Hi Starangers! RED SEA PICS. Duuuude....

[Helfrichs Chic]

You guys - seriously. You HAVE to go to Egypt! Dive, snorkel, look though a glass jar if you have to - it literally looks like every coral we crave for our reef tanks - but on crack. I saw acros that were 30 feet tall!! The reefs were insane! Maximas EVERYWHERE in every color imaginable. Fish that we'd pay thousands for in schools. You couldn't even see rock, its just coral packed in so tight. Absolutely amazing.

https://www.photosvi.com/Friends-Fam-RED-SEA/n-ZB2DJX

We did three weeks and visited Giza, Cairo, Luxor for the touristy stuff which was also amazing. The Cairo Museum and going inside the Pyramid was awesome and then we headed to Marsa Alam where we went diving for 11 days. I can not recommend it enough! Don't listen to MSM, we felt 100% safe and security was crazy tight. In Marsa Alam we stayed at a resort called LaBranda Gemma. Its an all inclusive and the dive shop is on site. Super reasonable for an all inclusive too. Dives weren't exactly cheap but not to bad. Cheaper than here in the Virgin Islands though. 32 dives was $1300 and we brought our own gear which saved us a lot.

Just had to pop in a post the link. I took a ton of pics hahah but these are the pre-culled ones that came out. I will be culling these WAY back to the best 30 or so but I just wanted to post it for ya. :celeb2:

 

[TangingOut]

Absolutely stunning. Great photography skills. Thanks for sharing.

 

[coralreefjunkie]

Thank you for sharing. Absolutely stunning!!!

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[Vanpire]

Nice job. Great pictures.

I had planned to go to the Red Sea during some of my biz trips to Europe but the stability of the regions have me a little unnerved.

 

[Helfrichs Chic]

Van you should go for sure. Like all travel to foreign countries keep you head on a swivel and be aware of your surroundings. I felt completely safe there, even with my full backpack of camera equipment. We even walked around Giza at night, everyone was very very nice although the hassle to buy thins was worse than Morocco. To be expected as tourism is down so much. If you did a resort out of the city near the Red Sea, you’d have zero to worry about. The DM we’re safe, air was great and boats were nice, large and clean.

Driving there is the scariest thing lol! We were going 120 in Cairo. They don’t get the lanes concept either. Dodging kids, dogs and sometimes camels.

Cairo and Giza have UBER which is by far the best way to get around.

To give you an idea... I left my $900 iPhone in a egyptian taxi in Luxor. As I panicked 20 minutes later when I realized it was gone. We went outside the museum and the cab pulled back out with my phone in hand! As with most countries I’ve been to now, it’s nothing like it’s portrayed.

I’m sure there’s issues, but as a tourist I saw and felt none. It’s an awesome experience and I will for sure be diving the Red Sea again! This was our “we survived two category 5 hurricanes” celebration trip lol.

 

[Elliott]

wow, amazing photos, very healthy looking reef, very dense with marine life

definitely need to get to the red sea, on my bucket list

thank you so much for taking the time to drop in and post your experience and photos, much appreciated!

 

[HBL]

Thanks for sharing. Amazing pictures of the reef!

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[mndfreeze]

How much was your entire trip if you don't mind me asking? Like roughly? I've been eyeballing various tropical places around the world for my first trip outside the U.S. (Not counting a trip just across the mexico border).

I'm conflicted on where to go for the best bang for my buck with minimal risk.

Never done scuba, do I need to get dive certified here first?

 

[Helfrichs Chic]

The total for everything including airfare was $4500ish for both for three weeks. I am a travel hacker though and book tickets 6-8 months out. I do a LOT of research before I book and set up fare watchers and get good deals on rooms etc. No hostels though! I often do one ways or split up the trip with long layovers to save money. We got tickets from St. Thomas for $700 pp RT. JFK to Cairo was only like $350!!! When we got back from a trip I start researching an booking the next, we do one a year. Indonesia is next. I also pay for 99% of our trip ahead of time. We have people scheduled for pick ups, airport transfers etc. honestly planning is half the fun for me. Then when we're there it's just smooth sailing and having fun. We don't make a ton of money so we have to be frugal but still want to see the world.

