Red Sea Leonfish
Contributor
Having just returned from Sharm el Sheikh (having checked this forum regularly for updates before booking and travelling), I thought that it might be useful to give a guest's perspective on a few key issues I identified whilst there which might help anyone else planning on travelling out there in the near future to know what to expect and to plan ahead:
(1) There are considerably less divers out in Sharm than there used to be though a lot of people are hopeful that this will pick up over the high summer season. It has previously been even worse. As such - check that your dive centre in still there. I wasn't planning to dive there but, by way of example, "Go Dive!"next to 'Al Fanara' beach club on Ras Um El Sid has shut up shop overnight leaving only a half-filled green plunge pool and a few abandoned PADI teaching wheels (left as, apparently, PADI don't teach the wheel for OWD anymore).
(2) Have a back up dive plan. My centre was so quiet that they didn't have enough divers to run a boat everyday for divers. On some days they co-chartered with another dive centre but on a few occasions it was beach diving only. So, if you plan to dive with a small dive centre and want to make sure that you go out on a boat every day, make sure that you get details of at least one other nearby dive centre which you can approach if your one can't organise a boat for the day.
(3) Think about language barrier. I met one French family who were very upset that their famlly holiday was supposed to be at a very "French-friendly" hotel with a French language Kids' Club and entertainment, However, as a result of direct France-Sharm flights being cut and few French tour operators promoting Egypt at the moment, there were few French famillies staying in their hotel. As a result, all entertainment was switched to being primarily presented in Italian/Russian. There was next to no specifically English entertainment as no Englisg tour companies were promoting the hotel.
Of course, as a diver that makes little difference to me and entertainment reps will still always be able to speak English. But, anyone taking 'SCUBA-widows' with them or planning to use a hotel kids club as cheap child-care whilst they're off diving might want to think about whether they will enjoy a week of being the only people their who 'speak their language'.
(4) Don't be surprised if you're the only Brit. Personally, I enjoyed the fact that there was never a wait for fresh tea in the morning and that no-one felt the need to discuss the weather in any more detail than to constantly note how hot it is in Sharm at the moment. Nevertheless, I was for one week the only British person in my resort. Even at Travco and on the boats they commented evertime they saw my British passport!
(5) They actually weigh your bags at the airport now. Actually, they have weighed the bags for several years but, for the first time in my experience, they are checking the weight for return flights against tickets and considering excess baggage charges. Worth keeping in mind.
(6) It's not as cheap as you might think. Generally, where dive centres are open, the list prices for diving have not fallen despite drops in rent, wage overheads and concessions from charter boats on their own charter costs. Some have actually risen.
That said, if you're planning on doing a lot of diving then there's probably a good scope for a bit of haggling with the centre manager. Just remember that these places are literally on the brink of bankruptcy in some cases and that, whilst everyone likes a bargain and any income is better than no income, it might be nice if some of the dive centres are still there in 12 months time!
(7) Don't expect many non-Egyptian dive guides in future. With the work visa changes planned after the summer, it appears as if many European dive guides are considering leaving within the next few months. You can see elsewhere on this forum for comments on whether or not a largely Egyptian base of dive guides will be a long/short term problem. But, if you're booking for the Autum, just be prepaed for what's coming!
(8) Get out there. Everything above should be taken as background on how best to plan for an amazing trip to Sharm with some of the best diving conditions for the last five years. I've said it elsewhere on this forum, but, there's more (and bigger) fish and less divers than many occasional visitors will ever have seen. On more than one occasion we were not only the first boat to moor up but (unheard of in recent years) the only boat at Shark/Yolanda reef all morning.
On one day (probably the best three-dive day I've ever had) we dived (1) the Yolanda wreckage to Shark Reef in the morning having an encounter with a 6ft (ok, maybe 5ft) hammerhead shark shooting the currents at 30m and a truly impressive school of snappers just swirling in a vortex of fish that filled the whole field of vision in my mask, (2) Jackfish Alley with more jackfish (circling in perfect colour-coded male/female pairs like they were in buddy pairs) and large lightening-blue trimmed trevally and then (3) the semi-canyon in Marsa Bareika bay as a stop-off on the way back to Travco Marina where we were the only boat as far as as you could see in every direction.
