Dive the Red Sea or Indonesia (Raja Amput)

[Helen Nguyen]

Hi guys!

I'm trying to plan my 30th birthday and I am torn between these two spots and would love to hear everyones opinion on these places! If you have any additional places, please feel free to tell me! I will be travelling in beginning - mid November and am certified as an open water diver. Hope to hear from you guys soon!

 

[Doc]

You're still In California?

Is length of travel still an issue?

Are you assuming liveaboard?

Red Sea, phenomenal wrecks. Raging Armpit, critters.

 

[Helen Nguyen]

You're still In California?

Is length of travel still an issue?

Are you assuming liveaboard?

Red Sea, phenomenal wrecks. Raging Armpit, critters.

No, I’m no longer in California. Located in Washington State now. And no not liveabroad. I would love to do that BUT I’m not advanced.

Awesome! Thank you for clarifying that. I love critters!

 

[Lorenzoid]

I love critters!

All other things being equal (like budget), RA surely wins by a mile. The Red Sea has healthy coral and a good density of fish--better than most of the Caribbean--but still nowhere near the biodiversity and density as the so-called Coral Triangle.

I speculate that the Red Sea has been getting more attention from North American divers in the last few years because prices have been low, not because it's such an awesome dive destination. Europeans have long traveled to the Red Sea because the trip is easy and inexpensive. For North Americans, I would say put it on your list of destinations to do at some point, because it is certainly an interesting place to visit once or twice, but prioritize Indonesia way above the Red Sea.

 

[Helen Nguyen]

Awesome! Thank you for the information. We've decided to do RA! Yay! We already booked our stay but I do also want to know how the dive shops work in Waisai. Are we stuck with the dive shop that's at our hotel or are there options of other dive shops that could pick us up at the dock of our hotel?

 

[mcohen1021]

I posted this review in my Red Sea Aggressor trip thread.

BTW - you do not need to be AoW for the trip. Additionally, it would be a great time to take the vclass on the boat.

The trip was spectacular.

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My review June 9-16, 2018 Red Sea Aggressor I trip.

I have been diving 29 years, this being my 1st live aboard (outside the MV Fling in Texas).

I must say, that the entire experience was simply amazing. Everything from the trip planning (air, hotel, food, diving and xfers) to the boat itself was superb. I cannot possibly express how pleased I was with it overall.

The Good:

1. Flights to / from Egypt: Lisa @ Aggressor did a GREAT job in getting us the best fare in addition to planning out the timing to avoid / reduce jetlag.

2. Transfers: All transfers went off effortlessly, we were met and transferred easily to and from airport to hotel, and hotel to airport.

3. The boat: the boat was awesome. The room was nice and clean. Bed comfortable. The boat's dive facilities were great – hot water showers, the hot tub, the salon, the main deck and sundeck...

4. The crew: was probably the 2nd best part of the trip - ONLY because the diving was #1. Help with donning/doffing/stowing gear. A fresh drink right after the dive. Hot towels after your hot water shower. Hegazi, Katya, Mahmood, Ali, Emad, Amir, Said, and the rest I have failed to mention all made the experience unforgettable. They treat you like family (without all the squabbling haha).

5. The food: outstanding. I am a picky eater and I avoid all-inclusive resorts because the food stinks. I was worried that I would go hungry on the boat and I was very impressed with the meals. Seafood, steaks, chicken, salads and the best soups ever... And the desserts, wow – they were amazing…

6. The diving - the very reason you're there.... If all of the above was not enough, the diving was practically the icing on the cake... List of wildlife: 3 oceanic white tips, 4 hammerheads, 2 giant silkies, 1 white tip reef, 1 gray, 1 manta. We saw a free swimming remora, nudis, various turtles, bird wrasse, napoleon wrasse, 2 of the largest eels I've ever seen - as thick as my thigh, sting rays, and some of the best soft corals... Wonderful colors.

