advise for trip to Red Sea in Sept. 2013

[Scubajeg1]

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...

People who act as you describe are important to avoid. Thank you.

 

[Tigerman]

People who act as you describe are important to avoid. Thank you.

Which is why I have two weeks booked with Emperor this summer

 

[Scubajeg1]

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 will contact you in a few weeks with a few more questions but for now we plan on taking all our gear except obviosly tanks and weights. We will also be taking camera gear about 50lbs in a carry on. Do you know of weight issues once we arrive into egypt and then use local air carrier , like from hurghada to sharm ? I am not so much concerned about a little more money but rather will they take it at all and will it be on same flight as we are. Thank you so much. Scubajeg1

 

[alsamalsa]

sure anytime
try putting the camera gear in two carry on bags max 10 kg although the official egyptair site says 8KG but carry on bags are usually not weighed unless u have an over sized bag and anyway all your bags are loaded on the same plane u check in unless u arrive very very late at airport then they will follow you on the next plane. and if ur bags are really over weight you will pay the extra fees on the spot and thats it no problem any airline is more than happy to earn that extra money
EGYPTAIR - Welcome to EGYPTAIR website

 

[Tigerman]

Prepare for something i the range of 8 euro per kilo if you have overweight luggage..

 

[Scubajeg1]

Hi Everyone, Thank you again for all your advise, we have or I think we have made some decisions: We are going to do simply the best with Emperors and we will dive from shore a few days before the cruise and we will go to Dahab for 1 wk after the cruise but I do have another question: It seems hard to avoid flying thru cairo to go to Marsa Alam, so Do you think it is safe to go to a hotel in cairo for 2 westrners for 1 nite in between flights and which hotel would you recomend . We can fly thru cairo to sharm but then the next day we fly thru cairo to get to Marsa alam or we can fly into cairo and stay over nite then next day fly to marsa. I hate to ask this question but we have never traveled to this region before and the news has been so difficult for us westerners. Thank you, Scubajeg1

 

[diverLux]

Hi again, here is what I would do :


Skip Dahab and Cairo and head straight to Marsa Alam for your live-aboard trip, after you are done stay put in the Marsa Alam area, Hilton Nubian, Madinat Coraya or Port Ghalib ( near the airport ) come to my mind but there are more . A little further to the North is El Quseir, places to stay are Mövenpick and Radisson Blu (or my favored Flamenco Beach Resort which is more of a budget type )
http://www.scubadviser.com/destinations_1.aspx?id=1:35219&company=0:17989#review_0_3153
http://www.scubadviser.com/destinations_1.aspx?id=1:35219&company=0:18521

Take two days off from diving and head to the Nile Valley on the Marsa Alam - Edfu road or the Quseir - Qift road and visit Luxor.


If you need to stay overnight in Cairo have a look at the Heliopolis hotels near the airport .


Look up Home Page


I am a Westener too and so were all of the holiday makers on our flight to Marsa Alam earlier this month, lots of families with children, teenagers, small ones even babies !

 

[Scubajeg1]

Hi again, here is what I would do :


Skip Dahab and Cairo and head straight to Marsa Alam for your live-aboard trip, after you are done stay put in the Marsa Alam area, Hilton Nubian, Madinat Coraya or Port Ghalib ( near the airport ) come to my mind but there are more . A little further to the North is El Quseir, places to stay are Mövenpick and Radisson Blu (or my favored Flamenco Beach Resort which is more of a budget type )
Pharaoh Dive Club | Roots Luxury Camp, El Quseir | Scuba diving in the Red Sea
Coraya Divers | Scuba Diving in Marsa Alam | Scuba diving reviews | Deep sea diving |

Take two days off from diving and head to the Nile Valley on the Marsa Alam - Edfu road or the Quseir - Qift road and visit Luxor.


If you need to stay overnight in Cairo have a look at the Heliopolis hotels near the airport .


Look up Home Page


I am a Westener too and so were all of the holiday makers on our flight to Marsa Alam earlier this month, lots of families with children, teenagers, small ones even babies !

Hi, Thank you so much. It seems that flying from the usa it is hard to avoid cairo when trying to get to marsa alam. We will dive with pharoah dive club for 4 days before our liveaboard, and will probably go to sharm for 2 days after liveaboard then onto dahab for 1 week the last part is still up in the air. Thank you.

 

[Tigerman]

You could look into flying through the UK if you havent already? Theres a few flights going from there to Egypt, just not sure if they go direct from the uk to other places than sharm..

 

[Chuckitall]

If I remember correctly, Blue O 2 in UK arranges charter flight to Hurghada from London. Direct flights avoiding Cairo. Blue O 2 was a great charter also . Did same locations in a best of trip. We also did a NIle cruise and was a highlight of the trip. It's a shame things are in such a mess right now. We were all over Cairo with no problems, but I guess things have changed. We also had another trip scheduled last Christmas and canceled due to unrest. The diving was great and makes us want to do it one more time.