tacky
Contributor
So, just back from one week of diving with Red Sea Diving Safai in Wadi Lahami. I went because I couldn't find a liveaboard to fit my schedule and was hoping to get a lot of good dives.
I'll just post this as a quick review, as you can tell, my impressions are a bit mixed, some very good, some not so good.
About myself: Norwegian diver, currently hoping to take GUE Fundamentals here this autumn or winter. 120++ dives, have been diving for one year. Diving with a DIR setup.
The diving:
Wadi Lahami is a camp in the southern Egypt, an hour's drive south of Marsa Alam. Offshore is the famous Fury Shoals, which are accessed by fast going ribs.
Vey nice soft and hard corals. Some quite stunning walls. Curents were never strong. We had great viz on all the offshore dives (30 m+).
Inshore diving, the maco life was better, viz worse, some nice pinnacles but the corals were less impressive.
I personally spotted one reef shak, sevearl baracudas, tuna, napoleon wrasse and a turtle and dolphin on the surface. As said, lots of small stuff as well on the inshore reefs.
The setup:
This was really excellent. Fast going ribs bring you to the Fury Shoals every morning, then inshore diving by boat during the afternoon and evening. Inshore dives are not guided, the reefs are easy to navigate for experienced divers. This wy you get four dives a day, also whennot traveling with a buddy or a group. Don't think many other diving centers in Egypt who offers this except on a liveaboard and they delivered.
The guides: During my stay, the groups were alwayss quite big, between 16 and 6 in the group. This makes it difficult for the guides to show the guests the small stuff. Good thing is that guides are not forcing buddies to follow them.
Safety: Like anywhere on a commercial diving cente you suffer from the insta buddy problem. Several times I was also not buddied up with other divers and even told I could follow the guide "if I wanted to, or do your own thing if you want".
Traveling solo to tourist destinations, this is anyway a risk you have to choose if you accept unless you know the destination well. But I have felt that I was taken better care of other places and was glad I'm starting to get more experienced.
Also, one guided dive in a cavern zone was really a bit on the sketchy side without any redundant air. Was still lovely and would've probably done it again, though....
Nitrox:
Readily available, although at an extra cost. I always got 32 percentish fills, as I had requested. They do howeve have a backward policy of not offering Nitrox on drift dives along walls.
Camp Nice, with some good shaded areas for relaxing between dives, highly needed when you dive four times a day. Stayed in their cheapest option, a tent, which was cool enough during night (July). Accomodation a bit expensive for what you get.
Food:
Breakfast was OK, the rest varied from bland to hardly edible. Several of the most crappy dishes were served twice during one week.
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you're traveling with you buddy, no doubt. If not, yes, also, if you can't find a liveaboard with a quality operator or don't want to be sea based for a week. Some experience comes in handy.
Cheers.
I'll just post this as a quick review, as you can tell, my impressions are a bit mixed, some very good, some not so good.
About myself: Norwegian diver, currently hoping to take GUE Fundamentals here this autumn or winter. 120++ dives, have been diving for one year. Diving with a DIR setup.
The diving:
Wadi Lahami is a camp in the southern Egypt, an hour's drive south of Marsa Alam. Offshore is the famous Fury Shoals, which are accessed by fast going ribs.
Vey nice soft and hard corals. Some quite stunning walls. Curents were never strong. We had great viz on all the offshore dives (30 m+).
Inshore diving, the maco life was better, viz worse, some nice pinnacles but the corals were less impressive.
I personally spotted one reef shak, sevearl baracudas, tuna, napoleon wrasse and a turtle and dolphin on the surface. As said, lots of small stuff as well on the inshore reefs.
The setup:
This was really excellent. Fast going ribs bring you to the Fury Shoals every morning, then inshore diving by boat during the afternoon and evening. Inshore dives are not guided, the reefs are easy to navigate for experienced divers. This wy you get four dives a day, also whennot traveling with a buddy or a group. Don't think many other diving centers in Egypt who offers this except on a liveaboard and they delivered.
The guides: During my stay, the groups were alwayss quite big, between 16 and 6 in the group. This makes it difficult for the guides to show the guests the small stuff. Good thing is that guides are not forcing buddies to follow them.
Safety: Like anywhere on a commercial diving cente you suffer from the insta buddy problem. Several times I was also not buddied up with other divers and even told I could follow the guide "if I wanted to, or do your own thing if you want".
Traveling solo to tourist destinations, this is anyway a risk you have to choose if you accept unless you know the destination well. But I have felt that I was taken better care of other places and was glad I'm starting to get more experienced.
Also, one guided dive in a cavern zone was really a bit on the sketchy side without any redundant air. Was still lovely and would've probably done it again, though....
Nitrox:
Readily available, although at an extra cost. I always got 32 percentish fills, as I had requested. They do howeve have a backward policy of not offering Nitrox on drift dives along walls.
Camp Nice, with some good shaded areas for relaxing between dives, highly needed when you dive four times a day. Stayed in their cheapest option, a tent, which was cool enough during night (July). Accomodation a bit expensive for what you get.
Food:
Breakfast was OK, the rest varied from bland to hardly edible. Several of the most crappy dishes were served twice during one week.
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you're traveling with you buddy, no doubt. If not, yes, also, if you can't find a liveaboard with a quality operator or don't want to be sea based for a week. Some experience comes in handy.
Cheers.
