Unfortunately
many of these boats don't reach the same standards that you
might expect - Egypt is catching up, but isn't up to European
or North American standards of safety.
A day out on the boats - a cautionary
tale.
My
son and I went out one day on a locally booked snorkelling day-trip
in 2004. There were about 50 people in all on the boat, most
of them were swimming and snorkelling, about 10 or so stayed
on the boat. The first couple of stops were pleasant (we spotted
a manta ray on one of them - which was a bonus) and we were
accompanied by some crew into the water. I did notice however
that they didn't count people out or back into the boat, though
it wasn't much of an issue as we were the only boat in the places
we went to.
The
third and final stop of the day was at a place where there were
around 8 boats already moored. Ours pulled up parallel to two
others and we got into the water with the instruction that we'd
be away again in 30 mins.
Off
we went to the edge of the reef and started following it along,
it was different to the other places we'd been that day with
different life, so when I noticed the time, it was about dead-on
leaving time, so we started to swim back to where the boat was
- or should have been.
I
remembered the name of the boat, it's rough position and the
fact that there were two other boats, one on either side that
looked very similar. The one I thought was ours wasn't, the
name was wrong, so we tried the other two - swimming in snorkelling
gear, trunks, snorkel, flippers and mask - nothing else.
Not
those either, thought maybe I had the wrong place (unlikely
as I have a very good sense of direction and position), so we
swam around a while looking at the other less likely boats.
Niall (son) was getting a bit panicky by now as we were in about
10m of water, no chance of touching the bottom and occasionally
sight of the bottom would disappear as the visibility was less
than the depth and we'd been swimming around for quite some
time.
I
was hatching plans B, C and D - go ashore, find a hotel, phone
our hotel (while wearing snorkelling gear - see above). Then
I remembered that the first boat we'd checked out was one I'd
seen alongside ours that morning, same company, similar name.
So we climbed aboard - no-one spoke English. There was one crew
member who spoke some English who we tried to communicate our
plight to. I was feeling particularly vulnerable and isolated
as I stood there getting cold and unable to see without my prescription
diving mask! - it was see properly but look a right geek, or
take the mask off and see the world as if through the bottom
of a jam jar.
It
turned out that it was the same company and he called the other
boat on his mobile phone, as he did so, our boat came into view.
It pulled up alongside, we jumped into the sea again, swam across
and finally joined our original boat. There was an English family
on board who we had spoken to earlier in the day and they had
noticed that we were nowhere to be seen and so made the boat
turn around and go back for us.
All
was well that ended well, but it was an unpleasant experience.
In a way it as well I had Niall with me as I felt I had to be
calm and strong for my 12 year old son and so was. Swimming
around in the sea with boats 100m apart in a foreign country
with the day getting towards dusk was an experience I could
have done without.
I've
been back to Egypt and the Red Sea twice since then and been
out on boats many times, things do seem to be getting better,
but it will take time and there are unscrupulous operators who
will try to cut corners and employ insufficient or untrained
crew. You need to make your own decisions and safeguards for
your and your family's safety.
Don't
worry unduly, but don't expect that the fear of litigation that
pervades so much European and North American culture to apply
here making the "Nanny State" - it doesn't. There
are dangers like anywhere else and an increasing number of reputable
companies that are here for the long term will do most or all
of the thinking for you. Don't be afraid to apply your own safety
criteria and don't assume that assurances are of consequence,
they may be just to shut you up.
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