DIVE TRIP TO EGYPT – El Gouna – (7 days) Sat 12 Sept 20 to Sat 19 Sept 20 - 7 Days

Overview

We are running a flexible September 2020 trip to El Gouna, Hurghada, Egypt for the dates Saturday 12 September 2020 to Saturday 19 September 2020 which has amazing diving. All the information you require for the trip is below to include accommodation and prices. The group has been to Egypt many times before it was fantastic. Egypt is a great option for early in the year due to weather and water temperature. The diving in El Gouna, Hurghada is excellent and one of the best dive locations in the world including many fantastic dive sites . You can dive with Dolphins.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED YOU CAN EMAIL ME ON [email protected] TO CONFIRM YOUR INTEREST and also RSVP.

IF YOU HAVE DATES IN MIND LET ME KNOW PRIOR TO ANY BOOKING OF FLIGHTS SO WE CAN CHECK AVAILABILITY OF DIVING ETC…

COVID 19 POLICY & INFORMATION

A strict hygiene and safety action plan has been implemented. The dive centre and the Hotel accommodation have very strict covid 19 policies in place which have been taken to give tourists peace of mind. The dive centre is also a very large professional dive centre and therefore have the resources and facilities to ensure that all steps are taken to ensure all travelers have a safe and enjoyable holiday. The travelers can go on the holiday with the knowledge that the accommodation and dive providers will be taken all the steps they can to provide a safe environment to include some of the following processes –

1. Non-contact temperature checks are done daily for all hotel staff and guests.
2. All surfaces and high touch points are frequently sanitized
3. Public seating to allow for social distancing and also sanitized after every use to include sun loungers.
4. Restaurants allow for social distancing and only set menu allowed to prevent buffet style food
5. Sanitizer dispensers at key locations throughout the resort and the dive centre.
6. All rooms sanitized throughout every day.

Easyjet Covid Policy is as follows –

Easyjet like most of the main airlines have taken many positive steps with respect to sanitisation and helping people remain safe and healthy. Many steps have been taken to allow people to fly with confidence. You will find the steps which have been taken on the Easyjet website.  These includes full industrial sanitisation of the aircraft after each flight and the usual covid 19 protocols to ensure safety. As a group we will also take the steps to ensure everyone is comfortable and follow guidance and policies which have ben put in place to help us all.

El Gouna

El Gouna (“the Lagoon”) is a tourist resort, developed and owned by Sawiris’ Family, Samih Sawiris and Orascom Hotels and Development, dating from about 1990. It is located on the Red Sea in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt, 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Hurghada. It is part of the Red Sea Riviera. El Gouna specializes in watersports, including scuba diving, windsurfing, kitesurfing, waterskiing, parasailing and snorkelling. There are two main beaches: Zeytuna Beach located on its own island and Mangroovy Beach. A network of canals allows many houses to have their own strip of beach, even hundreds of metres inland. Most of these canals are crossed by small stone bridges. There are three centralized areas in El Gouna, housing shops, bars and restaurants: Downtown, Tamr Henna square and the Abu Tig Marina. There are 18 hotels (some of which were designed by the American architect Michael Graves) with 2,895 rooms rated from one star to five stars. A six-star hotel is currently under development next to the Abu Tig Marina Extension. The town also houses a small museum with some 90 exhibits (including statue replicas and an exhibition hall of contemporary Egyptian paintings by Hussein Bikar) which opened in 1996.

Other attractions and activities around town include a small aquarium, a go-kart track, a paintball arena, tennis courts, horse stables and a football stadium. The local football team El Gouna FC currently (as of 2010) plays in the Egyptian Premier League. It also has a Coptic Church, the Church of St. Mary and the Archangels.

Accommodation

The Accommodation Available will be based at El Gouna Marina. The accommodation is a 4 star resort which has recieved very good reviews and is based where the day boats depart for the diving. The dive centre is also based a short distance from the hotel and you also have the option of being collected by the dive club every morning if preferred at 07:45am. The below are pictures of the accommodation so people can see the quality of the same.

The price of the accommodation for 7 nights is as follows:

Based on two sharing – Sharing a Twin Double Room – £240.00 includes breakfast every morning

Single Occupancy could be more expensive.

Diving (further info on available dive sites can be found below)

The diving will be with the same dive club we used last year we went to Egypt because the feedback was very good.

The diving costs will be as follows:

5 days diving which includes (2 dives, tanks, weights, fuel surcharge) Additional dives will be available each day but will be charged extra.

Price of the diving will be in the region of £265.00 for 5 days diving. All divers will be booking 5 days diving so we can stay together as a group.

