Alexandria Egypt

[rollingstone]

I would like to meet and know all the people in alex who love to dive and do free diving

[DOLPHIN 77]

Hi Rolling,
I'm from Alexandria and do a free diving and spearfishing ,but currently working in Jeddah , keep in touch

[motaz49]

I live in Cairo but go back to Alex on weekends and am always up for some spearing or even just exploring spots along the corniche. (i've been thinking about diving under kobri stanley if the sea's calm enough, especially at night when they have that strane blue light shone into the water...anyone interested?)

[Marwan]

Motaz,
i never went spearfishing in Alex, any good?? i went several times in Ras EL Hekma/ sidi Heneish got some nice groupers last one was 12 KG at about 8m depth,

[Marwan]

if there's good spots in alex, i would love to go, i have a friend of mine we have been spearing for years and we always wanted to try alex

[motaz49]

nothing special. mostly rocky reefs in shallow water, groupers are a bit rare but they're around, mostly 'denees' (dentex?) and 'abo no2ta'. a lot of people go around montaza. but it's mostly small fish. i spent ages asking people in fishing shops and along the corniche about good spearfishing spots and didn't get very far. many alexandrian spearos go to agami and swim out to the big rock/island in front of nadi el zobat, but you have to be lucky with the current, as the water gets murky and nasty if it's coming from one direction, i forget which. then again, i'm quite inexperienced with this and a lot of this information comes from more experienced friends. but there are some interesting spots and some decent fish around. the real hard core welad balad spearos, though, they do the whole pneumatic gun scuba offshore thing and they're not so generous with information, probably because they make money off it. the onesi spoke to seemed to have this fatwana attitude which wasn't so appealing. but anyway. let me know if you find some nice spots. and about the north coast, the wave-breaker jetties in marina aren't bad...very decent sized aroos, boori, and some small groupers if you care to squeeze inside the concrete blocks.

[ihab]

Hi Guys:

I'm from Heliopolis and been spearfishing for the past 6 months in Ein El Sokhna......I know it is not permitted in the Red Sea.....How about the Mediterranean.....Like Alex. or Marina.

I get a lot of conflicting info. on spearguns in Egypt.

Some claim spearguns are illegal only at the Red Sea....others claim it's allowed in the Mediterranean .........others say the Ministry of Environment recently banned the use of spearguns in Egypt alltogether.

Any reliable info will be appreciated.....Thanks

[motaz49]

hi ihab,

from what i heard, technically it's illegal to spearfish in the red sea but not in the mediterranean. i don't know about new developments in this area and i know that a lot of people (such as yourself and most of my spearo friends) spear in the red sea. i have a friend who works with the ministry of environmental affairs and i'll be calling him to find out exactly what the situation is. i've been wondering, i don't think it makes sense to just ban spearfishing in the red sea altogether just because some people were irresponsible in the past few decades. why don't they allow it and regulate it, meaning educate spearos and fishermen about what they can catch and when. but of course, as with many regulations here, the key questions will be whether it would be feasible to implement this (manpower, corruption, etc.). any thoughts on lobbying for spearfishing rights in the red sea ?

and about spearing in alex and marina, i've never heard of any trouble in alex, but last weekend i was with friends in marina and we parked our car by the jetty and were gearing up when these two soldiers came and said we weren't allowed to dive and spear there. we just said no it is allowed and just accepted it and let us go. we just told them it might be illegal if we were on scuba but we weren't so whatever rule they had in mind didn't apply. we were bullshitting but it worked. all this is to show that the law isn't clear, even for those who are sup[posed to be applying it. amma nshoof...

motaz


motaz

[ihab]

Hi Moatz:

Really thank you for your reply....

I've been loading up on some spearguns, RA..they are super and here is what happens.

I've ordered 3 so far, they all came in by express courier...without any problems whatsoever....they are all rubber (band) guns.

BUT...when I bought a pneumatic gun...it got held up at customs and they asked for clearance from the National Security office (El Amn El AAm).
I went to that office and they asked me to apply for release of the gun but it has to go to their labs (el maamal el guenaaee) for determination if the gun requires a license !!!!

During my visit, I asked around to test the waters..and I was notified, though not officially that spearguns are not allowed by the Ministry of Environment and nothing else.

So I just want to make sure what is really happening so I guess I'll wait for a reply from your freind at the Ministry.

BTW, I'm the owner of www.advanced-sportsnutrition.com and we do have quite a few products in the Alexandria area.
Let me know if you need anything

Thanks again Moatz...keep in touch...maybe we can go spearfishing together someday..

[Marwan]

ihab,
i checked your site, ill definitely pay you a visit or call you very soon. I am on a sports diet and part of my program includes whey powder, i didnt know we had it here (i also didnt really check)

[Marwan]

Ihab,Moataz,
about the lobbying part with the EEAA (gehaz sheoun el bei2a), i dont think a handful of spearos will justify the costs to educate and regulate the sport, what we could do is start a spearfishing club though, i know about 7 other people, we hunt together regularly, one of them is egyptian apnea champion, so we could get something going, organize trips etc... maybe if we grow in size it could justify some lobbying
ihab,
did you order the rob allen directly from south africa via aramex? i am asking because sometimes customs let things through and sometimes they dont (your luck) once they let in a 120 rabitech, but another time they impounded a cressi handle! so dont take chances with a lot of money

[ihab]

Marwan, Moataz:

Starting a spearfishing club in Egypt sounds great...though I would prefer to
Know where exactly do we stand in terms of the legality of using/importing/owning spearguns.....just in case matters develop to bigger & better things.

Dealing with our MO Env. is useless, if they already have a ban of spearguns...in any case, we should investigate this thoroughly.

I go to El Sokhna every weekend to a resort called Marina Dome....about 48 km south of Stella...if you know where that is.
Actually, right behind us, they are building the new "Porto Sokhna"...something similar to Porto Marina in Marina (sahel el shamaly).

It would be great getting together someday........I'm opened for suggestion.

Just out of curiosity...what type of guns are you using?

[Marwan]

ihab, i know exactly where that is, i go to sokhna all the time, i have a boat docked in marine el dome, i stay in el ein resort, actually there is a good reef next to marina eldome, i ran into a school of jackfish there once with my friend and we got 5 of them (in the 4kg range) the problem with sokhna is visibility isnt that great all the time...
i use several types of spearguns, cressisub, omer, rabitech and i actually have a riffe ( i wanted to try wood). i might go in el eid vacation

[ihab]

Hi Marwan; That's great...99% I will be there during el eid....if you do make it too, I would very much like to meet you in person.

Originally Posted by Marwan

ihab, i know exactly where that is, i go to sokhna all the time, i have a boat docked in marine el dome, i stay in el ein resort, actually there is a good reef next to marina eldome, i ran into a school of jackfish there once with my friend and we got 5 of them (in the 4kg range) the problem with sokhna is visibility isnt that great all the time...
i use several types of spearguns, cressisub, omer, rabitech and i actually have a riffe ( i wanted to try wood). i might go in el eid vacation

[GTI]

Hi Marwan Ihab & Motaz :
IF u geys forming any boby of spearfishin in egypt count me in,as mentioned before ,currently I'm in Jeddah ,on my last summer vacation been to Marsa matrowh and took my gear with me tried around Romel Island but only sow small tine grouper and a small mulet it's almost empty ,here in Jeddah some times we get to fill a ice box with Jacks and Groupers, HAPPY EID EVERY ONE