Sharm & Dahab
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The first time I probably heard of Sharm El Sheikh & Dahab was 10 years ago on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree diving forum. Everyone was (and still is) constantly asking the same questions. Where should we dive? Who should we dive with? Where should we stay etc. ad nauseam. All the attention, even way back then, was putting me off the idea of ever going there. The aversion was further reinforced when I saw the first pictures of friends, relatives or others who went there (or Hurghada) and all I could see were hotels in the middle of nowhere and dozens of dive boats moored on the same dive site. Not my idea of fun.
It’s all on the opposite side of the scale from what I look for in a holiday and/or diving destination. Too many people, too many hotels & all very fake.
But then the revolution happened, every paranoid fool started avoiding Egypt and their tourism industry tanked. Suddenly there were no crowds in Sharm, suddenly the idea of coming to a dive site and being the only–or one of a few boats–became a reality. Even the boats left running were half full if that. Suddenly the idea of going diving in Egypt didn’t sound so bad. The same hotels and fake feel are still there but the prices are down and crowds are gone. So we seized the opportunity over x-mas and went diving.
Mind you, I was still feeling crowded with what was apparently only about 20% of normal capacity.
We took the easy way out and just got an all inclusive offer @ the Sheraton as the total price was lower than flights alone. Not that we actually took advantage of the “all inclusive” part as the only time we actually spent a substantial portion of the day at the hotel was our last day before the flight. We pretty much went diving straight off the evening flight there and more often than not our dive guide Ahmed picked us up around sunrise and dropped us off in time for dinner. In between we were either on the boat, underwater, in the desert or at Al Mawardi coffee shop.
Perhaps more memorable than the diving (quite nice, especially the Thistlegorm) was the night drive to Dahab and climbing around Wadi Gnai and Wadi Shahira at sunrise. I was always a sucker for the desert.
So was it worth it? Under the circumstances, most definitely. 3 years ago I wouldn’t even dream of it.
Sharm & Dahab underwater slideshow
Some photos copyright by Dejan Kovač, Janez Burkeljca
Sharm & Dahab above water slideshow
