Your thoughts about visiting the Egyptian Red Sea

[Druid]

We've been regular visitors to Dahab for the past 10 years, our last trip was in June this year. We have been less often since 2008 but that's due to financial reasons, not concerns about the political situation. It has become noticeably quieter in the last few years which makes for an improved diving experience, but it's sad to see the town so quiet of an evening.

 

[MrsBBC]

The events of the last couple of years have not put me off, but the cost of flights has.
Fortunately the price of flights from the UK have reduced dramatically, back towards what the prices they used to be.

Now the only factors affecting my decision to revisit this December are;
-Time off work
-Fixing my dive computer in time
-Being a lone female traveller in her 20s who reaally struggles to tolerate the tiresome inappropriate and dishonest behaviour of Egyptian men.
I actually don't want to take a bus or a taxi a long distance on my own; something which I have been perfectly happy to do in any other country that I have travelled alone. Trust and comfort is a hugely important thing when travelling alone.

The older women in my dive club have recently expressed concerns about safety and whether or not to organise another Egypt trip; and have decided to go for it but to consider further south than in previous years.

Also, visiting Egypt to dive, is very different to visting Egypt to visit Egypt; I would be very unlikely to do the latter on my own.

Nic

---------- Post Merged at 06:32 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:24 AM ----------

Laws regarding tourist are right around the corner and woman are not going to be impressed. It is sad.

Are you dramatically suggesting that if women want to visit/dive in Egypt that we should do so sooner rather than later?

 

[sjwhite26]

I travel to the Red Sea a lot and in December it will be 4 times this year, I like the diving, I like and trust the dive centre I use. If doing a land based holiday I avoid having to spend any time interacting with locals outside of that realm as much as possible as I truly cannot bear and have absolutely no tolerance for any more for the behavior of Egyptian men (it is very rare to meet Egyptian women, so locals generally mean men). Sorry to tar them with one big brush, but honestly it's like they have been hard wired to treat me as a white woman in one way only and don't know how to stop themselves. It just makes everything you do difficult and far more arduous than it really needs to be. But generally I have managed to find ways to avoid them now so I can get what I want from my holiday with minimum fuss.

To be honest the Red Sea area is not particularly impacted by the protests, it's the local Berbers (?) who may be seen to be taking advantage of the transitioning period and are asserting themselves, especially in the Sinai. Being in the big resorts or on a liveboard basically means you are cocooned from what's going on. Lets face it Egypt isn't the only one have protests/riots. We have had them in London, my mum went to Athens and got caught in a labour/immigrant protest with shootings and violence and I'm sure Pais is overdue for some riots.

The big difference with the reduced crowds is the diving, so depending on who is traveling with you (ie I understand if you wouldn't want to bring your children) it's a great time to visit. I saw my first whaleshark this July and frankly some areas are busy enough with 4 boats, but with the numbers of old ie 20 that would be mental!


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[Panorama-S]

I live and work in Hurghada for a small dive centre. June and July were our worst months business wise but August and September saw a huge rise in visitors, mainly German and Russian. Hurghada is still very quiet and a lot of live-aboards have not moved from their moorings since May. This is a great shame as we have had no trouble here and many crew and captains are now still out of work. During this month we are very busy as this is traditionally the time when the divers arrive for their time of fun having had the holidays with the family earlier in the year. I've been visiting Egypt regularly for 5 years and it's only since I moved here in May that I've noticed how incredibly quiet the city is. I really do hope that European visitors will not be put off by some of the press releases regarding the Sinai region. As I understand it, all the tourist areas are as safe as they always were and there is a much bigger police presence on the streets to help visitors feel more confident whilst exploring this wonderful country.

 

[MrsBBC]

Hurghada is still very quiet and a lot of live-aboards have not moved from their moorings since May. This is a great shame as we have had no trouble here and many crew and captains are now still out of work.

Does this mean that a lot of companies are cancelling trips if the places are not adequately filled? I am strongly considering a liveaboard from Hurghada in December 2012 (the specific trip I am looking at appears to have sold 1 place).
Is there good shore/muck diving in Hurghada?

Nic
(sorry if I am slightly derailing the topic)

 

[ElChe]

Good shore dive in in Hurghada?... I'd prefer liveaboard. There are several companies who run their trips regularly. Certainly the nicer, bigger, better boats are more popular especially because their prices is not higher too much. If you want to do good dives, choose a liveaboard. I think many ladies like them because the crew is nicer than the guys on the streets of Hurghada...

 

[boulderjohn]

I had planned a trip that was supposed to occur this month, but I canceled it long ago. I have no plans on going to that region until I can clearly see what is going to happen. In fact, as I have been thinking of my plans for the coming year, I had totally stopped thinking about the Red Sea until I saw this thread. The world has many great places to dive, and I will never get to them all.

 

[Panorama-S]

Does this mean that a lot of companies are cancelling trips if the places are not adequately filled? I am strongly considering a liveaboard from Hurghada in December 2012 (the specific trip I am looking at appears to have sold 1 place).
Is there good shore/muck diving in Hurghada?

Nic
(sorry if I am slightly derailing the topic)

Hi , the live-aboard business is a fair bit slower at the moment but as far as know no trips have been cancelled with the companies we have connections with. The shore diving in Hurghada is not great but the daily boat diving is excellent. We have over 40 reefs to explore and some daily boats will take you to Thistlegorm or Abu Nuhas for the day. This does involve a very early start (middle of the night!) and then 2-3 dives on the wrecks. Not many daily boats offer this service though and there is always a minimum of divers required to do these trips. You should be OK to continue with your plans, I'm sure the operator will inform you well in advance if they anticipate any problems with bookings.

 

[elmagnoon]

I have been coming to dive in Dahab and Sharm since 2005. I now advise my friends to cancel their trips to Egypt and specifically to Sinai. The country is lawless and that specially goes to Sinai. I spent a lot of time there and used to drive from Cairo to Dahab or Sharm at least twice a month but it has become too risky to be worth it. In a month or so I will be leaving Egypt with no plans to return. What I've experienced and witnessed point to a worsening situation that is not going to improve any time soon.

 

[Mike]

Egypt both above and below the water are on the top of the list of places we'd love to experience. However, I have doubts there will ever be an opportunity in my lifetime due to the political conditions.