El Quseir, Egypt As the majority of visitors passed through immigration at Hurghada airport and dispersed to the nearby hotels or liveaboards, we had another one and a half hour coach journey through the desert, as we were heading for the less well-known resort of El Quseir. Approximately 120 km south of Hurghada and 220 km east of Luxor, Quseir is one of the oldest ports in Egypt, lying at the end of an ancient caravan route coming from Qift in the Nile Valley and winding down through the Eastern Desert. It is from the port of Quseir that Queen Hatsheput's famous expedition is thought to have set sail for the fabled Land of Punt in search of precious metals, exotic animals and rare plants, the most important of which were the incense trees the Queen planted in front of the mortuary temple on the West bank of the Thebes. After the introduction of Islam to Egypt, Quseir served a new purpose as one of the primary departure points for pilgrims, sailing to Mecca and Medina. The port continued to be active until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, an event that proved disastrous for the local economy. In recent years the town's main economic activity has been the mining and shipping of phosphates from the nearby Italian managed mines. With a population of 40,000 Quseir retains a small town atmosphere. A centre of Bedouin life, its sights include many mosques and the historic harbour dominated by the Fort of Sultan Selim built in the 16th century and renovated by the French at the end of the 18th century. We were based just a couple of kilometres from the town at the prestigious Movenpick resort, located on El Quadim Bay. This resort is renown for its superb architecture and traditional Nubian style bungalows. A few hundred metres from the bungalows and across the spotless Sirena Beach lies the Swedish run, Subex dive centre. After checking in at the counter we were introduced to Ali, a very likeable Egyptian instructor who explained the centre's numerous safety rules and available dive sites before leading us on a guided tour of the impressive facilities. We were then each allocated a locker in one of the two changing areas. The centre boasts 125 steel tanks, 50 complete sets of equipment including computers, 95 wet suits, nitrox tanks, underwater cameras and halogen lamps. Three equipment rinse tanks, 1 for regulators and cameras and two for suits, BC's etc. A fully equipped workshop lies to the rear where all servicing and repairs are carried out. All rental regulators are disinfected after use, the second stages are then stored in a protective bag and each mask is cleaned before the next customer's use. The bay in front of the centre is a small nature reserve protected by various ecological measures implemented by the hotel and Subex management, and is nicknamed Eco Bay. All of the diving activities from here originate from the 75-metre jetty specifically constructed to enable divers entry into and exit out of the water without damaging the reef. The radical new design of the jetty enables it to traverse the reef with minimal contact, traditional methods would have included concrete pilings and rubble fill that would have destroyed large sections of this pristine reef. The main reason for the reef still being in such good condition is that the number of divers in the water at any one time is limited to twenty. This is controlled by divers recording what times they want to dive on reservation sheets displayed near the counter. If a two-hour slot is full either an alternative has to be chosen or the option of a jeep or boat safari is available. Every buddy pair then has to book in at the counter before leaving for the jetty and state which area of the reef they are planning to explore. After the dive you must again inform the staff of your safe return. Before any qualified diver is able to dive unguided they must undergo a "welcome dive" where an instructor checks your buoyancy and you demonstrate mask clearance and an out of air exercise using an alternate air source. Even though our party consisted mainly of divemasters and Phil a Course Director we were quite rightly not exempt from this. The shore dives from the jetty included walls along the left and right hand side of the bay, coral heads down the centre, and also a small cave system on the left. Alternatively depending on the wind strength and direction the options of a RIB or boat safari were available. The centre has helped in making the walk along the jetty as easy as possible by storing the full cylinders at the end. Here you have the option of either a 10, 12 or 15 litre tank and three Egyptian staff assist with donning of kit and fins. Likewise when exiting the water they are eagerly waiting to take fins and cameras from you before having to climb the steps back onto the jetty. Once up these steps they quickly remove your tank enabling an effortless walk back to the dive centre. The empty cylinders are taken for refilling by trolley to one of the three Bauer compressors at the rear of the dive centre. Once in the water there is a buoyed line to follow taking you away from the jetty. Attached to this are three lines leading to a sandy bottom. The first is used for ascending, the second for descending and the third has a bucket full of weights attached. This allows you to adjust your buoyancy by adding or removing weights without the hassle of having to return to the jetty. Armed with directions from the instructor who had taken us on the welcome dive, we headed off down the sandy slope to a depth of 14-15m in search of sea moths. Surprisingly, within three minutes we found one of these bizarre benthic fish, a species that stays in touch with the substrate for most of the time, slowly creeping across the bottom on its ventral fins in search of crustaceans. This area is also full of burrows where partner gobies living in a symbiotic relationship with shrimps, dart back into the safety of their hole as soon as an approach is made. From here we headed off in the direction of the "right hand" reef, just a few minutes away. The reef consists mainly of a wall but also has the added interest of canyons, swim throughs and pinnacles and depths of over 40-metres can be reached if you venture beyond the point. The size, quantity and diversity of life in this bay, surprised us all, with crocodile fish, large free swimming morays, shoals of unicorn fish, batfish, jacks and large grouper resident. Turtles were spotted cruising into the bay on several dives and on one dive alone 12 individual blue spotted rays were counted. Night dives are normally arranged a couple of times a week on Saturday's and Monday's, at a small additional cost which covers the staff's overtime. With the lights on the jetty behind us we headed off across the sand to the far right hand reef. As we progressed towards the reef we had to be cautious of the many lionfish that were using our torchlight to hunt cardinal fish, as they would startle the unwary. The most unusual sighting during the night dives was of a multibearded brotula, a very shy catfish-like creature that hides deep in crevices during the day. Unfortunately most sightings were only brief, as they would retreat to their shelter as soon as our torches illuminated them from the darkness. Night dives are great for photographers as species difficult to photograph during the day can be approached with greater success. Surgeonfish, Sailfin tangs, parrotfish in their cocoons and goatfish are just a few that made interesting subjects along with the nocturnal crustaceans. Before ascending at the end of each dive we would always spend as long as possible in the shallow bay near to the ascent/ descent lines. This area was full of life and was ideal for using up any shots left in the camera. In fact some of the subjects were worthy of a roll of film on their own. Two juvenile eagle rays have been resident here for several months and continually circle the area. A large shoal of bigfin reef squid hovered just below the surface, continually moving away as most divers tried to approach them, a school of mackerel their mouths gaping as they fed and marbled snake eels with just their heads protruding from the sand are only a small selection of what this fascinating bay has to offer. Numerous other sites are available by jeep safari, although during our visit we only ventured to one of these as the house reef provided us with plenty of options. The caves, or El Caf, 20 minutes drive through the town of Quseir was our choice. Here the jeep stops within 10 metres of the waters edge and the dive centre staff lay two large carpets over the sand for us to change on. A pair of batfish, barracuda, mackerel, gold belly trevally, titan triggerfish, Arabian threadfin bream and porcupinefish were all spotted, but our main reason for choosing this site was obviously the caves. These can be found towards the end of the dive in 5m, although not caves in the true sense they were nevertheless very interesting caverns and swim throughs. An enjoyable cup of tea or coffee greeted us as we left the water. Other sites available by jeep were : To the north -Bey Goha Magbard Somaya Abu Hamra Abu Sawatyr To the south -Serib Soraya El Mohgar Soug Bohan Before leaving the Subex dive centre, each diver is issued with a membership card, stamped with the number of dives completed during the stay. This can be used in any of Subex's other centres and entitles the holder to a free dive after every 10th dive. The Movenpick resort is an ideal location for a family style diving holiday, with many activities available, including: quad biking, archery, pony trekking, water aerobics, squash, gymnasium, mountain bikes and a children's centre.