First trip to Red Sea -Advice and lots of it please

[Heg]

Hi
Hubby and I have just over 100 dives apiece. We live in Oz, so have dived a lot in the South Pacific and in Thailand. We are planning a trip this September and want to get it right as its going to cost us a lot of money.

We both LOVE live aboard, but will also want to do the touristy Pyramids/Sphinx thing. We are thinking maybe maybe 4/ 5 days on a boat and then some land based dives (maybe in a different area) before a few days doing touristy non dive stuff. We are early forties, so don't need or want a crazy nightlife, but good food and a bit of nightlife would be nice.
The trouble is we are sooooo confused by the options

-which boat?
-which itinerary?
-where to stay for land based? (which area)
-is live aboard necessary or should we just be land based?
-is September a good time to dive (I hate cold water and I consider 26 degs to be getting a bit chilly)

Any advice will be very welcome indeed
Thanks

 

[mala]

wrecks and reefs is the most popular liveaboard tour for 7 days and with good reason.
i can reccommend the blue 02 fleet or tony backhurst(scuba travel).

nile cruise is popular as it takes in most of the big historical sites along the nile and you dont have to fight the locals for every dollar you have with you.

if you want some land based diving then you could have a few days in dahab and then decide which places to visit as day trips.
the red sea coast is a flight away from cairo or luxor unless you want a 12 hour bus trip.

the red sea is usually in the low 20's but i have never been in the summer so it may be warmer.

have fun and dont get robbed by the taxi drivers-they make dick turpin look like the pope.

 

[supergaijin]

I used to work at Sinai Dive Club when they operated out of the Hilton in Naama Bay. I think they moved next door to Novotel now. Their safari Angelina 2 was a nice safari- small numbers and good food!

I'm sure some bigger operator can do an inclusive package. May work out cheaper. As much as I am against tour package trips, IME doing things independently in Egypt is too much stress, haggling over stupid prices, crowds, noise. In this situation I'd recommend a tour group. When I left Sharm, me and my girlfriend travelled a bit: up the coast, Cairo etc, hated pretty much the whole experience (for the reasons above), went to Alexandria and stayed there for a couple of weeks instead of travelling as we were both sick of the constant fighting that seems to be needed to get around and see a few rocks. At least in Alex we were left alone, and felt that we were able to breathe.

 

[TSandM]

Some of the fun sites can be reached on day boats out of Hurghada, but if you want to go out to the Brothers Islands, I think you pretty much have to do a liveaboard. (And it's worth it!)

We've done two trips on the MV Tala, one a seven-day and one a ten-day trip. Although it's not a fancy boat (no marble sinks!) it's solid, and the support for diving is incomparable. Faisal Khalaf, the owner, is all about extracting the maximum amount of fun possible out of every minute. The boat has support for technical diving, but also has scooters you can rent and play with in the shallows. The guides are superb, if you want to use them, and if you don't, that's okay, too. Whatever will make the clients happy is what Faisal aims to provide!

We had Red Sea Explorers arrange the land portion of our trip, too. We spent three days in Cairo at the beginning, and then went from Hurghada down to Luxor, and did a day of touring there before getting on a riverboat to go down to Aswan. My take is that three days in Cairo is too much. I would highly recommend going out to Saqqara, which is one of the older pyramids (did you know the original ones were stepped? I didn't.) There is a wonderful tomb there with friezes of everyday Egyptian life, that I found absolutely fascinating. The Egyptian Museum was a disappointment, and that was before the riots. We loved Luxor at night (it's spectacularly lit) and Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings. The river trip got pretty repetitive, and I think unless you are a serious hobby student of Egyptian dynasties, you would find it so as well.

Do watch prices -- the higher-end hotels in places like Luxor are VERY expensive.

 

[ocdiver1]

Liveboard, definitely, rather than shorebased. Another big recommendation for BlueOtwo..great operation, and will have highest likelihood of being a primarily English speaking group (if that makes a difference). Their "Simply the Best" itinerary taking in Brothers, Elphinstone, Daedalus in my opinion is the best one week itinerary for taking in the best of the Red Sea. September should still be warm, I dove late October last year and it was 26/27

 

[Heg]

Hi and thanks for all the advice.

I've looked at the Blue O Two website, but all the pricing seems to include flights from the UK. Not very useful when we live in Australia! How did you book with them Mala and ocdiver? Did you use an agent?

 

[mala]

Hi and thanks for all the advice.

I've looked at the Blue O Two website, but all the pricing seems to include flights from the UK. Not very useful when we live in Australia! How did you book with them Mala and ocdiver? Did you use an agent?

you can book direct -boat only.

i dont think i would fly over chuuk to get to the red sea.

 

[Heg]

Hi Mala
That was going to be my next question. Is it worth going? PNG /Indonesia/chuuk are also on our list, (and much closer to home) and having read more of the Red Sea posts, I'm wondering if it is worth the long trip?

 

[Tigerman]

Hi
...
-which boat?
-which itinerary?
-where to stay for land based? (which area)
-is live aboard necessary or should we just be land based?
-is September a good time to dive (I hate cold water and I consider 26 degs to be getting a bit chilly)

September is a great time to dive there and you have some absolutely fabolous diving without doing liveaboards.
Straits of Tiran and Ras Mohammed both have many good sites that except from the corals can be completely different from day to day.
Local dives in Sharm El Sheikh also has its fair share of decent sites and a few "resident mantas".
Both straits of tiran and ras mohammed is relatively short day-boat trips from sharm and both tend to end up with a 3rd dive on the way back if youre interested in one. You can also go to the wreck of thistlegorm on dayboats from sharm, but that means early up in the morning and a long day. Theres also possibilities for overnight trips there with some dive ops.

There is excursion ops that will do day-trips (by plane) to Cairo for the pyramids, sphinx and other things. First time I was down there I did just that and we went to the pyramid, sphinx and a cruise on the nile as well as a visit to a papyrus factory. It was a really good experience, although one of the beef jerkys in the mummy chamber looked like he had been trying to claw his way out of the sarcophagus
For a thorough look in the national museum you pretty much need a full day only for that though. Our guide spent the time we had talking about the artefacts related to the pyramids and the sphinx where we went afterwards.

As for ops other than blue 02 thats already been mentioned, you could also check out emperor divers whos main customer base is british (and me) and camel divers which is both reputable ops.

Oh, and Ill go to sharm for 2 weeks in june and another 2 weeks in september/october

 

[Chug]

That was going to be my next question. Is it worth going? PNG /Indonesia/chuuk are also on our list, (and much closer to home) and having read more of the Red Sea posts, I'm wondering if it is worth the long trip?

My wife and I went to Egypt in August of 2010 and we're in no hurry to return. We have been to Indo 3 times and can't wait to go back.

We were in Cairo and enjoyed the antiquities, but that was about it.

We flew to Sharm and did some diving there and were not impressed. Our worst dive in Indo was better than our best dive in Sharm. To make matters worse, it was impossible to find a store to buy a 6 pack of beer to enjoy in your room. The lack of service we encountered was universal, even on the dive boats, as was the poor quality of the food.

We flew to Hurghada and went on the Grand Sea Serpent for a week. With about 2 days left, half the boat got the "pharaoh's revenge", including my wife. It was not pretty. The diving was certainly better than up in Sharm, but paled to what I've seen in Indo. Even if nobody had gotten sick, I wouldn't recommend the GSS. Our cabin leaked and they did a half-assed job of cleaning the room and the head.

If I was in your fins, I would forget about the Red Sea until I had thoroughly explored my own, much nicer, backyard.