Egypt Travel update

[damiano82]

I dont't think you can hear that in hurghada..In dahab there's absolutely no sound, in sharm i notice that sould really loud in jackfish alley, in tiran last week i didn't notice it...

 

[hotstepper]

Hi everyone, i have made plans to do a divemaster internship in Sharm from july to september..
I have been planning this for about a year and just need to book my flights.
Really excited about doing this but have slightly cold feet in the last few months with all the political changes in the whole region. Sharm seems to be fairly isolated from this being a fairly remote, tourist area? there are some pretty positive posts about sharm and egyptian travel in general.. should I be worried (or more to the point should my mum be worried lol )
also, one of the threads has been talking about work permits...I have been told I dont need one as it is unpaid work.. do you think I would have any problems working without a work permit even though it is training and unpaid? esp if I stay until the end of September or more?
also, i have emailed the egyptian embassy regarding visas but they only sent me infomation regarding getting a visa on arrival that lasts for 30 days...
Can I get an extended stay visa on arrival? or is it a case of extending visa every 30 days? I am an Australian citizen... pleae point me to the right thread if I am asking stupid questions but I guess any slightly older information could be irrelevant with things changing constantly.
cheers!

 

[damiano82]

Tell your mum that you'll be ok, nothing of waht you have seen in tv happend in sharm as in the whole Sinai. So don't worry at all. Sharm is a very busy ( usually I mean...) touristic location with a lots o russian and italian mainly .
About the visa I don't know how it works with Australian but usually ( exept for a few nationality) you'll have an entry visa at the airport ( 15 US dollar, don't pay more, sometimes they ask you 15€...), and after one month you have to go to Tur Sinai and renew the visa ( for 6 months or 1 year ) ; this will cost aroud 120 le ( less than 20€ ).
About the working permission, suppose to be illegal working without it, and even guiding people as you do in your training... by the way I don't think they let you go on the boat only with your group of customer. I mean that you'll have another group with you and the guide will have the cdws ( the licence that allowed you to work) , and you will figure as a customer... this is what they usually do.
Getting a working visa at the moment and specially for a months is really difficult...

 

[Ste Wart]

Damiano is pretty spot on

Although D, why didn't you suggest he goes to Dahab instead?

You'll have a much more chilled DM, less Sharm hastle and a cheaper living cost. Plus it's easier to shop around in Dahab to see which dive centre suits you best.

 

[damiano82]

well in Dahab off course the life is easier, there's less problem with work permit ( and over that after your training you can have some work around and be paid for that...) and the training for the Dive master Level could be more intresting and more challenging, specially if you do that with me....
If you are intrestead I can give you more info about our DC and about Dahab.

 

[hotstepper]

well in Dahab off course the life is easier, there's less problem with work permit ( and over that after your training you can have some work around and be paid for that...) and the training for the Dive master Level could be more intresting and more challenging, specially if you do that with me....
If you are intrestead I can give you more info about our DC and about Dahab.

thanks guys, yeah, would be interested to hear more about Dahab... its a more backpacker, chilled area with Sharm being more expensive/ resort style?

I was offered an internship in Sharm through SB and have been in touch with that dive shop, its over 3 months so figured I would get a better idea of DM work rather than just a cert. With the dive shop being affiliated with big name resorts/ hotels I was assuming a good standard of dive centre/ instructors.
Hoping for good instructors and good diving! maybe a quiet season is better for learning?!

cheers

 

[damiano82]

Well, as ypu said sharm is more resort life.... dahab, is very different.... is a small town only 10 km of coast, there a few resort, but mainly you have small hotels with 20 or 30 rooms, every hotel is located to sea side and the promenade connect all of them.
It is nice on my opinion because you can live here without a car, walking is enought.

About the course what we usually do ( as almost everybody does here) is not an intership, but is the classical DM course, wich you can complete it in 3 week if you are very good ( specially in theory, 'cause you have to study, about water work, is another story, there is the instructor responsability...) + a couples of more weeks of leaning the dive spots properly and than you can work.... Of course will be not easy to find work immediatly ( the dc are smaller here, and really often 1 instructor is enought for a dc), but at leats you can make money over the experience....
About the life here will be easier for some kind of view ( everything is really close to everything, you don't need a car, the rent of houses is cheap), for other kind of view, compared to Sharm , sometimes I think that I live in a jungle.... but it's only a point of you.

 

[Ste Wart]

I was offered an internship in Sharm through SB and have been in touch with that dive shop, its over 3 months so figured I would get a better idea of DM work rather than just a cert. With the dive shop being affiliated with big name resorts/ hotels I was assuming a good standard of dive centre/ instructors.
Hoping for good instructors and good diving! maybe a quiet season is better for learning?!D

A quiet season is definitely better for learning. The last thing you want is your instructor tired and cranky, he'll be in no mood to start answering your physics questions.
If you do an internship it's up to you how long it takes to finish. You are the one who does the exams, you can set your own timetable. I know people who've racked up over 100 dives on their DM courses (the're taking the p*ss, but it happens)

You'll find the instructors in Dahab are much more chilled than their Sharm counterparts. Everything in Dahab is much more relaxed. You get to be in the shop at 9, rather than gathering people on the bus before 8am. Work is done by 5 if you're slacking. On night dives you can hear your mates mocking you from the pub opposite the entrance to the Lighthouse.
Basically it's a friendly atmosphere. And Dahab is easy to make contacts. The instructors drink mainly in one bar (funnily I frequented another) but you get chatting and hey presto, a little networking and you get work after your DM. Easy.

If you need a good shop PM me and I'll send you the lowdown on a few. As I don't work there anymore I can be brutally honest about a few

 

[String]

Hurghada is far from dead...

disturbing seismic surveys? YES and really smegging annoying they are as well. A Saudi Arabian oil company - Aramco - is pounding the sea bed looking for natural gas. They are somewhere behind Sanafir island (just east of Tiran) and youcan hear the shockwave every 15 seconds. The intensity varies depending on the location of the dive, currents and thermoclines, but it can be unpleasant. I don't know if people are hearing it in Hurghada.

Have these things started back up again? Today at Gabr El Bint extremely loud bangs and corresponding shockwaves at the rate of 4-5 per minute for an hour constantly. An initial bang and shockwave felt then 2 or 3 weaker echos after each one. So strong it was a bit unpleasant swimming and we did at one point wonder about the safety of our ear drums.

Given the power of the concussion even there i cant begin to imagine the damage caused to marine life within 20-30 miles of that.

Also 2 weeks ago at Moray Gardens here people heard the same thing starting at exactly 11am for an hour then again at exactly 2pm for another hour.

 

[Crowley]

I was in Dahab on Tuesday (Canyon/Blue Hole) and Tiran yesterday and didn't hear anything. Sounds very similar to the banging we heard earlier in the year. The big rig appeared for a few days and then disappeared as abruptly as it arrived so it's possible they've relocated elsewhere.

I hope it's not back, because it made life thoroughly unpleasant for six months.

C.