Dive Sites - Hurgarda, Egypt

Hurghada, The Red Sea

Hurgarda Egypt

"Red Sea. Where's that?"many people asked when I blabbed on over enthusiastically about my forthcoming jaunt. Well, I have to admit that until I ventured into this diving lark I might have had a job pinning it exactly on a map. The Red Sea rift was formed 35 million years ago when Arabia split away from Africa. Warm waters flowing from the Indian Ocean in the south travel north until they meet the Sinai Peninsula. Here the waters divide into the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aquaba. Forming a Mecca for European divers, it is an oasis of sea-life that I can never do justice too in this article, but I'll try! Arranged through a local dive-shop in Cheltenham, long-suffering girlfriend and I were two of a party of 13 that headed off on a cold damp late February morning to Hurghada, Egypt. This is one of the three main dive centres in the Northern Red Sea, the others being Sharm-El-Sheikh in the Sinai and Eliat in Israel. A five hour flight from Gatwick and a 10 minute coach transfer brought us to our Hotel. The 400 room 4-Star Grand Hotel was to be the centre of our six days of diving in the legendary Red Sea. Arranged through Hayes and Jarvis and Diving World, Hurghada, our hardboat was an ex-live-aboard called King. As punters expectations rise, the standard of live-aboards gets better and the older boats get relegated to day-boating. Ours was such a boat but was ample for our party. Just enough room for kitting up although a bit of a queue when we finned & masked up before plunging in. Mark, our English dive-guide and the local crew looked after us through the week.		The Red Sea at dusk. Some people say that the name comes from the light of the setting sun reflecting off the red mountains along its shore and onto the surface of the water
The first day is the "get your fins wet again" day. This is for you to check out your kit and buoyancy with two easy 10-12m shallow reef dives. And yes, they did collect in your dive certificates. In fact they held on to them for the week in case the reef-police paid a random visit whilst we were out on a dive. Those of you who know me will have already heard me relate the incident on the first days diving. Every diver eventually gets caught up in his first diving incident and I suppose that's why we train for it. But, that day it was to be my turn. Don't wish to overshadow what was a great week so I'll keep that yarn for another time. Each day followed much the same routine. Up for brekkie at eight. Collected by mini-van and on the boat and off to sea by nine. Prep-up kit then flop out on the deck for a tan whilst trying to remember what day it is back home. By ten'ish we would arrive at the first dive site. If Mark had guessed it right, we'd be the first and hopefully the only boat at the site. The local "reef-patrol" has put buoys on the reefs for the boats to moor off. This saves the reef from crashing anchors and gives some references for the dive too.		Abu Ramada North The reef rises to the surface. The picture does not do justice to the prolific sealife that hugs the reef below the surface. A current sweeps around this point which makes it an excellent drift dive.
Mark would launch into his dive-brief, which were always comprehensive with an outline map of the reef with currents and visual references marked up. Our party had a mixture of BSAC, SAA and PADI divers of varying abilities and the week saw our party evolve into two distinct dive-groups. As all the PADI divers (bar myself, just lazy!) were doing a range of dive courses, the BSAC and SAA gang bimbled off with the dive-guide whilst the PADI bunch planned their dives around their course skills. Two of the PADI bunch had completed their Open Water classroom theory & pool-work in the UK and took their four open water dives out in the Red Sea. They then caught up with the Advanced Open water were five specialist dives gets you up the next notch on the PADI system. Not a bad approach, but remember, you're only qualified for conditions similar or better than you were trained for. So returning to the UK and heading for Scapa isn't on! As for the diving. In waters of 20c at 30m and viz averaging 12-15m there was everything a diver could possibly want with prolific coral and sea-life. I can give you but a taster. Reefs. Big ones, small ones, colourful ones, hard-corals, soft-corals. Dense gardens of colourful coral abound. A torch is a must to see the true colours. Very impressive but once you notice the sea-life you get distracted!		Napoleon Wrasse: A very large but very tame Napeleon Wrasse that followed us around on our bimbles.
Hurghada: Dive-sites around the Gifton Islands
Gifton dive sites: Dive sites abound to the north and south of Hurghada centred around the Gifton Islands. We dived many of dive-sites during our week long visit. Click on the diveflags for more information. (Coming soon)
It would be easier to tell you what we didn't see (dolphins and sharks actually). Barracuda and a moray were top of my 'must-see' list and I ticked them off in the first dive! There are more fish than you can ever remember the names off. Girlfriend had insisted on buying a plastic fish-identification card in the UK to take with her. I'd thought it was a bit naff. Last laugh was on me as everyone had one and after a few dives I was "just having a quick look" after each dive to try and keep up with the post dive chatter. On several dives we had large and quite tame Napoleon wrasse following us around on our bimbles. My favorite of the week was a small yellow fish with what appeared at first glance to be a 15" whisker hanging from the right side of its mouth - it was a hook with fishing line! The poor little fella seemed oblivious to the hook and catgut hanging from his mouth. Definitely the one that got away!		Top-tips:Currency: 5 Egyptian pounds to One pound Sterling. Government set exchange rate so standard rate quoted everywhere. Locals prefer Sterling or US dollars. Some shops quote prices US dollars only. Tipping: Advice is to 'tip little and often'. One or multiples of Egyptian pounds at 20p Sterling are typical. Keep a wedge of pound notes for this and the mini-vans. Travelling around Hurghada: Mini-vans which can hold about 12-15 constantly drive up and down the main drag. They'll spot you before you hear them. One Egyptian pound takes you anywhere in Hurghada. Airport Trolleys:They charge you a pound for use of a trolley, they'll chance their arm when you arrive a try and get a Sterling pound off you. The diver loading your case from the kerb into the hold will also try it on. Tipping is a way of life here, you'll get use to it! Tap-water: Don't touch the stuff, not even to brush your teeth. Hotel encouraged you to buy in water from the local shop across the road (The same family probably own the shop!) Five Egyptian for a pack of 1ltr bottles. Make sure the plastic caps are sealed. Beer: Local Stella works out at about S£2.20 a bottle and Imported Stella at about S£3.00 in Hotels. Local restaurants and bars are cheaper. Duty-free Shop:You're allowed one visit on your trip to the local duty-free shop in the resort for cheap beer and fags. Didn't go myself (Shock!). Be prepared to be amused at the authorisation process, three separate queues to get your passport stamped and pay for your swag. Visas. Can get it advance from Egyptian Embassy in London by sending form, passport and £10. Or, you can pay on arrival with a crisp tenner. [The Government waived the £10 fee from Dec 97 to Feb 98 to encourage tourism after Luxor. We got free but not sure what the score is now] Security: After Luxor, security is very tight. Armed Egyptian conscripts with AK-47s man all the roads into town. Discrete security guards are posted on all entrances to Hotels. Jabs: Nothing mandatory. Food: I was half-board in the Hotel which had excellent nosh, so didn't venture out and about to taste the local cuisine.
A night dive is as experience never forgotten. A Swedish girl I buddy'ed with in Cyprus last year told me that a night dive was better than sex. I'm still not decided on that one! But the anticipation, plunging into darkness with your vision focused on the narrow beams of light from your torches is an experience you need to try for yourself. A Lionfish took a real fancy to me on my dive and followed me around just two-feet below my legs which were rather exposed in my shortie to his very nasty spines. The little git was actually waiting for a smaller fish to be startled in the beam of my torch and provide him with his supper. He went hungry, but not for my lack of trying!