You don't have to get certified in AZ but you can. A high school friend recently bought No Linits Scuba. I think out by lake pleasant. It would be best to get certified before and get comfortable but not necessary. You can get certified anywhere that offers diving usually. The downside of that is some places are more about quantity vs quality. Many times also you're out on a zodiac baking in the sun and flopping off the side, so having some comfortability before hand is good. With scuba ya want a good thourough class as it's of course dangerous hobby. I only dive deep when I wanna go see or feed sharks but overall I'm a resort diver, staying above 50ft for good light for pics since I don't use a strobe. Diving is my happy place and there's nothing like it.

There's so many cool places in the world to go - my advice is plan plan plan and done be afraid of new experiences. Let me know if I can help.

 

[Helfrichs Chic]

You could look into the Virgin Islands. We’re US - so no passport needed and St. Croix has fab diving and my friends own a dive shop there and are good instructors. If you decide St. Croix I’ll take the seaplane over and dive/spot for ya. LOTS of life on the pier in Frederiksted. I lived right near the pier before the hurricanes and have like 100 dives there lol. Record is 2hr 12mi underwater haha! Many seahorses and frogfish Northshore is great for sharks and nice reefs. St. Thomas diving is nice too but not quite as diverse. Look into Bonaire also. Have a UW photographer friend there and it looks amazing. I haven’t been though as plane tickets are so expensive for me and it annoys me since it’s only a few islands away. Like same price as tickets to Egypt.

I will say there’s no Caribbean diving I’ve done that compares even a little to Red Sea.

 

[Helfrichs Chic]

Double Post

 

[Vanpire]

I spend a lot of time diving in the South Pacific and the diving here is terrific. The plane ride can be looong, but prices are not that bad. RT can be had for about $1K if you plan in advance and $1.5K, most of the time.

Hotel with AC can range from $30 to >$1K per night, depending on what you want, but even at the low end, there can be some pretty decent hotels. Food and drinks are really really cheap, unless you just have to eat at the Four Seasons.

The diving diversity is spectacular.

 

[Helfrichs Chic]

Van - where specifically? Fenner is always trying to get me to haul out to the SP (Would be cool to see Walt Smiths facility) but tickets for me from the VI all the way around are $$$ still a possibility but man, that’s a distance from my island. From AZ/CA much more reasonable. He’s always jonesin to go on dive trips - join the FB group Scuba Diving Friends - for upcoming/planning trips and info.

Fenner and a few other underwater photographers from around the globe will be joining for Indonesia next year. Open to all. I’m working on accommodations that won’t break the bank.

 

[Vanpire]

Well, Bali always takes my heart away. It has great diving. For example, it has Crystal Bay where you can see the Mola, one of the few places in the world where you can see one. It has wreck diving, conveyor belt diving, etc. Lots of places but go there soon because it is becoming very commercialized.

Malaysia Borneo, especially Sipadan, but many other spots are fantastic. Sipadan is the best place I have even been diving. Totally amazing, especially if you want to swim with lots of turtles, schools of jaxks and barracudas and lots of reef sharks. And of course, the corals are amazing.....

There are also many places I heard in Indonesia but I have no made it to those spots yet.

There is the Phillipines that are awesome but can be hard to get to.

There is Eastern Malaysia, like Redang, that is really nice.

I am heading to Ko Lipe, Thailand this weekend but the diving there is just OK compared to the other places.

 

[gatewaygus]

A few years back we went to Vanuatu (in between Fiji and Australia). The diving was great! We were lucky enough to have a couple friends who house sit for people there so we got the "local price". We stayed in a nice resort for two weeks and the price was pretty reasonable. We want to go back but I have to admit the red sea... it has peaked my interest!

 

[tricketts]

Unbelievable!!!!