Hi all, I am sure iterations of this questions have been asked thousands of times, but wanted to get some updated opinions. My girlfriend and I are planning on a ~16 day Egypt trip in January, with stops in Alexandia, Cairo/Giza, and Aswan/Luxor for antiquity stops, but also at least 5-6 days of diving on the Red Sea (land-based, not liveaboard). I am a Rescue Diver, she is OW but wants to earn her AOW while on vacation. While she works on AOW, I will be most interested in diving with others and working on photography. We both don't care about wrecks, really are most interested in reef life and topography. We are budget conscious, not really interested in casinos, luxury spas, etc., and would prefer something more laid back (but still safe). Desert excursions for a surface day/a handful of bar and restaurant options would be good.
We were initially looking at some place like Dahab for the easy shore diving, but realized we could save on internal flights if we link up the Aswan/Luxor part of our trip with Marsa Alam or Hurghada. This is our first time to the Red Sea, any recommendations for the four big areas (Sharm, Dahab, Marsa, Hurghada) based on our interests?