Red Sea Diving Guide

The Red Sea is the closest tropical sea to Europe. It is almost an extension of the Mediterranean from which it is separated by the Isthmus of Suez. This proximity to the early civilisations of the Mediterranean have strongly affected the history of the Red Sea which has always progressed in parallel to that of the Old World. The Red Sea was frequented by the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans who left traces of their passing in shipwrecks that every now and then are rediscovered. The ships that have ploughed the waters of the Red Sea for millennia have had to deal with strong currents and high winds that have turned this sea into a graveyard of ships from every age. The result is a delight for divers who have always found in the sea an underwater Eldorado. The famous Austrian pioneer, Hans Hass, came here after World War II and took the first photographs of the Umbria and her 360,000 unexploded bombs using his legendary Robot. The Italians arrived in 1953 on the Formica in an expedition whose members counted names that have gone down in diving history: Vailati, Quilici, Cousteau...This book tells the story of the exploration of the Red Sea, especially underwater, taking both history and natural history into account. The reader is guided through the magical submerged gardens of the Sinai, on the adventurous discovery of unknown wrecks, on a search for the remains of the Precontinente II, to Cousteau's village, face to face with sharks, and to the beaches. This new title in the "Secrets of the Sea" series, contains dramatic underwater photography.