Going Solo: Red Sea Diving Adventures in El Gouna & Hurghada – Penney Evans

Penney Evans had been on many dive trips around the world, but always with husband Mark, or as a family with Luke in tow – but this time she was going solo on a Red Sea diving trip for the very first time. Her journey to El Gouna and Hurghada revealed how warm, welcoming and easy Egypt can be for solo divers.

Photographs by Mark Evans and Penney Evans

Why was I nervous?

had travelled abroad hundreds of times in the past 40-plus years, what was different about this vacation? Well, this trip to the Red Sea was going to represent the first time I had ventured away on a diving holiday alone.

I knew it was a ridiculous feeling. I was a confident traveller and an experienced diver, and I had been to Egypt more than 50 times, but given I was always in the company of my husband (Scuba Diver’s Editorial Director Mark Evans), I realised I must have subconsciously relied on him to handle mundane, everyday travel tasks when we embarked on our overseas diving assignments.

Initially I was excited to be heading off for a week in the warmth, especially as the weather in the UK at the time was decidedly wet and horrible, but the nearer the holiday approached, the more apprehensive I became.

Plenty of solo travellers, male and female, head off all the time, I was no different – it is just I had not done it before. Mark often travels abroad on assignment alone, and I was kicking myself for my irrational response.

Thankfully, I managed to get on top of my nervousness, give myself a stern talking to, and then I was off to the airport and enroute to Hurghada International Airport. Egypt – here I come!

Warm welcome on arrival

Normally, we have been greeted on arrival by someone from the dive centre, liveaboard or resort we are staying at, but Mark had always picked out our name board from the sea of people awaiting outside arrivals.

I was a little worried about this portion of the trip still. Being partially sighted in one eye (damn detached retina!), I was concerned I might not easily see the board with my name on it if there were a lot of people there, but my hosts for the week – Scuba School Ltd – had it all in hand.

Scuba School Ltd is a PADI five-star IDC centre based in Studley, but in partnership with Colona Divers, it also has its own house reef and dayboat in Hurghada, as well as comfortable, well-appointed apartments.

Scuba School’s Darren Ellis and Fiona Gray had been trying to get us out to dive at their Egypt location for ages, so Mark sorted my trip with them.

If you’ve ever encountered the Scuba School gang, either in Egypt, at a UK dive site, or at the GO Diving Show, you’ll know that you can’t miss them in their distinctive purple polo shirts.

I was duly sent my own Scuba School polo and told to wear it as I came out of the airport, and to just look for someone wearing the same polo waiting for me.

Scuba School Ltd have a regular driver they use for transfers, etc, and to make it easier for arrivals, he always wears his purple polo proudly. By me wearing my polo, I equally made myself simple to spot among the exiting crowd.

As it happens, I was getting collected by one of the owners of Colona Divers, but the same polo shirt concept worked perfectly and we both spotted one another at the same time!

With a broad smile and a hearty handshake, Hamed greeted me, grabbed my main dive bag and whisked me off to his car for my transfer to El Gouna.

I was staying in the four-star Three Corners Rihana resort, which is well placed to enable you to head off for a wander around the delights of El Gouna during the day or on an evening.

Designed in the Nubian style, the picturesque hotel caters for singles, couples, families and groups and there are 434 rooms on offer throughout the complex.

There are several pool areas, there is a shallow sandy lagoon beach, or you can jump on the free shuttle boat over to the sea beach (Zeytouna Beach), which is a short ride away.

Time to dive

I awoke to a perfect morning – the sun was rising over the mountains, painting them with an array of colours. After a tasty breakfast, I was ready to go diving! This was my chance to truly experience going solo: Red Sea Diving with Scuba School Ltd and Colona Divers — just me, my kit, and some of the best reefs on the planet.

Colona Divers organised transfers to and from my hotel in El Gouna to the dive centre in Hurghada, and I was given the VIP treatment with my gear – at the end of each day, it was rinsed and hung up to dry, ready for the following days adventures.

The dive centre has plenty of seating outside to relax when the day’s diving was done, there are air-conditioned classrooms for those conducting courses, and a small store stocking all your diving essentials plus the obligatory T-shirts, etc.

My first couple of days of diving, I was out on Scuba School Ltd/Colona Diver’s dayboat, with experienced instructor Osama Hamza. Osama proved to be the perfect dive buddy – he was very patient with me while I calmed the butterflies in my stomach and set up my equipment before our first dive, and after that everything just fell into place.

