Getting from Israel to Egypt?

[evilclown]

Will be in Israel in January. Heard diving in Eilat is not the greatest Red Sea experience. Am thinking about going to Egypt while i'm in the region but it seems that travel between the two countries is pretty much impossible. Most airlines seem to take you al the way back to europe and then back again. Any suggestions for egypt? Shram el Sheikh?? travel between israel and shram??? dive spots in egypt???
thanks.

[mike_s]

as you noticed, the don't have a 'selection' of direct flights between the two countries.

If you're planning on traveling to countries where Islamic/Muslim is the predominant faith and also to Israel also, ask them in Israel not to stamp your passport, or to stamp it on an "insert".

It will make your going through customs in the Islamic/Muslim countries much easier.

Certain Islamic countries will deny you admisssion if you have a stamp in your passport from Israel. Such as Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Supposedly Egypt allows it.

So this shouldn't be a problem with your trip to Israel and in combination with Egypt, but just something to consider when you go to Israel. It will keep you from having to get a new passport (without Israeli stamps/visas) if you ever try to travel to the above countries....

[orange_diver]

there are direct flights between tel aviv and cairo. i just did an expedia search and found one for $430 non-stop. there are also buses i believe.

you can also cross the border at Eilat into Sinai, then take a bus or cab down to Sharm el Sheik. the diving there is spectacular. i would imagine a boat trip off Eilat would also be able to take you to some great spots as well, but i've never done that.

[evilclown]

thanks. that's weird, the flights didn't show up when i looked earlier today, even now i had to look twice but it eventually showed up, thanks!

[JamieS]

It is pretty easy to get into Egypt from Israel and back again at the Eilat / Taba crossing.

I did this 2 years ago. My wife and I were visiting friends in Jerusalem and wanted to dive the red sea. We took a taxi from Jerusalem to the Taba crossing and walked across the border there. Then we spent the night in Taba Heights (about 15 min taxi ride down the road). We took a 3rd taxi from there to Sharm where we boarded our liveaboard dove for 5 days then repeated the taxi rides in reverse. It really was easy. We could have done the entire drive in one day each way, but decided to put in the overnights in Taba to make sure to have time for unexpected difficulties with the crossings.

The only warning I offer about crossing into Egypt at Taba is that if you are going to dive on a liveaboard and go off shore to the marine parks you need to have a full egyptian entry visa, not one only for the Siani Penninsula. We had some problems with that but eventually got everything worked out. We also decided to cut our dives short the last day to make sure we had 24 hours of no dive time before driving through the mountains back up to Taba. Some of them got pretty high.

Good Luck with your trip.

[Red Sea Shadow]

The only warning I offer about crossing into Egypt at Taba is that if you are going to dive on a liveaboard and go off shore to the marine parks you need to have a full egyptian entry visa, not one only for the Siani Penninsula.
It's not only to the marine parks. Even visiting Ras Mohamed needs a full Egyptian visa.

[Jai Bar]

To make it simple, you need a Full Egyptian Visa to go *anywhere* south of Sharm El Sheikh and/or west of St. Katherine monastery and the mountains around it.

At the border you can get a 14 day permit limited south to Sharm and west to St. Katherine. It will allow you to dive to Tiran, several dive sites near Sharm (but *NOT* Ras Mohammed), Dahab, Nuweiba etc etc.

[ArthurGerla]

Jai Bar and RSS have it spot on. The free "Sinai only" visa is valid for the Aqaba coast and St Catherine. It says so on the visa stamp.

[ArthurGerla]

We also decided to cut our dives short the last day to make sure we had 24 hours of no dive time before driving through the mountains back up to Taba. Some of them got pretty high.

I measured the highest point om the road between Sharm and Dahab last month. My gps reported 666 meters.

[Jai Bar]

We also decided to cut our dives short the last day to make sure we had 24 hours of no dive time before driving through the mountains back up to Taba. Some of them got pretty high.

Good Luck with your trip.

The only place where I've heard of DCS cases related to driving after diving is in the Aqaba-Amman road, Jordan.

In Israel there is the Eilat-Mitzpe Ramon road which gets up to about 800 meters and is about 2 hours from Eilat. Never heard of a case of DCS symptoms related to this altitude- Myself, I drive it all the time after diving in Eilat.

In Sinai the road is even lower- even at the "high" passes near Nuweiba/Dahab road, which is also a few hours from Sharm. I wouldn't worry about it (and yes, I know of dozens of divers who drove this road more than once after safaris, including me ;) ).

[JamieS]

The only place where I've heard of DCS cases related to driving after diving is in the Aqaba-Amman road, Jordan.

In Israel there is the Eilat-Mitzpe Ramon road which gets up to about 800 meters and is about 2 hours from Eilat. Never heard of a case of DCS symptoms related to this altitude- Myself, I drive it all the time after diving in Eilat.

In Sinai the road is even lower- even at the "high" passes near Nuweiba/Dahab road, which is also a few hours from Sharm. I wouldn't worry about it (and yes, I know of dozens of divers who drove this road more than once after safaris, including me ;) ).

Thanks, but I was being "better safe than sorry". As we drove into Sharm, we kept going up and up and up and my ears were popping away. I didn't have any idea what altitude we were at, but it seemed higher than I wanted to risk it. (Maybe I'm just a little too conservative, Oh well ;) )

We deided it would be much better to give up a night dive and then an early morning dive before getting on the road. It also gave us a great chance to clean and dry our gear while all the other divers were in the water. So, when we reached the dock it was a quick jump off the boat while everyone else was scrambling to get packed up. :D

[stefo2]

In case you don't want to miss out on diving Ras Mohammed or some further away sites (e.g. the Thistlegorm), you can get the full Egyptian visa at the Egyptian consulate in Eilat (should cost $15, I guess).

[evilclown]

thanks everyone for the great info. I think i'm actually going to spend some time all over egypt not just in the water. Am thinking of going tel aviv - cairo - luxor -sharm. thanks again.

[JimToronto]

I just crossed the border into Eypt at Taba in May and it was very easy. See my posting in this forum under "Isn't Nuweiba very under-rated for diving experience and value?"

[Belushi]

DO NOT CROSS FROM DAHAB TO SHARM AFTER DIVING.

- unless you have had at least 3 hours of off-gassing before hand.

There are instructors here in Dahab who have been bent going over the mountains.

This is not just scaremongering, it is fact. A very experienced Swiss instructor who has lived here for 7 years is now limited to 18 metres due to the bend she got after a week's "knees in the sand" working here in Dahab and then driving to Sharm with her husband.

Suunto computers will change from A0 to A1 whilst going over the top.

Be circumspect guys.