Question Egypt Mixed Family Diving Recommendations

[Covert Luddite]

Hi everyone! Looking for recommendations on where to do some diving for a family of divers in Egypt in June. All four of us in the family are certified divers, but our range of experience and qualifications is quite large. My kids (11 and 14) are newly minted Junior OW and OW respectively, with only a handful of dives under their belts. They both have impeccable buoyancy (can't decide if that makes me proud or annoyed) and are excellent swimmers, but being young, strong currents or drift diving might not be ideal. My wife is AOW, and has around 25 dives logged over the last year. I dive pretty much every weekend (Malta) and I am Tec50 certified with 10+ tec dives and 100+ recreational dives last year, so ready for (most) anything the Red Sea wants to throw at me, within reason (safety first and last!).

Our goal is to find somewhere we can relax for about three or four days and get in some fun diving with a reputable dive shop. My wife and kids would likely be interested in just one day of diving (two dives), and due to my daughters Junior OW cert, we would be limited to a maximum depth of 12m on that day, so it should be somewhere that has shallow depths with colorful coral and fish, and ideally something extra to offer like turtles, rays, sharks, etc. Kids have never done any boat diving (all their dives have been in Malta or Florida where shore diving is common), but not against it if that provides the best option. I will dive every day of our stay and it would be nice if there were some more exciting things for me to see as well when I leave the family at the resort to go enjoy the quiet depths, but the priority is choosing an areas that provides the best dive opportunities for them.

When the family is not diving, they would probably enjoy doing some snorkeling so bonus points if that is an easy option right from the resort area.

From everything I have read here on the forum, as well as across the internet, Hurghada seems like the best option, but Sharm sounds like it has some upside too. What makes my search perhaps a little different from others seeking advice on the forums is that I am not necessarily asking, "where is the best diving in the Red Sea?" but rather I am seeking advice on where to look for a great Red Sea family vacation spot (all-inclusive resort style) which also has diving appropriate for both beginning and advanced divers.

Ok divers, let's hear what you got!

Thanks!

 

[scubajasonr]

You could try Breakers in Soma Bay. We stayed there as a family in August last year, you will find my trip report on this forum. My kids are a little older (13 &16 when we stayed) and we found the diving on the house reef pretty good, and they were happy to let us dive unguided after the checkout dive. The dive shop on site, Orca Divers, seemed very professional. We were only there a few days so didn’t do any boat diving with them but they looked to have plenty of options. Excellent snorkelling from the jetty as well. Breakers isn’t all inclusive, but we didn’t find it too expensive overall and food was better than most Egyptian all incs. We are heading back again this summer for a few days prior to a liveaboard.

The family liveaboard we did after staying at Breakers was a great experience, excellent diving and the kids really enjoyed living on the boat for the week.

For where ever you stay it is worth checking before you book that the hotel dive shops are happy with the 11 year old diving. Both my kids started diving at 8, and had JOW at 10. A few dive shops haven’t been keen with under 12 year olds diving. We have found Coraya Divers and Diving.de great for kids, and both had a selection of small kit, but both are based further South than Hurghada. Some insist you pay for a private guide, which makes diving expensive, and is annoying when the kids are better divers than some other divers!

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

Note that the Breakers has started a reshaping of all rooms yesterday. Scheduled end of work is by end of April, Insch'Allah...
But i can second @scubajasonr: have a look at that hotel and the dive shop. They are accommodating for young divers and have plenty of full day or half day boot trips as well as one way zodiac if you fancy. If not, the house reef offers opportunities for a lot of stunning encounters, sometimes even wale sharks...
The hotel offers "family suites" i.e. 2 rooms connected by a small corridor. it does not offer full board, but we never had the pressing need to fill our stomac with buffet food for lunch, knowing that we will have some other dives in the afternoon.

 

[Adr1an]

Sharm, day boat trip for the entire family to Ras Mohamed natural reserve (quite a few good sites for OW certification) . Then in other days you can do Thistelgorm, the good dives at Thomas reef, Jackson reef, Shark&Yolanda etc etc