A Message from our Founder. PADI Instructors are the most employable Recreational dive professionals in the world. I became a PADI Instructor so I could work in the diving Industry abroad and I have now been teaching SCUBA Diving in The Red Sea for 22 years after moving here in September 2002. Many people also become Instructors as part of a Dive Centre or Dive Club where they live. Some work full time and other's part time and they love helping others learn to dive so they can enjoy the underwater realm as us qualified divers do. After experiencing several Dive Agency Instructor Training courses, I am of the opinion that PADI has the most thorough and professional Instructor Development Course there is. It gives you a great grounding to develop further as a professional dive educator. Our Next IDC (PADI Instructor Development course) commences on 1st February 2025 which coincides with the PADI Instructor Exam which comes straight after the IDC. You need to be a minimum of a Divemaster or equivalent to be able to enrol on the IDC and also an EFR Instructor which you can book with us. There is study to do before the IDC commences, so although it is a commitment, it gives great satisfaction to become a fully qualified PADI Instructor to be able to teach others how to dive safely and correctly. How to Obtain your PADI Instructor qualification.Step 1 INDEPENDENT STUDY PADI eLearning PADI eLearning makes it easy to fit your IDC eLearning into a busy schedule. Study offline, or online using a computer or mobile device. Connect with one of our Course Directors if ever you have a question or concern.
Step 2 With our Platinum Course Director at our Dive Center The IDC is a life changing and unforgettable experience. You will actively participate in classroom-based workshops to hone your instructional skills, curriculum presentations to deepen your understanding, written papers to demonstrate your dive theory and PADI standards knowledge base and dry presentations of in-water skills to ensure you're truly comfortable and confident in their delivery before heading underwater.
Step 3 IN WATER with our Platinum Course Director and Elite Staff Instructors. You will participate in at least two comprehensive pool sessions and two days at open water, where you will practice many teaching presentations, in addition to completing workshops and skills circuits to broaden your own dive skills and give you the toolbox you will need to be a first class instructor.
Step 4 PADI Instructor Exam Invigilated by PADI Examiners
If you are interested in becoming a PADI Instructor or if you know someone who is interested please email the following address email: [email protected] IDC Custom Package
Get in touch today and we can tailor a custom package to suit your requirements. We are now in our 20th year and we are still going strong despite many outside influences where we have seen other dive centers come and go. We are told that our family atmospheare along with amazing diving around Sharm and our efforts to have as much fun as we can has been the main reason that so many divers and their families keep coming back again and again. We have decided to have a few special events to mark our 20th year. Below is a list of planned events and more will be added throughout the year. Special Events. * 9 Jan 2025. Liveabord to the shark infested waters of Cocos Islands off Costa Rica. - FULLY BOOKED. * 1st March 2025. "UK Dive Show Party" at The Holiday Inn, Kenelworth. Nr Coventry. Contact [email protected] Subject "Dive Show Party" for more details. * May 2025. "Cruise and Stay" Daily Diving from our very own Elite Dive Boat and a three night Mini Safari on a Liveboard to visit the amazing World War Two wreck of the SS Thistlegorm, also dive the wrecks off Shag Rock and at the same time look for the pod of dolphins that live there. - LIMITED PLACES LEFT e* June 2025. "The Great Aggregation". Come and wintess the amzing transrormation of Shark and Yolanda Reefs during the Summer months. Thousands of fish gather there to spawn * 27th August 2025. "Red Sea Elite Diving" Actual Birthday. We will have some amazing diving and a party to top it off. * 6th October 2025. Dive on the Anniversary of the sinking of SS Thistlegorm. You need to be here a few days before to have a few orientation dives before we dive SS Thsitlegorm. Limited Spaces Come and help us celobrate our 20th Birthday at one or moe of these events. We already know of over a dozen people that will be at least three of these events.
