Egypt is a classic diving destination, maybe not as epic as Australia or Malaysia, but probably on par with Indonesia or Belize. And the best way to enjoy it, like all these, is on a liveaboard. We did the King Snefro 3-day trip and it was fantastic!

The Thistelgorm wreck is the crown jewel. A cargo ship sank during World War II, preserved in very good condition and beaming with life. We dove the outside and the explosion area first, then went back down to explore the holds, packed with motorcycles, cars, boots, etc. It was amazing, maybe the best wreck I’ve ever done, at least as good as the Japanese ones in Coron.

The other outstanding dive in the area is Yolanda reef, a gorgeous and shallow coral garden full of creatures, and spread out cargo from the disappearing Yolanda wreck. The rest of the dives, on the first and the third day were good but not great. We explore a few other coral reefs in and around the Ras Mohammad marine reserve, and were lucky to see: tons of spotted stingrays, lionfish, crocodile fish, scorpion fish, anemone clownfish, and all sorts of corals.

The boat was super comfy (we were lucky to get upgraded to the King Snefro Spirit, instead of the much smaller King Snefro 5), the food was delicious and abundant, and the crew the most caring I’ve ever had. But I’m not going to lie, it was cold. I would finish each dive shivering compulsively, and coming out and changing on the deck was really painful. So much that I skipped the night dives, which I usually love. Don’t believe those who say the Sharm is a year-round diving destination, come in the summer… even the sharks were gone due to the cold waters!

After a lazy day on the beach of Naama Bay, we left Sharm and Egypt via the ferry to Aqaba. It was quite an odyssey, and didn’t seem like the path most travelers chose. We had to hire a taxi from Sharm to Nuweiba for $100, get the ferry tickets from AB Maritime almost 2 hours before the scheduled departure time ($75 each), be escorted by a tourist police officer to a special departure lounge and eventually to a special area in the ferry, wait for another 3.5 hours (apparently a typical delay), navigate for 3 hours (at least that was better than the scheduled 4 hours), be escorted by another police officer on arrival through several slow border procedures, find a little shop outside the Aqaba terminal to exchange some dollars, and pay 5 JD each for a shared taxi to the town center. Don’t know if the flight or overland through Israel options are any better, but it’s definitely worth investigating