April 2004
Back in March 2002, I had visited Hurgharda, Egypt to experience my first Red Sea scuba diving. Since then, I had qualified as an instructor but I had not dived since July 2003. My father had gained his first diving qualification in Hurgharda and was keen to have another Red Sea experience. We found a cheap flight/hotel package to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for the week before Easter for my father, mother and me; sharing a triple room. If you wanted snoring… sleep in our room!
A few hours before driving to Gatwick Airport, I slogged around the local half marathon in my small town which was hosting the annual Bungay Black Dog marathon. With no training and a strong head wind, it was as tough as ever. At least I finished, but it wasn’t a pretty sight.
After endless queuing to check in (always a good idea to have only one desk open for 300 passengers), the 5 hour flight left around 11.30pm on the evening of Sunday April 4th; the usual deal of pack ‘em in and hope noone gets leg thrombosis. The inflight meal was bangers (sausages) and mash (potatoes)… a first.
Upon arrival around 7am, the sun and heat at the “ready for completion in 2005” Sharm El Sheikh airport hit us like a blowtorch. To avoid the expensive hotel transfer costs, I haggled with a taxi driver who took us 17km along the coast to our small but comfortable 3 star hotel.
The ‘Uni Sharm Hotel’ must be pretty new. There was only one reference to it on the Internet. It was surrounded by half built shells of hotels and not even the taxi drivers had heard of it. A smallish affair, centred around a decent pool area, the clientele was mainly Russians and (later in the week) an Egyptian convention. Between them, they scoffed the all you can eat breakfast and dinner buffets. They could pack so much away, we nicknamed them ‘Four Plates’ because that was the average number of plates each of them had in front of their fat faces. I thought I could eat a lot until I watched the Egyptian women pack it away; apparently to be stored in their fat arses.
The recently built and very dusty tourist resort of Sharm El Sheikh lies on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba between Tiran Island in the straits (off Saudi Arabia) and Ras Mohammed National Park at the tip of Sinai and apparently features “some of the world’s most brilliant and amazing underwater scenery” (Lonely Planet). The resort areas which stretch along the coast are centred around Na’ama Bay, which was only developed in the early 1980s. To me, it looked like wall to wall hotel complexes with the usual Egyptian trick of never completely finishing a hotel, therefore avoiding a hefty tax. I’d like to tell you about the wonders of Sharm but it is a cultural vacuum that could be Southern Spain or southern Cyprus.
I spent the first day lazing around the pool winding down from 11 manic weeks of teaching thanks to my new IT Lecturer position at Norwich City College. I am used to having a tan, but I underestimated the power of the sun here and I fried like a frog on a griddle. I was to suffer for the first day’s indulgence for the rest of the week and the brown skin came away from me like a leper for days afterwards. Doh!
Day 2: Before we left, I had got in contact with a local dive school www.cfundivers.com who looked organised and reliable. On the second morning (6th April 2004), they picked my father and me up (“Why do you look like you’ve been barbequed?”) and drove us to the dive school. I had all my own gear and a PADI Instructors card for extra street cred. My father, despite having dived in Fiji in February, was, because of his age (71 the following week) required to have a “Check Dive”. This seems to be a scam that Sharm El Sheik dive schools run (“because diving in the Red Sea is different to elsewhere”). Not that different; apart from the fact that it is very salty, therefore you need more weights to sink underwater.
The good news was, that the week before Easter was very quiet. There were only 8 divers on the boat plus two guides. However, the port area of Sharm was packed with diving boats (300 registered). Bus loads of daily tripper snorkellers were unloaded and filed down the wooden quay to the moored boats who queued up around the port and motored in and out. “Supermarket scuba diving” I called it.
Most of Sharm’s dives are just off the coast, overlooked by various hotel complexes. The ‘check dive’ was at ‘Middle Beach’. With Instructor status, I was waved the check but kept my dad company as he was led through a few basic exercises (mask removal and replacement, out of air, fin pivots). The subsequent dive around the reef was one of the dullest I have ever done. The coral looked dead. The fish were sparse. I spotted a blue spotted stingray. The second dive ‘Paradise’ was another coastal dive and just as dull. My father, getting used to diving after a two year break was a little rusty. At the end of day 1 we wondered if we had made a big mistake. It appeared that the coral reefs had all died and been fished out.
