When traveling in Egypt, don't forget proof of who you are...

Hi,

It has been a while and I'll try to catch up this week on the blogs. Quite a bit is to be blogged about.

So I went to Sharm el-Sheikh last weekend, it was the second time this month. First I went with my family to Sharm, about which I will blog in another post. Last weekend I went with what turned out to be 'buddies' of mine as we went scuba diving.
Last Wednesday I went to Maadi Divers in Maadi, Cairo. They're on road 218, which is walking distance from my apartment, but only because Maadi is a rather small area in Cairo and pretty much everything here is walking distance. Keep that in mind if you ever plan to live in Cairo. I went there because I had to try on a BCD and a wetsuit for my scuba trip that weekend. And because they needed a photocopy of my passport. And I thought that was it, so on our trip the following day I didn't bring my passport... Oops, there're all kinds of roadblocks on the way from Cairo to Sharm el-Sheikh. My buddies had their passports and ID's ready for the showing, but I had only my driver's license on me.
Sure that has a photo of me on it and a recent one at that, but it doesn't show that I have a valid visa for Egypt. And that is kind of important as well.

So we were stopped quite often between Cairo and Sharm and more than once all passports were requested by the policeman at the roadblock. But for some reason they never questioned the fact that they didn't see a passport for me. Although we were very honest about the fact that I'm Dutch. Guess the Dutch are welcome everywhere or something. Or maybe I was just lucky.

Anyway, after a two nights at the boat on our way back at the very first roadblock they gave us a hard time and all passports were requested and checked. My driver's license was handed over as well. But again, for some reason they didn't get around to check and wonder about that pink little piece of plastic that didn't mean nothing as all text on it is in Dutch. So we got to go on our way back to Cairo.
The interesting thing here is that you can fly into Sharm el-Sheikh and stay there without a visa, but you're not allowed to go to Cairo without a visa, so if you want to leave the Sharm-area, they are very keen on people without a visa and without an Egyptian residents ID. Still I got away with it.

On top of that we got stopped for a speeding violation... guess what. The police officer ran out of tickets and we were told to move along. Guess we got some good karma this weekend.

Anyway, the lesson I learned and would like to convey to you, is that when you move around in Egypt, you should always have your passport with you so you know who you are and have proof of it, but you also have that ever so important visa to show.

Enjoy your stay in Egypt when you get around to visit this interesting country.

Iwan

Scuba diving in Egypt, Marsa Alam.

Hi,

This time I won't blog about a particularly different experience I had here in Egypt. Instead I just want to re-iterate how cool the Red Sea is when it comes to scuba diving (and snorkling for that matter). It is by far the clearest sea I've been diving in. Clearer than the Maldives, which were clear. And in addition the coral is very nice, especially around Marsa Alam, where tourism seems to be limited to divers unlike Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheik. The area is great for shore dives with it's many bays with excellent reefs, which make them also great for snorkling.

But Marsa Alam is also great for boat trips.

Okay, you come here for the coral and the colors and almost guaranteed 25C temperature of the water. That is what the Red Sea is all aboutn plus some real treats in the form of ship wrecks and canyons. But 30+ meter visibility and beautiful corals are the key.
There're no guaranteed sharks, whales or manta's. That's the Maledives, South Africa or the Caribean. No fear induced adrenaline kick, but a call for tranquillity.

I've been here no the second time at the Oasis in Marsa Alam. A dive resort run by Werner Lau and Sinai Divers. Actually I believe the hotel and dive school are independend. Both hotel and dive school are top notch. Rooms are clean, spacey an geared towards divers. There's no night club, so no booming bases to keep you awake while you realize that it'll be hard to wake up at 6 AM for the 'Turtle dive.
The dive center is also very well equiped with good diving materials and very friendly staff. Staff speaks English and German. Again this time, most guests are German speaking (Germans, Swiss and Austrians). It has been a challenge and an exercise for me to pick up my German again. And oh boy, do I have an accent.

These 2 days, 5 dives, have been about nitrox. For the first time I've been using nitrox for all dives and I love it. Especially at the little ays and coves around the Oasis there's hardly a chance you'll go deeper than 30 meters, so you're save. And I have to say, I did really feel a lot fitter after the dives. Even after 3 dives of 60+ minutes on one day. Absolutely something to consider when you're thinking of coming to Marsa Alam and do mainly shore dives. But even on the Maldives, at a shark dive, it would've been beneficial as it would allow me to stay longer at 20 meters. Yup, the EAN specialty is a good one to have.

I don't know where I'll be diving next, but the Egyptian shore of the Mediteranean is definitely something I'll do this year. Now that I am in Egypt, I want to see the historical sites, above and below sea level.

Iwan

PS: I've uploaded some vids of the dive resort, The Oasis, on youtube.