After a wonderful weekend diving Sharm el Sheikh and a few days visiting friends in my old stomping grounds of Cairo, it was time to head out to Hurgada, a city on the Eastern coast of mainland Egypt.
In all of my years living and diving in Egypt, I had never actually been to Hurgada for anything other than an ice-cream in the marina (which, by the way, should not be missed if you ever happen to be out that way). I had heard there was diving in the area, but word around town was that the diving was mediocre at best. Not enough of an endorsement to draw me away from my favorite spots in Sinai or, in the deep south, Marsa Alam.
But my friend's new boat, Legends, had just been moved from Marsa Alam to Hurgada to accommodate a dive group the week previously, and hadn't yet made the trip back south. My friends were raving about their new yacht, and seeing as how the city was too hot and humid to be comfortable, I jumped on the idea of spending a few days getting to know the new dive boat. If the diving wasn't spectacular, at the very least I would be on the water in gorgeous weather with a fun group of people. Or so the plan went.
Four hours before our planned departure time, cancellation calls started coming in. Various reasons were cited to explain the last minute changes of mind, but it was too late to abort the trip. The boat was prepped, the crew was on board, the paperwork had been filed and accompanying fees paid, and all of the food had already been purchased.
In the end, our group was boiled down to a total of six, including the instructor and divemaster. Considering that the boat comfortably accommodates twenty five, we had a fair amount of elbow room. And the crew to diver ratio was 1:1. I've never had better service. It became the least expensive private booking on record.
In addition to the incredible service and space on the boat, we were also treated to some amazing dives. The mediocre reviews I'd heard before were way off the mark. Not only were we the only divers at the sites we visited (probably thanks to those same reviews), but there was a prolific amount of sea life within and around abundantly healthy coral. I lost count of the number of free swimming morays somewhere in the teens. Blue spotted stingrays felt comfortable enough to come out of hiding and swim around the bottom, several eagle rays cruised overhead and we were even treated to a baby torpedo ray trying to wriggle his way around the reef. Not to mention the multitude of turtles, both napping and swimming, and the schools of blue chromis and goat fish that allowed us to swim in their midst.
The sites we dove were clearly not often visited by divers as the sea life showed no fear or concern that we were in their environment. Usually seeing a moray with his head sticking out of a hole is enough for divers to congregate and stare, but we saw so many out and about that they became commonplace. (And yes, for my regular readers, I did keep my knife in easy reach and a fair amount of distance between us). But they were so thoroughly unconcerned with us that we could just hover and watch them as they snaked their way through the water. All of the creatures had the same attitude towards us, giving us the rare treat of truly seeing marine life in its natural state.
If anyone asks me how the diving in Hurgada is, I'll feel obligated to tell them it's mediocre at best. I wouldn't want to encourage droves of divers to descend on these reefs, destroying the harmony in Hurgada's waters.

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