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Diving around Hurghada at the Egyptian Red Sea |
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In the last week of February we took off for Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea, a
very popular area for European divers, not least because it is only a four to five hour flight away from the major cities in Western Europe. Together with Sharm-el-Sheik
which is further north on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula, it is the most heavily dived spot on the Red Sea. As such it is considered a classic by some and a
no-go-wasteland by others. The city of Hurghada itself is something between a huge hotel and an assembly of nuked bomb shelters. It stretches out along the coast
for kilometers and is, to say the least, not very beautiful to look at. Hundreds of half finished buildings dot the roadside and hotels and slummy quarters interchange.
There is no obvious order in all this chaos, but the garbage, which is prominently strewn along the roadside, always leads you to inhabited areas. So it's not the place
where you want to take out your partner for a romantic stroll along the desert. As such, it is more popular among divers and surfers.
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We stayed at the Jasmin Beach Club, which we booked through the Swiss
travel agency Hotelplan for a bargain price, which is why we can't really complain about the quality of the hotel. Even though the entrance hall looks something like a
palace, the first impression changes when one enters the rooms. The standard compares to a 2** Hotel in Western Europe. The hotel bungalows are located between
the main road and the beach and go on for hundreds of meters, with only very few of them actually facing the beach. There are a lot of surfers staying at this hotel, because
the property laps into the sea and offers good conditions for surfing. Near the beach you will find the Jasmin Dive Center, about which we can't tell you much, since we were
diving with the guys from the Sub Aqua Basis located right by the Sofitel Hotel.
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From our trip to the Maldives we knew two of the staff and they gave us a very
friendly price for our dives. The first two days we caught some bad weather, reminding us of the cold in Europe, and although the weather improved considerably for the
rest of the week, it remained very windy and the sea was always choppy, causing sea-sickness among some of the divers above the water and bad visibility below. With
our 7 mm wetsuits the water temperature between 20 and 23 degrees celsius did no harm to us, but after 45 minutes under water, the occasional shiver ran down our
spines.
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Since the spots around Hurghada are rather popular, there are always a handful
of boats anchoring at each spot at the same time. Surprisingly, we didn't constantly run into groups of other divers. But it's a good idea to know what your boat looks like
under and above the waterline. Some parts of the reefs we frequented were totally destroyed, with all coral life irretrievably lost and no trace of recovery. However, thanks
to a change in thinking, HEPCA and other environmental organisations anchored buoyes at all divespots, so that damage from anchors is now minimized or even eliminated.
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Still, obvious random damage on corals can be detected on all spots and is
mostly the responsibility of divers who have no control over their buoyancy. We found that about half of the divers were unable to control their movements properly,
while other constantly hung on to corals when they wanted to look at something or simply to get a break from the (weak) current. One guy who logged over 130 dives
appeared not to know what a coral was and constantly had his hands on one, while another one went right down to the bottom and dragged his body over a whole field
of soft corals. Whoever mixes up corals with rocks or algea should stay on land. Why they dive with their totally limited abilities is lost on us. Unfortunately, the dive
bases don't teach people the difference or sanction them. If they would, they'd be losing most of their customers. Still, it would be very important to do so.
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Below, you can read about the dive spots we visited. In the end, we were
pleasantly surprised by the underwater flora and fauna. There are beautiful sites with enormous and colorful corals, gorgonia and many interesting fish. If you are into
big fish on every dive, this might not be for you, however.
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Abu Hashish |
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| This is our first dive in Egypt and judging from the name, we should be on a
permanent high. Not so. There is actually not much else to see than a whole dump of dead or half-dead coral lumps and barely any fish at all. We knew this wasn't
gonna be like in the Maldives, where you often find an abundance of fish, but this one really went below our worst expectations. Only glimmer of hope was the green
moray swimming past up and some nudibranche lighting up the place. There are some soft corals, but only very few and we can't really enjoy this dump too much. It
is also something like a check-dive for us, since we have to find out how much weight we have to load in order to get ourselves submerged in our new 7 mm wetsuits.
