I went diving in Hurghada with Ilios Diving Club (http://www.iliosdiveclub.de/), located in the Steigenberger Al Dau Resort, Hurghada, Egypt. It is located at the beach of Steigenberger, only a few metres from a private marina, where they park their diving boats.

 

 

Ilios Diving Club is a very organized and experienced dive centre that can accommodate big diving groups, taking them daily to different dive sites. There are daily dive trips that depart from the marina in the morning and return at around 16:00, with the option of a lunch buffet on board (for an additional charge).

 

 

Dive sites I visited:

Abu Ramada North/ South

Two small islands surrounded by a single reef. Lots of sting rays, sea snakes, parrot fish and lion fish Ras Disha

A reef dive where i got to see giant moray eels, stonefish, sting rays and several sea snakes

Police Station (Giftun island)

A drift dive with many giant moray eels, sting rays, crocodile fish and lion fish. One of the other diving groups was lucky enough to also spot dolphins!!

 

Gota Abu Ramada

A reef dive. Yuriy and i went all around the reef (thanks for that Yuriy!) where we saw an eagle ray with a hook in its mouth. We were literally diving in a school of sardines at some point. Lots of barracuda, trigger fish and sting rays. A dive site with lots of corals and good lighting, excellent for underwater photography!

Abu Hashish

Again i dived with Yuriy and Anna on our own (Anna practiced her navigational skills and she was excellent). A nice lagoon with lots of giant puffer and lion fish.

Gota Hasish

A beautiful lagoon with lots of small colourful fish and giant puffer fish

Umm Gammar

A wall dive with giant eels, lion fish, big groupers and lots of sweepers.

Shaab umm Gammar

A reef wall drop where a wreck of an Egyptian patrol boat lies (on the south east side). I got to see giant eels, eagle rays, trigger fish and snake fish. An excellent dive site to spot ‘big stuff’ like grey reef sharks and big tuna but i wasn’t very fortunate

Overall impression My diving at Ilios was superb and i have to say a big thank you to all the staff of ilios Dive Club (thank you Tarek Sami) who do their best to make you enjoy your dives.

Ok maybe i was expecting to see “bigger fish” but in the summer, with divers flooding most sites, from other dive centres, you cannot expect much more! Plus you need luck, which I obviously didn’t have this time.

However, I was lucky to meet and dive with three wonderful people (diving always connects people) Yuriy and Anna from Ukraine and Florian from Germany. Hope to see you guys again soon so we can dive altogether!

 

 

Tips/Recommendations

• Worth booking a package if you are diving for several days
• Nitrox available (with a fee)
•  Sun protection FOR SURE especially if you sit on the sun deck of the boat
• For further information http://www.iliosdiveclub.de/Default.aspxw.iliosdiveclub.de/) located in the Steigenberger Al Dau Resort, Hurghada, Egypt.