Red Sea first timer

[ArthurGerla]

if at the gate, OK i don't go. On-board the dive boat, why nobody has told me to take a passport nor to buy a visa !

On one occasion my day boat was boarded by police who proceeded to count life jackets and check passports. That's once in a lot of dives out of Travco jetty, but apparently it happens... and you can count on them to cause a world of pain for the guides, the boat and the dive shop if they find an excuse.

 

[kiwidiver.com]

I have never seen that much boats in one location either, and NONE as big as 40 divers..
6-7 boats at the local Sharm reefs happens as the serious dive ops WILL have you dive locally the first day to gauge your abilities before youre let into the national parks. Something that shows on the dive sites and I hope they keep this practice up to preserve the brilliant sea life in the area.

The only site that Ive dived that was truely "crowded" was the thistlegorm and that wasnt really much of an issue either as people arrive at different times and while one part of the divers are in the water, other parts have their SI..
.

Of course you are right – I do apologize. They don’t normally have 40 divers on the boat, more like 20 and it may not have been 40 dive boats on the same dive site although it did seem like it at the time.

I do have archived somewhere a photo of dive boats lined up on a reef as far as the eye could see. I will post it when I can find it in the mean time here are a couple of shots with 4-6 boats in the frame and any time I can take a photo with 4 or more dive boats on the same dive site in it I consider it crowded.

http://www.kiwidiver.com/images/sharm/sharm1.jpg
http://www.kiwidiver.com/images/sharm/sharm2.jpg
http://www.kiwidiver.com/images/sharm/sharm3.jpg

Dont get me wrong I am not knocking the diving in Sharm as I have dived it many times and it is fantastic diving but personaly I consider it too crowded to bother going back again even though I will miss the boarding process down at the Pier

 

[Ayisha]

...any time I can take a photo with 4 or more dive boats on the same dive site in it I consider it crowded.

Wow, I consider 2 boats on the same dive site to be crowded. Thanks, I'm glad that I know in advance, because I would be pretty ticked off next month if we came upon a bunch of dive boats together and actually stayed. I like uncrowded boats, too. Now that I know, I'll be a little more tolerant...

 

[philpan]

Why nobody has told you neither to take a passport nor to buy a visa is the issue of your dive op. I can't answer for them

The Sinai free stamp is not enough for visiting Ras Mohamed. A full Egyptian visa is required. It's evident. Any dive op working in the area will tell you so.

Hi Shadow,
When you say FULL Egyptian visa, is this the kind of visa you have to apply for at the consulate / embassy of Egypt of the country where you're flying out from? Or is this something different from what you get at the airport?

 

[Tigerman]

You get it on the airport in the form of a shiny sticker you can buy from the banq misr (bank of egypt) booths thats set up between the arrival gate and the passport control. You do not need to apply for one.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

Hi Shadow,
When you say FULL Egyptian visa, is this the kind of visa you have to apply for at the consulate / embassy of Egypt of the country where you're flying out from? Or is this something different from what you get at the airport?

Depends on the passport you're holding. For the majority of passports it's visa on arrival so you can get it at the airport.

 

[Tigerman]

Depends on the passport you're holding. For the majority of passports it's visa on arrival so you can get it at the airport.

To get the list I found online..

"Citizens of the following countries are required to be in possession of a pre-arrival visa: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya, Croatia,Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Lebanon, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, The Philippines,Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Sri-Lanka, Tadzhikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and all African countries."

 

[happy58900]

Hi has anybody done a liveaboard on MV Ghazala 1 out of Sharm just looking for some feed back before booking any help would be great so hard to get any info from australia

 

[Tigerman]

No clue about the boat or its operator to be honest, but the websites that promote the liveaboards with it if you google mv ghazala 1 does not look very professional imo and that puts me off a bit.
Id rather check liveaboards directly from reputable dive ops than some glaring website that looks like an 11-yearold put it together, but thats just me

 

[peterbucknell]

Here are a couple of informational blog entries, particularly about Red Sea Diving, Taba, Eilat and a liveaboard company called Aqua-Sport:
Google " how2scuba.US " and click on blog

Pete Bucknell