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The Red Sea in Egypt for Scuba Diving
For many Europeans, traveling to the Red Sea for scuba diving is
like many North Americans going to the Caribbean. For a scuba
diver based in North America or anywhere else outside of Europe
or Africa, a journey to the Red Sea is considered one of the
more exotic scuba diving trips. Like other overseas travel,
getting to the final destination is the hardest thing. The Red
Sea can be dived from ports in both Egypt and Israel but most
international scuba divers do so from the Egyptian side. There
are two major scuba diving areas in Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh and
Hurghada. Sharm El Sheikh at the northern part of the Red Sea is
the more established center having been a popular vacation
resort area as both Egyptians and Europeans have been
vacationing here for many years. The local scuba dive industry
grew along with the overall steady growth of classy resorts,
shops and other tourist services in Sharm El Sheikh. Hurghada,
once just a sleepy fishing village along the west side of the
Red Sea, is starting to grow as scuba divers discover this
alternative to Sharm El Sheikh.
More than likely, travelers going to either Sharm El Sheikh or
Hurghada will have to fly to Cairo before connecting with Egypt
Air or taking a bus to their final destination. Many scuba
divers turn their Red Sea diving trip into a major extended
holiday in order to both dive and see the many wonderful ancient
Egyptian sites such as the pyramids. There are many things to
see and do in Egypt in addition to the ancient ruins including
museums, markets and Nile river cruises. So it is highly
recommended to do some research and plan accordingly for any
trip to Egypt as one would not want to run into the situation
where not enough time was allocated to see everything one wants
to see there in addition to scuba diving.
Many of the scuba operators in Sharm El Sheikh are affiliated or
close by to a hotel resort. Most of the dive shops are actually
owned and staffed by Europeans working in Egypt. This is similar
to the situation in the Caribbean where many of the scuba
operators there are American owned. The Red Sea has a higher
salt content than Caribbean waters so it is recommended to add 4
to 5 more pounds to the amount of weight divers usually use.
Like most European diving, the scuba community here in Egypt
uses the metric system so weights will be in kilos while air
pressure will be in bars. Most dive computers should be able to
display both metric and
imperial systems.
Many scuba operators in Sharm El Sheikh use a very interesting
system for scuba tanks. Rather than using their own tanks, their
dive boats go to a common central barge anchored in the harbor.
This is where all the scuba tanks are supplied from and the dive
boats collect the number of tanks they need for day's dive
trips. At the end of the trips, used tanks are dropped off at
the same barge before heading back to port.
The majority of the dives in the Red Sea are semi drift dives
where the dive boats drop off divers at the dive sites and then
pick them up afterwards. One very different aspect of the Red
Sea compared to other dive destinations in the world is that the
coral reefs here can extend up to very shallow depths. As a
result, the standard safety stops at 15 feet are done drifting
among many of these sloping reefs along with the accompanying
marine life. Therefore, these are some of the most scenic safety
stops scuba divers will ever do. This is certainly different
from the usual bland safety stop in the Caribbean. One thing to
note is that the maximum allowable depth for recreational scuba
divers in Egypt is 30 meters which is about 90 feet.
As expected, the marine life in the Red Sea is spectacular.
There are many species of fish, crustaceans and marine plant
life here that are not found in the Caribbean. In fact, many of
them are indigenous to the Red Sea only. While lionfish can be
extremely rare sightings elsewhere, they are quite abundant in
the Red Sea which is a real treat for scuba divers. It is also
not unusual to jump in the water to be among a large school of
tuna or other fish. Many night divers will see coral reefs here
to be more spectacular than in the Caribbean.
For many scuba divers, the Red Sea is one of those 'must dive at
least once in a lifetime' destinations. It is a very unique
place to dive especially with the desert background visible from
the dive boats. The excellent diving with the many awesome
sights of Egypt make the Red Sea a dream dive trip for any scuba
diver.
About the author:
Clint Leung is a NAUI certified Master and Rescue Scuba Diver.
He is also owner of Free Spirit Activewear
(http://www.FreeSpiritActivewear.com) , an online
retailer/designer specializing in premium quality scuba diving
activewear. Free Spirit Activewear has numerous information
resource articles on scuba diving as well as free eCards.
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