Red Sea Diving BDE

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SEPTEMBER 20-27, 2018

Today we packed up and walked back to the airport from the Le Meridia Hotel and check in for a Domestic Egyptian Air flight, arriving in Hurghada on the Red Sea at about noon. We were met by a representative from “Sea Serpent”, our host for liveaboard diving for the next week. We were early so we ran a few errands around town. Hurghada definitely has the appearance of a third world city with hundreds of condos and resorts partially finished. Brothers, Daedalus, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=253&v=G1WQ27YbFs4

Our medical victim returned with the diagnoses of a kidney stone. Everyone was relieved. Our boat didn’t leave for a few hours. We were surprised they planed a night dive in front of the villa. The reef was spectacular. We felt it deserved a day dive. We ate dinner after eight and promptly fell in bed. Our destination for next morning was Daedelus, the southern most diving destination in the Red Sea.

When we popped out of bed we were surprised to see 14 other dive boats already moored. It also has a light house and is a desert version of a sea mount. Our first dive was a washing machine with mixed currents. Susan had a few problems with her equipment on this dive. Pick up by so many competing zodiacs was chaotic with huge waves and strong current. We skipped the second dive so we only made two. Every dive requires a zodiac entry and exit. Think we saw one shark on our second dive but the wall of the island was grand. We made this dive all the way back to the boat in much calmer water.

We took a long overnight trip to the next destination, Elphinstone . Everyone was offered a sea sick pill and we all slept like a baby.



Today we awoke slightly before 5:30 AM as we went to sleep at 9 PM. This was another deep dive to 100 feet (30 meters). We are within sight of the town of Masa Alam. (This apparently another town built by the Kuwati business man). The coral here is really beautiful! Once again we made it all around the island to our boat. Approaching the ladder was a bit dicey due to choppy seas, We left this site and made a stop at a dive site called El Shouna where we made one very nice dive. Then we sailed north, stopping a local dive site named Little Griffun.

We arrived in Hurghada around 3PM. We decided to go stay at the Marriott Resort instead of one last night on the Sea Serpent. We both agreed that the Red Sea had some excellent diving but the BDE didn’t live up to our expectations. The water was too warm for Hammerheads and Thresher sharks, and frankly. it was a lot of work. For the divers from South Africa and Europe, Zodiac dives in choppy seas to 30-40 meters is the normal profile. The Sea Serpent staff was great and we did have a good time.

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