How good is Rocky in terms of large pelagics compared to for instance Brothers?

[ClairevL]

I personally wouldn't mind getting up at 5 to have some more time. And then, when diving with nitrox, 4 would be ok I think. On my last trip we did our dives at 7, 10:30 and 1:30, so we could have squeezed in another (potentially more shallow) dive. 4 days out of 6 is still ok...we spent 3 days at the shallow reefs.

It's just a personal opinion, but I really prefer sites like Brothers and Daedalus. I prefer trips where 2 days are spent at Daedalus and 2 at Brothers, and 1 at Elphinstone. Next time I'll definitely look more critically at the itineraries before booking.

 

[Christian]

Thanks so much for your replies! Somehow I didn' get a notification, so I only just saw them.

I actually just got back from a great trip to Brothers and Daedalus yesterday. Strangely, I saw many more Hammerheads than last time I went (which was August 2015). Big groups - over 30, which is very unlikely to happen there....we've been lucky Also many Oceanic White tips. The weather was not so stable, waves were sometimes very large and current was strong. Some boats had serious problems on the trip from Daedalus to Elphinstone I heard.

Christian, I think you're right...we should go to Sudan. That's very high on the list anyway. The only drawback is the price; it's quite a bit ore expensive then Egypt. But I guess it's worth it. Would you recommend any specific itinerary in Sudan? We were thinking about the 2 weeks Deep South.

Hi Claire. Sorry for the late reply -- have been busy diving
I can reccomend the M/S Royal Evolution for Sudan. They do 2 week trips embarking/disembarking from Port Ghalib -- Red Sea Liveaboards | Diving Safari Red Sea | Red Sea Scuba Diving | Royal Evolution - The Red Sea just got a whole lot better!
It's all good in Sudan inmo. I haven't done the south Sawakin, only the north (which is the northern part of the South). The far south is supposed to be very good, but if you like sharks, you definetely don't want to miss Angarosh or Sha'ab Rumi. Perhaps there's an itinerary that takes it all in? But go in the spring, not in fall.
Great to hear that you saw hammerhead in winter at Deadalus! As you say -- not very common. They tend to come north to Egypt in the summer months, probably migrating from the south as the water gets to warm down in Eritrea and Sudan (speculation based on anecdotal evidence and experience). Those guys are not stationary objects. Would love to see a tagging program on hammerheads in the Red Sea (paging Bojanowski)...