Second time is a Sharm - Nov 5-12, 2023

[VikingDiver]

Deposit paid!

 

[VikingDiver]

Egypt e-Visa Portal

I don’t know if anybody has done this before, here is a link anyways

 

[Lakediver]

Reminder: deposits are due today! If you have not sent your deposit in, please send it to me ASAP.

 

[deep bubbles]

This trip is now open to Nurse Sharks!

 

[VikingDiver]

It’s taking way to long for this awesomeness to happen

 

[deep bubbles]

Agreed. Also, I've been meaning to tell yall that if you go to Camel's website they give a great summary of every dive site they go to which includes an illustrated map of the bathymetry, reef, and marine life for those sites. https://www.cameldive.com/red-sea-sharm-el-sheikh-dive-map/

 

[Sushi Boy]

Vacation time is now approved! I just have to be back sometime on the 15th.

 

[deep bubbles]

Vacation time is now approved! I just have to be back sometime on the 15th.

Right on!

 

[Sushi Boy]

Laura, can you line this up for us please? I’m not picky about the kind of tea.

 

[deep bubbles]

View attachment 80480

Laura, can you line this up for us please? I’m not picky about the kind of tea.

I'm on it!

 

[Lakediver]

Friendly reminder that the second payment ($300) for this trip is due on Thursday!

 

[Red Sea Diver]

Ready for a diving adventure in a stunning blue sea amongst sacred mountains and starry Arabian nights? CHUM is going to Sharm El Sheikh! The diving paradise of the Sinai peninsula.

When: November 5 - November 12, 2023
The plan is to fly Saturday Nov. 4th and arrive in the late hours of Sunday night to early Monday morning of Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport. Dive Tuesday through Saturday. Checkout on Sunday.

Where: Camel Dive Club Resort, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Price:. $1,000 ($1036.67 PayPal) per diver

Deadlines:
01/31/2023 $300 deposit ($311.36 PayPal) due

5/18/2023 $300 installment ($311.36 PayPal) due

8/17/2023 $400 final amount ($414.97 PayPal) due (non refundable)

*All payments can be made via cash, check, zelle, paypal (fees apply)

Payments made via the website here: https://www.chumclub.org/forums/account/upgrades

Included:
7 night stay at resort
5 days of 2 tank boat dives, including 1 night dive and trip to the famous Thistlegorm wreck!
Diving guides
32% nitrox
Continental breakfast
5 day lunch on boat
Airport transfer

Not included: Airfare, dinner, alcohol drinks, add-ons, upgrades, extended stay for land excursions, daily Entrance fees to the National Marine Park at $7.00 and Blue Hole and Canyon in Dahab Park at $14.00 a day. *entrance fees subject to change.

Required: Diving insurance; can also be purchased on site at dive shop.

* All payments made are non refundable

* Travel insurance is not required but a good idea. There will be no reimbursement once payments are made.

* Participants who opt NOT to get trip insurance will have NO recourse to seek reimbursement as the payments are non-refundable.

* All communications regarding payments should be directed to the julie (me, deep bubbles) or other CHUM officer and not the resort/dive operator directly.

* Tiger Sharks have first privilege to reserving their spot on the trip. The trip will then open to Nurse Sharks on the date 2/16/2023. Nurse Sharks must upgrade their membership by 5/18/2023 to Tiger Shark status to be eligible to attend the trip.

* Currently there are no COVID requirements to enter Egypt but should they reemerge you will be responsible for meeting National entry requirements for Egypt, the USA, and all other countries traveled.

* Trip will be limited to 12 people

Airfare: The lowest price is Turkish airline whose flights depart at night from Houston Intercontinental. Their roundtrip price to Sharm is around $1280. If flying home from Sharm the option is a 3:40 am flight with Turkish or a 9:30 pm flight with Egyptair-Emirates for around $260 more.

We will be diving in the much sought-after Red Sea with Camel Dive Club, a well reputed long-standing operator in Sharm. Their resort has an onsite SSI dive shop that is seaside with a fleet of spacious yacht style boats. They are located in the city center district with lots of options for restaurants, shopping, and night life. There are 3 bars inside the hotel including their popular rooftop bar for panoramic views of the mountains and Naama Bay. Also inhouse they have the Pomodor restaurant and gelato at Vanilla Cafe for those that do not wish to venture out in the evenings. Rooms are double occupancy with choice of two full size or one king size bed. For day lounging they have a pool and beach access with loungers and parasols.

Breakfast will be continental consisting of fruit, cheeses, and pastries. Option to upgrade to premium: choices of English, Egyptian, healthy, and vegan breakfasts for about $9.00 a day.

Boats will depart between 8 to 8:30 am with dive sites in Tiran, Ras Mohammed Park, and along the mainland coast and return around 4 to 5 pm. The day of diving the Thistlegorm will be a day spent with my beloved fellow chumers at sea as it is a boat ride of around 4 hours to reach; however it will be worth it as this is one of the most popular wreck sites in the world, and we will be on a nice boat in a beautiful Arabian sea. The night dive will be a shore dive at the resort's reef with torch rental included if you forget yours.