He was graceful in the water, calm and controlled, and we enjoyed exploring the reefs together The vessel is stunning, spotlessly maintained and with an excellent crew who could not do enough for you.

It has a spacious lounge, a good-sized dive deck and sun deck, and the lunchtime spread of food was delicious, with plenty of options – just the thing when you are hungry after diving!

Our first day of diving saw us on Aquarium for dive one, which truly lived up to its name, with shoals of red-toothed triggerfish, beautiful pinnacles, masked butterflyfish, angelfish, grouper, fusiliers and more – it was a real nursery for all manner of reef fish, and I enjoyed spotting colourful juveniles hiding in the stunning coral.

The second dive was at El Erg. There was a bit of current, so we did the dive as a drift, and what a dive it was – coral heads swarming with anthias, bluespotted rays, jacks, barracuda, plus all of the usual reef suspects greeted us. A lovely dive to round out my first day underwater.

Day two we were back out on the boat, and headed to El Fanadir for the first dive. The topography here was interesting – we dropped down the reef from around 12m to the top of a wall at 25m, and here the drop-off plummeted down to 40m plus.

A coral head enroute to the top of the wall was crammed full of glassfish, and we passed a vibrant array of reef dwellers as we dropped down to 40m on the wall.

There was plenty of see at all portions of the dive, including sergeant majors, lionfish, masked pufferfish, whitespotted pufferfish, shoals of fusiliers, crocodilefish, batfish, anemones with their attendant anemonefish and the icing on the cake, a small turtle.

We remained in the area for dive two, dropping in at El Fanadir North. Here, over the course of a leisurely 74-minute dive, we swam around healthy corals, including two massive lettuce corals, and encountered more anemonefish, pipefish, regal angelfish, emperor angelfish, lionfish, yellow tang, and coral grouper.

We also found a large moray being cleaned by attentive shrimp at a coral head.

The centre is also lucky to have an easily accessible house reef at Zahabia Beach, and I spent my final day of diving exploring their ‘local’ reef with Osama. This is a nice little house reef which boasts plenty of marine life from the shallows down the sloping reef, making it ideal for snorkellers, novice divers and above.

Underwater photographers will be in their element exploring this varied reef, which offers habitats for all manner of Red Sea inhabitants.

Best of all, you and your buddy can venture on to the house reef for as many dives as you want during the day, so if you are wanting to maximise your bottom time, this is a surefire way to do it!

Conclusion

I came back from my week in the Red Sea feeling relaxed and refreshed. My first experience of going solo left me confident, inspired and already planning my next trip.

! I broke up my week in the sun with three days of diving with Scuba School Ltd and Colona Divers, topping and tailing it with lazy days chilling at the hotel by the pool or on the beach.

The Three Corners hotel was exceptional, with friendly staff, comfortable and spacious rooms – I had a stunning pool-side room – and a selection of restaurants serving up a wide range of tasty food.

It was the perfect place to kick back and soak up the sun, while listening to music or devouring a book – and I can also heartily recommend the spa treatments!

In El Gouna, you can also partake in the ‘Dine Around’ scheme, whereby you can head off and enjoy an evening meal at one of the other hotels, or at select restaurants, and utilise your half-board ‘allowance’.

There was a great selection of options within the Three Corners, but it was nice to be able to have this available if you fancied a change of scenery.

Scuba Schools Ltd and Colona Divers offered a slick, professional dive operation with which to explore the wonders of the Red Sea.

I could not have asked for a better dive guide and buddy than Osama, and every member of staff at the centre were very friendly and made you feel right at home almost instantly. 

Scuba School Ltd

Studley-based Scuba School Ltd is a PADI five-star IDC centre, and from its well-equipped HQ it offers air, nitrox and trimix fills, kit servicing, drysuit repairs and in-house cylinder testing.

The experienced instructional team can offer everything from Discover Scuba Diving sessions right through all of the recreational courses to professional certifications, as well as technical training.

They have a very active, friendly dive club, and are actively supporting the next generation with a good number of youth divers in their ranks.

In partnership with Colona Divers, they have their own house reef and dayboat operating out of Hurghada, which is perfect for qualified divers, but also ideal for those looking to do a referral – you can do your theory and pool work here in the UK, and then complete your open water dives in the warm waters of the Red Sea, all with the same operation.

Scuba School Ltd can offer six self-catering one-bedroom apartments (two have a separate lounge with a sofa bed) just outside El Gouna in Egypt, and the block they are in has five pools, a supermarket and an onsite café.

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This article was originally published in Scuba Diver UK #81

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