If you were interested in doing the PADI Advanced or PADI Open Water Referral then this is an option but please check with me first. We already have 2 divers completing courses on this trip and they already have flights.

Full equipment hire with computer is in the region of £25.00 per day but will not be required on days where you will be completing a PADI Course and equipment is included.

Flights

Currently the best flights are with Easy Jet. The price at present is £210.00 therefore if you do want to join the trip it is best to decide quickly and let me know so we can give you the go ahead to book the flights to ensure you get on this flight.

Flight details are as follows:

If you have any questions please let me know. Please also check with my by email on [email protected] if required. Do not book flights until given green light on rest of the package availability. This will be confirmed once you RSVP.

Dive Sites in Area

Abu Nuhas

About 2 hours cruising time from El Gouna lies the reef of Abu Nuhas – “The father of bad luck”, so called because of the number of ships that have hit this reef over the years. The reef is to the north of Shaidwan Island, close to the main shipping channel from Suez and usually partially submerged making it dangerous for shipping.

Among the many ships that have hit the north side of the reef, 4 remain as diveable wrecks for recreational divers. Starting from the north they are:

Kimon M – known as the “Lentil Wreck”, the ship now lies against the reef with the bows pointing up the reef. The wreck starts at around 10 meters with a maximum depth of around 25 meters at the stern.

Chrisoula K – the “Tile Wreck”, referred to in some guides as the “Marcus”, another tile carrying ship, which is now believed to lie further from the reef in 65 meters. The bow of the Chrisoula K is in 5 meters with the broken off stern in around 26 meters. This is a very easy wreck for the novice wreck diver due to the shallow area at the bow and the gently increasing depth down to the stern. The cargo of floor tiles can be seen clearly in the open holds.

Carnatic – the “wine ship”, which hit the reef and sank in 1869 on her way from Suez to India with a cargo of port wine and gold and silver bullion. The wreck is broken in 2 pieces and lies on its side on the reef with a depth range of 12 to 24 meters. The wreck is known for its huge bronze propeller and the beautiful corals that cover it after over 140 years on the sea bed.

Ghiannis D – the “wooden ship,” which was carrying a cargo of timber bound for Saudi Arabia. Stranded on the reef, the ship broke its back during a storm and sank in two pieces. The stern section has twin masts that reach up to 5 meters from the surface with the stern at 24 meters. The engine room can be visited by suitably qualified divers.

In addition to the wrecks it is also possible to dive on the other side of the reef at a site known as Paradise, which has a plateau with a huge coral garden and a drop off into deeper water.

Siyul Kebira (Big Siyul)

This is a small low lying island around one and a half hours north of El Gouna. The island has a reef completely surrounding it and has two main dive sites:

Siyul Kebira – a beautiful dive at the north east corner of the island where there is a chance to find leopard sharks sleeping on the sandy bottom. Turtles, giant puffer fish, lion fish and moray eels can often be seen here. The highlight of the dive is a small pinnacle at the turning point of the dive, which has lovely soft corals and is home to thousands of glass fish and small moray eels. The return to the boat is like swimming in an aquarium due to the abundance of marine life. When there is a strong north current this dive can be done as a drift, passing the pinnacle en route to the moored dive boat.

El Gilwa – on the south side of the island is El Gilwa, so called because the reef here is not contiguous and has sandy patches between large coral blocks. There are 3 separate mooring points here allowing 4 different dives depending on the direction of the current, or a drift along the whole area. The reef blocks are very beautiful with a wide variety of hard and soft corals and a huge variety of marine life. The central mooring allows access to a beautiful pinnacle covered in wonderful corals and vast numbers of glass fish. The observant diver has the chance to find the elusive sea-moths in the sandy areas around this pinnacle.

Siyul Soraya (Small Siyul)

Although, as its name suggests, this is the smaller of the two Siyul islands, it has a much larger reef surrounding it. A dive can be made on the south side of the reef, either a drift or from the moored dive boat. Alternatively the dive boat enters the lagoon through a narrow channel in the reef and the divers make their way back through the channel and dive on the outside of the reef.

Shabroah Siyul (Blind Reef)

The name means that this is a reef in the middle of the sea, but close to the island of Siyul. It is also known as Blind Reef because at high tide it is submerged and can be difficult to find. The sea around the reef reaches depths in excess of 50 meters, the reef gently sloping down to around 20 meters before dropping more steeply into the blue. There is the chance to see larger fish such as tuna and barracuda passing in the blue here. Small pinnacles along the drop off abound with smaller fish and there is a good chance to see lion fish and moray eels and maybe a crocodile fish hiding in he sand.

