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| El Quseir |  
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Description:
85km from Safaga, El Quseir is into phosphates extraction, but has fewer inhabitants and more appeal. In pharaonic times, it was from here that boats sailed to the "Land of Punt" (thought to be Yemen or Somalia), as depicted in reliefs within Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri. The Romans knew it as Leukos Limen (White Harbour), while under Arab rule El-Quseir was the largest port on the Red Sea until the tenth century, and remained a major transit point for pilgrims until the 1840s, when Flaubert caught its last flickers of exoticism. Crude pearl-fishers' pirogues resembling dug-out tree trunks shared the harbour with graceful Arab dhows, whose outsize sterns and high prows mimicked calligraphic flourishes, while Arabs and Africans jostled with Tartars from Bukhara and Crimea.
Today, El-Quseir is a sleepy place that seems mostly unaffected by tourism, despite the presence of three holiday villages on its outskirts. The town retains a charm all of its own, and locals are happy to help with directions if you get lost - not that it's necessary, as you'll soon find everything. | |
| Details: |
 Nearest commercial airport: Marsa Alam |
| Average watertemp: Min 20 - Max 25 oCelcius. |
| Average visibility: 25 Horizontal metres |
| Bottom composition: Sand, Corals, Rocks, Vegetation |
| Dive conditions: Ocean/Sea, Salt water |
| Seasonality: All year round diving. |
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Marinelife in the area:
No marinelife listed for this location.
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