Boat diving in Hurghada is an easy day, but nobody tells you what the shape of it is, so people turn up unsure whether they have missed something. Here is the whole thing in order, the way it runs on one of our full day trips, including the parts that are just waiting.
08:00, the pickup
A minibus collects you from your hotel around eight in the morning. It usually has other divers in it already and it usually makes one or two more stops, so allow for that rather than expecting a taxi.
Have your certification card and your logbook with you, in your hand luggage and not in the suitcase you left in the room. If you have your own mask and computer, bring them. Everything else is on the boat.
09:00, on board and setting up
The boats leave from whichever marina suits the day's sites. You take a spot on the bench, your tank is already in the rack behind it, and that spot stays yours all day. First job is to set up your kit and check it while the boat is still tied up, because doing it under way is harder than it needs to be.
Then comes the ride out, half an hour to an hour depending on where we are going. This is the part of the day people forget to plan for: it is sunny, it is windy on the top deck, and it is the best hour of the day for coffee and for talking to your guide about what you want.
The first dive
The guide briefs the site on the way in: the shape of the reef, the depth, where the current is, the route, and what to look out for. Groups are small, at most six divers to a guide, and they are put together by level, so you are not chasing somebody with three hundred dives or waiting on somebody with three.
Entry is a giant stride off the back of the boat. The first dive is the deeper of the two, usually somewhere between eighteen and twenty five metres, and it runs about forty five minutes or until the first person in the group hits their air limit.
Lunch and the surface interval
Lunch is cooked on board and served after the first dive: rice, vegetables, chicken or fish, fruit, and as much water and soft drinks as you want. It is included, and so is the surface interval that follows it, which is an hour or so of sitting in the sun doing nothing in particular.
Use it properly. Drink more water than you think you need, stay out of the sun for part of it, and let your guide know if anything on the first dive did not feel right. Small problems, a mask that leaked or a weight belt that slipped, are trivial to fix now and annoying to live with later.
The second dive
The second dive is shallower, often a coral garden in eight to fifteen metres, and it is usually the one people talk about on the way home: the light is better in the afternoon at that depth, the dive is longer because the air lasts, and by then you have stopped thinking about your kit.
What to bring
The boat has tanks, weights, lunch and drinks. Bring the rest.
- Your certification card and logbook, in your bag rather than your room.
- Sun cream you have already put on, a hat, and a light long sleeve for the deck.
- A towel and something warm for the ride back, because you will be wet and the wind is cold at speed.
- Motion sickness tablets if you are unsure, taken before you board and not after.
- Cash for anything you rent on the day and for the crew, who work hard and are tipped separately from the price.
That is the whole day
Two dives, lunch, transfers and park fees in one price. Pick your dates and we will put you on the right boat.
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