Marine Park and if the weather was fair we would set sail to "Sha'ab Ali". A reef system better known for the wreck of the Thistlegorm. The ill fated British, WWII, cargo ship that is laying on the bottom of the Red Sea after a successful bombing from German planes. This wreck dive was considered a "jewel" among its class and would be the closest I could get to a "Truk-ish Lagoon" experience.

By now you have figured out this was no franchise boat but it was the only one I could find that would take us for a trip of less than one week. After traveling so far I was not eager just to dive,dive,dive and loose the opportunity of a cultural exchange with the people of desert. Besides the boat was named after an adventurous scoundrel, and being one myself (in a nice way), I felt at home after reading his story.

We finally boarded this beautiful wooden boat that would be our vessel for the next 2 days. The black hull made a sharp contrast with the clean wooden deck. The guest quarter were below, as well as one of the two marine toilets and showers the boat was equipped with. Most of the activity took place on the main cabin were the galley and big salon was. All the décor was simple but with good taste and a lots of woodwork. The pegged wooden wheel was on main deck creating a contrast with all the high tech gimmicks found at its side. This boat was equipped with most safety features to make it seaworthy but there was no radar, so there was no night travel.

Our boat captain was in his mid thirties shouting orders to a crew of 3. With their dark complexion you would just guess if this color was something from their Bedouin blood or if it was the result of endless days under the hot, dry and burning sun of the Sinai. We were already in the last days of March and I was expecting a terribly hot weather that didn't turned out to be. The weather was beautiful all week with temperatures of 70-75 degrees in the morning and high 60's in the night. The water temperature was a little chilly ranging from 65-73degrees. We wore a 3-6 mm hooded vest under our 3/2 full wetsuits and only for the end of the third or fourth dive of the day we felt a little cold.

We departed Sharm el Sheikh full sail on a southwest bearing. With the breeze on my face and the sound of rope and canvas it was effortless to drift away to a far away time. The colors of the desert with all the brown and yellow hues showing in the background mountains created a sandwich like filling to the deep blue of the water and the light blue of the sky. One hour after our departure we were approaching Ras Mohammed.

Ras is the Arabic word that describes a headland or peninsula and that is what we had in from of us. A huge piece of the desert stretching in to the water like a big finger. If you looked closely, the 200 ft. desert wall that plunges into the ocean was also outlining the profile of a bearded man…Prophet Mohammed.

Some minutes later our captain was ordering to lower sails and getting moored.

Naser our dive guide went into the detail of weight adjustments from previous dive destinations. The Red Sea contains more salt than most oceans and you become more buoyant for this reason. While he continued with the briefing, the crew was getting an outboard inflatable boat ready for service.

During our two-day live-aboard we did 7 dives. The following are the most memorable log entries besides the wreck of the Thistlegorm. Please accept my apologies for not writing them with more detail on the fish and coral life but my expertise on such matters are as good as my German. (Enough to buy me a beer and a Wurst)

FISHERMEN'S BANK 66' 50min A lot of expectation and after the buoyancy checks we were ready. What a shock! Visibility was all the way to the bottom (125ft), and there was marine life everywhere. The site is close enough to be a shore dive and the wall has a drop-off. I am impressed with the coral formations and there is life in every crack and crevice. We went into a couple of caves at 20 ft depth with literally thousands of Glassfish in them. There were so many that if you kept still for a moment your would feel being embraced by a living robe, completely surrounded by life. We were greeted at the entrance of the second cave by a blue-green spotted manta. This second cave had a channel swim through that descended to 50 ft. Fish were in such numbers I haven't seen in the Caribbean. Species like Lyretail Coral fish abound everywhere. Angelfish, like the Emperor or the Yellow band are easily spotted. Red Sea Banner fish and Blue cheek Butterfly fish are at the turn or your head. The sloping coral reef is very porous with lots of crevices and cracks. Yellow, white and purple soft corals bloom everywhere. To finish, some nice sand channels with the slopping reef on the side. Thanks to Doc V. and the persistent comments of my Swiss friend Pascal I am here. Even after travelling half way around the world it's worth it.

