Thread: Diving pictures from Sharm, Egypt

I am not a hardened photographer, i currently own a Panasonic FX28 bridging camera to keep things simple above the surface and below i use the misus Panasonic FX01 with a 40metre depth digital case. These are a small selection of my first underwater pics, the main issue was the colours disappearing the deeper i went - as always with photography, practice makes perfect

Sea turtle video

Can you spot the fish/rock


Problems shooting in the blue - Barracuda (approx 1 metre in length x8 of them)


Me

Touch this one and you'll get one hell of an electric shock - literally (approx 1.5 metres long)

Awesome pics dude...love marine life!

This is the cargo of a sunken ship named the Yolanda - yes those are toilets and rolls of lino

Moray Eel



annnnnnd a white tipped shark in the distance (approx 2 metres)

crap attempt at a closer shot


This is a giant Moray....bloody evil things and chuffin huge


Another sea turtle

Originally Posted by DriveByShooters

Awesome pics dude...love marine life!

cheers mate!!

Tis really a different kettle of fish (scuse the pun) taking pics down there whilst maintianing bouyancy..... the deeper you go you lose more and more colours, from 3m onwards - the bluest ones in the pic were @ approx 15-20 metres

WOW, Tim, some awesome pics there mate, look really good!!

Wow tim these pictures are great! Something i definately have to do some day!

thanks chaps

Gops, if your in Leicester you have the perfect place to learn...Stoney Cove, although get ya scarf cos you will freeze ya nuts off

Great pics mate.

I was in Sharm in April last year, I only did snorkeling, so I didn't get to see as much as you.

great pics tim

Originally Posted by 1animal1

Gops, if your in Leicester you have the perfect place to learn...Stoney Cove, although get ya scarf cos you will freeze ya nuts off

Im in coventry, which isnt far! I'll drag the misses along with me!

nice pics but dont recognise the dunraven? sure it isnt jolanda?

Stunning pics! Shame im scared of water!! As theres a lot to see down there!

Originally Posted by ianh

nice pics but dont recognise the dunraven? sure it isnt jolanda?

bang on mate...... my bad

no worries,the dunraven is a much more photogenic wreck,a great dive at any time.

i went over there with my OW mate, got the AOW booked at the end of July up at Capers.....damn shame and i was really annoyed that i hadn't taken it before going, still plenty to see over there though....you been at it long?

Love that last pic Tim! Looks like a brilliant experience!

Woulda been cool if you had pics of an S3 around there somewhere LOL

Originally Posted by 1animal1

i went over there with my OW mate, got the AOW booked at the end of July up at Capers.....damn shame and i was really annoyed that i hadn't taken it before going, still plenty to see over there though....you been at it long?

15 years or so,more into tech diving nowadays though,got my advanced trimix certificate and rebreather qual but still like doing the shallower wrecks in the red sea though,i am quite fortunate that i bought a place over in sharm a few years ago so i tend to go over every couple of months.
learned at capernwray though and if you learn here in our cold no viz waters it can only stand you in good stead for the warmer clearer waters.

yes thats what i thought when i did the OW, i didnt want to fall foul of learning over there and have the mentioned problems when trying to dive here.... although my first choice was actually BSAC but they wouldnt have been able to get me through in 3-4 months and so suggested PADI to me for the quali and to be able to get out

oooh you are lucky if you have a place out there, whats the costs like over there overall? ive looked at property prices but have no idea regards local taxes or energy etc - and who do you generally dive with?

i did all my initial training through bsac until i had gone as far as there syllabus allows so then had to use other agencies for further qualifications,went with padi for the rebreather then tdi for the trimix,(not Turbo Diesel Injected by the way).glad i did all the learning here then progressing abroad though.

the property prices where very good a few years ago and even now they are good,mine is a 3 bed 2 bath top floor,120 sq metre with my own roof with a great view over tiran island,it cost at the time £40k,well its 2 apartments that i had knocked into one big one.the £40k was fully furnished,brand new and included full a/c.at the moment its rented out long term yielding me 10 % pa which i couldnt get anywhere else so i am well happy with it.evn now you can get a nice 2 bed apartment for £25k if you know the right people.
there is a tax treaty between egypt and uk where tax on a foreign property is at source and as the source is sharm there is no tax so i am led to believe.
water and electric bills arent realy a concern to be honest,they dont amount to much and they dont have standing charge,just pay as you go.no council tax or any other hidden costs apart from maintenance charge but mine was only £1500 one off lifetime charge and that was included in the purchase price.
i have made many egyptian friends in sharm over the years so i now rent a beach front apartment of one of them in sharks bay when i go over now as mine is rented to someone else.i just dive straight of the beach or sometimes we have a drive down to ras mo and spend a day shore diving jolanda and sharks reefs.a lot of times i will dive solo but carefully !!
sharms getting to be a very popular destination but i have seen a big increase in the cost of hotels yet flight prices can be had for as little as £150 so renting somewhere makes it a very cheap break,plus you get the benefits of eating what you want when you want

£25k isnt bad at all, i saw lots of bill boards advertising guaranteed returns out there from property, but you take them with a pinch of salt as they aren't regulated to be held to them (one would assume)....i stayed at the Hilton Sharks bay this time round, last year in Nabq which obviously is less resourceful for the diving fans. Absolutely loved the area and the shore dives with Sinai this time around and the closer proximity to Naama (dived with Emperor, Stevie H?).

blimey 10% PA isn't bad considering the risks you'd have to take elsewhere for that. I know that there is a massive difference in the tourist costs versus the Egyptian costs out there, last year made some really good friends who subsequently tipped us off as to what to expect to pay for taxi's/food etc rather than being stung like a lot of foreigners seem to be. A couple we met paid £25 for a taxi from the airport to HSB!! i paid 65LE (booked through hotel for convenience)which was obviously wey over what the meter would have read.

