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Dive Sharm el Sheikh

I can't believe that I have been writing here for so long, and scuba diving in Sharm for so long, yet, aside from my blog, I haven't written any kind of guide to the dive sites that we have in the area. So... here it is, a breakdown of the main dive sites in the region.

Before I begin, just a few things about diving in the Red Sea. The reef is a beautiful thing, and a fragile organism. We are quite honoured to be able to enjoy this wonderful sight, and want to keep it that way. Hence, we employ a strict no touching, no taking, no fishing, no feeding and no littering policy throughout the area. It can get busy, so the reefs would be decimated if everyone was to take a little bit back with them, or mess with the natural balance by feeding the fish. To help with this, dive knives are not allowed and neither are gloves as both encourage a little too much of the touchy, feely thing. Even in winter, while we wussy guides will be in dry suits, it is rarely cold enough for gloves (unless you have a medical condition) and a hood will serve you much better if you start getting chilly. There is also a maximum depth limit of 30M for recreational divers. Technical divers can still indulge in their passion, as most dive centres will have a selection of technical guides happy to take those of you qualified, into the realms below the crowds.

The Red Sea is quite a unique place to dive for many reasons. The surrounding desert leads to a distinct lack of fresh water entering the sea, meaning that next to the Dead Sea this is the second most saline body of water in the world, and this Northern part is the most salty part of the Red Sea. Hence you might find yourself requiring a couple of kilos more lead than normal, in order to descend. The sea is also very deep here, and runs along a deep techtonic fissure. This means that the sea actually touches part of the earth's mantle at this point, resulting in water temperatures much higher than you would usually get this far north of the equator. This is why we get tropical reefs here, some way North of the equator. Here you will also find over 1,000 species of fish and 150 species of hard corals, many of which are endemic to the Red Sea and its unique environment. Despite the many hotels springing up along the coast line, there is very little in the way of pollution too, as all the hotels are forced by law not to pump their sewage out to sea. As there is little or no greenery in the desert, this kind of activity would have really created some dramatic changes in this unique ecosystem. Hence all sewage is transported in land to a processing plant where it is safely disposed of.

Whilst there is some shore diving here, much of our diving is done from specially designed boats, which generally head out for the day from one of three jetties in the area, namely Travco, Naama Bay and Shark's Bay. Obviously things vary from dive centre to dive centre, however most places weather permitting will offer most of the dives that I mention in this section.

So to the sites... we will be updating these over the next few weeks or so, so do pop back to find out more:

The Local sites

Local North (Montazzah)

Tiran

Ras Mohammed

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