In recent years, I have visited Sharm several times. It has always been my favorite destination since 1993.
Its proximity and abundance of underwater life have always made it, to my eyes, a place of incomparable quality/ price ratio.
My approach to underwater photography has started in 2011 and since then I realized that, talking about logistics, my needs have progressively changed.
Comparing with friends sharing the same passion, the emerging common thought was that in Sharm you could hardly find the ideal conditions to meet the needs of the “annoying” category represented by underwater photographers.
The organization of the diving centers, the “traffic” of boats at the diving sites and the sites themselves, were not the best for photography.
Then I learned from some friends that recently, at the Sheikh Coast Diving Center (inside the Domina Coral Bay of Sharm El Sheikh), is growing a pole increasingly attentive to the needs of fans of underwater photography, under the influence of Pierpaolo Peluso, the diving center responsible for sales and marketing, as well as guide and underwater photographer.
Hence, after that in recent years my diving and photographic destinations have been especially Maldives, Bali and the Mediterranean Sea, I decided to go back to my “first love” driven by the curiosity that a series of contacts with Pierpaolo made grow.
Upon arriving at the diving center, the enormous logistical and structural advantages of this structure struck me.
Sheikh Coast has its own pier, a marina from where up to seven boats leave daily, representing a remarkable fleet in quantity and quality.
Unique in Sharm el Sheikh, the diving center offers its customers to avoid annoying transfers and long waiting times at the two ports of the Egyptian locality: an exclusive and significant advantage, which results in greater comfort and relaxation, given the total absence of stress and time losses.
Another major advantage of the diving center is the special attention offered to underwater photographers.
Within the technical area, two workstations have been equipped to assemble, with care and without risks, its own camera equipment.
In this place, the photographer may choose one of the twenty roomy lockers available, each one provided with personal padlock, where to place parts of its own equipment with confidence, to recharge batteries and flashlights, and thus returning to its own room bringing only the memory card to download pictures.
The comfort and safety of having available a building of this type (with an adjacent rinsing tank), allows the photographers to avoid carrying their own equipment daily.
The policy of the diving, thanks to the management of Massimo Mazzolini, director of Sheikh Coast, and to the ideas of Pierpaolo Peluso, is to provide to every photographer a personal guide at no extra cost.
The dives are scheduled based on the comparison between the photographer and his guide, depending on the dive site where to dive and the sea’s stream conditions.
Many of the guides at Sheikh Coast were born as local video operators, having years of experience (such as Pierpaolo himself and Massimiliano D’Accampo, a.k.a. Dag), resulting in the clear benefit as to the knowledge, within each dive site, of the best spot for high interest pictures.
Sheikh Coast is capable of meeting every need both diving and photography related, at all levels, thanks to its constant growth and attention.
It is also able to plan your holiday by booking the best possible stay solution.
WORDS and PICTURES by Fabio Strazzi
