Perhaps it was the great expectation I had that did me in. I had heard from a number of very well traveled divers that the Red Sea IS IT, THE dream destination. Weeeeellll, not for me. I went very far south cuz I had heard about the crowds at Sharm and Hurghada. I ended up even south of Marsa Alam, at the Very Last Resort on the Red Sea in Egypt, Lahami Bay. Very nice resort, and the most organized dive outfit I've ever dived with, but only a couple of the dives were GREAT! like I had expected of the Red Sea. Days were long, leaving at 8, back by 4-5, and only having done two dives. Plus for me, as an American who is only fluent in English (with a bit of Spanish, Pohnpeian, Tagalog, and a Very Tiny bit of German) I found it......difficult.....as this resort is run by a German woman, and is frequented almost exclusively by European, so that made for very looooong days on dive boats with no one to talk to. I actually had more conversation with the Egyptian hotel and dive staff than with the other divers or guests. Strange, cuz the dives with my 'buddies', who were strangers to me, were just fine since the language of SCUBA is so very universal!!
I'm not glad that I was disappointed, but I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I was beginning to think I'm getting a wee bit too spoiled. If I go back to dive, I would definitely consider a liveaboard.
As for general Egypt travel, I found the country to be completely Amazing, and October is a great time to go as far as weather goes.
Beck