(1) There are considerably less divers out in Sharm than there used to be though a lot of people are hopeful that this will pick up over the high summer season. It has previously been even worse. As such - check that your dive centre in still there. I wasn't planning to dive there but, by way of example, "Go Dive!"next to 'Al Fanara' beach club on Ras Um El Sid has shut up shop overnight leaving only a half-filled green plunge pool and a few abandoned PADI teaching wheels (left as, apparently, PADI don't teach the wheel for OWD anymore).
(2) Have a back up dive plan. My centre was so quiet that they didn't have enough divers to run a boat everyday for divers. On some days they co-chartered with another dive centre but on a few occasions it was beach diving only. So, if you plan to dive with a small dive centre and want to make sure that you go out on a boat every day, make sure that you get details of at least one other nearby dive centre which you can approach if your one can't organise a boat for the day.
(3) Think about language barrier. I met one French family who were very upset that their famlly holiday was supposed to be at a very "French-friendly" hotel with a French language Kids' Club and entertainment, However, as a result of direct France-Sharm flights being cut and few French tour operators promoting Egypt at the moment, there were few French famillies staying in their hotel. As a result, all entertainment was switched to being primarily presented in Italian/Russian. There was next to no specifically English entertainment as no Englisg tour companies were promoting the hotel.
Of course, as a diver that makes little difference to me and entertainment reps will still always be able to speak English. But, anyone taking 'SCUBA-widows' with them or planning to use a hotel kids club as cheap child-care whilst they're off diving might want to think about whether they will enjoy a week of being the only people their who 'speak their language'.
(4) Don't be surprised if you're the only Brit. Personally, I enjoyed the fact that there was never a wait for fresh tea in the morning and that no-one felt the need to discuss the weather in any more detail than to constantly note how hot it is in Sharm at the moment. Nevertheless, I was for one week the only British person in my resort. Even at Travco and on the boats they commented evertime they saw my British passport!
(5) They actually weigh your bags at the airport now. Actually, they have weighed the bags for several years but, for the first time in my experience, they are checking the weight for return flights against tickets and considering excess baggage charges. Worth keeping in mind.
(6) It's not as cheap as you might think. Generally, where dive centres are open, the list prices for diving have not fallen despite drops in rent, wage overheads and concessions from charter boats on their own charter costs. Some have actually risen.
That said, if you're planning on doing a lot of diving then there's probably a good scope for a bit of haggling with the centre manager. Just remember that these places are literally on the brink of bankruptcy in some cases and that, whilst everyone likes a bargain and any income is better than no income, it might be nice if some of the dive centres are still there in 12 months time!
(7) Don't expect many non-Egyptian dive guides in future. With the work visa changes planned after the summer, it appears as if many European dive guides are considering leaving within the next few months. You can see elsewhere on this forum for comments on whether or not a largely Egyptian base of dive guides will be a long/short term problem. But, if you're booking for the Autum, just be prepaed for what's coming!
(8) Get out there. Everything above should be taken as background on how best to plan for an amazing trip to Sharm with some of the best diving conditions for the last five years. I've said it elsewhere on this forum, but, there's more (and bigger) fish and less divers than many occasional visitors will ever have seen. On more than one occasion we were not only the first boat to moor up but (unheard of in recent years) the only boat at Shark/Yolanda reef all morning.
On one day (probably the best three-dive day I've ever had) we dived (1) the Yolanda wreckage to Shark Reef in the morning having an encounter with a 6ft (ok, maybe 5ft) hammerhead shark shooting the currents at 30m and a truly impressive school of snappers just swirling in a vortex of fish that filled the whole field of vision in my mask, (2) Jackfish Alley with more jackfish (circling in perfect colour-coded male/female pairs like they were in buddy pairs) and large lightening-blue trimmed trevally and then (3) the semi-canyon in Marsa Bareika bay as a stop-off on the way back to Travco Marina where we were the only boat as far as as you could see in every direction.
