Best place to dive in Egypt that doesnt take all day.

[MUFC]

As my wife doesnt dive and we have a young daughter, diving all day on a boat isnt convenient any more.

I know Sharm isnt an option as were gone all day. Any ideas please?

If such a place like Cozumel exists where you are back by lunchtime that would be perfect.

 

[supergaijin]

Some Sharm resorts use ribs to go out to the local gardens (or did- who knows what they do now). Hilton at Shark's Bay did for example. 4 Seasons used a small speedboat to access Tiran.
Ras Mo.... I can't think of a half-day operator.

 

[Tigerman]

Theres rib operations as supergajin mentiones, but there is also shore diving in sharm.
Many (all?) of the local dive sites have beach access, but they are also near resorts so youll probably end up having to pay to access them.
Dive ops does have beach diving available if request it. Its not quite as impressive as Tiran or Ras mo of course, but its there. And the mantas like the local sites too ofc

Is it an option to bring your two princesses (or should that be dragons?) on the boat though? The dive boats tend to allow it, but of course the wife and daughter might not..

 

[Girlindependent]

Dahab is all shore diving and nicer than Sharm.

 

[Solly]

what is your need for non-diving time?do you want a town and some night life or would you spend the rest of the day relaxing in the resort?
If the first I suggest dahab, but make sure to set the expectation to the guide/operator that you need to get early back as they tend to spend full day on the dive site cafeterias
If the second then you can head to marsa alam, you can have shore diving but there is no real town....

 

[pughio83]

Marsa alam I thought was better than sharm, all half day diving as well from iberotel coraya. You could dive in the am and do one or two dives, or just dive in the pm. Of course there were full day trips to dolphin house or elphinstone. Iberotel coraya is a great hotel but I was frustrated with the dive centre(which was shared between three hotels) but u may find a better experience there. To note, my last sharm trip, most trips to ras or tiran we 8-1 or til 4pm.

 

[Tippytoes12]

The Meridien Dahab might be just what you want. It's a lovely low key fourish star resort with pools and a beach. It's dive centre is Poseidon and it does one dive trips out from and back to the hotel's jetty.You would only be away from youw wife for 2 hours max per dive. The sites are beautiful and uncrowded. Dahab itself is really interesting and has far ( IMVHO) more character than Sharm. There is an option of a whole day 2 to 3 dive trip to Gharb El Bindt or of course two dive day trips to the Blue Hole / Canyon.

 

[matgiani]

If you are still considering Sharm, have a look at Camel Dive Club. This year they started running a speedboat service from their dive centre in Grand Rotana (transfers to/from your hotel included in the price), which takes about 15 minutes to reach the reefs in the strait of Tiran.
I was there a few weeks ago, and they do one dive going out at 7am (you will be back on shore in time for breakfast, 9ish), one at 11am which will get you back for lunch, and if I remember correctly one in the afternoon also depending on participants.

A cool bonus is that by going out with the speedboat (a rather large Zodiac) they often dive the north side of Jackson Reef, generally a bit too choppy to be reached by the normal daily dive boats, which quite regularly has hammerheads swimming around.
Also, if the guests on the speedboat all want to, for a small supplement they will take you farther north to the wreck of the Million Hope. As far as I understand not many other options for getting there out of Sharm.

 

[Tigerman]

I had 7 of those hammery fishes on a quite choppy dive in june - we where the only dive boat going for the back as even the zodiacs stayed away that day.
Guess theres an upside to having a boat full of divers with an average of ~200 dives

 

[diverLux]

Hi,

Check out the Happy Life Village near Dahab you can dive the house reef which is only steps from the beach while the family is watching from the sunlounger, the swimming pool with snack-bar is only 100 m away. There are more dive sites nearby only 5 - 10 minutes away by pick-up truck, go on a morning dive meet at the dive centre 9 am and you are back around 11 am, afternoon dives start at 2 pm. Downtown Dahab is 15 - 20 minutes by hotel courtesy bus. Lagona Divers are at home here.


Coraya Bay already mentionned is ideal too, stay at one of the Madinat Coraya hotels on the south side of the bay, the Iberotel Samaya and Lamaya, or the Sol y Mar Solaya or Dar el Madina are within minutes walking distance to the dive base and to the jetty, (the Iberotel Coraya Beach is on the North side and a fair walk but with a nice shallow beach) Coraya Divers home page also has information about the hotels.


You can dive on your own unguided at both places and select your time, been there a few times and will return.