HMS DUNRAVEN 91' 52min This steamer cargo ship from last century deserves a chapter on its own. It lies since 1876 upside down on a sand patch with the propeller showing off. You can see a huge crack in the hull, right in the middle. Remains on what used to be the masts are scattered all over the sand patch. We penetrated just to be breathless at the amount of soft coral covering everything. Colors, colors and more colors. Thank god I always carry my light. The huge space of the inverted cargo area looks like a beautiful purple and white theater with an arched ceiling and a glimmering drape made by thousands of Lyretail golden fish moving like a single mind from one side to another. There is a fat grouper acting as an usher, waiting to take your entrance ticket and a spectacular LionFish swimming front stage like the opera diva. It is difficult to keep perspective since some structures are fully covered by coral and in an inverted position. We didn't penetrate into the bow section. Running out of time, we did a quick pass on the outside and finished against the reef.

ALTERNATIVES 43' 57m The boat moored for the night in a lagoon called the Alternatives. The moon was almost full and the visibility was great. Some sand channels, some outcrops and a nice mini wall. Time just passed by through the sparking eyes of some shrimp, and a great sight of a spotted Moray eel. A small octopus no more than 2 feet, kept me entertained with its camouflage capabilities for a while and suddenly I was introduced into what became the quest of this trip, Nudibranchs. I had never seen them and these colorful shell-less snails became the grail to look for at each dive. I was feeling good, really good for being at this land of contrasts.

Diving adventures on the Red Sea (Part 3)

Back in Time

The motor started and the revs were tested. We were slowly moving through the lagoon and the fringing reef before raising sails. It was really early morning and you could barely see the dim light of dawn. I thought to myself, our captain is interested in having breakfast over the Thistlegorm.

Half a century before a British Captain was probably thinking the same. He would have loved to have breakfast before reaching Suez. It was World War II and the Thistlegorm was fully loaded with all the army supplies destined for the troops stationed in North Africa. Due to the blockade done by the German Navy, the Mediterranean traffic had halted and everything had to be routed through South Africa. The Thistlegorm had been built with war bonds and she was paying the leverage back. She had finally reached the Red Sea and decided to spend the night on a reef called Sha'ab Ali. To her misfortune a long-range German bomber spotted her on the early morning of Oct. 6, 1941. Two direct hits were enough to fire up some of the ammo she had in her belly and down she went.

From the Lagoon at the Alternatives we traveled following a northwest heading and reached Sha'ab Ali a couple of hours later. The wind had picked up and the boat was moving more than I could endure so I was not in a great mood for having breakfast. Krista was not feeling very good either and the smell of food was not enjoyable. After a tea and some dramamine, the seasickness was more tolerable and our stomachs settle a little. Once on the site Naser got everyone ready for the briefing and preparation. We would do two dives at the Thistlegorm.

THISTLEGORM 1 93' 42 min

The wind was still high and I just wanted to get into the water and swim off my nausea. I was having acid reflux but couldn't tell if it was from the nausea or a little nervousness. Naser was expecting some currents so he was first in the water just to be sure were it was flowing. We were briefed to descend using the buoy line and to hold it to prevent any current misplacement of divers. The visibility was not the best at an estimated 50' so we were dropping into the unknown. It first started as a faint shadow and then a better profile until you could see her completely at 45ft. She was some 300+ feet in length and was resting on a leveled sand patch. The forward section intact and the just behind the tower the huge blast that totally destroyed the aft section leaving another part of the stern still intact. The deck was approximately at 65' and it was shocking to feel so close to a part of history. My previous wreck experiences had been purposely-sunk boats for recreational diving with no stories to be told. This was living history told through the silent images before me and with a stereophonic sound of my diving bubbles. We continued down to explore the debris on the sand patch and head towards the stern with the propeller. Suddenly there in the middle of the ocean laid a full size locomotive that fell from the deck after the boat capsized. Then the totally opened aft cargo area that looked more like an irregular opened flower than a boat. Twisted steel and wires were everywhere reminiscent of the tremendous power of explosives and you could see armored cars, trucks and motorcycles. We continued moving towards the stern to find at deck level an antiaircraft cannon in an area not touched by the devastating power of the explosion. The DUNRAVEN had been a great dive but with so many years having gone by you could not fell the tragedy and human struggle I felt diving this site.