Not sure about the tax treaty, obviously the UK will always stick you with cap gains upon sale of the asset as they do with any second property in any country (assuming they know about it). Not entirely sure on the position with regards to your income from the rent though, in my mind as long as you dont bring it back to the UK then you aren't eligible for a UK income tax. But then if you look at the recent review of overseas investments and the fact that people are having to declare them so as to pay income tax, then you may be liable. Curious what this treaty might be

the above is assuming you are full UK domiciled obviously

Tim

hiltons nice,the place i rent is virtualy next door,at he tip of sharks bay,a area called montazzah,mainly private apartments apart from a great little hotel called the melia sinai,its the only area i am aware of in sharm that you can buy beach front,literaly 25 metres from the shoreline.as its a exclusive area the prices are over £100k though.
i always used to dive with emperor and did my tdi course with them,however once i started going it alone i found the diving much more enjoyable.
a very good friend over there is the bank manager at hsbc,the branch in naama.
the taxi drivers are just ruining it for themselves,i now rent a car for the week,it costs £15 a day and its fantastic to be able to drive like a idiot if you feel like doing and not get done,have never been stopped for anything and its quite simple to drive there when you realise theres no rules and even better filling up from empty and it only costing £7 to fill it.
i am not a accountant but from what i have gathered tax is only applied at source and isnt charged twice so all taxes are to be paid to egypt if any due,but they dont have capital gains or tax on income from rent,maybe i was given duff info but i am not arguing or questioning it unless the situation arises. i am full uk domiciled.

ps.heres a link to the place i stay at,think they charge £350 for a week including water and electric and even collect you from the airport,that is for the apartment that sleeps 4 not per person so cheap alternative to a hotel for a family holliday,it is very quiet area though so not suitable for ravers,great for relaxing and snorkeling/diving on the reef there and no doubt would be great for photos as is all the redsea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp-Ju...eature=related

Thanks Ian, really appreciate that...... i shall have a look at the vid later when the lunchtime internet slow down has elapsed

Im going to look into this further as would really like some property abroad (and Egypt is on my list of possibilities). Im pretty certain the cap gains would apply in every instance, i'll look into it further and pass on anything i find. It's very strange the overseas position as the UK gov seem to be on the look out for money held by UK doms in overseas investments/property since 2008 otherwise heavy fines have ensued. The double taxation does make sense if an agreement has been reached but i suppose these treatys could read anything. I'll let ya know mate

I didnt realise the roads were so free!! obviously you see how they drive and assume they know the ins and outs of what they can get away with, also stupidly assumed that i couldnt rent a car as a visiter as it isnt widely offered. you cant go wrong at £15 a day though.

theres always pointers to buying abroad though so be careful,especially so in egypt as you will have seen yourself there attitude that if you are stupid enough to be conned then you deserve to be conned,thats not realy a criticism of them as people though because they are generally a genuine and honest race,however there culture drives them so they dont know any different and can see no wrong in that.its not a problem as long as you are aware of it.the actual process of buying is straight forward.....see what you want,agree a price,shake hands,write a simple contract,have the contract authorised at el tor (40 minute drive up the suez road from sharm),then pay and its yours.all land in sinai is leasehold though,usualy on a 100 year lease but renewable at expiry or term starts on resale.this is to stop the israelis buying pieces of land,its a stable enough area though.

no worries cheers Ian....might be in contact when im ready, gonna check Turkey out at some point too and possibly Bulgaria but think the bubbles burst there now, too many invest properties about

Is there any sort of lending out there in Egypt?

Lending.? What's that,sorry mate but lending doesn't pay the mortgage.lol

haha i guessed not, would just rather spend a bit more and take some sort of mortgage if it was on offer......

I am sure I have read somewhere that mortgages are being offered but I think in reality they aren't available,most places can be bought in installments over a short period,3x payments over 18mnths for example.better of adding it to your mortgage in uk as a home improvement loan

well when the original thought came up, thats what i had in mind....sadly LTV's are down nowadays from what they were boooo

but i dont want to buy 'just bcos' - this place would be part of the pension the UK government won't be giving me

precisely the reason i bought !!! prices only rise and if you can get someone in to rent it on a long term rent,6 or 12 months its a welcome bonus that covers a few diving holidays

Glad its not just me thinking it cant see me spending my retirement here tbh, just hope cameron digs us out of this hole labour have left us in.

Where are you from if you don't mind me askin

manchester.wouldnt like to spend my retirement in sharm also if i was honest,its great for a week at a time but the heat and the arabs drive me potty any longer than that.

yup yup totally agree..... i get fed up after day 10 -11 after the 2nd visit

I was thinking of somewhere more in the middle temp wise, when im old though a few places will be under water!! so not making any rash decisions

your only across the way to me then....