EGYPT & THE MAGNIFICENT RED SEA NEWSLETTER: OCTOBER 2007
Trip Review: Wrecks of the Red Sea and the Underwater Palace of Cleopatra in Alexandria
September was a busy month during my travels to Egypt and the Red Sea. My trip to Egypt started with the 11 day inspection tour attended by dive shop owners and travel club leaders that we met at DEMA last year. The group started in Cairo, with stops at the Pyramids of Giza, Saqquara, the Egyptian Museum and Old Cairo. After a few days in Cairo, we traveled to Luxor to check out the West Bank to see the Valley of the Kings and King Tut's tomb and to tour both Luxor and Karnak temples on the East Bank. After our brief visit in Luxor, the group was off to Sharm el Sheikh to check the out diving in the Red Sea off the Sinai Peninsula. Emperor Divers in Sharm took excellent care of our group and during our 3 and one-half days of diving in the Northern Red Sea. The group hit all the major dive sites near Sharm: Ras Mohammed, Straits of Tiran, Jackson Reef, the Thistlegorm. The conditions were excellent and the diving impressed all of the trip participants. After the site inspection group left for home, I joined up with our friends from SCUBA Center in Richmond, Virginia for a Northern Red Sea liveaboard tour. The group toured the Northern Red Sea on the Emperor Superior. Our itinerary was called the Classic Cruise which lived up to its name because our group witnessed some the best wrecks and reefs in the Red Sea including the reefs of Ras Mohammed, Beacon Rock, Gubal Island, Shaab El Erg and the wrecks of the Jolanda, Dunraven, Giannis D, Carnatic, Ulysses and the Thistelgorm. My favorite part of our trip on the Superior was the three dives at the Thistlegorm: 1 afternoon dive; 1 night dive and 1 early morning dive. The Thistlegorm is a British World War II vessel sunk during the war completely full of armaments (BSA motorbikes, Bedford Trucks, tanks, train cars). Jacques-Yves Cousteau discovered the Thistlegorm in the 1950's and the ship was one reason he called the Red Sea, "A Corridor of Marvels."
I ended my trip with a weekend extension to Alexandria on the north Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Alexandria is an intriguing and cosmopolitan city which is built over an ancient city that was founded by Alexander the Great and was once the capital of Egypt during the era of Cleopatra. Archeologists are constantly uncovering Greco-Roman antiquities underneath the existing structures of the modern city of Alexandria. Part of Alexandria's antiquities lie underwater in and just outside the historic Eastern Harbor including the remnants of the Palace of Cleopatra and the ancient Pharos Lighthouse: one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Both ancient structures succumbed to earthquakes and tidal waves hundreds of years ago but their remnants are now open for all divers to explore. Alexandria is also home to a fair number of World War II British shipwrecks which make for an exciting second day of wreck diving. The highlights of the city of Alexandria on land can be viewed in a full day of touring including ancient Catacombs, a completely intact Roman amphitheater, the new library of Alexandria and open air and traditional museums where artifacts of the underwater archeology in the Eastern Harbor are on display. A visit to Alexandria is definitely worth a few extra days stay in Egypt
Egypt Tour & Red Sea Diving Photo Gallery updated September 2007
Please email to egypt@fantasticendeavors.com if you have any questions or need more information about traveling to Egypt and diving the Red Sea
"Enjoy the Journey"
David W. Hartman
PO Box 372531
Key Largo FL 33037
dave@fantasticendeavors.com • 877-620-8797 • http://www.fantasticendeavors.com