Daily lunch and drinks will be served on the boat buffet style!
Main courses: fish and chicken
Side dishes: pasta, rice, cooked veggies, baked potatoes
Salads: baladi, zabadi, tahina, tuna, fresh veggie, aubergine
Drinks: soft drinks, water, tea, coffee

Sunday after checkout I will be moving to one of the cheaper hotels nearby for land excursions. If anyone has the vacation time and wishes to join me or do other excursions on their own then we can get together and decide on a hotel.

This is my dive center! I'm flying out there tonight for my 2-3 times a year visit (I work in Saudi Arabia). I LOVE Sharm el-Sheikh and the friendly folks at Camel Dive Center. I stick with the Continental breakfast instead of upgrading.

Venture out! The hotel area is full of restaurants and bars. Old town is just a 10-15 minute taxi ride away where you MUST eat at Fares Seafood. Farsha Mountain Lounge on the way to old town has a terrific view of the Red Sea. Eat there as well during your trip. My last night I took a tour to the nearby desert which included a short four-wheeler drive, opportunity to sit on a camel, and dinner show. Hey, you're out there, so enjoy the culture!

My preferred route is Turkish Airlines through Istanbul when I travel between Houston/Riyadh. Turkish Airlines is terrific while Egypt Air is okay (hint, hint).

 

[deep bubbles]

This is my dive center! I'm flying out there tonight for my 2-3 times a year visit (I work in Saudi Arabia). I LOVE Sharm el-Sheikh and the friendly folks at Camel Dive Center. I stick with the Continental breakfast instead of upgrading.

Venture out! The hotel area is full of restaurants and bars. Old town is just a 10-15 minute taxi ride away where you MUST eat at Fares Seafood. Farsha Mountain Lounge on the way to old town has a terrific view of the Red Sea. Eat there as well during your trip. My last night I took a tour to the nearby desert which included a short four-wheeler drive, opportunity to sit on a camel, and dinner show. Hey, you're out there, so enjoy the culture!

My preferred route is Turkish Airlines through Istanbul when I travel between Houston/Riyadh. Turkish Airlines is terrific while Egypt Air is okay (hint, hint).

Thanks so much for the info about Fares and for sure Farsha has been on my radar for years.

 

[Sushi Boy]

Has anybody started to look at flights for this trip?

At first glance, these on Turkish Airlines look like good possibilities for me:

These come out to about $1250 round trip.

I wasn't sure what our plans will look like after checkout on Sunday. I just need to be back at IAH by Weds night.
I'm up for touristy stuff in Egypt and can juggle flights/cities once we have an idea of what folks want to do.
If people are up for a larger post-diving excursion that doesn't fit my return schedule, another option for me would be to fly to Istanbul on Sunday and spend a couple of days there on the way home.

 

[ReefHound]

We did a free Istanbul city tour on our last return and it seems like a place worth visiting a few days.

We are looking to visit Israel and have found that we can fly into Sharm and out of Tel Aviv - both on Turkish Airlines - for slightly less than RT into Sharm. We might transfer up to Israel after the diving and spend 2 or 3 nights there.

There's almost no getting around a middle-of-the-night arrival at Sharm unless you use an airline that doesn't go through Istanbul and most have two stops. You can get there late afternoon with SWISS but you go to DC then Zurich then Sharm. Also Emirates can get you to Cairo through Dubai then Egypt Air to Sharm. But we'll probably suck it up for the 2:45am arrival. Less stops means less chance of baggage lost.

 

[deep bubbles]

Has anybody started to look at flights for this trip?

At first glance, these on Turkish Airlines look like good possibilities for me:

View attachment 80901

These come out to about $1250 round trip.

I wasn't sure what our plans will look like after checkout on Sunday. I just need to be back at IAH by Weds night.
I'm up for touristy stuff in Egypt and can juggle flights/cities once we have an idea of what folks want to do.
If people are up for a larger post-diving excursion that doesn't fit my return schedule, another option for me would be to fly to Istanbul on Sunday and spend a couple of days there on the way home.

I'm open to either the Friday night or Saturday night flight. Just kinda waiting to see which worked best for everyone else. If flying Friday then it would be easy to get a cheap motel by Camel to sleep for a little before checkin later that day. Unless you did the 17 hr layover option in Istanbul which would give a little more time there and arrive around noon on Sunday.

 

[Sushi Boy]

Anybody know about luggage storage options in Istanbul?

 

[Lakediver]

I'm flying on miles, so I'll be on United. I looked at airfare today. For the flight to Sharm, this seems like a viable option:

For the flight home, I may just come straight back after diving is done. I keep waffling about how long I want to stay. In which case, I'd be taking this flight:

 

[Lakediver]

Never mind on the waffling. I just went ahead and booked it.

 

[ReefHound]

We are more interested in Israel than Egypt after the diving. I think we will fly into Sharm and out of Tel Aviv on 11/15, both on Turkish Airlines. It's actually cheaper than Sharm RT.

El Al has a 1:15 nonstop flight from Sharm to Tel Aviv for $200 on the Sunday morning we check out.

The Turkish flight into Sharm is the same one listed above (United just code shares with Turkish) and the flight back leaves Tel Aviv at 7:20am, a 4 hour layover in Istanbul, and then the same Turkish flight 33 above back to Houston.

For Israel, we'll get into Tel Aviv about noon Sunday so can spend the day walking the streets, have lunch, look at the beach, shop, and have dinner. Then Monday a day tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Then Tuesday a day trip to Nazareth and Galilee. Leave Wednesday morning.