Diving in Sharm - location and instructors

[AnaCat]

Hello, we are planning a week for NYE in Sharm.
1 For the hotel, which are the best locations in terms of house reef, accessible also for very good snorkeling? Found some nice ones in Nabq but I understand it’s a long distance to Naama. How much would cost an Uber/ taxi? We’re not really party people, woul probably go once or twice if too far. Or we stay in Naama bay?
For diving:
I’m Rescue Diver, will definitely want 1-2 day trips to Dahab, blue hole and the canyon
My friend is OWD, her boyfriend wants to get his certification as OWD during the trip, while I visit Dahab.
then we will dive together Ras Mohammed maybe even Thistlegorm off conditions are good for my friends..
2. Searching for a small but good dive centre,, where you are not treated like cattle and has good, safe equipment.
3. Also, for a diving day by boat what are some current prices?

Thanks a lot for your responses !

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

#1 Dahab: it's feasible in one day, although i would recommend 2 days with a night out in Dahab if time permits to avoid getting up very early and coming back very late. And to enjoy some other spots in Dahab.

#1 Thistlegorm: depth limit for OWD is 18 m, that will not be enough for the T., put apart that this dive is very likely to be too challenging for the boyfriend who just had his certificate and less than 10 dives.
If i recall correctly there is a minimum number of dives required by most dive centres for this wreck. And if the dive centre does have that requirement, i would not go with them....

Re #3: current prices will depend on the dive centre

PS: OWD course won't be done in 1-2 days while you are in Dahab unless he is very, very talented and has a personal instructor.

 

[Parlem]

I second what SurfaceInterval says. It's very good advice.

Note that there is no Uber in Sharm. Just regular taxis. Make sure you discuss and agree on a fare before you start the journey.

Circle divers have a centre in Sharm and another in Dahab. So do Subex. I've heard good things about both.

I should add that snorkeling off seafront hotels on Nabq is often difficult in winter as the location is exposed to the wind and on red flag days no snorkeling will be allowed.

Hadaba and Sharks Bay are more sheltered.
I can recommend sentido reef oasis and reef oasis beach resort (both on same complex, the latter less upscale) for very good snorkeling and shore diving (Temple reef is on their doorstep). The on-site dive centre was decent when I last used them a couple of years ago.

 

[diverLux]

Indeed Hadaba Ras Um Sid is a perfect choice, my favoured Jaz Fanara Resort ( between the tall white light house and Reef Oasis ) the dive centre (you'll get spaghetti -al dente- on their boat, they will take non-divers for a small fee )

 

[arcie]

Hello, I was in Sharm last week.
Regarding 1) taxi cost: We stayed in Nabq bay. According to some folks from the dive shop we used, taxi from there to Hadaba should be about 10-12 US max each way. After our hotel tried to charge us $45 for that, we called the guy who drove us from the airport and he charged us $25 round-trip, which we felt was fair. Sharm is more spread out than I had realized before going there; trip took about 20 minutes each way.
2) Dive op: keeping in mind I’m a newbie (although spouse/buddy is not) - we dove 3 days with Elite Divers and really liked them, would happily go with them again. The day boats are large but by no means did it feel like a cattle boat (not crammed in like Rainbow Reef, for reference). They grouped divers by ability/experience, had the 2 or 3 groups gearing up/splashing in a staggered fashion so it was all very orderly. 60 minutes max bottom time, not that we hit that . Had crates for your gear. I’m used to small boats in the Caribbean so it was a very different model for me, but it turned out fine. More about Elite - they are tech divers, were very safety conscious, and also very personable.
Thistlegorm - we did not go there. From what I’ve seen, most ops require at least 20 dives to go. We didn’t go there because it was not scheduled while we were there (very short trip for us) .
3) Cost: Cost was about $65 US/pp for a full day which includes 2 morning dives. (Cost goes down from there with # days diving.) Equipment not included. No charge though for Nitrox! An optional 3rd dive was about 30. Equipment was fine, although the BCDs (mostly aqualung wave) required weight belts. Plenty of adapters for our yoke regs. They make lunch on board, also optional, for $7 usd. This model looked similar to other dive ops we looked at (Circle in Sharm, H2O in Dahab)

Have a great trip!

 

[Miyaru]

I am in Dahab right now.
Diving in Sharm is fairly okay in Naama Bay, Sheikh Coast is much nicer (north of Naama bay).
As for everything in between dives, the best thing in Sharm is a taxi to Dahab.

There are lots of entertainment centers in Dahab and ~3 dive centers. Since you want good and safe equipment, I assume you also want safe breathing gas and yearly serviced equipment: H2O Divers Dahab is one of the better divecenters (and my personal favorite).

The Blue Hole is a bucketlist dive. Diving from the Bells to the Blue Hole is nice (AOW level) but there are much nicer sites in Dahab. Three islands is a beautiful shallow site for OWD level, rich in corals and fish and lots of bottom time.
Another cool site is the  Canyon with a depth of max 30m. (the end of the Canyon is beyond recreational depths).
But even in the middle of Dahab you can jump in and enjoy the reef to whatever depth you want.

Thistlegorm is bucketlist dive as well. Usually it's boats with 20+ divers going there, your divetime is quite limited, and it will be busy. If you really want to see everything and enjoy the wreck, do a tech dive which allows you so much more time down there, especially after the majority has returned to the surface. But.....that requires a couple of courses and more experience.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I agree with all of the good advice above. We have had two excellent stays in Camel Dive Club, right in the middle of Sharm but beautifully quiet inside due to the excellence of its construction. Dahab is somewhere we also really really enjoyed when we were first certified. It will be the middle of the Egyptian winter when you go there and also likely to be very windy. Boats will not go to the Thistlegorm unless the conditions are favorable. A newly qualified diver should not attempt the Thistlegorm unless the conditions are truly perfect and without a private guide. Bucharest is not very far from Egypt and I am sure you will get there again, several times, when you have more experience.