Red Sea 2010 Trip Report

[jasondbaker]

(Part 1)

I first decided to dive the Red Sea in late Spring 2010 when I was invited to visit Cairo by a co-worker.  He was born in Cairo and returning for a month to attend two family weddings.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit Egypt and get a personal tour by a native.  At the same time I wanted to work my annual dive trip into my vacation schedule.  I'm a big fan of liveaboards and feel they provide the most bang for your buck.  So I started researching liveaboard operators in the Red Sea.  I was in for a big surprise.

The Red Sea, part of the Indian Ocean, may have more liveaboard boats than anywhere in the world.  Think Cozumel but instead of a hundred 6-pack operators you see a hundred liveaboards. It's a bit overwhelming trying to compare the different liveaboard boats and itineraries.  This is the #1 tropical dive destination for European divers because of the geographic proximity -- hence the large number of dive companies.  The liveaboard company I used operates nine boats in the region ().

The first choice you have to make when looking at Red Sea liveaboards is what kind of diving do you want to do?  You basically have two choices: shipwrecks or reefs.  If you want shipwrecks you dive in the northern Red Sea -- and for reefs the south.  Once I decided on shipwrecks I focused on liveaboards operating during a two-week period in early August. Some of the liveaboard operators let you book a ticket through the operator's website for select trips.  In many cases the operator has already sold the bookings to a tour company or shop.  I was referred to Aquatours, a dive tour company based out of the UK.  They helped me arrange booking on the Crown Snefro liveaboard for seven days. Many of the northern dive boats leave from the port in Sharm el-Sheikh -- a resort city that caters specifically to divers. 

I was traveling solo on this trip so I made my own travel arrangements.  When I am diving on liveaboards I try to arrive at the departure port at least one day early to mitigate problems like missed flight connections or missing luggage.  In terms of luggage this trip was interesting because I brought all my dive gear and dslr camera equipment with me.  I was also traveling through Egypt and Europe for another 8 days after the liveaboard trip. The new luggage restrictions made traveling with all this equipment quite a challenge. I actually bought two new pieces of luggage designed by Think Photo specifically to carry my camera equipment.  And this luggage allowed me to carry on all my camera gear during most legs of the trip.  I got busted for the carry-on weight once (reminder to self: don't fly Czech Airlines).

I flew from Minneapolis to New York to Cairo on Delta. The NYC to Cairo leg took about 10 hours.  Then I grabbed a short Egypt Air domestic flight from Cairo to my ultimate destination -- Sharm el-Sheikh.  I arrived around 10PM local time. Sharm el-Sheikh is located on the southern side of the Sinai Peninsula -- technically part of the Asian continent. Total travel time was over 24 hours.  I checked into the El Faraana Reef resort (all inclusive) for one night.  I spent the next day checking out the resort and surrounding area. Did I mention how hot Egypt is in August?  I can't mention the explicative I would use before the word hot. Around 5pm I was picked up and driven to the port where I was escorted to the King Snefro Crown liveaboard.  The port was insane.  Hundreds of dive boat workers running around carrying equipment and large carts loaded with tanks.  Total chaos.

[jasondbaker]

(Part 2)

Couple quick notes about Egypt. It is one of the most exotic places I have ever visited.  It's probably the first place where I truly felt like a foreigner. The sights, smells, language, and culture are a vast departure from Minnesota and the US.  And like any foreign land there are both written and unwritten rules.  Your challenge is to figure out those unwritten rules so that you can navigate through the culture.  I was there during Ramadan which was incredibly exciting.  You don't hear much about this religious holiday in the US but it has a profound impact on daily life in the Egyptian culture.  Finally, the driving in Egypt is too crazy to describe.  Every vehicle in Cairo is completely dented and scratched up.  It's literally like bumper cars. Some people have two vehicles -- a beat up car for city driving and a nice car for special events and showing off.

The Snefro Crown is a sizable liveaboard measuring a little over 100ft with 9 guest berths (1 suite, 8 doubles) and three decks. It is a thoroughly modern boat with the normal amount of wear you find on a liveaboard. The cabins were a decent size for two people and included a private head/shower.  The boat carries a maximum 18 passengers and 9 crew. I was shocked when I learned that they only had 4 booked passengers on this trip.  We had 2 crew members for every diver!  Typically they only sail with a minimum of 6 divers but I guess the recession forced them to make the trip.  They would probably lose less money running the vessel for a week with only 4 divers versus sitting in port.  I couldn't really complain because it meant that I had the entire cabin to myself for the week.

