Transportation & Training Questions

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Halthron

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Location
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It appears that beginning next summer I'll be spending a significant amount of time in Cairo and while I've been doing a lot of research here and elsewhere, there are some questions I just haven't been able to find answers to.

What's the best way to get from the big city to the dive spots? Private car? Bus? puddle-jumper(small airplane)? I was considering buying a vehicle while I'm there and am trying to figure out if it would be worth it to drive to the sites or if alternate methods are better and more reasonable. Where I currently live, regional bus service does exist but outside certain areas, it's slow and unconfortable getting from place to place so am leery of assuming too much.

I wonder about the pricing, availability and usefulness of helium. I'm currently at the beginning tech level (adv. nitrox & deco proc) and have been holding off on doing a trimix course due to the cost of helium locally and the lack of dive sites. Most of the better spots are a bit further out. I'm trying to find out if there are enough sites 120-250' (Sharm/Dahab/Hurghada/etc.) to make it worth my while to get the training.

How's cave/cavern diving, is there much? The few comments here on SB seem very secretive. I had been planning on taking a Cavern/Intro course next summer and when I found out I'd be going to Egypt I wondered if it would be a waste of time.

Would it be safe to assume there are wrecks that can be penetrated (other than ones suitable for PADI wreck divers)?

Since Egypt is primarily a Euro vacation destination, how are the US certification agencies accepted? I don't give a rodent's rear-end about PADI but am more concerned with TDI, IANTD and GUE. Will this be a case of "you don't have the popular UK/French card so we look down our nose at you", despite having US tech certifications?
 
Going to dive spots by private car is best if you're capable of driving for 500 KM or more.

Helium is pretty expensive in Egypt (around 5 Euro cent per liter). This makes trimix cost for a traditional twin 12s dive on 10/40/50 mix around 100 Euros. Deep sites are all around in Dahab, Sharm, Hurghada, and Southern Red Sea.

Cave diving is not that much. Caves here don't require specific training. All cave and wreck dives are safe and memorized by guides.

TDI and IANTD are OK. GUE is not well known. CMAS, PADI, BSAC, SDI, SSI, and others are perfectly accepted.
 
Thanks for the info on helium, that's a bit more than the price here. At least it sounds like you have sites worth using it on though.

Red Sea Shadow:
Going to dive spots by private car is best if you're capable of driving for 500 KM or more.

Capable, yes but that's a significant part of the weekend gone. Are there overnight buses or trains available from Cairo?

Cave diving is not that much. Caves here don't require specific training. All cave and wreck dives are safe and memorized by guides.
These are all trust me dives?!? Are the caves and wrecks that basic? What about caves & wrecks where you actually need appropriate training in order to get out alive?
 
Halthron:
Thanks for the info on helium, that's a bit more than the price here. At least it sounds like you have sites worth using it on though.



Capable, yes but that's a significant part of the weekend gone. Are there overnight buses or trains available from Cairo?

There're overnight buses but no trains.

These are all trust me dives?!? Are the caves and wrecks that basic? What about caves & wrecks where you actually need appropriate training in order to get out alive?
The main wrecks in the Egyptian Red Sea are:
1. Thistlegorm.
2. Abu Nuhas wrecks (4 wrecks).
3. Rosalie Moller.
4. Salem Express.

The Rosalie Moller is the most difficult one (54 meters). The others are 30 meters maximum. Nothing requires special training. Caves are basic also. The most known one is Dahab's Canyon.
 
In Ras Mamlach there is very deep cave that goes over 100M deep.
 
ofleisher:
In Ras Mamlach there is very deep cave that goes over 100M deep.
That's the type I was referring to, thank you. There's a description of it here. It encourages me enough to go get cave training.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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