THISTLEGORM 2 79' 46 min

The wind had decreased considerably and the seas were not choppy anymore. Our surface interval was spent taking the sun and talking about what we saw and what impressed us more. Everyone was hyper and anxious to get in the water again. Again we followed the same procedure of going down using the line but my eyes were gazing at details I had missed the previous dive. There were coral formations already building their structures after some 50 years, but the showstoppers were the army supplies that you could identify easily. Rooms you could get in and still feel the emergency that had taken place. Machine and equipment that told you that this had been an operational ship and not an artificial dive site. Time just went by so fast that I wondered how many more dives I would have done here if given the chance.

Our trek back to Sharm el Sheikh took some 3 hours before stopping at a site called Paradise. I don't know if I had blocked my head to any other stimuli after our previous dives, but Paradise didn't turned out to be one. It was a sloping wall with some chimney like coral formations at 60 ft. Some huge Gorgonians and after Krista spotted a light blue with black stripes Nudibranch some 5 inches in length I was done. My computer showed me a max depth of 78ft and I cut the dive short when we had spent 44 minutes. The water was cold at 65 degrees; I wanted a huge Rum and Coke, a nice hot shower and the possibility of sleeping at a larger bed then the bunk I had used the previous night.

Diving adventures on the Red Sea (Part 4)

The Day Boats and the Organized Chaos

Once back at the hotel I was already eager for soaking up all the details, schedules etc. of the day boats. We would spend the rest of the trip diving the sites of Na'ama Bay and Sharm El Sheikh, the reef systems of the Strait of Tiran and a second visit to Ras Mohammed Marine Park.

Hurghada, the main dive destination on the Egyptian coastline has had so much environmental trouble over the last two decades that Sharm el Sheikh has adopted a very tough construction code and some environmental policies. No high rise buildings allowed, and no piers allowed, no construction on the beach etc. With this in mind please close your eyes and imagine all the divers having to board their boats at one Pier at the same time. Bingo! Some Chaos in the picture isn't it?

Each Operator provides means of transportation to take you from their dive shops at the different Hotels, to the pier. Each has different schedules but all want to get to the best dive sites before everyone else. This is the type of hectic atmosphere you can feel as thick as a dry heat wave from the Sinai Desert. But don't get me wrong. Even in between all this apparent chaos there is a lot of camaraderie among Boat Captains and dive operators. Once one has departed, another takes his place, all done swiftly through a non-written agreement. Boarding sometimes may mean going through several boats, juggling your dive gear and having the chance of hearing a Bon Giorno, Gutten Morgen, Bon Jour or Buenos Dias on each deck.

We boarded the "Sinai I". A single screw, 50 feet, cabin boat with her hull painted in a bright marine red and her cabin in white. She was equipped with a small galley, a marine WC and had a nice sun deck. At the dive shop, before you board, you are given a plastic box with your name so you can place all your dive gear in. Once you get to the boat, your box is waiting for you and your gear stays in the boat all the days you are diving. There is a small hand shower you can use to rinse your gear and hangers are available in the boat for your wetsuit. If you want to thoroughly wash your gear you have to remove it from the boat and take it to the dive shop.

I would like to point out that, both during the live-aboard as well as the day boats, the briefing sessions were outstanding. Also for the day boats, experienced divers were given the liberty to dive their computers, deciding their profiles and maximize their bottom times. Returning from a live-aboard this freedom was well appreciated. You had the choice of being first or last in the water and during drift dives, buddy teams that ran out of air where sent to the surface allowing us longer bottom times. The dive masters gave us a lot of slack and you were not "herded" around. If this is European Diving I am definitely hooked to this kind of diving.

We joined the day diving group when coincidentally they were heading to the Strait of Tiran. The "Sinai I" could hold some twenty divers easily but we were only 12 diving that day and our Dive guide was Elena, a Russian immigrate that managed to speak a clear English and was a very relaxed instructor. We left the jetty of Na'ama Bay at 7:50 in the morning and an hour and a half later we were getting ready to moor at Gordon Reef. The reef system of the Strait of Tiran is composed of four reef formations, Gordon, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson. Situated between the island of Tiran on one side and the Sinai coast on the other this system is acting as a funnel between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. Strong currents, drop off walls into the abyss, high nutrients, pelagics…. You get the picture. Being a tricky marine passage the area is filled with Ship carcasses that didn't sink but remind everyone the presence of the reef and the mighty power of the ocean.

