Know a good dive resort/liveaboard in Egypt?

[oreocookie]

Thanks for clearing that up, Lynne. One of the guys in the group for the trip L!$@ is hoping to put together (I'm in that group as well) has some experience in the Red Sea area (though I'm not sure if he's gone out with the Tala) and claims they're the go-to guys for diving in the area. I'm curious about a couple of things that I noticed on their website and you might be able to shed some light on it: 1) They mention a 100ft depth limit for recreational divers. Not a big deal if I'm diving 32%, but maybe a different story if I'm using air. Do they enforce that limit or do they just recommend that? 2) They make it quite evident that they are GUE-affiliated. I don't have a problem with that, but I'm curious how the crew relate to passengers with a more "mainstream" equipment setup. I don't mind having a discussion about the merits of different equipment or philosophies but I don't want to get preached to about the length of my hoses or the fins that I use.

Thanks for all the other responses, guys. I'll remind Lisa to check back and read them if she hasn't already.

 

[Fionab]

100ft or 30m is the standard recommended depth limit for all Redsea diving, certainly in the northern areas, we were advised that it is 40m in the southern areas. To be honest for the majority of recreational divers 30m will be more than deep enough for the dives on their trip. Also most divers will be subject to 30m limit with their dive certification and therefore their travel/dive insurance.

Definitely make sure your dive/travel insurance matches your dive qualification, there have been instances where people have dived beyond their qualification limit and suffered DCI and their insurance companies have refused to pay for treatment. Some of the dive sites like The Brothers are a long way from port.

Sorry to say that Tala put me off many years ago when their website they didn't take divers using a bunged wing a long a couple of other daft statements.

 

[Mooseman1007]

If youre still looking for a good liveaboard in the for the northern routes, I cant speak highly enough of the VIPONE out of sharm. We are just back from a weeklong trip and it couldnt have gone smoother. We had used the RedSeaDiveCollege (VIPONE owners) before so knew the divemaster which was an added bonus, but for the price I cant see how we could have done better. There are some more luxurious boats out there, but after seeing the guides on some other liveaboards (no names mentioned) starting a dive right on top of where we were being picked up (against the ripping current on Jackson Reef ), I can only pity the guys on that dive as I guess they would be exhausted after 45mins of fighting against the current, either that or they ended up being picked up halfway to Eilat ! Remember, a liveaboard is only as good as the guide !
Mooseman

 

[macrobubble]

100ft or 30m is the standard recommended depth limit for all Redsea diving, certainly in the northern areas,...

That is not correct!

Link

 

[TSandM]

Well, our six recreational divers who were not in bp/w long hose setups didn't get any static, but they also got offered the opportunity to use the boat's rental rigs. At least two of them did, and went home and bought similar gear!

I think AG's original vision of the boat was that it would be a "DIR" dive boat, and certainly they are DIR and tech-friendly. But the economic realities of trying to do that weren't great -- it's hard to fill a boat with DIR people all the time. So a lot of things got relaxed. And AG is no longer involved in the boat, anyway.

I do not know if the 100 foot limit is "enforced", but I do know they let people dive air, which the original website materials said they didn't.

 

[macrobubble]

Some divecenters use a non-existing "30m limit" as a means to force people into Deep Dive Specialties to suck money out of them!
"Oh, you don´t have that - sorry, you can´t dive XXX!"

(XXX =Canyon, Bells->Blue Hole, Thistlegorm, whatever site that´s deeper than 30m...)

 

[Crowley]

For the record, the maximum allowable depth for a single-tank air dive according to CDWS regulations is 40m

Yes, most dive centres limit the depth to 30 metres for recreational divers because it just makes sense to do so. There are always options for more experienced and technical divers and some resorts and liveaboards do cater for this, but not all. My point about the Tala is more to do with the type of divers who are on board - there is the potential to end up a little bit ostracised simply because of a difference in personal approach to diving.

My advice is always to check out the dive centre's website and make contact in advance. Ask lots of questions, and try to get as many independent reviews as possible. Make sure the staff in the centre speak the same language - no point being German and booking a trip with an Italian dive centre!

Cheers

C.

 

[oreocookie]

My point about the Tala is more to do with the type of divers who are on board - there is the potential to end up a little bit ostracised simply because of a difference in personal approach to diving.

That's a good point that we'll have to take into consideration when we have a final count for our group size. It might not be as much of an issue if we're taking up half the boat as it would if there's only 4 of us. Definitely something to keep in mind though.

 

[Crowley]

For sure - L!$@ didn't mention how many people are coming - but ask the dive centre - ask them who else will be on the trip and what they are doing. If it's 50/50 recreational and techies then great, and both parties may learn something from each other, but if it's two people who like floating about with fish on a boat with 20 gung-ho DIR techies, then there *may* - not necessarily - but *may* be some potential for a slightly underwhelming experience - the same true if the numbers are reversed - two techies are not going to enjoy being couped up with a bunch of 18 metre fish observers like me.

There is a lot of choice and a range of different prices so a little more info.

For resorts - the best diving is in Sharm, but as I said earlier, the place is not to everybody's taste and it's probably the most expensive diving resort, however if you book packages in advance, you can get some good discounts. A typical two-dive day including equipment rental at the big centres here will be around 100 Euros, however booking a 10-dive "box" in advance is much cheaper than making 5 x 2-dive days. My own centre, and others, offer this with 5 free house reef dives.

Dahab is much cheaper, very much more chilled out, and my favourite place in Egypt to be, but the diving, whilst good and generally easy, is not as awesome as it is in Sharm. Hurghada is a busy resort town with some excellent diving (also El Gouna to the North) but again, diving not so great as Sharm (sorry to Hurghada based friends!) I don't really know El Q'sir and Marsa Alam and Safaga but reports are generally good, even though there is, apparently, not so much to do in these places.

For liveaboards - again, depends what you want. My own centre offers the Northern Safari (Tiran, Ras Mohamed, Thistlegorm, etc) for 770 Euros per person based on a 2 person shared cabin, but if you expect 32" plasma screens with unlimited choice of DVDs in your cabin then forget it; we do diving, not luxury floating hotels. If you want luxury, you can get it, but of course it comes at a premium.

Our Southern Safari (St. John's, Elphinstone, Daedelus, Brothers) was about 900 Euros, but we are currently not operating in the area, and it's probably better to do the southern route out of Hurghada anyway.

Hope this helps somewhat - any more questions of course please just ask!

Cheers

C.

 

[ElChe]

In my opinion it wasn't ever a question the diving around Hurghada is not that spectacular like at Sharm. Safaga has a very famous wreck (Salem Express), some open water reef spots at Panorama Reef and Abu Kifan and many easy, shallow spots closer to the shore. My favourite is Tobya Arbaa there. We've already been to liveaboard trips to Safaga area which is much less crowded than Hurghada and the diving is slightly better. Some wrecks, some reefs... Nice.
Our last trip in the Marsa Alam area was just awesome, we dived one of the best cavern systems of Red Sea, the Claudia, we had some wreck dives, we dived with huge turtles in Marsa Mubarak and Marsa Shauna, etc. And certainly there is the Elphinstone and its sharks. This my favourite liveaboard route.