Day 3. We motored out to the Ras Mohammed National Park for 3 dives. Jack Fish Alley had a couple of underwater cave complexes which were brief but fun to dive through with lion fish sheltered at the entrance. Huge silver Trevelly fish swarmed around with barracuda fish darting around them. A large crocodile fish with its unmistakable long nose lay prone on the sand. Ras Zatar was a drift dive along a deep drop off reef. It had spectacular soft coral including huge Hickson’s Giant fan coral, salad coral and broccoli coral. We spotted the red Spanish dancer’s eggs; a weird but colourful organism. The final dive at Gaz Lami was one of the most enjoyable I have done; a very slow, chilled out dive allowing you to wait for some new sightings. After descending, we hung around on a sandy bed and watched as dozens of garden eels poked out of their holes like mini Loch Ness monsters. An upside down jellyfish passed by. A Picasso Triggerfish darted around the coral like a mini Yellow Sub Marine. Black bass and Arabic Grouper were larger specimens. Near the end of the dive a sea turtle appeared. About a metre long, it casually used its fins to explore the coral reefs. It was my dad’s first turtle sighting so he was very excited.
Day 4. An earlier start and a long 2 hour boat ride took us north to the Saudi Arabian border to the island of Tiran. Flying fish took off in front of the boat as we headed there. The first dive at Jackson’s Reef was a dive along the reef edge with a big drop off. 15 boats were moored here, so there were a lot of divers underwater. At 20m for the first part of the dive, there was nothing special, but the return at 5-10m revealed lovely colourful coral and many shoals of small fish. It was like swimming in an aquarium. The second dive at Woodhouse Reef was another drift dive. Dominated by a large shoal of fast blue jackfish that whistled as they passed by and giant Trevelly. It was similar to the previous dive and very enjoyable.
Day 5: More diving off the coast. Amphoras dive site at 20m had excellent fan coral. Some usual suspects (lion fish, cornet fish, clown fish, Picasso triggerfish) but also some new sightings for me: a Red Sea Wrasse and Yellowband Angelfish. On the second dive at Raz Gaty, Julian (our Dive Master’s) first stage went and he started losing all his air. He headed for the surface and tried to direct the dive from there. All very confusing. Some nice coral but nothing outstanding. There was a third dive at Ras Umm Sid. The dive was messed up at the start because a diver forgot their weight belt (Doh!). We had to resurface and wait for the idiot to clamber back on board to don one. It was an enjoyable drift dive but I was watching my dad too much to take much in apart from a blue spotted stingray. There was a rough end to the dive when we finished near the reef edge, but we swam away and the boat was able to pick us up. It was my dad’s last dive on this trip.
Day 6: Last Day’s diving. Lots of new divers had to be checked and we returned to Middle Beach again. Despite a huge brown marbled grouper, it was still a crap site to dive and should be avoided at all costs. There is neither fish or coral to see. A lot of sitting around on the boat sunbathing. The second dive was much better at the Tower. There was a deep abyss and we ‘free fell’ down to 23m. I saw a stonefish and a Moses Sole (new sighting). On the way home on the boat, just outside the port, we spotted a small manta ray floating on the surface. Ironically, having used my new underwater camera all week, the best specimen was photographed from the boat using my normal camera.
On the final day, I explored Sharm with my father on foot. The central market was deserted and full of useless crap. Various resorts were full of fat tourists sunbathing or ordering cold beers in the heat. I was glad that I had spent the week diving.
At the time, I was not sure if Hurgharda or Sharm El Sheikh had the best selection of fish and coral. When I checked my logbooks later at home, it appears that I saw identical specimens in both areas, so I cannot say that one place is better to dive at than the other. In Hurgharda we saw dolphins, in Sharm, a turtle and a manta ray. I would say that both locations are very busy with divers. If you want a close to Europe, cheap, crowded and guaranteed sightings of regular tropical fish, then either site is ideal for a week’s diving. If you want more privacy, less crowds and more selections of fish and coral, splash out and go long haul.