Gordon Reef 85' 58min

For this drift dive we were dropped near a sand patch with a gentle sloping wall. There was an almost non-existent current and the coral outcrops had some sand channels that only helped highlight their beauty. Suddenly from nowhere we were wrapped up by a school of Lunar Fusiliers running along in the same direction. Here and there you could see some strange coral formations that turned out to be 52-gallon drums encrusted with coral. These were spoils from the wreck of the "Lolita" that was stuck in the reef on top, slowly decaying and rotting. During the dive briefing divers with experience were given the liberty, if your air supply would last, to reach the apex of the reef and continue diving on the other side. If we followed an almost vertical wall that dropped into the blue and reached the apex we were in for a real ride in the current going the other direction. With lots of air still we headed towards the apex until we started huffing and puffing. The Jeffrey's, a British couple with more experience than us and several visits to Tiran where the other buddy team still heading this way after a battle with the current. The rest of the group was running out of air or demised in the attempt. You had to fin continuously but not in a frantic way. You would be better off doing a steady, firm, short stroke and staying close to the reef wall. Once we reached the apex we were in for some high quality drift diving action. The current felt at least two times as fast as Cozumel and all you could do was watching the picture unfold in fast forward. The four of us explored an area rarely visited by the bulk of divers and the life activity was marvelous. We hang out on our safety stop drifting close to the reef wall and near to a group of 12 or 15 Jacks about 2 feet in size. Once in the surface we deployed a surface marker and a small blow of our dive-alert for a prompt recovery from the boat.

Jackson Reef 76' 52min

Our second dive in Tiran would be Jackson. Also a drift dive but the drop point would be a vertical wall into the blue. The current was moderated and we would do a multilevel profile along the wall. This dive would be very easy, slow and rewarding. The reef was one or two feet under water and the wall dropped into unknown depth. The wall was covered with white, yellow and purple soft corals and we glided by an endless garden of fire coral. At 70ft we encountered some of the largest Gorgonias I have seen in my life. At some 8-9ft in diameter they were big. Looking into the blue a group of 10-12 Barracuda just staying still against the current waiting for some signal to move on. It was also nice to see some Two Band anemone fish in this almost vertical wall. The anemone hanging like a flowerpot and the ever-faithful fish dancing around. One of the things that I came to realize after this dive is that there are almost no sponges in the Red Sea. This came into my mind after encountering one with a small 2 inch black Nudibranch with yellow, white and orange marks.

Thomas Reef 59' 46min

Thomas turned out to be a difficult dive. The currents were strong, the conditions had changed, the seas were choppy, and my mask was leaking. Elena miscalculated the current at the drop point on this drift dive and we had to swim against a very strong current for a while. This turned out to be terribly air consuming and the fact that I was clearing constantly my mask contributed to a poor yield of the tank. The wall had lots of juvenile fish and life was abundant. Going by an overhang, Glassfish were in huge number. The ever-present gold Lyretail Coral Fish were peeking from every coral head. The most memorable moments where a free swimming LionFish, showing off all its beautiful fins and another high velocity drift dive during the first minutes after beating the current in the drop zone.

All of Tiran will probably stay in my mind as some of the memorable walls and drift dives I have done so far. Slowly we headed back to Na'ama Bay getting there half past five. The sun was setting and it became one of those moments you just wanted to enjoy being alive. Moments I am sure all of us have felt when we head back after diving with a glow in our face and the non divers wondering what's that silly grin we have. Moments when you look at your buddy and without a word everything is said, specially if that diving buddy is your daughter.

Diving adventures on the Red Sea (part 5 and Final)

Other Memorable dives and some nightlife.

The week finished off diving sites along the shores from the south parts of Sharm el Sheikh to the northern parts of Na'ama Bay. I am sure that if our scheduling of these sites had been during the beginning of the week I would have been impressed with them. Sorry…but after Ras Mohammed Park, The Tiran Strait and places like the Alternatives; they fell short of life and didn't impress me. We did sites with names like Ras Bob, Ras Um Sid, Tower, White Knights, Near, Middle and Far Gardens. All with good coral and fish life but not as good a the previous ones we had done, and not worth travelling half around the world.

