Hurghada

Join    Hurghada Photo Club on Flickr and share your moments.

To join the group and start publishing your photos you have to get a flickr™ account first, it’s easy, quick and free. once you have your account, join the Hurghada Photo Club group and let the world see how a great photographer you are and how fun and memorable your trip or life in Hurghada is.

Your photos will be published on Hurghada Today Magazine all the time and get more people to share. You can see the latest photos added to the group on the right side of this page and every single page on our website.

How do I share a photo with a group?

Easy! If you’re a member of the group, add your photo to the group pool. (If not, join the group, because only group members can contribute to the group pool.)

The easiest way add a photo to a group is to go to the photo’s page and click the “Send to Group” button between the photo title and the photo. Then choose the group you want to send it to, and you’re done!

Only you and the group administrators can remove a photo from a group pool.

Note: If you share a photo that you marked as private with a group you are a member of, it’s as if other group members have full access to that photo. They can add comments, notes, and tags. The photo isn’t displayed for people who aren’t members of the group.

Enjoy!

Green tips you can practice every day to save the environment, source: Green Peace

Water

• Fix any leaky faucets, toilets or water pipes. Even a small drip can add up to a lot of water over time.
• Wash your car the natural way - wait until it rains.
• Install water saving faucets.

Energy

• Conserve fuel by turning down the heat at night and while you are away from your home — or install a programmable thermostat.
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
• Insulate your home against heat loss and periodically check insulation.
• Fix air leaks with weather stripping and caulking.
• In the winter, change your furnace air filters once a month. The heater uses more energy when it is full of dust.
• Insulate your electric hot water heater and pipes. Do not, however, insulate gas heaters and only start insulating gas heater pipes about six inches away from the heater.
• Avoid using cars — walk, cycle or use public transportation whenever possible.
• Avoid anything battery operated (or use rechargables or solar rechargables if batteries are unavoidable).
• Buy locally — not only is it good for the local economy, it will save energy because products haven’t traveled across the globe to get to you.

Toxics

• Use non-toxic cleaning alternatives in your home, such as the ones listed in the booklet.
• Furnish your home with furniture made out of natural fibres, wood, metal and glass.
• Avoid the use of polyvinyl chloride (also known as PVC or vinyl) in your home. The entire life cycle of products made from PVC pollutes the environment and your home. PVC items include shower curtains, flooring, even some children’s toys.
• Avoid the use of aerosols.
• Use castor or mineral oils to lubricate switches and hinges instead of lubricants containing solvents.
• Choose water based latex paints over solvent based paints when painting your home. Never use lead based paints.
• If you have a furnace, fireplace or gas heater, have them serviced regularly to prevent deadly fumes and install a carbon monoxide detector.
• Ensure you have good ventilation and balanced humidity in your home to prevent the growth of mould and mildew, which can be harmful to your health.

Waste

• Do not throw out your toxic household wastes, such as paint, paint thinner, and car fluids, in the garbage or down the drain. Check with your local facilities for proper disposal and avoid these products in the future.
• Take your own bags to the grocery store. If you take plastic bags, use them until they are worn out.
• Compost your food waste and use as nutrient rich soil for your lawn.
• Avoid excess packaging.
• Always use reusables mugs, lunch containers, batteries, pens, razors, etc.
• Replace paper products with reusable ones (use recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper when you do have to use paper).

For many Europeans, traveling to the Red Sea for scuba diving is like many North Americans going to the Caribbean. For a scuba diver based in North America or anywhere else outside of Europe or Africa, a journey to the Red Sea is considered one of the more exotic scuba diving trips. Like other overseas travel, getting to the final destination is the hardest thing. The Red Sea can be dived from ports in both Egypt and Israel but most international scuba divers do so from the Egyptian side. There are two major scuba diving areas in Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada. Sharm El Sheikh at the northern part of the Red Sea is the more established center having been a popular vacation resort area as both Egyptians and Europeans have been vacationing here for many years. The local scuba dive industry grew along with the overall steady growth of classy resorts, shops and other tourist services in Sharm El Sheikh. Hurghada, once just a sleepy fishing village along the west side of the Red Sea, is starting to grow as scuba divers discover this alternative to Sharm El Sheikh.

More than likely, travelers going to either Sharm El Sheikh or Hurghada will have to fly to Cairo before connecting with Egypt Air or taking a bus to their final destination. Many scuba divers turn their Red Sea diving trip into a major extended holiday in order to both dive and see the many wonderful ancient Egyptian sites such as the pyramids. There are many things to see and do in Egypt in addition to the ancient ruins including museums, markets and Nile river cruises. So it is highly recommended to do some research and plan accordingly for any trip to Egypt as one would not want to run into the situation where not enough time was allocated to see everything one wants to see there in addition to scuba diving.

Many of the scuba operators in Sharm El Sheikh are affiliated or close by to a hotel resort. Most of the dive shops are actually owned and staffed by Europeans working in Egypt. This is similar to the situation in the Caribbean where many of the scuba operators there are American owned. The Red Sea has a higher salt content than Caribbean waters so it is recommended to add 4 to 5 more pounds to the amount of weight divers usually use. Like most European diving, the scuba community here in Egypt uses the metric system so weights will be in kilos while air pressure will be in bars. Most dive computers should be able to display both metric and imperial systems.

Many scuba operators in Sharm El Sheikh use a very interesting system for scuba tanks. Rather than using their own tanks, their dive boats go to a common central barge anchored in the harbor. This is where all the scuba tanks are supplied from and the dive boats collect the number of tanks they need for day’s dive trips. At the end of the trips, used tanks are dropped off at the same barge before heading back to port.

The majority of the dives in the Red Sea are semi drift dives where the dive boats drop off divers at the dive sites and then pick them up afterwards. One very different aspect of the Red Sea compared to other dive destinations in the world is that the coral reefs here can extend up to very shallow depths. As a result, the standard safety stops at 15 feet are done drifting among many of these sloping reefs along with the accompanying marine life. Therefore, these are some of the most scenic safety stops scuba divers will ever do. This is certainly different from the usual bland safety stop in the Caribbean. One thing to note is that the maximum allowable depth for recreational scuba divers in Egypt is 30 meters which is about 90 feet.

As expected, the marine life in the Red Sea is spectacular. There are many species of fish, crustaceans and marine plant life here that are not found in the Caribbean. In fact, many of them are indigenous to the Red Sea only. While lionfish can be extremely rare sightings elsewhere, they are quite abundant in the Red Sea which is a real treat for scuba divers. It is also not unusual to jump in the water to be among a large school of tuna or other fish. Many night divers will see coral reefs here to be more spectacular than in the Caribbean.

For many scuba divers, the Red Sea is one of those ‘must dive at least once in a lifetime’ destinations. It is a very unique place to dive especially with the desert background visible from the dive boats. The excellent diving with the many awesome sights of Egypt make the Red Sea a dream dive trip for any scuba diver.