Eilat, Israel

by Trevor Thorpe

It was November and I decided I would like to see what the diving in Israel was like so I went to my local travel agent and booked a 2 week holiday. I selected the Ambassador Hotel on a half board basis. The hotel was just outside Eilat. The holiday was booked through Hayes & Jarvis and cost me £950 approximately.

After travelling down to Gatwick on the National Express, I boarded the aeroplane for the 5 hour flight to Ovda, Eilat’s airport. As usual I was travelling alone. After disembarking the plane and recovering my luggage, I proceeded to immigration and customs. When I had finally cleared them -- they are very thorough -- I boarded my coach for the ride into Eilat which takes about 1.5 hours.

After dropping all the other travellers off, we proceeded to my chosen hotel which was just out of town and up a slight incline. When I got to reception and filled in the necassary paperwork I was shown to my room which was in a annexe especially for divers.

The next day after a good sleep I went to check out the dive facilities which were very good and rented out some excellent equipment. After a short talk to the divemasters where I showed them my medical certificate because I am slightly physically disabled I had to fill in an insurance certificate to dive the Israeli Red Sea costing about £12. The divemasters were very helpful and while I was there I did 3 dives. These were nice but all done from the beach which I didn’t like much because you use too much air getting out to the reef.

The dives that I did were; Caves, were we saw some very nice Lion Fish, a 6m. dive lasting 47 mins., Coral Beach, a 15mins., drive further round the beach, a dive to 22m. lasting 28mins., and Mosquito Wreck which was a very nice wreck dive where we saw some more Lion Fish. This time the dive lasted 31mins. to a depth of 28m.

Anyway there is a very good public bus service from just across the road from the hotel driveway into Eilat which I used several times. Most of the bigger shops in Eilat have armed security and staff with metal detectors on all doors which is slightly intimidating but nevertheless Eilat is a very nice place and well worth a visit. Also there are the normal tourist trips to the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Cairo, etc.

It was while I was on one of these that Saddam Hussein threatened to bomb Israel. I had gone to Cairo to see the pyramids & Sphinx at Giza and the Egyptian Museum. Cairo is a very overcrowded city with some very rich people but some very big slums with open sewers. I was slightly disappointed with the pyramids as the city of Giza sprawls to within throwing distance of them and the Sphinx. It was a very nice trip and on getting back to my hotel I was informed of the threat. My tour operator got in touch and told me that they were giving me the option of flying home as many clients had already done or travelling down to Sharm el Sheikh.

As a diver there was no option and I chose Sharm. When the other divers heard they were really envious especially when I told them I would be staying at the Ghazala Gardens Hotel. After repacking I got the taxi to the border crossing where the taxi left me and said that an Egyptian taxi would pick me up on the other side. Israelis and Egyptians are not allowed across the border. After finally crossing the border – again they are very thorough -- and I already had several border crossing stamps, I was met by an Egyptian taxi driver who took me the 2/3 hour drive to Sharm.

Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt
When I got to the hotel and had filled in the reception forms I was shown to my room which was really nice. The following day I went looking for a dive shop and found the one recommended, Camel Divers. As I was only there for the week I only did 4 dives, These were the; Middle Garden, a very nice dive with plenty to see, a dive of 28m. lasting 33mins., Far Garden, a fantastic drift dive to 23m. lasting 39 mins., and then the following day we did Ras Mohammed where we dived Anenome City a dive to 24m. lasting 32mins., and Jackfish Alley a dive to 17m. for 40mins.

The boats they use are very big and purpose built dive boats with a galley/kitchen so that you do a morning dive, then lunch and then rest before the afternoon dive which I thought was an excellent system. Camel Divers also provide a free pick up service although I prefered to walk as my hotel was only 200 metres away. After getting your kit and setting it up, you then have to walk the 5mins. to the jetty and the boat. The dive crew take all the kit & the cylinders to the boat for you. I very much enjoyed my diving in Sharm although I thought that the Egyptian health standards were very poor.

After much discussion it was decided to send me back to Israel for my original flight which meant another taxi ride followed by another border crossing and then another taxi ride back to my original hotel to check out before eventually boarding the coach for the airport. On getting to the airport everything went fine until passport control and they noticed I had spent a week in Israel then a week in Egypt before coming back to Israel to fly out. I was immediately surrounded by 4 Israeli army personnel pointing sub-machine guns at me while being interrogated by 2 more. After 45 minutes grilling they accepted mine and my couriers explanation and let me through.

It was quite a relief!


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