We did two more dives during the week that still fell in the category of requiring a special mention. A second visit to Ras Mohammed and one small site between Sharm el Sheikh and Na'ama Bay called Temple.

The Triple (Anemone City, Shark Reef, Yolanda Reef) 82' 63min

This dive was basically a drift dive with some navigation involved. We were dropped near a wall called Anemone City, a wall with few colors and more dead coral but with the attraction of hundreds of Anemones hanging in the wall with its respective Anemone Fish. After a very short stay we headed 120 degrees in our compass swimming into the blue. We crossed a channel from the wall of Anemone City and headed into a place called Shark Reef. This would require swimming in a gorge of unknown depth and literally diving in the blue for 3-4 minutes. This is one of the best sensations you can imagine. No point of reference, no perspective of depth, current, etc. It's like flying by instruments. You have to trust your instruments and not your perception. We could see in the distance the fins of the group guided by Elena when you see them engulfed by a huge school of Jacks. In seconds we were also swimming in their same direction and so close I could feel I could reach and touch them. You had to focus on your heading since you had so many fish to look and enjoy that you could easily change your course. In the distance you started to see a shadowy figure that slowly remind us that we had crossed the gorge and that we had reached Shark Reef. Shark Reef was a Bommie like formation of several thousand square feet. We approached it from the gorge were it formed a vertical wall. We had to swim against the current for a moment until we reached the apex and then a smooth drift dive on the other side of the reef. At this side the wall was sloping gently and the beauty of the yellow, white and purples soft corals amazed you. We came across a huge 15 ft across coral formation called table coral. Beautiful Clown trigger Fish, a group of maybe 20 unicorn fish were swimming on the upper parts of the reef. Our drift would take us to another reef called Yolanda. Also a Bommie like coral formation but this time we just had to cross a sand channel were you could see clearly the bottom and the reef was always visible. Here we came across the largest school of barracuda I have yet seen in my life. Without being over optimistic I estimate they were somewhere between 80 to 100 fish of 3-5ft in length. They were cruising along with their attitude faces but with no particular concern towards us. Yolanda reef had a similar topography than Shark reef but beside to the fact of maybe the best coral and fish life of all Ras Mohammed it has the spoils from the Cargo Ship called Yolanda. The Yolanda is no longer visible since it fell into a wall at some 200 mts. Its cargo, hundreds of toilet bowls, is clearly visible all over the place. This triple dive was a mixed bag of emotions, excitement and beauty that I would do again with pleasure.

Temple 61' 72min

This turned out to be a great dive site. After Ras Mohammed and Tiran it was, but natural, to feel a little disappointment at the other local dive sites. As I have said earlier if our scheduling would have been the other way around I'm sure I would have felt good about all the dive sites. Temple is a group of three coral formations with a maximum depth of 60 ft. They have pyramidal shapes that is why they got this name and one of them reaches all the way to 2-3 feet under water. You can explore each formation circling them several times at different depths and the sand patches beside them have an eel garden and a good amount of blue spotted rays. Between the pinnacles there are a couple of swim throughs that are fully covered with soft corals. This diving was very easy and relaxed and our tanks yielded more than the hour. Just in this site we spotted a huge stone fish, 4 lionfish, 3 spotted rays and what turned out to be the largest fish we encountered in the trip; A huge Napoleon Wrasse of 5-6 ft and 300 lbs easily.

Near Garden (night dive) 52' 47min One of the worst dives in my life. We didn't have a night dive but a flash dive. There were more than 60 divers doing the same site at the same time. 4-5 boats had moored on the same place and I was really having trouble following our group. There were so many divers doing this that you saw more divers than fish. The only one thing that did save this dive was the encounter in the last minutes with a beautiful Red Spanish Dancer about 12 inches in length. I took some really good close up pictures of this nudibrach but I couldn't get him to swim and I didn't want to touch or interfere with nature.