Ghayna

This dive site to the north east of El Gouna features a shallow plateau with many pinnacles, coral formations and a large coral garden. Only visited in calm weather, it is sometimes possible to see reef sharks here because of the infrequent boat traffic.

Shaab El Erg

Literally this means the corals and the pinnacles. This is horseshoe shaped reef over 5 km long directly east from El Gouna. The lagoon behind the reef is home to a large number of Bottlenose Dolphins and although they roam throughout this area of the Red Sea, this reef system is the best chance for divers and snorkelers to see them in the wild. There are seven or more dives possible here the most common being:

Dolphin House – situated at the northern end of the reef the dive site consists of the main reef the large coral block, or gotta, next to it and the channel between them. Two dives are made here every Thursday on different parts of the site. The channel is used by dolphins travelling in and out of the lagoon and a memorable underwater encounter is the highlight of a dive here. In addition this dive site is home to turtles, moray eels, napoleon wrasse, crocodile fish, rays, large shoals of goat fish, cornet fish, scorpion fish and many colorful corals can be seen on the reef, gotta and the small pinnacles found here.

Poseidon Garden – this dive is on a large coral block in the lagoon behind the main reef. There is a very large coral garden next to the reef consisting of huge table corals and brain corals. Between and on the corals, clams of many sizes and colors can be seen, plus large numbers of masked puffer fish. Large shoals of banner fish and butterfly fish can always be seen here. This dive is also often done as a drift so that more of the coral formations can be visited.

Manta Point – this dive site is on the outside of the reef close to the lighthouse at the centre of the reef. Turtles, moray eels and most types of Red Sea fish can be seen here, possibly even a reef shark, as well as the possibility of Mantas in season.

Abu Nugar

Abu Nugar means the father of the holes, or the pools and refers to the holes in the main reef here. There are also some larger blocks of coral, or gottas, in this shallow water area. There are many possible dives in this area, the most common being:

Erg Abu Nugar – this dive site consists of a series of pinnacles with a gotta at one end and a very large pinnacle at the other. The dive boat can be moored at either end of the site. This is a shallow dive site, max depth 14 meters, but there is a great variety of marine life to see. The pinnacles are covered in beautiful corals and smaller reef fish, with cornet fish, tuna, jackfish and occasionally barracuda hunting them. In the coral garden around the pinnacles there is a chance to see rays, puffer fish and maybe a turtle. Dolphins are often visitors to this dive site.

Gotta Abu Nugar North – this dive site is known for the ledge running out to sea, which divers cross in about 6 meters on their way to and from the large coral garden. The ledge is covered in very colorful hard corals and clams in varying sizes and colors. The coral garden is more like a coral landscape than the traditional coral garden and there is a chance to spot an eagle ray, barracuda or even dolphins out along the ridges.

Abu Galawa

Abu Galawa means the sweet father and is named by the fisherman as the reef provides a safe haven in rough seas. The reef system lies to the south of El Gouna towards Hurghada and has several well visited dive sites:

Marsa Abu Galawa – marsa means the port and describes the mooring area, which is a sheltered lagoon between the main reef and a large gotta. The dive site features a shallow sandy plateau, a drop-off going down to 40+ meters and a shallow reef wall. The site also has 2 eel gardens. Because of the reef topography, after leaving the lagoon divers find that they have the current with them on both outward and return legs.

Sacqua Abu Galawa – Sacqua means the fisherman’s box and describes the small lagoon cut into the reef where the boats moor. This dive can be done as an out-and-back from the moored boat, or a drift dive down the reef ending at the moored boat. Another small lagoon, with large flat pinnacle, further up the reef is visited on both types of dive and is a haven for all types of Red Sea life including possibly a turtle.

Shaabaha – “the female ghost”, so called because it is large reef plate lying about 5 meters below the surface and seems to appear out of nowhere to an unsuspecting boat skipper. The maximum depth here is around 13 meters making one circuit around the reef. The reef is covered in hard and soft corals and all kinds of reef fish, moray eels, rays, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, turtles and possibly dolphins can be seen here.

Anchor – Named for the large anchor resting near the pinnacle where the dive boat is moored. Moving away from this pinnacle, divers cross a coral garden to a series of pinnacles with great corals and large number of reef fish etc.

El Fanadir

Literally the islands, named for the small rocky islands at the north end of this long reef situated just outside Hurghada. This is a long reef that can be dived at either the North or South ends. The topography of both dives is similar with a sandy plateau next to the reef leading to a drop off to over 40 meters. The dive sites harbor most of the marine life seen in this area, especially lion fish and moray eels and the chance to spot jack fish and tuna passing in the blue.