Since we stay on the surface, we keep adding more lead to our jackets' pockets. Since there is a pocket only on one side of the jackets, we dive sideways during the
whole dive, which isn't that comfortable. |
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| date: February 22, 99 |
depth: 23 Meter |
bottom time: 0:40 |
visibility: 25 Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Sha’ab Disha |
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| After our first shock at Abu Hashish, we are still in the phase of recovery and this
spot is helping us a little. Everything looks a little better now, there is still hope. Most importantly, we drop the superfluous weight, which makes us much more agile and
we are less stressed-out. We now have to get down head-first and by using our fins, but once we are where we wanna be, it's all smooth rolling from there on. As on
almost all other divespots we visited while in Hurghada, we again find broken off corals, although nowhere as many as at Abu Hashish. For the first time, we see some
of the popular soft corals which abound in the Red Sea. There are also a bunch of Barracudas suspiciously eyeing us and a real fat pufferfish. Kingfish, which we haven't
seen before, cross our path. It is also the spot where we see our first Blue-spotted Stingray. The blue spots on its green body are really intense when looked at from the
right distance and with the right amount of light. The good news is, these guys are pretty common around Hurghada. Of course you can't miss the Lionfish, they are all
around. But be aware that there are quite a few different types of them and we have even seen a black one during a later dive. Also saw sea needles and the very beautiful
Picasso Triggerfish. |
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| date: February 22, 99 |
depth: 17 Meter |
bottom time: 0:55 |
visibility: 25 Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Sha’ab Dorfa |
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| This spot doesn't really knock us out of our socks, but there are some pretty big
and nice gorgonia and soft-corals, which are very common around here for which we are quite grateful. We also get to see a large pufferfish. XXXXXXXXX |
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| date: February 23, 99 |
depth: 18 Meter |
bottom time: 0:53 |
visibility: ???? Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Sha’ab Sabina |
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| There are quite a few things to see around here, good and bad. Let's get to the
negative part first. The reef is actually a large landmass lapping into the sea, so it's got two sides to it. On the one the corals are in a fairly good state, but on the opposite,
the reef has been totally destroyed by anchoring from earlier times. It is not done anymore, but the damage seems almost irreversible. Truly apocalyptic. Anyways, the
other side offers quite a wide array of corals, especially worthy of mention are salad corals, large mountain corals and leather corals. There's also sponges, gorgonia and
anemone. A highlight is the free swimming green moray crossing our path as well as two Napoleons. Also get to see a Basque grouper and a couple of swarms of fishes.
It is a pretty entertaining site, at least when we were there, and a good example of how reckless and careless tourism can lastingly damage the environment under water. |
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| date: February 23, 99 |
depth: 16 Meter |
bottom time: 0:54 |
visibility: ??? Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Police Station |
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| Police Station is located on the southeastern spit of Small Giftun Island. This is a
drift dive along the island's wall which goes to roughly 20-25 metres depth until it levels off into sandy bottom. As far as fish life is concerned, it isn't all too exciting, but
there is an extensive population of corals and some anemone. For example, we find some rather big salad-corals here. Still, we discover two Crocodile fish hidden in the
sand at the lower end of the wall. They are pretty difficult to detect, especially because they were not as big as we imagined them to be from looking at pictures. Those
were the only croc fish we saw during our week in Hurghada. |
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| date: 24. February 24, 99 |
depth: 22 Meter |
bottom time: 0:50 |
visibility: 15 Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Gotha Abu Ramada East |
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| This spot is absolutely top, no doubt about it. These are the Swiss Alps underwater
with great formations reminding us of our dive at XXXXX in Cozumel. Since then, we haven't seen anything like it. After descending, we first dive around two needles, after
which the light current takes us further south to the actual reef. The large reef plateau located before the drop-off features huge blocks of mountain-coral and lots of other
hard coral growth. At this spot, you will always find various fish swarms which hang around in the current along the reef, like Bluestriped Grunts and Yellowtail Snappers
sharing this spot with other fish blending into their swarm. There are various smaller fields with anenomes and all sorts of corals. The main bulk, however, is made of
Mountain Corals which join to form structures doing justice to their name. By the way, the corals are generally in a good state at this spot. Being on a lucky dive, we
come across a Green Moray eel getting a thourough cleaning, see pipefish, sea needles, a scorpionfish and as another highlight, the eggs of a Spanish Dancer, although
mommy eludes us. That's only a little backdraw, however, considering the vista we have before our eyes. |
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| date: February 24, 99 |
depth: 13 Meter |
bottom time: 1:03 |
visibility: 15 Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Fanous East |
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| This place might have been good. Might have been, had we not jumped in from the
wrong side, the consequence being that we were forced to fight the current for the whole way, breathing as if we did laps on a Formula One track. Moreover, it's our first
time with a camera, which does not facilitate the whole endeavour. We first cross a large sandy bottom towards the actual reef, where we find a pretty big scorpionfish
sitting in a cave. A little further, there's a needle, where we are joined by a couple of Arabian Angelfish, the only ones we see while in Hurghada. Nothing too spectacular,
but then again, we were mainly occupied with fighting the current trying to make our way to the boat. We sucked that bottle dry in no time, trying to stay down while the
water pushed us up. A true horror, we had no eyes for our surroundings. The lesson is, always be sure your dive guide knows how the current flows and if you have to go
against it, then you better be in choice shape. |
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| date: February 25, 99 |
depth: 17 Meter |
bottom time: 0:45 |
visibility: ??? Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Turtle Bay |
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| Although the name suggests we should be running into a bunch of turtles, it isn't so.
