Can anyone recommend a good dive company in Sharm that goes out to the Thistlegorm?

[The Cod Father]

I am going to Sharm on Friday and I always dive with the same company that I have used for the last 5 years as they are a great outfit and I really like them. I am going to dive with them again this year but they never seem to have enough people to go out to the Thistlegorm.

Can anyone recommend a company that goes out to the Thistlegorm on a regular basis as I have yet to dive it and want to make sure that I do this year.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

If it helps I am staying at the Marriott Renaissance which is out by Ras Umm Sid.

 

[Red Sea Leonfish]

If you walk out the front door and head left down towards the Al Fanara beachclub resort / the big white light house then you will pass the Iberotel Fanara Club and Resort Hotel. Just passed the main entrance is the side entrance to the hotel which is the entrance to the "Diving & Discovery" PADI divecentre. I have dived with them for a number of years and will be back there (coincidentally this Friday!) for another week of dayboating to Rasmo and Tiran.

They rarely have enough people to run a full excursion to the Thistlegorm but they will arrange bookings for you to go with them on one of the big multi-party boats which leave from the International Marina and get out to the dive site in less time than the boats from Travco.

Conveniently for you, they are a five minute walk from the Marriott Renaissance and will still pick you up if you like!

See Diving & Discovery scuba center - Sharm el Sheikh for more info and send them an email if you want to check what they can offer (don't be put off by the web site - they can speak fluent English and I can personally recomend their guides, organisation and standards of instruction/equipment).


If you do then I may very well see you out there!

 

[Solly]

the problem I might see is that no decent dive center would accept you on a trip to Thistlegorm for your first dive with them, they have to see you underwater then you can go.
I would say that you should check with the divecenter you will be using about the trip and ask them that they should assign you to a boat heading to Thistlegorm even with another dive operation, else go and dive with the dive center that would grant you this request.

 

[decompression]

I dove with Emporer divers a few years ago and they were excellent, just down the street from the Hilton.

 

[Red Sea Leonfish]

the problem I might see is that no decent dive center would accept you on a trip to Thistlegorm for your first dive with them, they have to see you underwater then you can go.

That is a very good point. I hadn't thought of that but, yes, Diving & Discovery would almost certainly need you to dive with them before they would book you into a trip to the SS Thistlegorm.

 

[Zebedy]

I dove with Emporer divers a few years ago and they were excellent, just down the street from the Hilton.

We fly out tomorrow and are doing our AOW with Emporer on Friday/Sat/Sun (they recomended a fun dive day to start with)

Also very intersted in the TG although will be playing it by ear as we are newbies (6 dives). With this in mind Emp have said they will assess us and the conditions before making a call on whether we can do the Adventure dive on the TG or maybe another days diving tacked on to the end.

Seems a remote possibility but who knows!

If you see two pail looking Scots with little skill say hi! Never know, we could arrange a trip to the TG on here lol

(staying in the Coral Sea Resort)

 

[decompression]

Have a great time, the TG is a great dive but not worth an incident, be safe!

 

[Crowley]

I'm going there tomorrow - Thursday 8th - PM me for more info about the possibilities of visiting Thistlegorm next week. Our trips are usually on Thursday and Sunday, but mostly Thursdays at the moment, and we do require minimum 6 people before we go.

Try the bigger dive centres - they are more likely to have enough customers to make the trip. We're coming to the tail end of high season and still quite busy, but business is dropping off, so ask around.

As others have mentioned, most centres won't take you to Thistlegorm for your first boat dive, especially if you haven't dived with them before. My centre would require minimum one shore dive plus boat dive in the afternoon, and we prefer people to have visited Ras Mohamed and/or Tiran before venturing to Thistlegorm. In fact, I would be wary of any dive centre that offers it no questions asked. The wreck is prone to strong conditions, limited visibility, and gets very busy at times, so it is NOT a dive for novices, nor for anybody who gets easily sea-sick....

To Zebede - maybe as an expensive AOW training dive (it's 80 Euros / 100 Dollars) extra to make the trip but we pretty much insist in a minimum of 20 dives before diving Thistlegorm, and in my opinion, rightly so. It's not sooo difficult if you keep your wits about you - but a lot of people don't, unfortunately, and get into difficulty, so a certain amount of knowledge and experience is required.

If and when you do get there, enjoy it - I loooooove Thistelgorm!

And I'm going there tomorrow... did I say that already!?

Cheers

C.