Safaga Craic!

by Frank D'Easaille, April 2007

I have just returned from a holiday in Safaga, Red Sea coast of Egypt. I arrived with my non diving partner on Friday 13th of April and stayed at the Holiday Inn Safaga, and booked a 10 Dive package with Orca Divers, Safaga for 175 Euro.

The flight and Holiday Inn stay for a full week cost, including meals, (was ex Frankfurt all in for) 585 Euro. It was booked through a German Tour operator, The Drop Off Buro.de with whom I had booked a diving holiday in Dahab some three years previously.

Orca divers are an absolutely first class dive centre operation. As is now the practice Nitrox is standard and at no additional cost for all divers certified to use it, Air is available otherwise. The Inspiration and Evolution Rebreathers are available for qualified users and I dived the Inspiration with great pleasure!

The boat dives were always interesting and the dive sites well selected, the divemasters were of a high standard and the dive boat's crew were always professional in every respect, the lunch cost the equivalent of 2 Euro and was always good quality.the boat would leave around 8.30 Am and return around 17.00, plenty of space for non divers to sun bathe. A non diving partner came out on the boat for 9 Euro per day.

The Holiday Inn was five minutes walk away and the accommodation was excellent, the fact that we got an all inclusive deal meant we could eat and drink buffet style in the restaurants and bar. Service and staff were all very good.

Most of the clientele were German, the general atmosphere was very good and cordial. Hotel staff all appeared to be able to speak in several languages and nothing was ever a problem. The hotel had a small gym and I used it quite a bit.My other half also had a massage there and was well satisfied.

Weather was about 28 Degrees Celsius and sometimes windy but because it is a bay area there was always somewhere to go diving.

I highly recommend Orca Diving and the Holiday Inn as a holiday destination for the diver and non diver, incidentally my wife did a try dive with Orca and was very pleased with herself which quite honestly is a tribute to the easy professionalism of her Divemaster Mark.

On the Night Life question, the hotel is perfect for a couple seeking good food and a relaxing 'sun bed' by the swimming pool and beach which are so close together as to be indistinguishable. There are windsurfing opportunities and the sea is fine for swimming straight off the beach. there are also boat tours and a full day tour from the hotel to Luxor and the temples at Karnak, this is a full day trip, but Luxor is in fact only over three hours away.

The hotel provides a troupe of entertainers but there are no discos as such, there is a bar and plenty of drinking available for those that want it, but it would be like at home, very different from a resort area like Sharm El Sheik. I have to say as a diver that my days were full, divided between the boat dives and the gym in the evening and then a late night dinner.

Orca diving can be reached at info@orca-diveclub-safaga.com and web wise can be seen on This Link


Links:

Orca Dive Club Website
Egypt main page