Marsa Shagra, Egypt
Been a while since I last posted here :D.
I recently returned from a week long diving trip to Marsa Shagra, Egypt, with Reinout and Jeroen. The divesite is run by Red Sea Diving Safari, and is a combination of regular stone buildings and accomodations, and tents. We opted for tents this time around.
When we arrived it was already dark. The transfer from the airport to the village was relaxed, and after we arrived we were first shown towards the restaurant. In the restaurant they serve 3 buffet-style meals a day, all of which were very good, as we learned over the week. After dinner, we checked in, and were guided to our tents.
The tents were relatively simple affairs, but plenty for our needs. Due to their light constructions, they ventilate well, so they cool down quite quickly at night. Night time temperatures were around 30 degrees C.
The next morning we had a checkout dive, and the diving could begin. The way RSDS works is that you buy a diving package, typically for the whole week. Included in the package is unlimited air and lead, unlimited (unguided) dives on the house reef, free use of the zodiac service on the house reef, and two truck dives a day to nearby dive sites along the coast. There’s also a few excursions to other sites like Elphinstone and Dolphin House, at extra costs.
The house reef is stunning, and seems to be very intact, although admittedly I’m hardly an expert. We did one truckdive to Abu Dabbab, but with the house reef being as great as it was, we didn’t feel that was necessary. We typically did 3 dives a day, including a night dive. While we did venture deeper once or twice, we rarely went below 15m.
One extra excursion we made was to Abu Ghusun. This is 90 minute drive by bus, which showed the countryside in detail. Impressive desert, and lots of garbage along the road. The main sight of Abu Ghusun is the Hamadi wreck, a small coaster that carried plastic pellets. The pellets can be found all over the beach. The wreck is covered in he hard and soft corals, and bottoms out at around 18m, so it’s a fairly easy dive for any diver. We made two dives there (and discovered that a wet wetsuit is surprisingly comfy in the desert sun), then had lunch at a restaurant in a nearby mangrove national park.
We saw a lot of beautiful fish, sharks, turtles, squid, murays, lionfish and much much more. The week went by way too fast. I will definately be returning here :D.