Umm Gamar

The Mother of the Moon, so called because this small island to the south east of El Gouna is crescent shaped when viewed from above. The sea bed in this can be 100 meters down and most of the dive takes place on a sloping drop off. Umm Gammar is famous for the chance to spot free-swimming moray eels in daytime. There is also the chance to see large tuna, great barracuda and possibly an eagle ray out in the blue.

Shabroah Umm Gamar

This is a piece of reef in the open sea close to Umm Gammar. The topography of the dive site is similar to Umm Gammar, but has the added attraction of a wrecked patrol boat starting at 24 meters. The two engines are easily seen and other small pieces of wreckage are scattered over the reef.

Careless Reef

This is the furthest dive site to the south of El Gouna, in the open sea and unprotected in bad weather. There are 2 large pinnacles standing on a plateau starting at 10 meters and drop offs on all sides. There is the chance to see all types of marine life on the pinnacles or the smaller pinnacles on the plateau and the possibility of spotting a reef shark on quiet days.

Special Trips from El Gouna

Rosalie Moller

Built in Glasgow in 1910, this 108.2m long vessel started life carrying cargo around Europe, before being re-registered in China in 1931. In 1938 the Rosalie Moller was requisitioned by the Royal Navy, transporting ‘Best Welsh Coal’ to a variety of UK Naval Ports. After joining the War effort – and a full overhaul – in July 1941 ‘The Rosie’ set sail for Alexandria laden with 4680 tons of coal. A collision in the Suez Canal meant that she was unable to pass through, and was directed to ‘Safe Anchorage H’ until the way was cleared. On 5th October 1941, German Intelligence had reports of the Queen Mary being sighted in this area, and dispatched 2 Heinkel HE111’s on a search and destroy mission. The Queen Mary was never found, but the merchant ship ‘SS Thistlegorm’ was, and was bombed and sunk on October 6th. The explosion from the Thistlegorm was so massive, that it lit up the night sky, exposing ‘Rosie’ in Anchorage H. 48hrs later on 7th October, the same fate was delivered to Rosalie Moller.
Today the Rosalie Moller sits upright on the seabed with the main deck at 30-32 meters. Apart from a hole in the port side near the stern, where the bomb exploded, the only other major damage is the collapsed funnel and the stern mast, which was broken off more recently due to dive boats tying onto it. The wreck is home to large groupers and lion fish and a huge number of glass fish. Large tuna and jack fish patrol the wreck in search of smaller fish.

Transfer time: just over 2 hours by boat, depending on weather.
Depth: Between 16 – 50m
Minimum qualification: Experienced diver certified to dive to 40m.
Supplement: 35 Euro

Salem Express

The ‘Salem Express’ is a wreck with a tragic history. Built in 1966, not much is known of the history of the ship, other than disaster struck her close to midnight, on 15th December 1991.

The Salem was packed with passengers returning from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, bound for the port of Safaga, when on that fateful night she struck one of the banks of coral that just break the surface south of Hyndman Reef (near Sha’b Shear), off Safaga in the Egyptian Red Sea. It was a stormy night and rescue teams failed to help. The collision gouged out a hole in the forward part of the hull, causing the stern door to burst open.

The ferry very quickly began to take on water and in only a matter of minutes she had sunk. There are claims that the number of passengers actually aboard the Salem when she sank was much, much higher than the official count of 690, with only 180 survivors. There may have been as many as 1600 people who perished in the tragedy, but many different counts have been provided. However many unfortunates perished, it should be noted that this is a grave as well as a wreck and must be treated with the utmost respect.

Depth: 30m
Minimum qualification: PADI AOW or equivalent.
Supplement: 50 Euro

Special Trip Marsa Abu Dabab

This fantastic shore dive is perfect for divers and non-divers alike.

Because this site is not especially deep – 2m-15m – non diving partners will love the opportunity to just sunbathe or have a refreshing dip in the bay of Marsa Abu Dabab and is the perfect opportunity to snorkel in the shallow waters. But don’t feel left out as a diver, as you are pretty much guaranteed to see HUGE green turtles grazing in the Poseidon Grass meadows, and the possibility of an encounter with Denis, the resident dugong. Also very commonly spotted are Guitar Sharks and even Eagle and Manta rays have been sighted on a ‘fly by’!

Photographers and Macro marine life lovers will also delight in this dive, as the Poseidon grass is a great place to spot Seahorse, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Red Sea Walkman and more!

Bring a camera!

After an early pick up you will travel by air-conditioned coach down to Marsa Abu Dabab, around 3 hours transfer time. 2 dives are included, with lunch available between dives at a 5 Euro supplement. Arrive back at around 6pm.

Depth: 16m
Minimum qualification: PADI Open Water or equivalent.
Supplement: 45 Euro