Israel

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My 2 agorot:
November is a calm time in Eilat, not as much people as you expect so the chances of finding an ad hoc accommodations are high.
I am against traveling for a diving course, I recommend doing the dive course back home and travel for the fun dives.
As mentioned above Israel has diving laws, one of which that a OW course takes five days and a full AOW takes seven days - keep this in mind if tou chose to ignore my previous suggestion :)
Transportation in Israel is very easy. there is frequent bus and flights to and from Eilat to the center.
As mentioned before most of the dive sites are approachable form the shore which makes life a lot easier.
If you are keen on "Not diving in a guided" try looking for a buddy in the local diving forum : ????? ????? - ???? ???????. Feel free to write in English there.

About prices:
Accommodation prices are a bit high. diving prices are on the floor. Full gear rental for a day with two tanks should be around 150-160NIS (~45$).
Guided are also not very expensive and ad hoc buddies are easy to find.

About insurance:
"Only DAN and the National dive Insurance is accepted" - S. W.
I'm not quite sure about that, I think it's in the clubs discretion.
Any way local year long insurance is about 45$ PITA but not trip killer.

Clubs:
I recommend one of the dive clubs on the water fronts - just makes life easier.
I personally recommend Deep (
Deepsiam) prices are a bit higher but the facilities and crew are very good.

Uri

 
Hi I really don't want to get totally mixed up I would also think about a dive in the good old Med. Up north there's some really good dives sites. The water is still warm should be about 24C. I would suggest going to the Ach Ziv canyon. Between the end of Oct. till mid November you can see huge sting rays that migrate to this area. Also the underwater landscape is very interesting. The dive is about 26 meters if I'm not mistaken. In the area of Park Ach Ziv during this time you can just skin dive among hundreds of thousands of small fish in schools a sight you'll never forget. If no one has said yet Oct. November is the beginning of the diving season in our part of the Med. Look into Pustker dive center in Naharya. There's plenty of wrecks and a Italian submarine from WW2 just outside of Haifa Bay. Someone mentioned Ceasria which is located just north of Tel Aviv {about half hour ride by car} which is one of the few underwater museums in the world. Israel has strict diving regulations. You must have a updated log book, have dived within six months if not you need to take a refresher dive with an instructor {unless you are a DM}, and as Uri said diving insurance. In Eilat you can get sleeping accommodation through the dive centers and it can be cheaper. Check out Marina Divers I've dove with them before and found them a very good outfit. Take care and enjoy. Bob Schneider
 
Eilat is very very busy with divers. As this is the only easy place for Israelis to dive the Red Sea, easily. The corals are pretty tired from endless dive courses and guided diving. Eilat is overpriced to the extreme, it has a cheesy Las Vegas feel with prices to match. Definitely do not try and order a Cheeseburger like my girlfriend did, very nasty looks from the waiting staff :D. Israel has a few diving regulations that will affect what you do. Only DAN and the National dive Insurance is accepted so you will have to have one or the other, but the latter can be purchased at dive centres. Divers with less than 30 (or 50?) dives cannot dive unaccompanied, which for shore diving seems a bit like overkill.
I would look at crossing the border into Taba and look at the dive centres in Taba Heights for the AOW and your 5 day sojourn.

Oh, Israeli Red Wine is fantastic!

So much misinformation in one single post, most of the things you wrote are inaccurate.

Except the red wine, of course (my father makes it :) )...


Sent from my GT-I9000
 
Hi Linda: I hope you dont mind me also posting on this thread. I will be in Jerusalem and also plan on diving in Eilat this January 2014. Can you recommend a dive shop? I see there are several shore dives, are there also boat dives? We will be staying at The Crown Plaza Jerusalem and the Crown Plaza Eilat. Thank you!
 
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