Hi!
I am grateful for all information about Sudan I found here. Now a bit of an update:
I did a 2-week trip on the Royal Emperor that finished yesterday.
Travel to Port Sudan from Cairo and customs seem to have become a lot easier than before, Sudan Airways is also becoming more reliable.
Diving: We spent the first week in the South, but not far South. The thermocline was quite deep there thus we were searching for hammerheads well below 40m, but I only saw three individual hammerheads. We saw one manta ray, a few white tip reef sharks and grey reef sharks, schooling barracudas, jacks, huge tunas and big Napoleon wrasses.
May is not the best time for sharks, and during 5 dives in Shaab Rumi, we saw quite a few grey reef sharks, but no hammerheads. It was the same for Sanganeb North and South.
In the North (Angarosh, Abington, Quita-el-Banna) we had for dives with schooling hammerheads (up to 30), in Abington, the hammerheads were swimming around us for a while. In Quita-el-Banna, we saw a manta ray, in Angarosh also a silvertip reef sharks on 2 dives. The thermocline in the North was around 35m or above, thus we could stay longer looking for sharks.
The coral is also really beautiful on most reefs, there are also many colourful reef fish. Vis was quite good, the water is very clear.
We dived on Nitrox 26% or 32% (which cost extra), but the exact percentage can sometimes be a bit erratic.
We were only 9 divers, but the boat takes up to 16 passengers. Then the zodiacs will be quite small, one of them was also very slow. Zodiac drivers were very helpful.
Boat: Beds were quite small, at the end of the season, maintenance of the cabins was not great. Food was tasty and varied, but one third of us got sick during the cruise. I got a gastroenteritis and lost one day of diving in the middle of the cruise.
Summary: Generally, there were not as many sharks (not even grey reef sharks) and rays as you are made believe. I would go again to the North, but preferably in April or March, when the hammerheads are not as deep. The great advantage is the limited numbers of divers in the water compared to Egypt. I would not take the cruise starting in Egypt, because it is too much motoring. I would not go back to the same spots in the South. People rave about it, but then you should go with Don Questo.
Cheers,
Liberty
I am grateful for all information about Sudan I found here. Now a bit of an update:
I did a 2-week trip on the Royal Emperor that finished yesterday.
Travel to Port Sudan from Cairo and customs seem to have become a lot easier than before, Sudan Airways is also becoming more reliable.
Diving: We spent the first week in the South, but not far South. The thermocline was quite deep there thus we were searching for hammerheads well below 40m, but I only saw three individual hammerheads. We saw one manta ray, a few white tip reef sharks and grey reef sharks, schooling barracudas, jacks, huge tunas and big Napoleon wrasses.
May is not the best time for sharks, and during 5 dives in Shaab Rumi, we saw quite a few grey reef sharks, but no hammerheads. It was the same for Sanganeb North and South.
In the North (Angarosh, Abington, Quita-el-Banna) we had for dives with schooling hammerheads (up to 30), in Abington, the hammerheads were swimming around us for a while. In Quita-el-Banna, we saw a manta ray, in Angarosh also a silvertip reef sharks on 2 dives. The thermocline in the North was around 35m or above, thus we could stay longer looking for sharks.
The coral is also really beautiful on most reefs, there are also many colourful reef fish. Vis was quite good, the water is very clear.
We dived on Nitrox 26% or 32% (which cost extra), but the exact percentage can sometimes be a bit erratic.
We were only 9 divers, but the boat takes up to 16 passengers. Then the zodiacs will be quite small, one of them was also very slow. Zodiac drivers were very helpful.
Boat: Beds were quite small, at the end of the season, maintenance of the cabins was not great. Food was tasty and varied, but one third of us got sick during the cruise. I got a gastroenteritis and lost one day of diving in the middle of the cruise.
Summary: Generally, there were not as many sharks (not even grey reef sharks) and rays as you are made believe. I would go again to the North, but preferably in April or March, when the hammerheads are not as deep. The great advantage is the limited numbers of divers in the water compared to Egypt. I would not take the cruise starting in Egypt, because it is too much motoring. I would not go back to the same spots in the South. People rave about it, but then you should go with Don Questo.
Cheers,
Liberty
- sound that you took things easy (as it should be..)
