packing for egypt - & do i need a visa?

[Subvynal]

Remember that Egypt is good for bartering. If you walk up to any of the counters on the left as you enter the arrivals hall, go straight to one of the booths/windows with the shortest que and offer the guy behind the counter a crisp £10 note and simply ask for your VISA's. They generally won't question you. If you don't seem to know what you are doing, then they sometimes charge us westerners a little over the mark.

Don't be afraid to question them if they try and charge you more than a tenner.

Sub

[Arthur Gerla]

There's a lot of disinformation on the subject of visa. Here's the lowdown:
For a visit of a maximum of 15 days to the eastern side of the Sinai peninsula you do not need to pay anything. Just write SINAI ONLY on the back of your disembarkation card and proceeed through customs. You will receive a stamp in your passport, no more. Here's one we prepared earlier:



Note the cute spelling errors.

As you can see this allows you to travel the entire Aqaba coast between Sharm and the border with Israel at Taba, including such spots as Dahab and the reefs in the straits of Tiran. You can also travel inland to the St Catherine monastery and Mount Sinai with this.

For all other destinations in Egypt such as the western side of the peninsula and the mainland, but also the popular dive sites of the Ras Mohammed national park and the wrecks of the Dunraven, Thistlegorm etcetera you need an entry visa. This visa takes the form of a sticker, about the size of a passport page. You can buy it from the bank teller (Banque Misr, the state bank) in the arrivals hall at every international airport in Egypt for 15 US dollars, say 10 pounds english and not a penny more. Just step up to the clerk with the correct change and state with confidence: "One visa!".

Here's the tricky bit: Before you get to the part where the bank is located, you need to get past the local representatives of the travel agents. These entrepreneurs have perfected the separating of inexperienced tourists from their money to a fine art and will sell you identical 15 US$ visa stickers for anything up to double the face value given the chance. I fell for it once, and never again.

NB One reason to buy a visa even if you aren't planning to leave Sharm all week is the slight possibility that you might want to depart early because of illness, an emergency at home, or whatever. This can entail travelling to Cairo, for which you do need a visa which is hard to obtain once you have left the arrivals hall at Sharm airport.

NB2 Some tour operators demand that you buy the visa from their local representative. In that case you will have already agreed to the scam when you booked your trip.

[diveracer]

thanks very much guys/girls
looks like one visa for me and none for the wife and child. thanks.

I JUST WENT TO LUBE MY DRYSUIT ZIP BEFORE PUTTING INTO MY KIT BAG AND NOTICED A BREAK IN THE ZIP !!!!!! F**K

ITS NOT ALL THE WAY, AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT ZIPS UP PROPERLY AND WATERTIGHT (FOR NOW) BUT THERE IS DEFFINITLY A BREAK IN IT. HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCE OF DIVING WITH A DODGY ZIP?
SHALL I TAKE IT AS PLANNED OR TAKE MY SEMI DRY INSTEAD??? I ONLY PLAN ON DOING 5 OR 6 DIVES AS THE MRS WILL GET THE HUMP IF I AM AWAY TOO MUCH.
My semi dry is a bit tighter than i remember (18 months ago!)
bum bugger damn grrrrrr bloody zip!
thanks

[Arthur Gerla]

On the other forum someone reported:

Got back last night. Visas were £10.50 but payment by notes only and change in LE.

Re your drysuit: The water will be 23-24 C. You'll be fine in your semidry, and miserable in your drysuit if the zip leaks.

[Fiona]

HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCE OF DIVING WITH A DODGY ZIP?
SHALL I TAKE IT AS PLANNED OR TAKE MY SEMI DRY INSTEAD??? I ONLY PLAN ON DOING 5 OR 6 DIVES AS THE MRS WILL GET THE HUMP IF I AM AWAY TOO MUCH.

No need to shout

I thought the idea of a dry suit was to dive dry and you are considering using one with a duff zip which will leak like hell.

No brainer really.

[gixerdiver]

your rep will sort it £10 at the airport.

[ssteve]

your rep will sort it £10 at the airport.

they fix zips do they???
ssteve

[Stevie H]

ha ha - packing for sharm tonight, any tips or things to consider???

also do i need to get a visa on arrival? my family will be staying in sharm, but i intend to do a dive or three, do i need to get a visa if i am boat diving? or visiting any marine reserves??
or can dive centres sort out visas as and when required?

thanks

If the family are staying in town for the whole holiday (no desert trips etc) - then there is no need for them to get a VISA.

If you are going to go to Ras Mo on a dive then you will need one - 12 quid is all it takes.

Stevie H

[turbanator]

Having never been there, this thread is another that only makes me think that Egypt is a place not worth visiting.

It seems that there is a whole industry there to 'rook' divers and other tourists, I suspect much of the 'visa' money goes home with the 'officials'.

In Sulawesi, you need a visa, it is a fixed price, you pay at one desk and move to another with your voucher to collect your visa.

Guess what, even in a country as allegedly corrupt as Indonesia, everyone pays the same and the cost has been the same 2 years running.

r
P

[diveracer]

having just returned from my first visit to sharm, where i did just 4 dives (1 at a local reef 'ras ghizmala' ?) i am left with very mixed feelings...........
firstly the younger egyptians seem very friendly where as a lot of the older (35+) egyptians can seem a bit hostile!? but they ALL want your money!!!!
we had a few issues at the hotel with our cleaner knocking the door first morning at 7am to introduce himself and collect his tip - i sent him off as we were sleeping so he came back at 7pm same night!!!
the suitcases took forever to get to our room, the reason ?- they wouldnt leave them without collecting their tip...which i am happy to give but it was more like they were holding them for ransom!
everyone gave us horrible reports of Naama bay so when our taxi was 1/2 hour late we just binned it and had a good night in the hotel - not our loss?
the weather was great, but i was on antibiotics until half way through the week as i had (and still cant shift!) a heavy chest infection and very bad congestion, to be honest i struggled with my third boat dive even though i was dosed up with all i could find.
i saw a napolean wrasse, the usual lionfish, some lovely blue spotted rays and a couple of morays - good but not exceptional, and it didn't live up to the hype, not by a long shot, maybe it is just out of season?
i dived with aquarius, they were great (thanks kayleigh and Islam) only 6 divers on the boat was great. and i would dive with them again.
islam was our guide, a funny guy, for some reason he wasn't keen on me taking my dive knife and wouldnt hire us spearguns??? i was looking forward to catching lunch! and we kept on winding him up all day - as did stewart and rob who i dived with - great guys.
so average diving, great weather, mixed people, high security everywhere, average food, ???? would i go again - yes.
would i rush - nah, too many other places to visit first.
and yes - they are all after your money!