advise for trip to Red Sea in Sept. 2013

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Scubajeg1

Contributor
Messages
143
Reaction score
101
Location
lookout mtn. Ga.
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Hi All, My wife and I are planning a trip for 2 weeks in sept. . We would like to do a liveaboard to brothers and dadelus. We have been looking at Sea serpent fleet and Emperors fleet. Does anyone have experience with these two and have any suggestions? Anyone have advise about traveling to Egypt with all the issues in Cairo or might they be limited to that area? We are also looking at spending a 2nd weeek in Dahab doing shore diving , we have noticed that those dives seem to be only guided and only 2 dives per day and possibly only 45 min. in length , any thoughts, suggestions ? We are experianced divers but have never traveled to this part of the world and since we are Americans and are aware of some of the possible difficulties at this time but from what we have read it seems with avoidance of certain areas it could be a wonderful trip. Thank you in advance for any help! scubajeg1
 
We have done two liveaboard trips to the Red Sea, both of them on the MV Tala (Red Sea Explorers). We thoroughly enjoyed both of them, and I cannot say enough good things about the boat, and its madcap, manic, funny and wonderful owner, Faisal Khalaf. The boat itself is not ultra-deluxe, but everything works and the cabins are comfortable. The food is good and plentiful. Unfortunately, on our last trip, the regular cook was gone and the replacement was a little disappointing -- but the last meal, in port, was cooked by the regular fellow and was actually fabulous.

Where the Tala shines to an extraordinary degree is in the diving. The dive deck is well-organized and efficient, and the crew are wonderful. The boat also has a FANTASTIC ladder for reboarding (which was redone between our two trips, based in large part on my criticisms of the original one -- that's being responsive to your customers!) Some of the diving is done off RIBs, and the crew are fantastic at tracking the divers and helping them back on board.

Faisal does a lot of diving with the clients, and he's hysterical. His goal in life is to make sure that every person on that boat extracts the maximum amount of fun possible from their time underwater (and on the boat, too). He WILL tempt you into trying a scooter . . . they have a bunch of them on the boat.

Dives are guided if you want that, or unguided if you don't, with fantastic briefings involving 3D animations of the dive sites.

Just talking about it makes me want to go back . . . nothing like sleeping on the top deck of the boat, looking up at more stars than you thought were possible.
 
Hi! I dove the area you are looking at through BlueOTwo last July. Awesome diving, and great accommodations, and I would highly recommend their operation. We did a week with BlueOTwo, then a combo land/Nile cruise tour. I don't have any insight regarding Dahab. If I were to go to Egypt again, I'd change planes for the coast, and skip Cairo.
 
Thank you, have you been to dahab?

---------- Post added April 16th, 2013 at 04:49 PM ----------

Thank you, have you been to dahab?
 
Dahab is mostly very safe but as any city in the world there are some places not safe especially when ur walking alone, Dahab is also very nice for shore diving lots of dive spots. there are centers that can rent you equipment if you want other centers do a package including renting equipment and guide and transport.
and there is no limit on your diving here only your air consumption and RDP tables and expertise these what limits you. most guides will be happy to stay underwater as long as you can :)
you perhaps want to get your own wetsuit or buy it from any local shop in dahab very cheap usually cheaper than online, as u dont want to use rental ones otherwise stick with a reputable dive center.
I am actually planning to go live in dahab in the next couple of weeks or so, perhaps if you would like u can contact me and i ll assist you in choosing a diving center and accomodation as well for free :) haha
i forgot to mention Dahab is not very expensive to enjoy ur time over there
 
Hi,

I have been there twice diving with Orca Dive Club in Sept. 2010 ( before the events ) and last year in June with Lagona Divers staying at the Happy Life Village 15 minutes south of town. Dahab will be on my list again this year.


You can see my reports here Scuba Diving in Dahab | Information, Reviews, Dive Shops, Liveaboards

How would you recommend we travel to Dahab after we end our liveaboard in Hurghada ?

---------- Post added April 17th, 2013 at 11:43 AM ----------

Bye the way, Thank you all .

---------- Post added April 17th, 2013 at 01:50 PM ----------

Dahab is mostly very safe but as any city in the world there are some places not safe especially when ur walking alone, Dahab is also very nice for shore diving lots of dive spots. there are centers that can rent you equipment if you want other centers do a package including renting equipment and guide and transport.
and there is no limit on your diving here only your air consumption and RDP tables and expertise these what limits you. most guides will be happy to stay underwater as long as you can :)
you perhaps want to get your own wetsuit or buy it from any local shop in dahab very cheap usually cheaper than online, as u dont want to use rental ones otherwise stick with a reputable dive center.
I am actually planning to go live in dahab in the next couple of weeks or so, perhaps if you would like u can contact me and i ll assist you in choosing a diving center and accomodation as well for free :) haha
i forgot to mention Dahab is not very expensive to enjoy ur time over there

how would you recommend we travel from Hurghada to Dahab after we end our liveaboard ? Thank you.
 
I fly into Sharm El Sheikh direct from my hometown and my tour operator takes care of the road transfer to Dahab, I have no idea how to get there from Hurghada, there must be flights from Hurghada to Sharm then transfer by taxi I should think, ask your hotel or host to arrange this for you.
 
exactly just as diverlux stated best way is to travel by plane from Hurghada airport to sharm airport then a 1 hour drive by car to dahab.
otherwise u can go by bus but will take a lot lot longer although its much cheaper
 
Im not familiar with sea serpent, but Emperor is a reputable, professional op that does not cater to certain customer groups you dont want to be diving with - like people who harass wildlife, purposely destroy reefs and drink vodka in the SI...
 

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