A massive thank you, to our staff and our divers alike for being part of The Elite Diving Family and for your continued support so we can deliver the standard of diving and service that you've come to expect from us over the past 20 years. We look forward to hearing from you. email: [email protected] We have recently had an encounter with an Indian Ocean Humback Dolphin. This was a single dolphin that found us in Ras Mohamed. The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin is a social delphinid that typically lives within a group. Group size is, however, highly variable. Some specimens have been found to be isolated individuals, although the average group is composed of around 12 individuals and some of the largest observed groups have been in excess of 100 individuals. This type of dolphin like coastal waters where there is an abuncance of fish, hense Ras Mohamed is an ideal location for the speciese, so it's surprising that we haven't seen any previously. This one was a lone dolphin but was very interested in the divers and came back and forth a few times to check them out. It was described by one diver "like a playfull puppy", but this dolphin was not a junivile. You can see from the map below that the blue area is whre the Indian Ocean Humback Dolphin inhabits. Click on the video above that G took of the Humphead Dolphin as it kept coming back to check out the divers. You can even hear G's excitment as the Dolphin keeps swimming past.
Cruise and Stay Have you ever thought that a full week on a Liveaboard may be too long for you? We have teamed up with a Safari Company to offer you the chance to try a Mini Safari for three nights and get to dive the wrecks of the Sinai which are the world famous Thistlegorm, SS Dunraven and The Kingston at Shag rock (weather permitting). Also to spend 4 nights in a hotel where you can go out in the evenings and try different restaurants and enjoy everything Sharm el Sheikh has to offer you . We have availability on a Liveaboard that we have chartered to do just this with one of our top-class Instructor Guides to accompany you. We have limited space for this trip, so it will be first come first served who gets the places. Here is the Itinerary. Sunday 18 May. Arrive at Sharm Airport. VIP transfer to your hotel. Monday 19 May. Dive from our daily boat. Tuesday 20 May. Dive from our daily boat. Wednesday 21 May. Dive from our daily boat and transfer to Liveaboard in the evening. Thursday 22 May. Dive from Liveaboard. Friday 23 May. Dive from Liveaboard. Saturday 24 May. Dive from Liveaboard and transfer to the hotel in the afternoon. Sunday 25 May. VIP transfer to the Airport for departure. Flights not included. Part of this program is to dive from our local boat which is very popular with our regular divers. We have a handpicked crew who give you the best attention and service possible. The dive locations will depend on the weather that week or more likely depend on the wind strength and directions. The likely areas we will visit with be The Straits of Tiran Possible Dive sites:
Dive sites:
The Liveaboard section will cover areas and dive sites further afield, such as
To Join this trip you need to be to a minimum level of Advanced diver qualified to 30 meters with any training agency with a minimum of 20 logged dives. If you need to complete your advanced course and log more dives, we can do that for you before you join the Liveaboard on our Daily boat . Sunday 18th May 2025 Contact [email protected] for more information.
It all started when we thought it would be a good idea to form a Dive center with more of a personal service. A daunting task when there were so many very big Dive Centers in Sharm, but we gave it a go, and it worked, and us still operational on our 18th Birthday gives testament to what we provide the new and experienced diver is what they want and what you want if you are reading this. 27th August 2005 Elite Diving was born. The logo and websites have all been created by Graphic Designer Greg Bottle, and he still works with elite diving today, and designs our art work for adverts and promotional items. Meet our first ever Divers who dived on our first dive trip out of Sharm Graham Morgan from Bingley West Yorkshire, pictured above in the blue shirt was a very talented footballer in his youth and also loved diving in his later years. He was one of the first ever to dive with Elite Diving on a boat trip out to Ras Mohamed out of Travco on M.Y. Sabeel. There were two brothers also on that trip. Do anyone recognise them? Of Course the photo above of the two young brothers