Mini Cruise with Colona from Hurghada - any reviews?

[MartinNorway78]

Hi

I have dived most of the northern red sea (Sharm, El Gouna, Dahab) many times, but never been to Hurghada (of obvious reasons).Anyway, There were the only available tickets on a hort notice and me and a friend figured we would survive "little russia" by doing a mini cruice, 2 nights, 3 days, so we dont have to spend som much time in town.

Now there is a northern or souther route, for me it dosent matter which one the end up sending us on, what I am interested in is if anyone has any experience with the food and service on the boats they are using. They are either using Colona V or Fransceca.

Its the food, equipment, service good? Do they sell beer onboard so one can a cold one after the days diving or do we have to bring it ourselves? Any stories and ecperiences with these mini-cruises would be appriciated.

Thank you in advance

Martin

 

[Andy077]

Same question here, we're booked on the same sort of trip in August, for the Northern route

 

[MartinNorway78]

Hi

Returned from the mini cruise a couple of weeks ago and it was good. These minicruises are great value for around 270 EUR you get many good boat dives.

We where four divers and a guide on the Colona V, they would fill this boat uo to six persons though, spacewise I would say 4 is very good space (as it should be but normally isnt for this price) and six would be "normally crowded", but doable I guess.

The ship is old, so dont expect any luxury, the cap and crew helpfull. The old weightbelts they use to strap tanks to the "bench" on the diveplatform however is ridiculous, its hard to fasten and loosen your gear and it can fall off in rough sea.

And: they only rented out closed heel fins (snorkeling scubatech kind) so bring your own! We didnt as I had asked them for booties in my booking and they didnt tell us they didnt have proper fins for rental.... thats quite bad.

Also: If you are a semi-experienced diver, and in no need of a scandinavian or other "native" speaking guide I would definately make sure you get an Egyptian guide. They are so much more relaxed and most of them maybe more experienced than the scandinavian guides... Our guide was Basem and Ali and both were great guides, leaving us feeling free and unhazzled.

here's a video from the trip: Red Sea Wrecks - May 09 on Vimeo

The red sea is cold this spring... water was downt to 22-23 some places.. I would expect a couple fo degrees more, but hopefully thats just around the corner.

Br
Martin

 

[Solly]

did you go north or south? I think their north trip is more like what you get diving in Elgouna or am I mistaken?
one more, what are the obvious reasons for not diving hurghada?

 

[MartinNorway78]

If you look at the video it will say North

This was my first trip to Hurghada, I have dived the red sea many times, but always from El Gouna, Sharm and Dahab... I was a bit sceptical because I have heard some bad things about Hurghada, but to be completely honest; I thought it was great! The food and the service (especially at the new Marina (try "Shade"!) was excellent, better than Sharm and Dahab... although Dahab is a unique place and not comparable to the three others..

I cannot see any obvious reasons not to dive Hurghada, you can easily spend a month there... perhaps do both the southern and northern mini cruise, and easy 10 days of day-trips... or embarc some of the liveaboards heading further south departing from Hurghada...

Obviously the Northern trip will include typical El Gouna sites like Shaab el Ergh etc.. but my impression is that the daily trips from Hurghada goes almost as far North as the EL Gouna boats, maybee with the execption of the wrecks at Abu Nuhas

Its worth a trip... especially since many chartercompanies only offer Hurghada this summer, shutting down their routes to Sharm in May already for some reason... ofcourse this means prices for flights (at least from Norway) has soared.... I am not paying 800 Euros for a flight to Hurghada in the summertime when you can get there for 150 Euros in september!!

But, its worth it -> Dive in!

 

[Solly]

most of my dives are in hurghada, either north or south. I know the north route, abu nahas up to thistlegorm passing by el erg, um gammar...etc.
Daily trips mostly head to aburamada (island and gutta) gifton park, elmina wreck, elfanadeer, turtle bay and fanoos area....
south to safaga is my favorite, nice wrecks alkahfein and salem and very nice reefs abukifan and panorama... I love hurghada diving and I love the city more than I like sharm... but never been nor dived in dahab.. this should be my next trip
glad you enjoyed your trip...