Hurghada temperatures: In the winter months a full 3mm suit is probably best, maybe evan a 5mm if you feel the cold. During the Summer months a 3mm shortie is adequate. No need for hoods. Gloves are usually banned to discourage you from touching the coral, thou okay to wear for wreck dives.
The weather was rather choppy (in Red Sea terms) in late February. March or April time is maybe a better time to go before it starts to get really hot. Our last day had been planned as our visit to two of the top wreck dives in the Northern Red Sea. The Giannis D and the Carnatic lie with five other wrecks on Shab Abu Nuhas. Incidentally, the other famous Red Sea wreck is the Thistlegorm. This was a British supply ship sunk in WWII and discovered by Jacques Cousteau in 30m of water. The weather was up and the sea was quite choppy that morning. No one in our group had the stomach for a four-hour trip to the dive sites, so we settled for two small wrecks in Hurghada harbour with the promise of a return to port by lunchtime. The two wrecks we did were quite different. Going down the shot line in viz of only 10m's, the seascape opened up as we hit about 15m and there she lay, a Russian built mine-sweeper sold to the Egyptians (probably for a pound!) which was sunk by an Israeli jet during the Six day war in the 70's. About sixty metres in length, she sits in 30m on her port side. Even with time, not much coral has taken hold, probably due to pollution from the harbour about 500m away. The blast in the bow was clearly visible which was a haven for sea-life. Shining the old torch into doorways revealed dark passageways best left unexplored. The second wreck had a less glamorous history. A dive-boat that caught fire and sank in 1995 after a chip-pan blaze in the galley according to our dive-guide. In 22m and teaming with glass-fish inside the hull, an excellent dive. The crate with five empty cola-cola bottles sitting on the deck was a nice touch. Probably placed there by wreckers who stripped the wreck of all the good pruck, but did provide a useful service as they removed doors and windows to stop the inexperienced adventurer getting trapped. No self-respecting diver on holiday comes home without T-Shirt and video. Our dive-guide arranged for Remo, a local with a video camera to come out with us for one days diving on the reefs. Turned out to be well worth the £15. It was well edited with a good soundtrack and you'd nearly think we knew what we were doing!