Top 10 scuba diving sites in Egypt

James    scubadivingholidays, Top 10s     Egypt, red Sea, Scuba Diving, scuba diving holidays, Scuba diving in Egypt, Sharm el sheikh

When it comes to the top places in the world to dive, the Red Sea is always on the podium. But once you get out to Egypt, you’ll find so many scuba diving sites you’ll be a little spoiled for choice, so it’s worth reading up before you leave.

Dive the Thistlegorm in Egypt. Image: Flickr/ SarahDepper.

Dives vary, and there’s some legendary wreck dives as well as reef dives to try. Scuba diving holidays are popular, still it’s always wise to take advice and instruction throughout your underwater life.

There’s always beginner courses available, and for those who’d rather sit it out, the region has much more to offer than just diving.

Check out ten of the best places to dive in Egypt.

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Scuba Gear: Buying your BCD

James    Scuba Gear, scubadivingholidays     BCD, diving, Diving Courses, Diving Holidays, PADI, Scuba, Scuba Diving, scuba diving holidays, Scuba equipment, Scuba gear

You’ve got your licence, you’ve done some dives, and now you’re looking at scuba gear. Buying your BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) is a real step in taking your scuba diving seriously so it’s worth researching.

BCD before it's set up to dive. Photo: Flickr/Aenneken

No doubt you’ve used a few brands already, and if you’ve picked up the sport on scuba diving holidays you’ll know there’s hundreds to choose from.

So, to stop you drowning in information and to ensure you stay afloat of the latest developments, here are some things to think about before you make that purchase.

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Top 10 Scuba Diving Sites in France

James    scubadivingholidays, Top 10s     diving, Diving Holidays, diving in France, Scuba Diving, scuba diving holidays, scuba diving in France

Last week I sent a friend a text for some tips on fine French diving. He misread it and gave me the address of a Bistro on the Rue de Rivali. Let’s be honest, our Gallic cousins are best known for their gastronomy, but the country boasts almost as many great places to dive as to dine.

Scuba diving in France Image: © ATOUT FRANCE/Palomba Robert

So if you like your moules to be found clinging to the side of wrecks and prefer your fish swimming off the Cote D’Azur rather than swimming in garlic, check out our “menu touristique” of the top 10 scuba diving sites in France.

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Scuba Diving Holidays : Don’t Drink and Dive!

James    scubadivingholidays     diving, PADI, Scuba, Scuba Diving, scuba diving holidays, Scuba diving in Egypt, Scuba Diving Tips

If your going to have a drink then don’t get behind the wheel. Equally important should be the message to everyone with a PADI qualification off on scuba diving holidays to lay of the juice before they head below the waves: An obvious message but one that sometimes is not taken seriously.

Diving in Egypt leave the booze till later. Image Flickr/Derek Keats

For many, the whole concept of a holiday is to go somewhere hot on the coast and pass the time either in the water or at the bar – looking out the window onto a drizzly, cold, grey European winter, who came blame them.

However, if part of your holiday by the sea involves scuba diving then you have to take responsibility over your condition before you go swimming with the fishes, or you may find yourself down there for good…

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Adventure sports you never heard of: Yak Polo

James    trekkingholidays     Adventure Sports, Adventure Travel, Afghanistan, pakistan, Polo, Yak

In a new, occasional series by James from Untamed Borders Ltd, he explains the basics of less well-known adventure sports. Using the classic journalistic trick of a fake interview, he explains the history of ….Yak Polo

So what is Yak Polo?

It’s polo, but instead of horses, the players ride yaks.

Why yaks?

In the high mountainous areas of the Hindu Kush and Pamir ranges in southern Tajikistan, north east Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, horses struggle to cope with the rarefied air in altitudes over 3500 m. The local people of these regions have taken to using yaks to play polo rather than horses.

Yak Polo - popular in the Hindu Kush

People play polo in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Sure. Polo comes from the mountainous regions of northern Pakistan and was adopted by the British Army to keep the cavalry fit. The matches are a far cry from the Hurlingham Club. There are no champagne tents, high heels or blokes in blazers called Tarquin. Just huge, dusty polo fields with tea tents and samosa stalls.

The rules are different too. Pakistan polo, also known as frontier polo, allows players to check each others sticks and each team has designated chuckers who restart the game if the ball goes out. It is not uncommon to have pitch invasions and general mayhem with players and horses coming off injured.

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Ski Touring? Why skiing without ski lifts isn’t rubbish.

James    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     off piste, ski holidays, ski resort, ski touring, Skiing, Skiing Holidays

In the first of a new occasional series explaining the basics of less well-known adventure sports, we use the classic journalistic trick of a fake interview to give a basic overview of the activity, starting with SKI TOURING

So, What is Ski touring?

Ski touring is skiing without lifts. Using special bindings you can hike up and then ski down slopes and make cross country routes.

Ski Touring and free from the slopes. Image Flickr/ Stephan Mantler

So it’s like skiing but with no ski lifts? Sounds rubbish.

If you think of it purely as hugely inconvenient regular skiing then you’d be right. The ski touring experience has more in common with hiking but with the added bonus of having a lot more fun on the downward sections.

I’ve tried walking up hills in skis. You just slide backwards!

With ski touring you attach a grippy felt layer called a skin on the bottom of each ski. The skins, which were made from seal skin in the old days, ensure that you can grip the snow with the bottom of the skis and can easily walk up slopes. You then take off the skin when you want to ski down.

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The world’s top 3 dive sites

James    scubadivingholidays     diving, Diving Holidays, diving sites, Scuba Diving, shark diving, snorkelling

What makes a great dive site. Fish? Wrecks? Clear blue water? Here is my choice for the best three places in the world to rubber up and get wet.

3 – The Great Blue Hole – Caye Caulker – Belize

There are many Blue Holes around the world but this is the best. The reef at 14m is great but in the centre is the hole that drops 150m throughit. At 25m there is an overhang with stalactites and stalagmites as well as reef and hammerhead lemon sharks welcoming you into this strange subterranean world. With 60-metre visibility, water doesn’t get much clearer than this paradise for divers.

2 – The Thistlegorm – Ras Mohamed – Red Sea – Egypt

In 1941 a Scottish supply ship went down off the coast of the Sinai Peninsular. The Allied Forces loss was a wreck diver’s gain. This 131-metre long wreck contains all its original cargo including rifles, trucks and even full train carriages. It lies in only 20 metres of water, on a fish-covered reef in the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea. And there is over 30 metres of visibility. The currents can be strong around the wreck so it has some technical challenges too.

1 – Barracuda Point – Sipadan Island – Malaysia

Sipadan is a Mecca for divers. Limited numbers of permits ensures this tropical dive island remains an isolated paradise with 14 main dive sites, many of which could make a top ten list. Barracuda Point is alive with white tip sharks, clown fish, countless turtles, parrot fish and many more. An incredible diversity of fish inhabit this wall of reef that that drops off 2000ft into the abyss below. It gets its name from the swarms of Barracuda that hang like a silver living.