Click on picture thumbnails for more details.
Diving in the Red Sea over the years posed many challenges aside from the actual underwater un-knowns. Changes in the political situation, changes in local customs and areas of influence, changes in "Dive Boat" availability, and acceptance in neighbors waters, meant we always had to be flexible to meeting changing conditions.".
Our first trip to the Red Sea started on an ominous note. The TWA flight from New York to Tel Aviv, Israel, the day before we left had been hijacked and sat at Lebanons airport with all passengers hostage! Our flight, however, was uneventful. Our usual departure point for diving the Red Sea was the Israeli sea port of Eilat, situated on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. There we boarded the Fantasea I, (Later the Fantasea II) for our diving expeditions. For the first few years we were able to dive along the Sinai, coast (Particularly Marsa Uquabila) on our way down to the Strait of Tiran, and Sharm El Sheik, Egypt. In those days it was not uncommon to be hailed by a "scrufty" fishing boat and be boarded by Egyptian "policemen" dressed in nothing more than a bathing suit with a pistol stuck in the waistband..."Passports, passports." Later on the check-in and out of Naval Base Sharm (To get permission to dive in Egyptian waters), became more uncertain. Twice we were foreced to return from Sharm El Sheik while the Dive Boat was detained in port. That is how we happened to see Cairo. (Egypt Airways from Sharm to Cairo, with intermediate stops, to catch an International flight back to USA). Other times we were forced to take Taxis (No airconditioning) for the over desert route back to Eilat. After 1989, we were pretty much restricted to diving on the badly danaged "Temple" site, Ras Mouhamed (The Shark Observatory) Alternatives, and points south like "The Brothers", "Daedelious", and "Zabergad". Once, we were given permission to dive again on "Marsa Uquabila". To do so we had to use an Egyptian Flag boat out of Sharm El Sheik. It was a near disastrous trip!, but we did made it back to Sharm. Sad to say, that even in that remote spot the underwater environment had been totally changed probably by the intrusion of nutrient rich effluents from a new Potash built in Saudi Arabia, accross the Gulf of Aqaba. Please click on the various thumbnails above, and relive with us, some of the sights and experiences we had over that 10 year period.