NIGHTLIFE AND TOP SIDE

Our diving took most of the day, with the boats leaving at the latest at 10:00 am and coming back at 3:00pm . On average the boats left at 9:00 and came back at 4:00pm and for the days to the furthest destinations they left at 8:00 and came back at 5:00pm. Take note that if you are travelling with a non-diving spouse or friend you will only have time for an early breakfast and come back to have dinner with them. There are a lot of activities for the non-divers at the main beach of Na'ama bay, parasailing, windsurfing, water skiing etc, but they will have to do it on their own. The beach has a horseshoe shape and has about 3 miles. The Main hotels have direct access to the beach but there is a 10ft wide Promenade where you can walk from one extreme of the bay to the other. It is along this promenade that most restaurants and bars are and were you can spend hours gazing at people and just guessing their nationality. Take note that most restaurants and bars are part of a hotel. There are almost no independent restaurants and bars except in a strip in the back of the promenade and in the southern most part of the bay.

Italian restaurants are everywhere but you also have choices of some French, Fish, Arab, and Chinese. If you can't live without a McDonald's, a KFC or Pizza Hut there is one of each. You will encounter a good amount of ice cream parlors and take note that drinks are the single most expensive thing you will buy. The smartest way of taking a drink is going to the duty free shop (yes there is one for tourists) buy your favorite bottle, take it to the fridge in your room, buy some Cokes and take your cocktails before walking to the restaurant of your choice that night. Egyptian beer was ok for my standards (I mostly drink rum) but Englishmen said it was awful. Most Hotels offer some ethnic night with Egyptian Dances and a cultural shows so you won't find trouble finding one. If your taste buds are adventurous go to Tam Tam Café and try the Lentil soup, Sambousek (fried pasties with meat), Tahina (sesame seed dip), Hommos (Chickpea dip), Falafel (deep fried bean patties on a pita bread), Grape leaves with minced meat or the more common Shish kabab or Shish Tawouk.

My teenage daughter was invited to Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood and to another club called the Bus Stop. What she came back impressed is the fact that they really enjoyed Latino and Caribbean Music and that most of the disc jockeys were Italian. Attendees were mostly European crowds and the Arabs found where more westerner like and less chauvinistic then the ones found in the street.

If there are days you will skip diving or need to take a break there are a couple of things you can do with your time. Most hotels can arrange several tours like the visit to Mount Moses and Saint Catherine's Orthodox Convent. You can have the choice of climbing the mountain or just visiting the Convent. The first option will cost you $50.00 p/p and you have to leave at 11:00 pm the day before, see the sunrise at the top of the mountain and then walk down to the convent. If you just want to sightsee the convent it will cost you $35.00 p/p. and about 2 hours each way plus lunch. Tours to the relaxed and hippie like sea town of Dahab will take 1 hour and cost you about $20.00. If you would like to ride a Camel it will cost you $15.00 and hour. If you like motorcycles, quadrunners with a guide into the desert run for $35.00 an hour but you can always negotiate the prices.

We did the Saint Catherine's Tour and we ventured into the desert riding the quadrunners for 3 hours. Both activities were very well organized and turned out to be also highlights of the trip.

After traveling so far be sure to take at least a couple of days in Cairo to tour the Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum, the great Mosques and the wonderful Bazaar of El Khalil. Without these tours my diving experience would have been also a little shallow and vain.

DO'S AND DON'TS

Do -Plan in advance since you can get great prices. -Get in touch with British travel agencies since they have weekly charter flights from Heathrow both to Sharm and Hurgada. (if I get the chance of visiting the Sudan border it will be arranged travelling via Heathrow) If you speak Italian there are 4 direct flights from Rome to Sharm a week. -Plan a visit before 2004. I estimated that they were constructing some 20% more hotel units this season alone. At this rate there will be 100% increase in visitors in the next 5 years and the place will be totally ruined. -Expect long surface intervals in the diving boats -Expect large groups in the summer on each boat

Don't - Don't plan a visit in the summer months of June, July, August even if the water is warm. There will be more divers than fish and at least I hate that. Best times of the year are March April, Sept. October. -Don't take a non diving company if they have difficulty having a good time by themselves. -If you are a woman travelling alone don't venture into the small towns and you are better off staying at better quality hotel. -Don't travel so far without a visit to Cairo and if you like antiquities visit Luxor (a must)

If anybody need any specific information feel free to email me and I will gladly help in anyway I can. We hope you enjoyed our posts and… until our next diving adventure.

El Buzo