Family scuba diving holidays for certified divers, Red Sea

Planet

We have implemented many ideas to avoid plastics...especially the dreaded single use plastics and look for every opportunity to reduce or even eradicate our footprint and also from our guests too.
We have managed to STOP using plastic water bottles! This is huge as the impact of literally millions of single use water bottles is a worldwide problem. We now provide both glass bottles in the guests rooms as well as only providing water in glass bottles for our outside guests. We offer a free re-fill for any guests and a small cost for outside guests...any profit goes back into supplying more water stations.
All our left over vegetables and trimmings are fed to our own goats and rabbits. We encourage environmental behavior via some recommendations posted in the rooms e.g. reduced use of Air Con systems and ask customers to limit the temperature and to switch them off when not using the room; otherwise we will turn them off when the guests are out. We provide cotton shopping bags to all our guests to reduce plastic bag use. These bags are also used by our team when shopping for groceries.

All watering of our garden is done with recycled water from the dive rinse pool. We use fish, line caught, in deep sustainable waters only. We post environment advice in all our rooms of how to reduce your impact on the environment whilst you are here in Dahab. For example shorter showers, re-chargers not plugged in.

We strive to ‘make a difference’ to the environment with our diving. With a MAX ratio of 4-1 divers to guide, this is possible as it means that we can control our guest divers and improve on buoyancy techniques to help them make sure they do no damage to the precious reefs, thus dramatically reducing the impact our guest divers have on the reef.

All our instructors are aware of the importance of protecting the reef and they habitually remove rubbish from underwater during every dive, if they see any. This doubles the effect as customers see us taking care of the environment and follow suit.

We believe you will come as a guest and leave as a much more relaxed, confident diver, better informed, more responsible, and more environmentally aware diver.

We are excited to be a part of the Green Fins International initiative.
Green Fins is a proven conservation management approach – implemented internationally by The Reef-World Foundation and the UN Environment Programme – which leads to a measurable reduction in the negative environmental impacts associated with marine tourism. It aims to protect coral reefs through environmentally friendly guidelines promoting sustainable diving and snorkelling. It provides the only internationally recognised environmental standards for marine tourism and its robust assessment system measures compliance.
Having passed a strict audit in March 2022 to establish that we are both following eco protocols, as well as continuously looking for new ways to be more eco.
Obviously COVID had an impact on our existing practices, for example we had managed to irradicate plastic bottles and replaced them with glass bottles but this was not accepted by the CDWS who police diving facilities in Egypt.
So we found a way round this by providing water dispensers in every room, so now our guests can continue to use their refillable bottles in the comfort of their own room.
We have replaced the obligatory single jams, ketchup, mayo etc with squeezy bottles which are sterilised and reused for example.
Our latest endeavour is the rubbish collection nets which we attach to every BCD, ensuring everyone can make a difference and pick up any rubbish found in the sea.

People

How do you see responsible tourism in action on this trip?
Everywhere from the rooms encouraging less waste of water, less electricity on air con, to cotton bags provided for shopping locally.
Does this trip visit or show support for one of our projects or any local projects?
We support local initiatives such as beach and sea clean ups, providing help and biodegradable bags for clean ups.
We have encouraged many cafes etc to stop using single use plastic esp. the dreaded straw which we have not used ourselves for years.
Does the trip visit anywhere where the fees paid will help with restoration/conservation/
Fees are paid locally to everyone we use, all our drivers are Bedouin for example, we pay for use of tents and shelters and tea making by our Bedouin friends on every safari.
local economic development? Do you use local leaders on this trip? Have they had training?
We use local Bedouin guides and drivers for all our safari and dive work. We have Egyptian instructors too.
Do the leaders give a Responsible Travel briefing?
All our guides are eco friendly and all encourage rubbish pick ups on the shore and in the sea, leading by example.
Do travellers receive a Responsible Travel Code of Conduct?
We suggest ways that guests can follows our eco guidelines via a ‘How to be a responsible tourist’ leaflet in their room.
Is the accommodation locally owned? Do you use local restaurants/shops/markets/transport etc.?
We encourage our guests to use the local facilities; when they are diving we take them to local cafes to rest and have shade between dives and we also recommend other places than our own for eating out in the evening.
What does the accommodation do to minimise its impact? Has it got good environmental/social practices? (eg. with regard to conserving water & energy, recycling, composting, organic gardening, purchasing of food locally, local employment etc.)
We conserve water by using well water to water our plants. We ask guest to have their air con set higher so it does not use as much energy. We recycle all our food scraps to our ducks and goats. All our food is purchased locally. Every item in the club is sourced locally if possible too, allowing small local businesses to flourish i.e. bedding, towels, food, supplies etc.,
What is the group size and how does this impact on the community and environment?
We are the only dive club in the Red Sea which stipulates a maximum number of divers to Instructor of just 4-1…this minimizes any potential for damage to the precious reef as well as enhancing the divers experience and making them better divers, for everywhere they might go afterwards.
As a company, what is your environmental policy in your office?
Refuse, Reuse, Recycle
As a company, do you support any charities or projects?
We support Responsible Travel as a company. We offer help to any local groups needing it for clean ups etc., we are always on the lookout for projects which need our help…for example we are currently looking at the St Catherine’s area and how we can support one of the may garden/Bedouin projects running there.