Holiday Dive Packs

[Conor]

I am currently getting a holiday together for myself and my gf in April and am trying to figure out the costs.

The centre that I like best charges $30 per dive (guided dives only) and does not do dive packs. The reason for this is that they believe that people either spend money on a pack and don't use it or end up forcing themselves to dive more than the really want to in order to use up the pack. This seems to make sense. They also encourage you do dive whenever you want without sticking to a timetable, whcih also sounds very nice. They gaurantee group sizes will not have more than 4 divers.

The catch is that if we are there for 14 days, allowing for a couple of night dives it could be 25 dives each, i.e. $750. Another centre is offering $25 per guided dive or a 20 guided dive pack for $360 (including 5 tank only dives).

I am torn between the flexibility of the first method (especially considering that my gf is newly qualified and would get more out of a relaxed approach) and the apparently major savings of the second.

Any opinions or advice ?

Cheers

Conor

 

[nickjb]

It depends where you are going. If it is Sharm then it is all dayboat diving so you wont really have much flexibility about dive time. You will be on the boat all day anyway.

Somewhere like Dahab, with all shore diving, is great if you can be fliexible because then you have the rest of the day to yourself or can have a nice lie in. Most centres in Dahab will let you choose the times if you ask nicely.

Pre-booked packages usually work out substancially cheaper than buying individual dives. If you allow for the fact that you might lose a few dives it is still much cheaper.

 

[Conor]

It is Dahab.

I think if we were going for a week then it might make sense to do individual dives, but for two weeks it could work out as twice the price, which is a BIG difference.

It brings the price for the two weeks from £750 to £1000 and so is £500 difference for the two of us, which may be the difference betweening going or not. But I do really like the attitude of the centre.

BTW is it true that you can no longer dive unguided in the Sinai?

 

[nickjb]

People do dive unguided but it is very rare. I'm not sure what the rules are although some Egyptian dive centres aren't particually strict.

I'd go for a package. I'd happily dive every day and every night in Dahab. If you get a good dive centre they should be pretty flexible about the times (late start if you want a lie in, early finish, long lunch, whatever). The diving is very easy to get to so you are left with plenty of day to enjoy.

Which centre was it.

I've been impressed with the attitude of quite a few centres in Dahab. They are usually quite environmentally conscious too. I guess it is the old hippy vibe.

 

[Louie]

Hello

I went to Dahab last month with a completely pre-booked package (flight, transfer, hotel and a ten-dive deal). I thought it was excellent value for money and the dives were very flexible.

As for dive guide supervision, we were told by our outfit that unguided diving was completely out of the question and the guides didn't let us out of their sight. Someone said the laws had been tightened up because of the high number of mishaps at the Blue Hole and the authorities were becoming nervous about possible repercussions.

Have a nice holiday