with me, Alun, is Gwyn and Huw AKA G&H, Moyra and my son's. H worked with us at elite later for a spell and G is now our dive center manager and works in Sharm still, with Elite Diving. ,Top left. H and myself in the early days. After the boat we would go for a beer (much as we do now) As we didn't have a dive center as such in the early days, we went to a beach bar to socialise, have some light refreshments and talk about the marvelous day we just had on the boat. Also we used to finish any paperwork, so that beach bar was nicknamed "The Office". Top middle. Alec listening to one of my briefings, when he was a mere apprentice. He soon progressed to Instructor and delivered accomplished Dive briefing's himself. Top right. The Count. Also called Alin, but spelt different. He work with Elite for several years before moving on to be a technical guide using his rebreather. We nicknamed him the count as he had a distinctive accent coming from Transylvania. He also taught us all about Vlad the Impaler! Bottom left. Alec. supposedly working at the 2010 NEC Dive show for Elite. Bottom middle. Walid was the only asset worth having when Elite Diving took ownership of Divers United. Walid learnt to dive and did his Divemaster course with us before leaving to join the petrochemical industry. Bottom Right. A coming together of two Tiger sharks on our South African Shark Safari in 2008. Our Success over the years has been down to many factors, namely our dedicated staff that enjoy what they do so much and delivers a great but safe service to our faithful divers. Then there are our faithful Divers themselves, that keep coming back much of that due to our dedicated Dive and Boat crews. There have been many epic trips and there are so many groups and individuals that come and dive with us on a regular basis and now we have resumed business as usual after non direct flights and the pandemic, we have welcomed so many old and new faces recently. A special thank you must go to the divers that kept coming when there were no direct flights and kept us motivated enough to keep going where many dive centers folded. That's a big factor in us reaching our 18th Birthday. The photos above give you a taste of the fun that we have had with a bunch of clowns, boarded by pirates, a safari full of flower power divers, wear your Tutu Days, a Pink Safari and so many night dives. One even with a naked diver on her 100th dive (no photographic evidence, we're a family business LOL) A Big part of our identity was having our own boat where we could hand pick our crew. The stories of why the crews came to us will have to be kept for the book, but all who dive with us will agree that Captain Yahia and his second in command Zenga forms the basis of one of the best dive boat crews in the whole wide world, without even mentioning Zenga's chocolate cake. Our several Worlds best Dive center awards are attributed to all our Dive center staff from the office, tank personnel, boat crew and dive instructors alike. Most Divers would like to see sharks and we have been very lucky running several Shark Safari's. Top Left. Hammerhead Shark Cocos Islands 2015 Shark Safari. Top Middle. South Africa Shark Safari 2008. Top right. Red Sea Shark Safari 2017 Bottom Left. Cocos Island trip 2015. Dressed in our Elite Diving shirts for dinner. We have 22 divers booked on the 2025 trip. Will they be as smart I wonder? Happy Birthday 18th Elite Diving. Just coming of age. What's in store for us next?
It has been said that Cocos Island is the world’s most remote diving destination with regular liveaboard service! It also has so many big shoals of fish and even bigger fish to feed on them. Lying approx 340 miles off Costa Rica's Western coastline in the Pacific Ocean, and due North of Galapagos, Cocos Island is notorious for it different species of sharks that frequent the waters around the Island and masses of sholes of fish. The Island along with a few small Islands around Cocos including the waters, are a designated National Park and they charge 490US$ plus 13% VAT to be able to dive there. The wardens come on the boat the day we arrive to collect the money from each individual. Also there is an Evacuation fee that they collect on the boat of 30 US$. This is an insurance in case anyone needs to be taken back to the mainland early due to illness or accident and saves the whole ship going back. There is also a fule surchage of 200 US$ as security if the is a fuel increase all of a sudden. After our recce a good few years ago, we intended to run this trip earlier, however as you all know things got in