Diving the Thistlegorm no liveaboard

[Adr1an]

One thing not mentioned here is the rather disproportionate price of a day Thistelgorm trip compared to a 3 nights/ 4 days liveaboard. These days you'd be struggling to find the day trip lower then 180 euros and you'll get 2 Thistelgorm dives plus one dive in Ras Mo national park (usually Shark&Yolanda)
I'd say the day trip only makes sense for people doing family resort-based vacations.

 

[also_anon_dc]

One thing not mentioned here is the rather disproportionate price of a day Thistelgorm trip compared to a 3 nights/ 4 days liveaboard. These days you'd be struggling to find the day trip lower then 180 euros and you'll get 2 Thistelgorm dives plus one dive in Ras Mo national park (usually Shark&Yolanda)
I'd say the day trip only makes sense for people doing family resort-based vacations.

Good point. Liveaboards in the Red Sea can be as cheap as $700-800 USD for 7 nights.

 

[divezonescuba]

A decent four day, three night mini-safari might be less than 500 euros per person. King Snefro has it for 479 euros. If you factor in the price of a decent hotel for three nights, food, and diving including a Thistlegorm visit and two other days of diving, you would be way ahead with the mini-safari. You would also likely get 3 or 4 dives on the Thistlegorm.

 

[Parlem]

A decent four day, three night mini-safari might be less than 500 euros per person. King Snefro has it for 479 euros. If you factor in the price of a decent hotel for three nights, food, and diving including a Thistlegorm visit and two other days of diving, you would be way ahead with the mini-safari. You would also likely get 3 or 4 dives on the Thistlegorm.

That's a very good point. Besides King Snefro, Umbi Diving also offer 2-3 night liveaboard trips that visit the Thistlegorm from Sharm. My experience on one such trip was very positive, even though they're "budget" boats and perhaps not as comfortable as other boats on longer trips.

 

[Lu Y]

If it's not too late, Sinai Blues in Sharm offer RIB trips to Thistlegorm (1h15 one way). They normally do 2 dives but you can add a third one if other guests on the boat agree.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

1h15min one way by zodiac? wow.... + 1 hour surface interval in that zodiac between dives? wow....

 

[Lu Y]

1h15min one way by zodiac? wow.... + 1 hour surface interval in that zodiac between dives? wow....

We did it 2 weeks ago, sea was not the calmest, so it took 1h30 on the way there. Left at 6h10, did 2 dives at Thistlegorm, 3rd dive at Dunraven, then back at the Four Seasons at 13h10. It was a quite tiring but I think it's the most efficient way to do it without liveaboard?

 

[Adr1an]

We did it 2 weeks ago, sea was not the calmest, so it took 1h30 on the way there. Left at 6h10, did 2 dives at Thistlegorm, 3rd dive at Dunraven, then back at the Four Seasons at 13h10. It was a quite tiring but I think it's the most efficient way to do it without liveaboard?

It sounds like either the dives or the surface interval between them were rather short. Or both.

It is totally doable by RIB (the bigger, the better) on a calm day, even it it may be rather uncomfortable, but if the sea gets rough it can become downright dangerous with 3 tanks per diver dangling at your feet etc.

 

[Lu Y]

It sounds like either the dives or the surface interval between them were rather short. Or both.

It is totally doable by RIB (the bigger, the better) on a calm day, even it it may be rather uncomfortable, but if the sea gets rough it can become downright dangerous with 3 tanks per diver dangling at your feet etc.

The dives were 40-45 mins each, surface intervals were 45 mins.

The RIB we had has 8 seats at the front, we put the tanks at the back so they were not at our feet. Fully agree it's only doable in calm seas. We were there for 1 week, and the first 5 days they refused to let us go due to rough sea.

I'd say for people without sea sick the liveaboard is a much better option. The Sinai Blues RIB option is more for people who want to stay at a hotel and don't wanna do full day Thistlegorm dives with a slower boat.