Instead, we get to dive around a really pleasant coral garden, close to the surface and protected from the open sea, a real breath-saver. Jumping off the boat, it's first a
surface-swim of approx. 150 feet into a little bay, from where we drop to about 8 meters. There must be a lot of beginners doing their diving here, because we find a whole
bunch of newly and massively wrecked corals, a real pain to look at. It seems like a whole group of Blue-spotted Stingrays was calling this bay their home, we find about
five of them. Although it could always have been the same guy. At the end of the bay, which is about another 150 feet long, we reach a little picturesque anemone-garden.
Right behind it, one has to cross over a ridge, which means almost cutting the surface if you care for the corals around, since it is only about 3 feet deep here. After the
ridge we turn right for a few feet and - after coming across two Grey Moray eels - it's again right to reach the coral garden. This thing is a little paradise, almost empty of
other divers with lots of well preserved corals and spectacular arrangements. There's an Arabian Boxfish and XXXXXXx. So much to see and for some reason when we
reach the coral garden, we have already used more than half of our air. There's so much left to discover, but knowing us, we'll be stopping so many times on the way back,
we need to get rolling now. On the way back, a large arrow formed with dead corals points the way back to the little bay, where we see yet again - you guessed it - two
more Blue-spotted Stingrays. Other divers said there's also an Octopus around, but we unfortunately missed it. |
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| date: February 25, 99 |
depth: 12 Meter |
bottom time: 1:05 |
visibility: ??? Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Erg Somaya East |
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| Erg Somaya East lies, as the name hints, east of Small Giftun Island, one of the
favourite dive areas around Hurghada. We jump off the boat and then dive along the wall of the island towards two large needles (ergs) in a southern direction. They are
around 15 to 24 feet deep and offer great entertainment if you like small things. If the visibility is not first class, you are unlikely to see the second erg when checking out
the first, but if you follow the wall, it'll be hard to miss. The wall of Small Giftun Island already offers some tasters of corals and large gorgonia, but the real treats are the
two needles, which are both tightly packed with corals, mainly soft and rasperry corals. It's all a little smaller, but they offer protection and food to a lot of small fish and
are just great to investigate into all the little crevices and corals to find fish, crabs or shrimps. Since the current can be felt quite a bit around the needles, it is best to
come from behind in order to avoid crashing into the needle. So take your time, the stuff stays right there however much you race about. There were quite a few guys
with us who couldn't handle it. One dragged his body along the ground, crushing heaps of soft corals in his trail, while another (with 130 logged dives) had to hold on to
the corals on top of an erg. Some guys just don't get it. Anyways, on our way there we also saw a Napoleon and some Scorpionfish. A really beautiful divespot. |
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| date: February 26, 99 |
depth: 26 Meter |
bottom time: 0:50 |
visibility: ??? Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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Abu Ramada North |
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| Our last dive near Hurghada was announced to us as a special highlight: we were
going to check out a rarely frequented dive site. And the spot lives up to our expectations. The dive starts somewhat off the actual wall, so we make a bluewater descent
and cross over a plateau towards our main target. After a few short minutes we turn into the wall, where a smooth current lets us drift past the tightly pact attractions. As
far as the eye can see, the wall is covered in all directions with many sorts of hard and soft corals in all colors. Moreover, every few meters, there are large gorgonia leaping
out of the wall. Because the mass of divers usually pack Abu Ramada South, the life on the wall appears untouched. During our fifty minutes under water, no other divers
disturb the tranquility and our own group is so far stretched out along the wall, it almost seems that we are the only two divers around. Among all the other things keeping
us busy looking around, we find a large green moray, a black lion fish and a fully grown scorpionfish. But there are two more things, we find worth mentioning. Because
here we also saw a piece of shining white soft coral, the only one we came across during our week in Hurghada. And towards the end of our dive, three huge tunas kept
passing us, the guys being well over 5 feet long, truly monstrous. A dive making us hungry for more. If only we could have. |
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| date: February 26, 99 |
depth: 19 Meter |
bottom time: 0:49 |
visibility: ??? Meter |
| We’re giving this one (1-5 Bundys): |
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