Dishet Abū Minqār

Hurghada is known for its water that is clear, calm and warm for most of the year. It has become popular for water-sports, particularly scuba diving and snorkelling. It’s pretty cool here at this time of the year, so we aren’t going snorkelling. Instead, we made arrangements to go underwater in a submarine. We have never done that before.

We were picked up from our hotel by taxi and taken to a posh resort area for a two hour tour to see the plentiful marine life of the Red Sea. The submarine is the only recreational sub in Africa and the Middle East and carries 44 passengers and has a crew of two pilots. It descends to a depth of 22 meters. I read on their website that there are only 14 recreational subs in the world but I find that hard to believe.

When we got to the dock, it started to rain. It was the first rain that we have had since we arrived in Egypt and didn’t last long. Actually a rainbow appeared over the ocean.

We boarded a big boat that took us on a 1/2 hour ride out to where the sub was docked. The hatch was open and we went down a ladder into the sub. All of us had assigned seats in front of a porthole and a screen. The screen showed what was happening on top of the sub as we descended. Two divers were on top and they dropped into the water as we went down.

The sub went a short distance to a 500 m coral reef full of colourful fish. The divers took turns doing funny antics in front of our windows. They fed the fish right in front of the portholes so the fish were right up close. One diver was taking photos of all of us and making people laugh. You could buy the photos afterwards.

We returned to the submarine docking area, boarded the waiting boat that took us back to the port. It was an interesting undersea ‘safari’ but nowhere near as exciting as the hot air balloon ride we took in Luxor!

Oh, we also got certificates at the end of our journey.Read more