by Clint Leung
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.
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 and designer
specializing in premium quality activewear with specialty sports themes
including scuba diving, skiing, snowboarding and martial arts. Free
Spirit Activewear has numerous information resource articles on
selected specialty sports as well as free eCards.
