New to scuba (PADI OW Cert) - desperate to go to Red Sea in Oct, but not in Egypt?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

sinetwo

Registered
Messages
32
Reaction score
3
Location
United Kingdom
Hi all,

I recently passed my OW in Koh Tao (some great diving there these days!), and we had a trip planned to Dahab (obviously that's not happening anymore for clear reasons).

Does anyone know of surrounding areas which are less sensitive to political disrupt, but also caters for beginner divers (I've only done about 7 dives)?

We were thinking:
* Red Sea, Not Egypt
* Great sea life (who doesn't want that? :) )
* Good for beginners, i.e. visibility, low currents, simple navigation
* Good diving schools, we'd be hard pressed to go on our own so it would have to be 2 of us with a dive master
* Not a live aboard, doubt I could handle the sea for more than a day at a time!
* Other water based activities, snorkeling, swimming, watersports etc

Thank you all in advance for any comments you may post, we were looking into Oman etc., but I'd be grateful to seriously consider any suggestions posted. I'm just hoping that surrounding areas for the red sea wouldn't be trumped by Sharm / Dahab, as we wouldn't wan't a sub-par experience :)

Thanks!

SineTwo
 
Last edited:
If you've done 7 dives.... then pretty much any place underwater is a good one.

From the UK you can sometimes find some alright prices to go to the Indian Ocean. The Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles etc.
 
If you want to go to the Red Sea, try Jordan. It has nice sites, friendly people and also interesting cultural sites, like Petra.
You can do shore dives and almost stay on the beach in a hotel.
I've never been there myself but a lot of people of my club have gone there on several occasions and were happy, with the diving but also because the people are very friendly, more so than in Egypt.
 
If you want to go to the Red Sea, try Jordan. It has nice sites, friendly people and also interesting cultural sites, like Petra.
You can do shore dives and almost stay on the beach in a hotel.
I've never been there myself but a lot of people of my club have gone there on several occasions and were happy, with the diving but also because the people are very friendly, more so than in Egypt.

But you've never been there (Jordan for sure, what about Egypt?), maybe you've seen photos from ppl on your club and can comment about the dive sites- but how can you generalize such a thing about both the Jordanians and Egyptians (that one are friendlier than the other)???

I think as a general thing, it is better to give recommendations about a place only if you've been there and know the place/people/club/whatever. I Don't see what's the point in "I've heard that..."

Anyway, I think frommy experience (been in both Jordan and Egypt for quite a while) that the Egyptians are very friendly, more so than in Jordan. Sure, my personal experience and from the dozens of millions of Egyptians and Jordanians I've personally met probably a couple of hundreds, so who knows, maybe I'm wrong. They tell me the people in Siria are the most friendly and Israeli's are the worst of the lot. Could be wrong about that one too.

So maybe let's just generalize and say "people are friendly"? Sounds better, eh?

to OP: Jordan is indeed a good alternative to nowaday's Egypt. Dive sites are 6-8 compared to Sinai, but good diving nonetheless.

Another alternative, with maybe more options for out of the water activities- and other water sports- would be Eilat, Israel. Dive sites are not as good as Egypt and Jordan's but not that bad for beginners (say, somewhat like 4-5 compared to Egypt's). But all the rest is as good, if not better, so for you it's a good alternative.
 
So you are right on that one, I have been to Egypt for over a dozen times. No complaints from me in that respect. But it was what my diving group buddies told me, who have been two both countries on several occasions. Shouldn't have said that, the point I was trying to make that Jordan wouldn't be a bad choice probably.
 
I would opt for Jordan if you are concerned about Egypt, I have dived there several times with Dive Aqaba who use a boat to access the dive spots, a nice relaxed way to access them and less stressful than shore diving and you get fed during the SI too. However if you want to start early then shore diving is the better option.

Personally I use a business visa for Saudi for some awesome diving .... much warmer too
 
Hi all,

I recently passed my OW in Koh Tao (some great diving there these days!), and we had a trip planned to Dahab (obviously that's not happening anymore for clear reasons).

Does anyone know of surrounding areas which are less sensitive to political disrupt, but also caters for beginner divers (I've only done about 7 dives)?




Thanks!

SineTwo

Hi Sine Two
We are in Hurghada in 66 days time and have no problem going there from UK. As I said in another thread its like trouble in Glasgow but living in Bournemouth. I have seen more trouble on a Saturday night in town than I have in Egypt. We were there last year when there was meant to be 'troubles' and saw nothing. Easyjet are doing great flight deals at the moment. Hurghada is wonderful for novice or experienced divers. We stay at a hotel which has a Dive centre attached (Jasmin Diving). Its great, I only have 200M to walk to the boat. Great diving, clear waters and brill lunch all included. If you enjoyed Koh Tao, you will be blown away with Hurghada or Sharm. Don't be put off........
 
We are going to book for sharm at the end of sept start of oct for two weeks. We haven't booked it yet but are going to shortly. We went last year in sept and early this year in March. I am a little apprehensive but I don't like flying lol!I would say get a nice hotel with a good house reef and just stay in the resort and dive if you are worried.
My son is doing his o/w and is coming with us if you need a buddy.
 
My buddy is still running live-aboard trips to Egypt and I've been considering heading to Marsa Alam (about 800km south of Cairo) in maybe Feb next year.

Traditionally, attacks on tourists are rare in Egypt and attacks outside of the main tourist hubs are virtually unheard of. The problem with the Red sea is that you're pretty much stuck going to either Egypt, the Sudan or Saudi Arabia.

Given the options, I'd still opt for Egypt but people I know who have been on the Saudi side say the diving is outstanding. Just don't be gay a woman or American and you might even have a good time.

R..
 
Hi all,

We're actually considering Kenya now as we're fair weather (and fair politics) divers!

After having looked into it I'm a bit concerned about going to Jordan as it seems we'd be diving *only*.

In Kenya we've got the possibility of going to a Safari, chilling on the beach and going for a few dives each day. The boat trips are approx 15-20 mins according to most dive web-sites for beginner dive sites, so that should hopefully lessen the travel time out.

We'll probably return to the Red Sea in Egypt once things have (hopefully) calmed down :)

From London we can fly directly to Sharm and then transfer to Dahab, but the travel advice states that all areas in Egypt are off limits except for Sharm, which is a tiny spec compared to the rest.

I'm not paranoid but part of me wonders why during such political instability they 'agree' to not let it spill over to Sharm. I'm sure it'll be fine but we're not willing to take the risk :)

Thanks for the advice everyone!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom