Considering Red Sea for First Liveaboard. Questions...

[UTscuba]

Never did explore Egypte outside of the harbour area, we don’t like the mentality that a lot of people have there. That’s also a personal opinion ofcourse.

I dove Sharm and Dahab a couple of years ago and traveled overland between the two and then onto Jordan and also went to Cairo and Luxor and I thought the Egyptians were some of the nicest, most generous and welcoming people I'd ever met and I would love to go back sometime.

As a single male I can't speak to how women travelers get treated, but Egyptian women were visible and communicative in every aspect of daily life so it didn't feel like Saudi or any of the more restrictive countries.

I didn't have a great time at Giza, but I was jetlagged and I was staying at the most expensive hotel so the touts were pretty aggressive when I tried walking outside. I'd probably have had a better time if I'd booked a private guide there and had been more rested. Luxor was awesome, a childhood dream come true, booked a private guide for the day and he picked me up at the hotel and did the whole of the Valley of the Kings and Howard Carter's house too.

As to the vegetarian side of things, again don't know about the liveaboards, but I went out on Camel Tribe every day from Sharm and there was always a veggie option. A lot of the Red Sea caters to Brits, and there are a lot of vegetarian Brits so it shouldn't be a novelty. Egyptian food has lots of options, and koshri which is a street food, is amazing and I could happily survive on it and nothing more.

Kushari - Wikipedia

No problem buying alcohol, at least at the tourist areas, and any restaurant that doesn't sell it is fine with you bringing your own beer from the grocery store. The wine selection was a little limited but the local egyptian beers were pretty good.

edit: I went there with about 23 OW dives, although I'd done all of my specialties for my SSI AOW before I'd gone and was just a couple of dives short my AOW. I found the diving in the Red Sea to be less challenging than Coz. Rarely any strong current, and lots of good stuff in relatively shallow waters. The Thistlegorm was the highlight of the trip for me, which was more advanced but had a private guide and an AL100 and I had a good time.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

Thanks for all the great information. Any insider info on best places to book? I know I have seen a lot of threads about liveaboards where they mention they never pay list price, but I don't know where to look for better deals.

We typically travel in the winter to escape the Montana cold, but is that a good time to do northern Red Sea? It is perfect for the Caribbean, which is also why we seem to go there so frequently.

 

[UTscuba]

Thanks for all the great information. Any insider info on best places to book? I know I have seen a lot of threads about liveaboards where they mention they never pay list price, but I don't know where to look for better deals.

We typically travel in the winter to escape the Montana cold, but is that a good time to do northern Red Sea? It is perfect for the Caribbean, which is also why we seem to go there so frequently.

if you're not committed to a liveaboard, then staying in Sharm and diving with Camel Divers is a great option. Great hotel, an amazing dive boat, and fantastic guides

Red Sea diving holidays in Sharm El Sheikh | Camel Dive Club and Hotel

I was there at the end of Feb and it was great, always the only divers on a site, nice temps (mid 70s water I recall).

 

[ontdiver]

I also said it was a personal opinion.

You may wish to take a moment to reflect before you post something that reflects your intolerance.

 

[Tribal]

You may wish to take a moment to reflect before you post something that reflects your intolerance.

people always want to be so political correct...
It might be a language barrier but in my opinion I only did say my gf and I don’t like to go outside of the harbour in Egypte...
I have good friends who go there almost every month for a week. Everybody has a different tast, the world would be boring otherwise

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

One thing I would say is to consider other boats. I suspect Americans seem to automatically gravitate to the aggressor fleet under the perception of it being American and therefore better suited to Americans. Personally I hunt out the German boats in the Red Sea as they tend to be bigger/more luxurious as the Germans don’t like to slum it. The My Blue was good, although the camera table was lacking. Consider hurghadha as well a Sharm.

As for the ‘adult daughters’ bit. I’m afraid that is where you are gong to have problems. Last time i was in Cairo with my wife she was catcalled twice in a mall by some guys who didn’t see me behind her and though she would somehow be interested in going home with them if they played the ‘hey baby’ routine. She was dressed conservatively, but wearing shorts. Also that night in a bar after dinner, I went to the bathroom and when I came back some local who was clearly too many drinks in was trying to chat her up at the bar and asking her to dance, even when she told him that she was married, she felt very uncomfortable and I started to get annoyed, so you are going to have a serious problem with the culture and the way men feel they can treat women...oh wait...come to think of it, that wasn’t Cairo...it was the last time we were in bloody Houston....

Have fun.

 

[bshort4]

What time of year are you thinking of going? I just did a liveaboard there this past September on the St. Johns route and found it rather boring--lots of nice hard coral but lacking in much fish life. The land tour portion of my trip was very hot--104 F in Luxor. Diving there was very easy--no currents at all--we did dive Elphinstone and dived with the sharks and had zero current there either. If I go to the Red Sea again I will be going on the Wrecks and Reefs route to get a mix of both. I was a single traveling to Eygpt and had arranged a tour for after my diving to Luxor and in Cairo before heading home. I also arranged for the tour company to do a "meet and greet" at the Cairo airport (purchased my visa, walked me through immigration and customs and picked up my luggage)--they booked me a hotel close to the airport my first night there so I could get over some jet lag then picked me up and transported me back to the airport for my flight to Hurghada and then my liveaboard transported me down to Port Ghalib. After my diving the tour company met me at the boat and off to Luxor we went--two nights in Luxor then a flight back to Cairo and another two nights there touring then my flight back home. I never touched a bag--always had a driver or tour guide who did all that lifting. They even checked me in for all my flights at the airport (and hotels), got my tickets and walked me to security--great service and I couldn't have been more pleased with the tour company. Everyone in Eygpt I met was soo happy to see an American back in their country--never had any problems and was delighted with all the people there--so I'd say choose your boat, arrange your tours and go for it. PS--I looked at many dive boats--especially Aggressor but their prices were so far out of line compared to most other boats--more than twice the price plus they wanted to charge me for the transfer to Port Ghalib. I ended up on the MY Amelia and was the only American on board--the boat was a 7 out of 10 (food was so-so). But we had such a great mix of nationalities on board and it was great!

 

[WS007]

My wife and I have been diving for almost 4 years now. We have done Cozumel 9 times, Puerto Vallarta, AKR in Roatan, and I have dove Southern California. We both have advanced open water. My kids (23 and 21) are both open water, and have two Cozumel trips (20 dives) in their logbook. I want to branch out to other destinations. Red Sea looks great, and pretty reasonably priced. Questions:

Which route would you recommend for first trip?
I know Red Sea very well (since early 80ies) and have done many Safaries. I recommend Deep South for family (advanced beginners). Eventually you want to spend more than one week, when you come from so far. Either one week before in a traditional divers resort (e.g. Rohanou or Mangrove Bay) or a two week Safari. A (higher priced alternative) is Sudan: in order to void direct check in/out i Sudan go via Egypt (MY Royal Evolution via Port Ghalip)...

Any issues with OW divers? Cozumel has some moderate currents and my kids did well there. Any need to get more experience before bringing them to Red Sea?
The minimum experience for Safari in Red Sea is >50 dives. In case the kids are newbies consider special kid or family Safai with deep blue cruises (Deep Blue Cruises - Family Safari)

Any hesitance bringing grown kids to Red Sea? I have been to the middle east many times, but in my experiences the women are treated differently (especially in Saudi Arabia, which I don't think I will return to).
Egypt is a moslem country with 20% christian population. The people in the touristic areas are trained to deal with people from first world like us...

My daughter is a vegetarian. Are they able to accommodate different diets on the boats?
As far as I have seen, no problem...

Rental gear ok? My wife and I have our own gear, but kids are still renting.
I can not say, as we always bring our own gear. Probably not worse than anywhere else...

I would like to sight see in Egypt as well. I would guess it is better to plan sightseeing before diving in case of trip delays.
never did sightseeing there, so cannot tell...

4 days of sightseeing enough to take in most of the major sites? Any suggestions for combo bookings? I think Aggressor will do an add-on sightseeing package?
We usually book via: Tauchsafari › Tauchreisen › Tauchurlaub - Charly Reisen
Any agency specialized on divers will do the booking. Agressor is not good, the last boat in Egypt burned and they did not care for survivors...

Thanks in advance.

 

[WS007]

Thanks for all the great information. Any insider info on best places to book? I know I have seen a lot of threads about liveaboards where they mention they never pay list price, but I don't know where to look for better deals.

We typically travel in the winter to escape the Montana cold, but is that a good time to do northern Red Sea? It is perfect for the Caribbean, which is also why we seem to go there so frequently.

In Winter ((Dezember)/January;February/(March)) the north route is not advisable: water temperature (In Red Sea always from top to bottom the same) is around 20o Celsius. This may seem o.k., but there is a lot of cold wind. People take 7mm semidry or even drysuit for north in winter.

Better to go as far south as possible during the winter months...

Wolfgang

 

[Guitarcrazy]

Thanks for the replies. If it needs more than a 3mm wetsuit my wife would rather wait for warmer water. Probably better plan to hit it in the summer. BShort, I was going to message you to see who you used for your travel arrangements. I like the sound of your arrangements, direct transfers and no chance of getting lost!