Red Sea diving vacations

Planet

We have managed to STOP using plastic water bottles..we provide glass bottles with purified, filtered water throughout our club. Glass re-filable water bottles are provided in the guests rooms and we have water stations available 24 hours a day for re-filling. We do ask guests to bring their own re-filable water bottles for their own personal use but do also sell vacuum cooler bottles 500 ml if they forget or don’t have any. Even our restaurant will only sell water from glass bottles to outside guests and we also provide a fill up service for a small fee, for guests not staying with us.
We employ Egyptian, Bedouin and Nubian workers here, they are our chefs, team members, dive instructors, safari guides meaning that a wider range of people benefit from our guests. We feel a massive responsibility to the environment we work in, as it is so precious.

We are not flighty dive club owners just looking to make a fast buck and move on. Our home is here in Dahab and we are raising our family here too (now two girls & a boy) since 1997.

All our children are very aware of how precious this environment is and as they are bi-lingual, they are able to chat away to the locals about why it is wrong to fish, why not to throw rubbish in the sea etc which, when coming from a kid, is most effective.

We pick up any rubbish we see both underwater and above water too...on every dive.

The very fact that we dive with small numbers (4-1 ratios) also means we can instruct more effectively about environmental impact issues like, good buoyancy, tidy equipment (not dangling and hitting reefs) no sand kicking (stopping the reef feeding). We also are passionate about our fish and pass on lots of aquatic information to each customer. We believe you will leave us a better, more responsible, non coral bashing, informed, and environmentally aware diver and person.

We recycle all our waste; food items go to our goats, bottles, cans and plastic are collected here in our recycle bins and taken to re-cycle units in Dahab. Environment notices are posted in rooms and welcome folder to be more aware of the local best practices.
Cotton shopping bags are provided in each room to remove the need for plastic.
We encourage our guests to bring their own bottle and re-fill it at one of our water points, saving a massive amount of one time plastic use.
We are asking our guests to not use standard sunscreen which is causing harm to the reefs and advise the best types to not cause damage.

We are excited to be a part of the Green Fins International initiative.
Green Fins is a proven conservation management approach – implemented internationally by The Reef-World Foundation and the UN Environment Programme – which leads to a measurable reduction in the negative environmental impacts associated with marine tourism. It aims to protect coral reefs through environmentally friendly guidelines promoting sustainable diving and snorkelling. It provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for marine tourism and its robust assessment system measures compliance.
Having passed a strict audit in March 2022 to establish that we are both following eco protocols, as well as continuously looking for new ways to be more eco.
Obviously COVID had an impact on our existing practices, for example we had managed to irradicate plastic bottles and replaced them with glass bottles but this was not accepted by the CDWS who police diving facilities in Egypt.
So we found a way round this by providing water dispensers in every room, so now our guests can continue to use their refillable bottles in the comfort of their own room.
We have replaced the obligatory single jams, ketchup, mayo etc with squeezy bottles which are sterilised and reused for example.
Our latest endeavour is the rubbish collection nets which we attach to every BCD, ensuring everyone can make a difference and pick up any rubbish found in the sea.

People

By employing local staff we help a much wider number of people...here in Egypt most families still rely on the main breadwinner, so by making sure this person is employed and well paid, we ensure that whole families, which rely on this income are supported too. By paying them a fair wage and passing any tips on to them, we are not taking advantage...our staff are like our family to us.
We recommend the local restaurants, because as well as having our own, we want our guests to go and enjoy meals at one of the may locally owned places.
Our diving groups often go out for the day, which means utilizing a beach cafe, so we encourage our guests to eat and drink there too as they are using the facilities.
Our overnight safaris use local boats and boat operators and once at our destination we use local transport, shelter and food preparation.
We support local environmental causes such as the famous 'Don't mess with Dahab' campaign aimed at reducing plastic use.
We encourage guests to buy locally made items rather than imported items and there are so much talented crafts in Egypt, sold in the local gift shops. We offer a small discount upon showing they are from our club, via their key fob or business card.