Favorite location in Red Sea

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jomcclain

Contributor
Messages
165
Reaction score
50
Location
Virginia
# of dives
200 - 499
I don’t know much about Red Sea diving, but am considering a first time live aboard trip there. Would you suggest northern or southern Red Sea? Best location to depart from? Live aboard company to go with? What time of year? When you give your preferences, please give your reasons.
 
For the first time, we did the northern route out of Sharm. For the second time we are doing the northern route out of sharm. Easier to get in an out of. You can also coordinate a couple of days in Dahab for shore diving. Wrecks like the Thisthlegorm (a must see) and Yolanda /shark reef can also be done from Hurgada, but it doesn’t seem as easy to get in and out of.

there are only three or four companies to go with. I would not go with a company that has only one vessel. This happened to one us shop and all kinds of problems ensued when the boat started to smoke (not the aggressor).

Best time is in the summer. It is too cold otherwise and in the summer, the larger sea life comes further up north.

We wouldn’t have gone on our own, but we had a group of 10/12, so safety in numbers.

we are doing our second trip in August and have a few spaces left.
 
For the first time, we did the northern route out of Sharm. For the second time we are doing the northern route out of sharm. Easier to get in an out of. You can also coordinate a couple of days in Dahab for shore diving. Wrecks like the Thisthlegorm (a must see) and Yolanda /shark reef can also be done from Hurgada, but it doesn’t seem as easy to get in and out of.

there are only three or four companies to go with. I would not go with a company that has only one vessel. This happened to one us shop and all kinds of problems ensued when the boat started to smoke (not the aggressor).

Best time is in the summer. It is too cold otherwise and in the summer, the larger sea life comes further up north.

We wouldn’t have gone on our own, but we had a group of 10/12, so safety in numbers.

we are doing our second trip in August and have a few spaces left.
Thanks! What are the 3-4 companies?
 
If you haven't read my post, I am new to the Red Sea (but have done lots of research and reading), and just booked a spot on the Tillis in June for a Deep South Safari in June.

I am not sure I agree with the only "3-4 companies". Liveaboards are like restaurants, bad ones go out of business fast. You will probably be okay with anyone with a few years of good reviews.

I also strongly considered Blue-O-Two and Red Sea Explorers. Price and timing played a large role, but I like the idea of a locally owned and operated company.

I really wanted to see Brothers, and will someday, but don't have 50 dives.

If you want wrecks, North is the way to go.

If you care about colorful corals and small fish, people are surprisingly split, with several saying South is better than North and others saying the opposite. North might be better for colorful soft coral and South for hard coral.

Supposedly South is better for sharks, dolphins and larger fish.

I've watched hours of Youtube, which has some great videos of Red Sea dive sites. However I am skeptical, as a bad video of a great dive (I've taken several) can make a great site look bad. And while it is harder to do, a really great video of a mediocre site can make it look great.

From people I've talked to in person who went to the Red Sea, all the diving was amazing, with great visibility and interesting sea life.
 
I don’t know much about Red Sea diving, but am considering a first time live aboard trip there. Would you suggest northern or southern Red Sea? Best location to depart from? Live aboard company to go with? What time of year? When you give your preferences, please give your reasons.

north or south, depends on what you like... wrecks ? current ? corals ? depth ? quiet sea ? ... and thus location to depart from is different

there are dozens of companies, few bad ones, as bvbellomo said, quickly eliminated; it also depends on your budget...prices range from 800 to 2000+ (liveaboard only)

All year long you'll find good diving, although I should advise you to avoid july-august, very hot, and january-february, water is quite cold.
 
Pick Sharm if it's your first time in Egypt. Hurghada cannot compare to Sharm when it comes to diving from shore or from boat daytrips. And Marsa Alam is much more difficult in terms of logistics (it's really 120km of nothingness on a road along he sea with hotels here and there) unless you fly directly into Marsa airport and go for a liveaboard starting in Port Ghalib.
In Sharm you'll be able to choose among lots of diveshops and boats in case you're not pleased with your original choice. That would be MUCH more difficult to do in Marsa particularly if it's your first time in Egypt.
 
Check out PADI Travel | Scuba Diving Vacations for prices/routes/etc and work from there. Our group took the Red Sea Aggressor out of Port Ghalib a couple of years ago for the Southern Route. Overall, our RSA experience was very positive. Prior to heading out on the RSA, we stayed at Marina Lodge which is very comfortable and has an on-site operator Emperor Divers, which is solid IMO. You may also want to do some reading in this thread for background. Lots of good ideas on operators, routes, weather, conditions.
 
I traveled to Egypt this past May by myself- 37 yr old female. Flew into Sharm and did a week long liveaboard with the King Snefro Fleet, specifically the Pearl. I went directly to the boat to depart the next morning and when we returned to port booked a nice hotel for three nights to just relax. I LOVED it. My only surprise was the water temp, which was about 74-78 degrees. I dove every dive offered and was good in a full 5mm with a 3/5mm hooded vest underneath and 5mm boots. I also tend to get cold easily. By the 4th day I was heading to my cabin for a hot shower/rinse after the dive and heading up to the deck to sunbathe. I thought the DM's did great, the diving was awesome, the food was very good, and the trip size of 12 divers was perfect. My only complaint was bottom times ranged from 30-45 min, which I get for wrecks and some of the deeper dives. I felt frustrated diving the reefs and having to come up at 35 min with 2000lbs of air. BUT I would do it again in a second! I lucked out and had my own cabin and think I paid 899Euro for the whole trip. I wasn't a huge fan of wrecks, but knew I had to to Thistlegorm if I was going to the red sea- defn do not miss. The "wrecks and reefs" route on Snefro Pearl was the perfect combo for me. If I did it again I would go when water temps were warmer, maybe June?

I felt safe everywhere except the Cairo airport- that felt kinda shady to me, but being a blonde female solo traveller was totally fine everywhere else. I'm also somewhat city saavy, so I didn't go wandering around alone in Sharm, but did visit the major staples solo with no problems.

I would 100% do the southern reefs if I was to book again, out of Marsa Alam, but only to see schooling hammerheads and larger animals. One of my friends from the liveaboard went back and did the southern route a few months later and saw TONS of sharks.

I did a lot of research on what to pack for my first liveaboard and that was a big help to me.
 
I also did the online e-visa for egypt and skipped that huge line at the airport in Sharm- I would recommend doing :)

That's a good idea (if multiple planes land at the same time there can be quite a mess in front of the small bank kiosk that sells the visa stamps). But keep in mind that for most tourists there is a free Sinai stamp (actually Aqaba gulf economic zone is the official name) that is valid for 15 days. You only need the full visa if doing the Thistelgorm or going afterwards east of the St Catherine's checkpoint (as in to Cairo). Otherwise the free Sinai stamp will serve you just fine and save you 25$,
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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