How things could be improved:

1. Siva Port Ghalib resort... Hotel was nice, room was clean, beds comfortable. The food... Let's just say I would have rather stayed at a non all-inclusive and paid for my meals. The food at Siva Port Ghalib was not edible. Also, the transfer from the hotel to the boat... They transferred us to the curbside claiming golfcarts could not travel past that point. Meanwhile, all kinds of other golf carts traveled in and out of the area where the boats were parked without being stopped. If I was to change anything, I would have stayed @ the Hurghada Marriott both times - MUCH better hotel and usable beach. Couples massage at Marriott was awesome. That or maybe stay @ the Marina Lodge - where its not all inclusive.

2. Dive briefings... I am pretty easy going, but one of my major pet peeves is people not respecting the environment. That being said, there were 2 couples on the boat that thought it was OK to hold onto the reef (and kick it) to steady themselves to take photos. I repeatedly asked the guides know and asked them to please address it before I did. I believe they tried by addressing it privately with those individuals, but it did not seem to help. I saw one lady use the camera itself to position herself for a picture and I saw pieces of the reef break off. I finally went to her and motioned her to stop. Another diver literally screamed at her topside after that dive. I would REALLY like for the entire group to be reminded during the briefing not to touch the reef. And maybe the policy should be that divers not following the no touch rules should be not allowed to dive the rest of that day.

Trust me, I am already shopping for my next Aggressor destination, this time I'll do Caribbean where it's close. But if Red Sea was close to Texas, I’d do it all over again with the same exact crew.

 

[nudisusie]

As an OW diver, depending upon your number of dives and experience, you may struggle with the dives in either the Red Sea or Raja Ampat due to the currents. Both typically have great visibility and the reefs streth up to the surface so suitable for shallower water diving.

But for travel in November Raja Ampat would definitely be the better choice inho because:-

1. Red Sea water gets pretty cold from November through Feb (18C)... so thick suits required. Raja Ampat is steady 28C so much more comfortable
2. Red Sea shore based diving (you mentioned no liveaboard) is not as good as liveaboard, overcrowded boats and dive sites and day boats don;t get to the big sites. You could take a northern wrecks route asan OW diver but currents are a thing and I used to have to advice inexperienced divers to skip certain dives because of that. Raja has numerous resorts with day trips to great spots so plenty of choice for quality diving.
3. Raja Ampat has a better mix of big animals (sharks, mantas), schools of fish and critters than the Red Sea ... and certainly day boat diving .

For Red Sea i'd wait until you get to AOW level and then take a southern route liveaboard to the Brothers, Daedalus or down to St John's as the diving is more interesting the further off shore you get. (unless you are very into wrecks then the northern route is awesome)

I've worked on liveaboards in both areas for over a year in each so that's where my knowledge is coming from.

 

[mcohen1021]

I know I've been diving 29 years, but I did not experience anything in my trip to the Red Sea that would have required an advanced certification, with the exception maybe of depths... Maybe it was just the time of year, or we got lucky, but the Aggressor crew planned each dive to keep us out of any strong currents. On our boat, there were divers that had been diving 29+ years and diver that had been diving 2 years, and noone had any issues.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I know I've been diving 29 years, but I did not experience anything in my trip to the Red Sea that would have required an advanced certification, with the exception maybe of depths... Maybe it was just the time of year, or we got lucky, but the Aggressor crew planned each dive to keep us out of any strong currents. On our boat, there were divers that had been diving 29+ years and diver that had been diving 2 years, and noone had any issues.

Maybe currents are seasonal or more random than we experienced? On our Red Sea trip last December (BDE itinerary), there were currents in a few places that my wife and I just could not, or did not have the will to, power through. A couple of times, when we hit a current head on, instead of trying to continue following the wall around a bend, we turned the dive at that point, as did other divers. One time we just called the dive, surfaced, and waited for the Zodiac to pick us up, as we were already exhausted. The DM would use a hand signal of his fist punching the palm of his other hand to mean "we just hit a wall (of current)." The idea was that when we saw that sign we could choose to call the dive and ascend there or turn around with the DM, or try to plow on through on our own.

 

[mcohen1021]

It’s possible weather and lunar patterns for various times of the year could be a factor. I’ve seen currents differ between the surface and at depth too. We dove our profiles to minimize currents… Basically, the profiles were “when you get to the current, turn around and go back towards the boat…” I would hang out a little while to see if I could catch a glimpse of something big coming through.