The vast majority of divers on this liveaboard are European and this trip was no exception.  Besides myself there was a German couple and a young gal from England.  All were competant divers. We had one dive guide on the trip.  English was the predominant language spoken during dive briefings.

After arriving I setup my dive gear and spent a couple hours putting together my dslr camera rig.  I used a 12L aluminum tank with 32% nitrox for the week.  Nitrox was included in the price and I had no problems getting 3000psi fills all week.  The dive guide used metric for all the dive briefings so I had to mentally translate meters to feet and psi to bars. The dive deck featured a small camera rinse tank but no dedicated camera table. I kept my camera equipment in my cabin or secured in a plastic crate on the dive deck all week. No problems.

We spent a night on the boat getting acquainted with our new home and then headed out of the port to a nearby reef for our checkout dive the next morning.  I geared up and took my camera housing (sans camera) into the water.  This was one of the few dives that we made directly from the boat (which I'll explain in a bit).  Now let's talk about the diving.  The checkout dive was made on a reef that's very close to Sharm and which is frequented by day boats so I wasn't expecting much.  But I was immediately impressed by the diversity and amount of marine life on this "over dived" reef.  The health of the hard and soft corals was better than most sites I've visited in the Caribbean. And the large schools of fish constantly surprised me during the week.  I've only visited a handful of dive spots in the Caribbean which measured up to this level of diversity.  We didn't see any big animals during the week but then again this part of the Red Sea is not known for big stuff.

The dive guide was in the water with us on every dive.  And even though we had buddy teams pretty much everyone dived together as a group.  The diving was very different than the liveaboards I've done in the Caribbean.  And the reasons for this quickly became obvious on subsequent dives.  Most of the diving during the week was done from a small zodiac, in sizable seas and in steady currents.  Our dive itinerary featured mostly shipwrecks that went down in unprotected areas of the reef. Generally we would fully gear up on the liveaboard and then climb into the zodiac for a 5-10 minute trip out to the wreck site.  The wrecks didn't have any markers or mooring buoys (except for one wreck).  The zodiac driver just knew from experience where the wreck was located. Once we were over the wreck everyone did a back roll into the water and immediately descended.  Oftentimes the dive guide went in first just to make sure we were actually over the wreck (which wasn't the case a few times). 

The wrecks were usually located along the reef wall starting at 80-90 ft and rising to 20-40ft.  So when you entered the water you could usually see the outline of the wreck below. Water temp hovered between 81-84F during the week and I was comfortable in a full 3/2mil suit.  Surface temperature was 95-105F. Hot hot hot! August is the warmest month for diving in the Red Sea and during other months of the year divers are generally wearing 5-7mil suits -- dry suits are common in the winter due to chilling surface winds. Visibility ranged from 50-100ft -- with less visibility in the higher current areas.

The dive guide would shoot up a SMB at the end of the dive and everyone would hang together for the obligatory 3 minute safety stop.  After ascending to the surface the zodiac driver would pull up and everyone removed their equipment in the water (starting with weight belt) and handed the equipment to the driver.  This doesn't sound too bad until you realize this is happening in 3-6ft seas and you are really bouncing around.  Going through this process 3 times a day for a week is physically draining.  In fact, it was the toughest week of diving I've ever done -- much more difficult than the easy-going liveaboards in the Caribbean.  To prove how tough it was our German dive guide got injured getting back on the zodiac mid-week and was replaced by an Egyptian dive guide. We saw our original guide at the end of the week wearing a neck brace at the port. I'm glad I didn't bring my novice-level wife on this trip. Despite the mishap our first dive guide experienced the liveaboard crew really stressed and implemented rigorous dive safety protocols. This was a very professionally run dive operation.

[jasondbaker]

(Part 3)

Okay, so more about the dives.  One word: amazing. And I've got a couple hundred pictures to back that up. The wrecks ranged in age from the 1870's to mid-20th century and were all in decent shape considering their age.  We were able to penetrate most of the wrecks which made for some amazing photo opportunities.  A few of the wrecks were truly world famous like the Ghiannis D and the Thistlegorm.  I think they are famous because of their proximity to European divers and the fact that many of them were discovered by Jacques Cousteau's team. The history, size, and condition of each wreck was outstanding.  It was the best week of wreck diving I've done.  (Caveat: This is the first liveaboard I've done that had an all-wreck itinerary). 

From a photography standpoint this trip featured mainly wide angle photo opportunities. My Tokina fisheye lens got quite the workout. We did a couple night dives and a couple reefs dives during the week where I used macro or mid-zoom lenses.  But those were the exceptions.  The wrecks presented countless photo opportunities.  You could easily spend a week photographing one wreck site to capture all the nuances.  Two of the other divers were carrying smaller point-and-shoot cameras with single strobes and getting decent results. 

