Egypt: diving from shore

Hi all,
we are new to diving - just got our OWD done - and planning a trip to Egypt, Hurgada/Safaga or Marsa Alam.
I was wondering if you can just go and rent a scuba bottles, grab your stuff, walk to the beach and start exploring house reef etc, or do you really need to pay x amount of Euros for "House reef diving" or "shore diving" ?
(some hotels even have a long pier all the way to the house reef...)
Of course we'd start by doing a couple of dives with someone who knows the waters etc, but do most of the latter dives independently?
Thanks for everyone contributing!
Cheers
Matti

matti_owd:

Hi all,
we are new to diving - just got our OWD done - and planning a trip to Egypt, Hurgada/Safaga or Marsa Alam.

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Good choice!

matti_owd:

I was wondering if you can just go and rent a scuba bottles, grab your stuff, walk to the beach and start exploring house reef etc,

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Nope

matti_owd:

or do you really need to pay x amount of Euros for "House reef diving" or "shore diving" ?
(some hotels even have a long pier all the way to the house reef...)

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It's not Bonaire here... sorry... The diving is restricted by law, enforced by the Coast Guard who issue the permission.

matti_owd:

Of course we'd start by doing a couple of dives with someone who knows the waters etc, but do most of the latter dives independently?

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You say you are just qualified as OWD... maybe you should get some dives under your belt before going explore diving on a unfamiliar place ;o)

Hope you get a good holiday. check out WELCOME TO AZIAB for more details regarding diving in the Red Sea and how things work here.

.......anders.......

Thanks Anders!
And thanks for the link, there's plenty of good quality info on the site
Cheers
Matti

The shore diving in Hurghada is pretty poor. The best diving is by day boat. If you are keen on shore diving Dahab is nice.

Yes you can, sort of, but you still need to register at a dive center and deposit your diver licence. In numbers reading from my various invoices:
At El Quseir FlamencoDiving.de request you to make a check dive. After that they will cart the bottle and gear to the house shore or jetty. One of the assistants will remain on standby to pick-up the bottles and the gear. Charges are € 12-17 per dive depends on the dive centre and how many dives you do total . You also pay Coast Guard charges € 10 per 7 day period and reef charges € 1 per dive. Ditto- for Orca Dive Club at Dahab.
However if you have less than 22 dives they want you to pay for a guide € 5 per dive ( € 20 for a private guide)
For a novice OWD diver like you, give or take a few € you need to budget € 275 for a 5 day/10dive period.
It would be a little less expensive to book your diving together with your holiday package, TUI, Bucherer, FTI have this on offer, not sure about L' TUR.
Just a word of caution: take it easy, you will be surprised how little you know about diving just out of OWD school, you are potentially a real danger to yourself on your own until you get some solid experience.
Happy diving.

Thanks guys, I think this info benefits not only me but other readers, too.
Cheers
Matti

Matti,

Try these guys. If you want low stress shore and RIB diving on the house reef, this is it.

RED SEA DIVING SAFARI - The Eco-diving Adventure - Booking : Book us through your local travel agent

If you are in Germany, ideally you need to find a local travel agent who will put together a low cost package. I don't think they have a German dive travel agent listed on their web site, but I know when I've been there in the past there have been Germans there (I traveled there from CH but booked via a UK travel agent).

Hope this helps.

Chris

nickjb:

The shore diving in Hurghada is pretty poor. The best diving is by day boat. If you are keen on shore diving Dahab is nice.

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Best man to talk to about Dahab I would say is Red Sea Shadow here on SB.

.......a.......

Thanks Samaka

I'd be glad to answer your inquiries about Dahab.

Thanks guys.
I already went ahead and booked a trip to Hurghada around the christmas time, so that means more like boat diving...
Maybe next time Dahab, then
Cheers
Matti