My Holiday

June 2001 Invited by a group Englishmen which I've met in the Philipines, to join a live-aboard which brought us to the Brother Islands.

Location

The Red Sea- 1200 miles (1930 km).-long and 167.770 miles2 (270,000 km2)' - is boarded by Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen and Djibouti. But just three—Egypt, Israel and Jordan—cater to dive tourism. Of the three, Egypt boasts the most coastline and the easiest access to fabled Red Sea dive sites. The country has two major dive regions—Sharm El Sheikh at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula (Gulf of Aqaba) and Hurghada on the central Red Sea coast—that offer land-based and live-aboard dive options.

Geography

The Red Sea was formed by Arabia being split from Africa by movement of the Red Sea Rift. This split started in the Eocene and accelerated during the Oligocene. The sea is still widening, and it is considered that it will become an ocean in time. In 1949, a deep water survey reported anomalously hot brines in the central portion of the Red Sea. Later work in the 1960s confirmed the presence of hot, 60 °C (140 °F), saline brines and associated metalliferous muds. The hot solutions were emanating from an active subseafloor rift. The high salinity of the waters was not hospitable to living organisms.

Language

Arabic, but English is commonly spoken in hotels and dive shops.

Climate

Winters are cool with daytime highs in the mid-70°Fs (21°C), but summers bake in temperatures well over 100°F (38°C). The desert and the sea cool rapidly at night, so bring a sweater or light jacket as a precaution.

Diving conditions

Water temperatures range between 64,5°F (18°C) and 70°F (21°C) in winter, and 70°F (21°C) and 80°F (26.5°C) in summer. Underwater visibility is more than 100ft (30 mtr) and diving is possible up to 150ft (45 mtr). The average diving depth, however, ranges between 40ft (12 mtr) and 80ft (25 mtr).

Time difference Yap

+2 hrs GMT