In terms of fish I encounted plenty of new species during the week -- such as lion fish and clown fish.  One of the night dives was done at a site called "The Barge" where the flattened hull of an old ship rested.  The site was littered with lion fish.  It was a little nerve wracking trying to photograph macro subjects in waters infested with these critters -- like navigating a 3-dimensional mine field. We encounted all sorts of cool critters during the week like blue spotted rays, beautiful starfish, giant clams, various eels, and several huge Napoleon wrasse.

I made a total of 16 dives during the week out of a possible 18.  I skipped two dives (4th dives) during the week because I was too exhausted.  I faced another physical challenge during the week in that I had stomach issues much of the time on the boat -- not severe but persistent. This is a very common experience for visitors to Egypt and I had plenty of advance warning.  I brought some Immodium AD along but it didn't seem to help much.  I drank water constantly to prevent dehydration. None of the European guests had stomach issues.  I'm not a picky eater by any measure but something with the food and environment just wasn't sitting right with me.  The food was almost too complicated and gourmet-like in preparation. Carribean liveaboards tend to have more meat-and-potatoes fare in comparison. I fought my way through it but ultimately I wasn't taking in enough calories and retaining enough energy to keep up with the full dive schedule. I'm not sure there is anything I could have done differently.  Ultimately I asked the chef to prepare a separate meal for me with very basic ingredients -- like pasta with a simple red sauce. My stomach issues didn't completely clear up until I left Egypt. 

Life on a liveaboard revolves around eating, sleeping, and diving.  You don't have much time for anything else.  I spent the remaining time reading, checking out dive photos, and conversing with fellow divers.  I highly recommend the liveaboard experience and feel it offers the best quality and quantity of dives during a week long trip. 

After our week of diving we were dropped off at the Sharm port and driven to the airport.  My trip was only half over because I spent another three days in Cairo and three days in Barcelona before flying home to Minneapolis.  I strongly recommend combining a Red Sea dive trip with a land-based Egyptian tour.  You probably aren't going to travel to that part of the world often so make the most of it.  Plus the ancient Egyptian sites are too amazing to pass up.  You should be able to put together a dive trip to the Red Sea on a decent liveaboard for under $3500 US -- and under $5000 if you combine it with a land-based trip.  The biggest expense is just getting there.  Once you are in Egypt the prices are cheap -- especially outside Cairo. 

One last note regarding security.  At no time did I ever fear for my safety during the trip.  The Egyptian people are extremely friendly and the main economic driver in their country is tourism.  I visited some areas in Cairo that are not frequented by tourists and I never felt uncomfortable -- the exception being when I was taking a cab on the insane roads.  The saying in Egypt is that there is one policeman for every citizen in the country.  And I honestly believe it.  If you are looking for amazing diving in an exotic location surrounded by thousands of years of history make sure Egypt is on your list.

[Shooter]

Awesome report! Thanks  ;D

[scubafreek864]

Some day.  Maybe some day I will have the opportunity to dive in these waters. Until then, I will have to be happy being a Minnesota muck diver.  ;D

Very, very nice photos. 

[divermike]

thanks for the trip report jason. i took a trip there 10 years ago in august. 50 degree's C=122 degree's F! you are correct in combining diving with a land based tour. we dove 7 days out of sharm then met a guide at abu simbal and bounced 5 times up the nile to cairo. it was just an incredible trip. i would go back there anyday! this time i would do the live a board to the southern red sea.
8)

[Kirk]

Thanks for the trip report.  Sounds like you had a great trip.  I spent some time over there a number of years ago.  Soon after I took my open water diving class in Honduras, and before I started doing any local diving, I spent a considerable amount of time backpacking around the Middle East.  My diving wasn’t on a live aboard, just shore diving out of Toyota pickup trucks.  But then again, as a brand new diver, I thought what I saw in the Red Sea was just the best it could be (and frankly to this day, certainly the best wall diving I’ve ever done).   

When I was there, I flew into Tel Aviv, Israel via Montreal, Quebec; went diving in Dahab, Egypt for a while; checked out the Nile (Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, and down to Abu Simbel); more diving in Dahab; went up to Petra in Jordan to explore the ruins; went diving in Aqaba, Jordan for a while; then chilled out in the tiny yet culturally amazing Old City of Jerusalem; and finally back home to Minneapolis via Tel Aviv.

I’d really like to go back some time; both for the amazing diving and the friendly Bedouin culture.  - Kirk