We had a Crazy week with our American friends from NABS last week! It is November and the Red Sea is still spoiling us.
The water temp is still 27°c, the corals and all year round marine life is spectacular. Night dives filled with Spanish Dancers and Octopus. And we are still getting our big surprises so late in the season. A nice big Hammerhead and huge Whale Shark again in the Local dive sites. Ras Mohammed giving us yet more dives and snorkeling hours with the Whale sharks and to top it all off a super close encounter with a Dolphin and our regular sightings of Eagle ray's. A big thanks to all that was involved in a very successful Summit. Dear Divers, colleagues and friends,
As divers and underwater ambassadors, any change towards a positive impact on the environment is one we can all agree on supporting. Therefore kindly be informed that as of 27th November 2019, as per a recent decree issued by the Ministry of Environment, new Park daily fees will be applicable to diving operations and divers performing scuba diving and snorkeling activities in dive/snorkeling sites located in the following areas: • Ras Mohammed National Park – Euro 7.00 per person • Straits of Tiran – Euro 7.00 per person • Local sites to Sharm El Sheikh – Euro 7.00 per person • Blue Hole & Canyon in Dahab – Euro 12.00 per person Applicable fees will be payable upon check out. The new fees will be nurturing the funding of the National Park Authority and support its recently enhanced efforts aimed at protecting, maintaining, and monitoring the health of our beloved Red Sea, both on land and underwater. The Ministry of Environment currently has the intention to charge the 6.00 Euro per person fee also for activities in diving/snorkeling areas located in proximity of Sharm El Sheikh coastline (i.e. “local dive/snorkeling sites”). Please note that CDWS (Chamber of Diving and Waters-ports) is lobbying the relevant governmental bodies in order to prevent the payment of any fee for activities performed in “local” sites. Further updates in these regards will follow as soon as they will be available. As responsible divers we greatly welcome this move and strongly believe in the implementation of environmental based restrictions, aimed at reducing the diving/snorkeling tourism impact on our lucky area of the world. We look forward to diving with you. A massive "THANK YOU" goes out to all our divers and everybody who voted for us in the DIVE Travel Awards. Your loyalty and continued support makes us feel so humble and honored that you hold us in such high esteem. Our Main Objective was to hold onto our number one spot for Red Sea Dive Centers for the second year running, and you got us there, but you've increased our position over all up to Third in the world where last your we were sixth. We can't thank you enough, and this coming just after the opening of Direct flights from UK to Sharm. However, a special thank you goes out to those who have continually made the effort to get to us in Sharm through different routes. This has been a big factor to allow us to stay open as opposed to many Sharm Dive centers, who have closed, or as Dive magazine put it, put their dive center's in Mothballs. The last few years have seen the best diving in Sharm for years, with many sightings of Manta and Whale sharks on a very regular basis. Long may it continue. Now the Local Dive Authority have banned Intro dives from boats, there are far less boats around the reefs in Tiran and local sites, which in turn will help to keep the bigger pelagic's coming in to visit us divers. Anyone wishing to try diving or enroll on a Discover SCUBA Diving program, we can still do this from a beach. Thanks again for your votes and continued support. All the Elite team are looking forward to seeing you diving with us in the near future. |
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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