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.