the way. Now it's on again. There are a few people going this time who have been before with us and who are coming again and will have seen all the following creatures on the dives there previously. Who can blame them for wanting to go back again. Although the sharks on every dive is spectacular, the schools of fish that gathers in their thousands is also very impressive. For some this is a Once in a lifetime trip. We are estimating for the liveaboard which is ten nights and six days diving will cost for the Full Board Liveaboard approx £5265 depending on the Exchange rate at time of paying. Flights not included. All the more expensive Master Cabins on the upper deck have now all been filled. There is the National Park fee to pay the Park Wardens on Arrival at Cocos. They will board our boat and collect the money. This is 490 US$ plus 13% VAT which is approx £432. Best to have Dollars handy Fuel surcharge is 200 US$ approx £160 and Evacuation policy is £24. It is highly recommended that you have travel insurance that also covers diving in case of cancelations or diving accidents. The Last Time we were there we saw a gentle Giant. To Book your space on this Liveaboad, you need to pay a non refundable deposit of £500. You will need to book your own flights to Tobias Bolanos International Airport San Jose Costa Rica. You will need to be outside Park Inn by Radisson, San Jose, Av6, Bosca. phone: +506 4200 1100, on Thursday 9th January 2025. There will be a transfer from there to take us to the boat and back again on the 19th January. Times of pick up to be confirmed at a later date. The Cocos Island Aggressor If you are interested in joining us please contact: [email protected]
This time last year, we were showing you photos of our boat in Dry Dock. It's surprising how soon a year has passed. We need to have our boat inspected each year at dry dock. We could leave it 18 months but then we would be in our busy season and we know how much our regular divers enjoy being on MY elite with Captain Yahia, Zenger, Hamada and Ahmed. Captain Yahia and Zinger are the only members of the crew that work on the boat when in Dry Dock. They organise the local craftsmen, parts and paint etc. We always get a warm welcome form Yahia and Zenger when we arrive to see how they are getting on, and they take so much pride in showing us what they are getting done. This year there are some structural ribs on the starboard bow that need to be renewed and in the middle photo above you can see captain Yahia showing and telling me all about it. He's also breaking it to me gently that it's going to cost loads. The middle photo is of M.Y. elite after it came out of Dry Dock last year, and on the right is a photo of the new ribs that were replaced on the port bow two years ago.
We look forward so much to getting her back on the water for our divers to enjoy when they come to dive with us. This year, Elite Diving is one of the official sponsors of the only UK Dive Show. The show is being held on March 4th & 5th 2023 at NAEC Stoneleigh, Kenilworth CV8 2LZ, United Kingdom. To buy tickets click here Come and visit Alun, Moyra and G at our stand 224. How to Get to Stoneleigh By Road From London / M40. Leave the M40 at junction 15 and head onto the A46 towards Coventry. Follow the signs to Stoneleigh Park main entrance or NAEC on the B4113. From the M6/M9. Leave the M6 at junction 2 and head onto the A46 towards Warwick or at the end of the M69, head onto the A46 towards Warwick and the M40. Follow the signs to Stoneleigh Park main entrance or NAEC on the B4113. From the M1 (Northbound). Leave the M1 at junction 17 and join the M45 heading towards Coventry. Pick up the signs for the A45 Coventry (NOT Daventry). Stay on the A45 heading towards the A46, follow the signs to Stoneleigh Park main entrance or NAEC on B4113. By Bus or Coach Coventry bus station is 6 miles (10km) away from Stoneleigh Park. Warwick bus station is 9 miles (14km) from Stoneleigh Park. By Rail Royal Leamington Spa. Warwick and Warwick Parkway rail stations are situated on the main London Marylebone line. The Birmingham line stop for the Virgin West Coast Mainline. London Euston – Coventry services every 30 minutes weekdays. London Marylebone – Warwick Parkway services every 30 minutes. Birmingham – Coventry frequent services from Birmingham New Street, Birmingham International and Coventry. From these mainline stations you will need to take a short taxi ride. Taxi ranks are based at both Warwick Parkway and Coventry stations, which are approximately 5 miles from Stoneleigh Park. We hope to see you there.
