Elphinstone - what is it like in late october?

[JustSurfaceInterval]

I know, I hope to see a manta and other things, Id love to see some reef sharks.

Red Sea is the wrong Place for mantas and reef sharks. Although you may see some, the likelyhood is minimal.

Thats very surprising. Don't you need gloves to prevent touching fire coral? Why would gloves make you more likely to touch coral?

Because the second rule under water is "Don't touch anything. Simply don't. No, not even a little bit. Not the fishs, not the corals, not the rock that may reveal a stone fish or something else". (The first rule being "keep breathing", obviously)
It was a clever move from the dive shops to step by step ban gloves. Without gloves you will easily refrain from touching something that will liekly hurt your finger.
And as an experienced diver you will not need to touch anything to control your position.

 

[Dan]

Thats very surprising. Don't you need gloves to prevent touching fire coral? Why would gloves make you more likely to touch coral?

I don’t understand the reasoning for not allowing to wear gloves in blue water diving where there is nothing else around but you & the sharks. There is no coral to touch. The gloves are just to protect your hands from being mistaken as fish to the shark eyes.

 

[Dan]

You never dive alone... You know the hand signs for "F...ing Big Shark Behind You" (Google it)

 

[Sascha314]

Thats very surprising. Don't you need gloves to prevent touching fire coral? Why would gloves make you more likely to touch coral?

Well I agree, I think the same and find this annoying. However I did not make the rules.
For reference, e.g.

Faq – tgidiving

www.tgidiving.com

FAQs-Frequently asked questions - [EN] Coraya-Divers

Do you still have questions about Coraya Divers?

www.coraya-divers.com

FAQs-Frequently asked questions - [EN] Coraya-Divers

Do you still have questions about Coraya Divers?

www.coraya-divers.com

I prefer it for thermal protection, but also there are small things floating, so you protect yourself even if you are not touching anything.
And then there is the possibility that you might need to grap a rope in rough sea/current.

However thats what it is. I believe its because a lot of tourists there go for diving, many of them cannot handle buyoncy well.
Also with so many people there are always assh... which destroy corals for something.
So they just put a strict rule in the hope people are not doing this, because it hurts...

 

[Parlem]

I don’t understand the reasoning for not allowing to wear gloves in blue water diving where there is nothing else around but you & the sharks. There is no coral to touch. The gloves are just to protect your hands from being mistaken as fish to the shark eyes.

Most dives in the Marine Parks are wall dives along the reef. Encounters with Longimanus are typically towards the end of the dive, in shallow water and often during your safety stop, before eixiting. As far as I know, they are not blue water dives as such.

 

[Boyan]

Red Sea is the wrong Place for mantas and reef sharks. Although you may see some, the likelyhood is minimal.

Why does this reef not have any reef sharks, but it has oceanic ones.

I don’t understand the reasoning for not allowing to wear gloves in blue water diving where there is nothing else around but you & the sharks. There is no coral to touch. The gloves are just to protect your hands from being mistaken as fish to the shark eyes.

Do divers get bitten on their hands a lot? I could paint my hand black or something.

View attachment 866627

LOL

Most dives in the Marine Parks are wall dives along the reef. Encounters with Longimanus are typically towards the end of the dive, in shallow water and often during your safety stop, before eixiting. As far as I know, they are not blue water dives as such.

Whats a blue water dive? Diving in the middle of nothing and seing nothing?

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

Do divers get bitten on their hands a lot? I could paint my hand black or something.

No, i doubt this was a serious comment. You are overthinking....

Whats a blue water dive? Diving in the middle of nothing and seing nothing?

It's diving away from any reef. To see what? depends on where you are, could be hammerheads, whale sharks, humpbacks, ... but not in the Red Sea.

 

[autrichon gris]

Yes there are resident hammerheads at Elphinstone north plateau, usually you can see easily them between June and October.

The main problem with Elphinstone it that it is most of the time overcrowded with sometimes 15 or more liveaboard, not counting Zodiacs from Marsa Shagra and other daily boats, so that means 300 or more divers almost at the same time !

Marsa Shagra, a famous dive camp (accomodation goes from tent on the beach to superior bungalows) just in front of Elphinstone, with unlimited house reef diving is a good alternative to liveaboard, because they send Zodiacs everyday day (meeting at 6 AM) and you try to dive before the liveaboards.

 

[Chrisk919]

Ouch! That's scary...

Yeah, I just watched it and said "Well, I'd need a little extra Steramine in that wetsuit after THIS trip"

 

[mcohen1021]

I don't remember there being big currents there... The oceanic white tip sharks are curious creatures and they can/will get close at times... I learned firsthand not to run but to face them and they'll turn away

I would highly discourage driving a vehicle there in Egypt, there's a lot of security checkpoints and unless you speak Arabic the language barrier could be a major problem.