Sinai divers at the Baron Resort Info

[stevebdiver]

Didn`t realise the dive center at the Baron had changed hands and going on Monday.......
Can any one tell me if Sinai Divers operate the buddy shore dive policy of allowing unsupervised diving that Sinai Dive Club used to let you do?
Dive guides seem to have the knack of being in exactly the wrong place when you are photgraphing stuff! Cheers in advance

[Steve in Sharm]

Didn`t realise the dive center at the Baron had changed hands and going on Monday.......
Can any one tell me if Sinai Divers operate the buddy shore dive policy of allowing unsupervised diving that Sinai Dive Club used to let you do?
Dive guides seem to have the knack of being in exactly the wrong place when you are photgraphing stuff! Cheers in advance

I dont know, and cannot comment on their policy on unsupervised dives.

But I can tell you that it is law here that there is no such thing :eek: ,

I would think twice about using any outfit that allows you to break the law :eek: , and if they are doing this then you have to ask what other rules these centres are breaking :confused:

Even if you think you are 'above' guided dives, doing so breaks the local law and therefore invalidates your insurance if you have a problem - surely this is enough to make anyone want to 'toe the line' :rolleyes: Those centres that do insist on guides are, after all only looking out for your well being.


Regards

Steve


PS. If anyone is daft enough to try and tell you otherwise ask to have a look at law 102 of 1983 - its even re-printed on the back of the boat permissions so that no-one is in any doubt....


No diving without the guide of a centre

[Maria CM]

HI Steve,

Does that apply all over or just in Ras Mohammed?

best wishes,

Maria

[Steve in Sharm]

HI Steve,

Does that apply all over or just in Ras Mohammed?

best wishes,

Maria

All diving in the "Sharm" Red Sea, cant comment outside of that as I do not know.

[ChristianG]

All diving in the "Sharm" Red Sea, cant comment outside of that as I do not know.
Look, just to clear this up in my own, often confused, head - does that mean that I cannot venture into the Sharm sea even if with a buddy? Just the two of us? That I must have a guide as well?

If that is the case, even though it is most unlikely that I would do so anyway given my geographical position, that would make it absolutely certain that I would never visit Sharm, indeed the Egyptian Red Sea.

Guides are useful creatures sometimes, albeit rarely. Mostly they're just a plain bluddy nuisance, especially if they're guiding a group that I'm supposed to be a member of and am therefore supposed to keep up with.

Give me a decent dive briefing any day, then let me get on with it.

I suppose I'd better qualify that, one has to be so careful nowadays. I stopped being a novice diver more years ago than most of you guys have been on this world. That makes me an old diver, but not a bold one if only because I'm still alive, or was last time I looked.

[Steve in Sharm]

Hey CG,

"Yes, but, No, but",

Yes. It is law here, there is no diving without a guide, and anyone who thinks they are above the law are either stupid or - as in the two divers 3 weeks ago, DEAD! I'll PM you the details if you wish, as they are still under inquest.


No, if you are a regular guest, who has been seen in the water and can be trusted, all we ask is that you listen to the dive brief and jump in at the same time as the guide, and stay in the general area as the guide - this satisfies local law!


Everyone thinks the Red Sea is easy compared to the UK, everyone thinks that cos they dive in cold, murky, dark waters with currents that they are above what we have to offer - and yes, to a certain degree (local dive sites) they are right. A certain BSAC Instructor came very unstuck last year when he "poo, poo'd" the guide giving him his brief, luckily for him his other half had listened, and by god was their 'debrief' fun to listen too.....

But when you get to Tiran or Ras Mo there are some (even to me, after all this time) scary currents that defy anything I was used to in the UK, couple this with a bottom of 800m and it can go very pear shaped in a short space of time..... Or a favourite site that is 200m from an international shipping lane and people are regularly "plucked' from the water as a supertanker is bearing down on them!

Doubt me? Check out the stats for diving fatalities! Sharm has far more fatalities than the "hard" conditions than the UK has! and most of these are due to people thinking the diving here is easy and below them!............

[Adrian Kelland]

Doubt me? Check out the stats for diving fatalities! Sharm has far more fatalities than the "hard" conditions than the UK has! and most of these are due to people thinking the diving here is easy and below them!............
Hmm, sheer number of divers, type of qualification, type of instruction/mentoring could also come into play Steve.

What constitutes a guide in Egyptian law?

Adrian

[Maria CM]

Hi Steve,

What about the house reefs?

Other than that, on liveaboards it is my experience that they give you a brief jump in the water to go their own merry way, then leave you to get on with it.

best wishes,

Maria

[Steve in Sharm]

Hi Adrian,

Hmm, sheer number of divers, type of qualification, type of instruction/mentoring could also come into play Steve.

I see the point you are trying to make but, in my limited view of figures here, very very few deaths are "baby divers, newbies or inexperienced divers".

Most (outside of the "natural caues but underwater deaths") are qualified/experienced people who have gone outside of the bounds of local legislation/guidelines. In fact the only baby diver death I have heard of so far this year..... PM!



What constitutes a guide in Egyptian law?

Adrian

He/She should be a minimum of PADI Divemaster or other agency equivalent.

He/she must sit an exam with the (was) SSDM (now) CDMS covering local laws/guidelines and prove he/she has a working knowledge of sites.

He/she must have their own professional liability insurance.

He/she must work for a recognised Dive Centre (they are now stamping down on the "independants").

Regards

Steve