Shore Dives

[texas23]

I am looking into going to Egypt for our next vacation. Probably the Marsa Alam area. I prefer reef & pelagics to wrecks. Are there many shore diving options? I have seen some sites labeled truck dives. Is this the same as shore dives? My husband doesn't do well on boats, so we try to keep our dives land based.

Also, when you travel there to dive, do you make side trips to go see the pyramids, the Nile, Luxor or elsewhere? I will be coming from the US & want to see as much as possible. We will most likely have 7 days in Egypt.

 

[diverLux]

Hi,

It's mainly shore diving in Marsa Alam the area is desert and extends for over 100 km dotted with about 80 hotel resorts ( or 150 km and another half dozen hotels if you add the Hamata/Berenice area in the South ) Quite a few hotels concentrate around the Port Ghalib and the Marsa Alam International Airport area. Most have their own dive centre and some have their own bay where you can dive on your own unguided. There are good chances to see dolphins at Sha'ab Samadai and dugong at Abu Dabbab, Marsa Egla.

From Marsa Alam town there is a direct safe road to Luxor via Edfu and takes about 4 1/2 hrs driving, I have not done this trip.

On this map Marsa Alam airport is not shown, its location is exactly half way between Quseir and Marsa Alam. http://maydivingsafari.com/images/Egypt_diving_safari_map.jpg

I come for diving here and Quseir about 5 times a year so keep asking. Here is a small report I made about my last trip in May Seaworld Dive Center | Scuba Diving in Marsa Alam | Scuba diving reviews | Deep sea diving |

 

[Solly]

truck dive is shore dive but on a remote location where you head by a bus or a mini van with your gear on a truck then you dive from shore to the site.

Marsa Alam is almost 800km out of Cairo so pyramids are not an option for a side trip unless you split your vacation to 2 days in Cairo then fly to marsa alam... but there are side trips (1 day or 2 days) to luxor.. the day trip is hectic, you move just after dawn and back late at night, the 2 day trip includes an overnight in luxor which is a good choice if you can afford the time to do that, it can be done in your last 2 days before flying back as you will not dive for at least a day.