Mark Russell, or Crowley to his friends, is the Senior Correspondent for DIVE Magazine online. He has a wealth of diving experience, especially of Sharm as he worked here for a good while for Sinai Divers. He also did some freelance work with Elite when he first came. Egypt dive centres hit by currency devaluation By Mark 'Crowley' Russell Many dive centres – and other small businesses – in Egypt are suffering devastating financial losses after a massive fall in the value of the Egyptian Pound (LE) in recent months. The Egyptian Pound was floated – that is, its value made dependent on the supply of, and demand for, the currency – in October 2022, as part of a deal to secure a US$3billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The value of the Egyptian Pound has since fallen dramatically, dropping from just over LE17 to 1 Euro at the start of 2022 to more than LE32:€1 by January 11, 2023. Egypt, one of the world’s largest importers of wheat from Ukraine – one of the world’s largest exporters – has struggled financially since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which followed swiftly after the huge loss of tourism income during the pandemic. Since then, soaring global inflation has led to a secondary drop in tourism, of which Russian and Ukrainian tourists made up 30 per cent in 2021, while inflation in Egypt hit 21.9 per cent in December 2022, with food prices rising by up to 37.9 per cent over the year. . The Egyptian Pound has devalued dramatically over the last year (top) and (bottom) fluctuates dramitically by the hour (source: XE Currency) Payments made to Egyptian businesses in foreign currencies are automatically converted to Egyptian Pounds by the Egyptian banks that receive them, hence a booking for which €1000 was paid in February 2022 would be worth just over €500 to the dive centre today. Should a customer wish to cancel, refunding that amount would cost the dive centre almost double the payment it initially received. The problem is further compounded by the fact that Egyptian dive businesses pay significant overheads in Euros for dive equipment and staff. Dive centres are essentially having to pay double the salary for half the earnings for bookings made in 2022. As of the time of writing, the exchange rate remains extremely volatile – a Cairo businessman was quoted by an AFP reporter saying that he ‘sell[s] at one price in the morning, another in the afternoon, and a third at night.’ In the current global financial climate it is impossible to say when the Egyptian markets will stabilise, with some speculating that there may be another significant fall in the currency before it does. Some European-owned centres will be less affected by the devaluation of the Egyptian Pound, as their bank accounts are registered in Europe and, therefore, are potentially saving some money on payments they need to make in local currencies. One solution that may help Egyptian-owned businesses, however, is for customers to pay in stable currencies such as Euros, US Dollars and British Pounds when they visit. Dive centres are understandably hesitant to make such a request for fear they might be implicated in the burgeoning currency black market, but a polite enquiry before travelling and carrying at least partial payment in those currencies may have a significant impact on the survival of some of Egypt’s best dive centres. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A message from Alun. If you are not subscribed to DIVE online, we recommend you do. It's free and there's always some very interesting articles about the underwater world all around the globe. To see the above article on DIVE Newsletter, click on the following link https://divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-news/egypt-dive-centres-hit-by-currency-devaluation It's good news for diving tourists however, your foreign currency such as The British pound, Euro or Dollar, goes even further now when dining out and shopping for local produce, and with our offer of 7 nights B&B and a 5 Day Dive pack including airport transfers for only £350 per person when two people share the same room. A bottle of local Stella Beer costs approx £180 for some very cheap 'Après Diving'. email: [email protected] It gives us great pleasure to announce that the Home of Elite Diving for the last Ten years, Uni Sharm Hotel, is under new management and it has had a face lift. We haven't recommended people stay in the hotel previously, but now it has been fully refurbished, it is an ideal hotel for a Dive and stay Budget Holiday. All the bedrooms have en suite with flat screen TV and a fridge. Most of the ground floor rooms have a veranda that gives you access to the pool area. All the en Suites have everything you need to freshen up after a days diving. There is new comfortable seating in the spacious lounge, water slides into the pool and a poolside bar which is ideal for some Après Diving socialising. There is also a British bar currently still under refurbishment. An Example of a package offered is for 7 nights B&B for two divers sharing a twin or double room, a 5 Day Dive Pack and Airport transfers, all for only £350 per person. - Flights not included. For one person in a single room for 7 nights B&B with a 5 Day Dive package and Airport transfers will be £423. - Flights not included. We can also tailor a plan to suit your own personal needs i.e. ten nights 8 day Dive Pack, or 14 nights and 10 Day Dive pack etc. We look forward to hearing from you. email: [email protected] |
Alun EvansOwner of Elite Diving with Divers United, has a wealth of diving experience and has been diving since 1984. Archives
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