Egypt: Marsa Alam, El Ghouna

15.04.2003-22.04.2003

Now for a really fun adventure even if was only for a week. We flew to Hurghada and went by car south for about 2 1/2 hour to a dive camp just north of Marsa Alam where we could dive as much as we wanted in the beautiful waters of the Red Sea. We stayed in a nice little hut overlooking the sea and the camp and it was only a short walk to the restaurant and the dive shop. Then we explored the local reef and got the feel for the area (had to use 10kg due to the thick wetsuit and high salinity). All meals were buffet and as we all ate together it was very social and interesting due to the number of different nationalities. Most of our dives were what we called truck dives as it was easier to drive there and very easy to get into the water. We also managed a night dive on the house reef which was a very easy dive and interesting too.


Another fantastic trip was to Dolphin House, we drove south past the city of Marsa Alam towards the Sudanese border and then half an hours boat ride to a U shaped reef where the dolphin swim inside for protection from the sea. It was truly fantastic swimming with about 20 to 30 wild dolphins, watch then interact, play and socialise with the rest of the group. After about 30 to 45 minutes we moved to the outer rim of the reef where we had a relaxing and beautiful dive. Our last day of diving we went by a small boat to the reef Elphinstone, even being seasick this was magic, 20 to 30 minutes boat ride from shore Elphinstone stands alone with beautiful coral, thousand of fish everywhere (Goldie's), and large fish, such as sharks, it just never ends. We hung out in the blue for a while watching a grey reef shark cruise around before we decided to explore the reef, it was sometimes hard to see the reef due to the amount of Goldie's but we managed to see lot's of creature's and had a great dive. The trip to shore was never ending as we both were very seasick at the time. (this is where we meet an English couple who told use about Froggies divers on Bunaken in Indonesia).
Then it was time to pack again for the long trip to Hurghada where spent the night in a not so Egyptian area (El Ghouna) that was only for tourists which really was not very nice and you really get the sound, smell and feel of Egypt.

Pictures: Pictures from Marsa Alam