We spent 3 days shore diving in the Eilat Marine Park. My goal was to optimize bottom time and get as many shots as I could, so we did 3 dives a day at very shallow depths for over an hour each. Noam showed us numerous fish and creatures on probably the most pristine and diverse reef colony I have ever seen, all in a very small area. I have never seen so many fish and coral species in one place - 5 seahorses of 2 species, pipefish, frogfish, lionfish, clownfish, blue spotted rays, squid, octopus, the strange pegasus fish (sea moth) and spiny devilfish, and many other species of fish and sea creatures. We spent 5 of our 9 dives at a single spot - Moses Rock, a coral bommie about 15 ft tall and 30 ft wide in about 30 feet of water. It was a riot of color and teeming with fish. There is a nice wreck and several other dive sites in the vicinity, but we just didn't have time to do them on this trip.
I cannot say enough good things about Noam Kortler. He is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and one of the most talented underwater photographers around. Noam operates out of a dive center at the Marine Park with great facilities including lockers, tables, rinse tanks, restrooms and an excellent restaurant, which made everything so easy. I took over 700 photos in 3 days, and would never have accomplished what I did in such a short time had it not been for Noam. Considering the fact that he devoted his time to diving exclusively with us and provided all of the rental gear we needed, his prices were not much different than what it would cost to go out on a boat. If you are considering diving the Red Sea, I highly recommend Eilat and Noam Kortler and his staff of PADI instructors at Nemo Divers. Sure, Sharm el Sheik may have bigger reefs, more wrecks, wall diving, big pelagics and casinos, but for a macro/closeup photographer, Eilat is heaven.
August in Eilat is hot - around 100 degrees during the day, but it cools off to around 70 at night. The water is a pleasant 78 degrees, which was just about perfect. Eilat is a beautiful, modern resort city with lots to do, excellent restaurants and great shopping. We stayed at the Hilton Queen of Sheba Resort, which I highly recommend, a little pricey but worth it. It is located just a short taxi ride from the Marine Park, and there are other hotels within walking distance.
To get there from Texas, we flew American Airlines to London, British Airways to Tel Aviv and Arkia (the Israeli airline) to Eilat. Unfortunately, we had to go through London Heathrow Airport, which I would recommend avoiding at all costs if possible. If you can't you need a minimum of 3 hours to make your connecting flight, and be advised that Heathrow only allows 1 carry on bag. When boarding Arkia in Tel Aviv, be prepared to be questioned by security for 30-45 minutes. Security is very high all over Israel, which is what makes it a safe place to visit. Try not to schedule travel on Saturdays, which is Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath. Arkia has limited flights on Saturdays and many services are not available. We didn't notice that our travel agent had booked our flight for Friday, and we would have had to leave a day early. We ended up canceling our flight back to Tel Aviv on Friday and hiring a taxi to take us to the airport on Saturday rather than miss a day of diving. We didn't mind, because on the 4-hour drive through the desert we got to see some amazing scenery.
It was an excellent trip and we hope to return someday.
