Angela Robson
06-03-2010, 15:57
Me and my husband, Paul, went on a week holiday with a non-diving couple, Garry and Suzy.
Suzy had specified that she would like to try diving, and I thought that the best place for her to try diving would be the Red Sea. I also knew that the temperature at that time of year was not too hot.
We stayed at the 4 star Fort Arabesque Resort, on an all inclusive basis. This was my first time going all inclusive, and I was impressed. I may try it again.
We spent the first few days in the Resort, sunbathing, snorkelling on the beach, having amazing massages and eating and drinking.
Our first excursion was one day of boat diving with Emperor Divers, Hurghada. The operation itself was a very proficient set up.
The dive boat was not over-subscriber like you get on some dive boats. Everyone seemed friendly enough, and although me and Paul were the only folk onboard who had any dry suit experience this did not alter the mood.
The first dive of the day was a 30 metre wreck dive. Unfortunately, another 4 dive boats arrived on the wreck at the same time, so the dive felt over crowded, and I lost my group. Thankfully, the visibility was up to it's usual Red Sea standards, so the shot line was always within sight.
The temperature was an easy 25 degrees. Lovely.
Back on board, we had a rest, logged our dives in our log book and had a chat with the other divers.
The second dive was a shallower (approximately 20 metres) drift dive. We were given the option for the dive boat to drop you off as a drift, or to be dropped off at the moorings. We opted for the mooring dive, as we wanted to take time to take some photos.
We were told that this site had a resident Napolean 'Bump Head' Wrasse, unfortunately, he must have been shy as no-one saw him.
We saw plenty of large Parrat Fish, Goat Fish, Blue Spotted Rays. This was a nice dive to end the day for us. We did not do the optional 3rd dive as we weren't sure we'd have enough money to pay for it at the end.
While we were out diving, Suzy had her intro to diving in the Red Sea, also with Emperor Divers. Unfortunately, she didn't enjoy the experience. Garry snorkelled while Suzy was having her try dive.
The following day, we had an early start as we had our excursion to Luxor. We had to be ready for 0400 hrs.
I stupidly forgot my camera, so Garry and Suzy very kindly lent us their camcorder and Suzy took photos with her compact camera.
Luxor, wow. What an amazing place. Our first stop was 2 statues which stood infront of the rocks which held the tombs of the Nobels.
The second stop was the bridge crossing the Nile. We stopped off to have a stretch of the legs before moving onto the Valley of the Kings.
At Valley of the Kings, we were not allowed any form of camera inside. We took the shuttle bus service from the reception area to the tombs. Here, we saw three tombs, and all belonging to 3 different generations of Ramesis.
After the Valley of the Kings, we stopped off at Hatshepsut's Temple. This, again, was a very interesting site, and the story behind it even more so.
Her step-son/son-in-law, Tutemoses III was next in line for the throne after his father, Tutemoses II died. Hatshepsut stepped in and announced herself as Pharoah, the first ever female King of Egypt. Her tomb lies 250 metres on the other side of the rock, which is also known as the Valley of the Kings.
After her death, Tutemoses took his revenge by destroying all the 'living' statues of Hatshepsut in and around the Temple. He left all her after life statues intact due to the intense belief in the after life.
After lunch, we visited the Karnak Temple. The Karnak Temple was the last stop of the day, and probably the most impressive so far. Unfortunately, the party were too tired by this point to fully appreciate it's splendor.
In brief, the Karnak Temple was built by Ramesis II (I think), and was at the time, the largest place of worship in the world, covering 50 - 60 acres.
Now, only a small portion of the Karnak Temple still stands, but what is left of it is utterly brilliant. You forget when you look at the splendor, that they were built thousands of years ago, before any technology was invented.
Overall, this was a lovely holiday with good friends. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I would have liked to do more diving, but we did manage to squeeze 3 days of snorkelling into our busy schedule!
Suzy had specified that she would like to try diving, and I thought that the best place for her to try diving would be the Red Sea. I also knew that the temperature at that time of year was not too hot.
We stayed at the 4 star Fort Arabesque Resort, on an all inclusive basis. This was my first time going all inclusive, and I was impressed. I may try it again.
We spent the first few days in the Resort, sunbathing, snorkelling on the beach, having amazing massages and eating and drinking.
Our first excursion was one day of boat diving with Emperor Divers, Hurghada. The operation itself was a very proficient set up.
The dive boat was not over-subscriber like you get on some dive boats. Everyone seemed friendly enough, and although me and Paul were the only folk onboard who had any dry suit experience this did not alter the mood.
The first dive of the day was a 30 metre wreck dive. Unfortunately, another 4 dive boats arrived on the wreck at the same time, so the dive felt over crowded, and I lost my group. Thankfully, the visibility was up to it's usual Red Sea standards, so the shot line was always within sight.
The temperature was an easy 25 degrees. Lovely.
Back on board, we had a rest, logged our dives in our log book and had a chat with the other divers.
The second dive was a shallower (approximately 20 metres) drift dive. We were given the option for the dive boat to drop you off as a drift, or to be dropped off at the moorings. We opted for the mooring dive, as we wanted to take time to take some photos.
We were told that this site had a resident Napolean 'Bump Head' Wrasse, unfortunately, he must have been shy as no-one saw him.
We saw plenty of large Parrat Fish, Goat Fish, Blue Spotted Rays. This was a nice dive to end the day for us. We did not do the optional 3rd dive as we weren't sure we'd have enough money to pay for it at the end.
While we were out diving, Suzy had her intro to diving in the Red Sea, also with Emperor Divers. Unfortunately, she didn't enjoy the experience. Garry snorkelled while Suzy was having her try dive.
The following day, we had an early start as we had our excursion to Luxor. We had to be ready for 0400 hrs.
I stupidly forgot my camera, so Garry and Suzy very kindly lent us their camcorder and Suzy took photos with her compact camera.
Luxor, wow. What an amazing place. Our first stop was 2 statues which stood infront of the rocks which held the tombs of the Nobels.
The second stop was the bridge crossing the Nile. We stopped off to have a stretch of the legs before moving onto the Valley of the Kings.
At Valley of the Kings, we were not allowed any form of camera inside. We took the shuttle bus service from the reception area to the tombs. Here, we saw three tombs, and all belonging to 3 different generations of Ramesis.
After the Valley of the Kings, we stopped off at Hatshepsut's Temple. This, again, was a very interesting site, and the story behind it even more so.
Her step-son/son-in-law, Tutemoses III was next in line for the throne after his father, Tutemoses II died. Hatshepsut stepped in and announced herself as Pharoah, the first ever female King of Egypt. Her tomb lies 250 metres on the other side of the rock, which is also known as the Valley of the Kings.
After her death, Tutemoses took his revenge by destroying all the 'living' statues of Hatshepsut in and around the Temple. He left all her after life statues intact due to the intense belief in the after life.
After lunch, we visited the Karnak Temple. The Karnak Temple was the last stop of the day, and probably the most impressive so far. Unfortunately, the party were too tired by this point to fully appreciate it's splendor.
In brief, the Karnak Temple was built by Ramesis II (I think), and was at the time, the largest place of worship in the world, covering 50 - 60 acres.
Now, only a small portion of the Karnak Temple still stands, but what is left of it is utterly brilliant. You forget when you look at the splendor, that they were built thousands of years ago, before any technology was invented.
Overall, this was a lovely holiday with good friends. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I would have liked to do more diving, but we did manage to squeeze 3 days of snorkelling into our busy schedule!