Just got back from Egypt.

[COreefer]

Had the time of my life...I intend on going back next year.

I have a ton of diving pics and will post some as soon as I convert them to the right files.

[racer69]

Welcome back man.

[COreefer]

Here are some pics...I have over 700, and these are just some of the first I have encountered. By no means am I a professional photographer, but I am getting better. I will have more for youin the coming days. If someone could link the pics directly to the thread that would be great. Thanks for looking.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=170451


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=170450&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=170449&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=170448&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=170445&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=170447&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

[CastleRock]

Looks like you had a blast!
Really nice pics :)

[murfman]

Icredible pix, Eric. Give us some details on the trip, where you went and what it was like. I think we have some skewed preconseptions of the Middle East. The reef is beautiful, I lived in Libya back in the day and I don't remember the reef looking like that. How is the reef doing compared to other reefs in the world?

Thanx for sharing!!!! Ohhh and glad you are home too.

You can open an account with jusspress.com or sony Imagestation and upload the pix there. Once that is done, you just post the link and we have access to all the pix.

[COreefer]

Thanks for the tip..I'll give it a shot.

Ahh the trip was incredible. We left on April 19th and stayed in London 2 days...nice place but everything is twice as much and you get half of what you get in the US. I would never want to go back to London to be honest.

We arrived in Egypt on may 2. The first day we spent time checking out the Egyptian museum and the rest of Cairo, such as Khan El Khaleely, the market area.

Day 2 was spent in Giza at the pyramids...we enjoyed that quite a bit needless to say.

Day 3 we went to Saqqara to see the step pyramid and on to Memphis to see the ancient capital. Not much in Memphis other than an enormous statue of Ramsis II. This night we went back to Giza and did a sunset camel ride with some Bedouin folks in the Sahara desert. This was incredible.

Day 4 we drove to Alexandria on the Med. Alex is a city of about 2 million, unfortunately many of the ancient sites such as the Alex library and the lighthouse no longer exist. We checked out some catacombs and ate at a cafe on the Med. The food in Alex is some of the best in the world.

Also in day 4 we went back to Cairo and I walked around the area where my dad grew up, and bought kilos of spices from a market my grandmother used to shop from.

Day 5 we left for Luxor...had to see Luxor but when we go back there is no need to go to Luxor any more. People are relentless in the hassle..."you want this, I guive you good price..." and they follow you until you start talking about the police or demonstrate you know a little arabic by asking them to beat it.

Day 6 we toured Karnak and Luxor Temples...very extensive archeological sites, Karnak Temple puts the Acropolis to shame as it is 7 times the size and is wall to wall hieroglyphics.

Day 7 we spent our time in a Felucca on the Nile, at the Temple of Queen Hatchetseup and at the Valley of the Kings. The temps in Luxor were about 110 degrees.

Day 8 - 11 we spent at the resort town of Sharm El Sheikh on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The diving in this area of the world is about as good as it gets. The marine park there is known as Ras Mohammed, and many revere this reef as the best diving in the world. I would have to say, asthetically it is the best, however, from the standpoint of crowding this place stinks. There are Russians everywhere and they are not very friendly...oh well we can discuss this another time. :)

From Sharm we went to Dahab. Dahab was desolate due to last months incident (which was domestic in nature contrary to what our media says) but the diving there was incredible. I wish I had spent all of my diving time in Dahab...we actually plan to go back next year, perhaps even stay there for 6mos to a year after I finish school. All of this is subject to a few things but I think we will do our best to go. I pretty much have a divemaster position lined up when we go...nevertheless, that is another discussion all together.

After Dahab we took a cab to Taba, crossed the Israeli border and rented a car to drive to Jerusalem. Along the way we stopped at the dead sea and soaked in the theraputic waters, then on to Jerusalem for the duration of our adventure. Not much to say about Jerusalem other than it has incredible energy and was an eye opening experience.

Murf, there is no doubt that perception in the US is skewed of the middle east. At no time did I feel endangered, or hated. Everyone talked highly of Americans (although they are not happy with the war) I met Saudis, Iraqis, the full gamet and all were very open about talking about the political world. I will say this about Egyptians...they are very peaceful people. Their primary concern is what happens in Egypt.

I believe Americans see fundamentalism and attribute it to everyone, I could not find a fundamentalist anywhere (99.9% of all Egyptians are just like us)...this is not the case at all. There is definitely a perception in this country that there are many people who want to make war in the Mid East and with America...I met no such person while I was there. I think some of us make a terrible mistake by lumping everyone into a specific catagorey, unfortunately the way the mid east is percieved is inaccurate and we have our media to thank for pushing this mindset forward. I would encourage anyone thinking of going to Egypt to go without hesitation.

I will post more pics when I get through all of them. I'll also try the sites you reccomended Murf.

[Deuce67]

Nice! BTW, empty your mailbox.

[racer69]

Here you go Eric.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/35418radiatta.jpg


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/35418emperor_angel.jpg


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/35418clowns.jpg


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/35418biaparatus.jpg


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/35418153_5373.JPG


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/35418153_5374.JPG

[normanviking]

AWESOME pic's.

[Martin's Reef]

Eric,
Great pics! How did you find the time to go with school and all? You lucky dog!

Martin

[COreefer]

Well MArtin, I had a week off rom school and stole 2 from my summer classes which aren't all that demanding. The real work begins this fall when I student teack.

[Misfit6669]

Very nice shots Eric.

[reefkoi]

thats awesome it is our dream trip to dive the red sea, and yeah ras mohammed is supposed to be the place to see! looking at your pics is like something out of a magazines, thats cool you actually saw all that and took the pics yourself, thanks for sharing
Chris

[hogpark7430]

Wow that sounds like quite an adventure.
Great Dive pics

[COreefer]

Thanks guys...