North or South, newish diver advice

[bvbellomo]

Does anyone know how many dives per day I can expect if I am in Hurghada or Marsa Alam a few days before my liveaboard leaves?

I am considering a Brother's dive if I go alone, which requires 50 dives. I am also considering a 30 dive required trip taking someone who isn't currently certified.

Most dive centers in both places advertise 2 dives per day. Are these 2 tank dives that count as 4 dives per day? Or is this only 2 dives per day? The price is reasonable, even for only 2 dives, but it seems a waste of a day to not get more time under water.

 

[Mod63]

Usually 2 dives means you are underwater 2 times. The concept of 2 tanks dives is rather unknown this side of the pond.
If the place you are stying has a nice house reef, getting more dives in is easy.
And while Brothers require 50 dives minimum my personal opinion is that it is doable, but you need to be comfortable with diving walls that drop to nothing and doing negative entries from a zodiac (unless your boast is nicely moored on the plateau and you can drop from the back of the big boat).

 

[bvbellomo]

Thanks - 2 dives per day seems like a waste of a day. Am I missing something? Or are people really spending 6 hours on a boat for 2 dives?

How many dives per day can I expect on a house reef?

About 1/4 of my dives involved walls that drop to nothing. Absolutely amazing feeling, like you are about to fall off a cliff, but of course, you float just as easily 2 feet off a reef as 2000 feet off the bottom.

Negative entry is a little harder for me, but I have done it 4 times, and next time I will try with an extra 2lbs. Even a little air in my lungs or BCD and I surface after jumping in if I am properly weighted.

I have never been on a zodiac, or done a back roll entry outside my certification. This doesn't seem to difficult.

 

[Mod63]

yes, if it takes you 1 hour to get to the dive side, 2 dives fo 1 hour each and a 2 hour lunch break (makes for good NDL on the second dive)
the last outfit I was diving (landbased) with in Egypt had different types of boat trips, and depending on which you choos eyou could get in 3 or even 4 dives a day - it all depends on how far the dive spots are away.
Typical house reef is 3 to 4 dives a day if you push it

 

[HamataBound]

Most boats offer an additional/optional 3rd dive after lunch which is why you are on the boat for 6+ hours. Most centers in Sharm will not bring you back between the 2nd and 3rd dive (Sinai Divers and I believe Camel offer the option to go back to port between the 2nd and 3rd dive). Some centers in Hurghada come back after the 2nd dive and some stay out for all three so make sure you ask before you book. For daily boat diving you will be hard pressed to find better dives than in Sharm but keep in mind that the better centers will only do what's called local diving with you (the sites that close to shore) before they will take you to Tiran and Ras Mohammed. You can do three days of diving in Sharm and not go to the same site twice. As far as diving in the South, my suggestion would be to a liveaboard becasue most of the best Southern sites are too far away to do via a daily boat. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have further questions as we also run a dive shop in Houston that specializes in Red Sea travel and we also lives there for several years. Good luck!

 

[bvbellomo]

This is getting long, so I forgive people for not reading the whole thing.

I am set on a liveaboard, but probably one that requires more dives than I have (or if I go with a friend, more dives than she has). Coordinating schedules between flight and liveaboards means I will spend a few days in Hurghada or Marsa Alam before the liveaboard leaves. If I need 15 dives, I'd much rather do them in the beautiful, warm and cheap Red Sea (even in the South where the reefs reachable by day boat aren't as good) than Lake Erie. But I can't count on being able to get 15 dives in 3 days, so I have to do some here, and need to figure out how many.

 

[scubajasonr]

If you want to maximise the number of dives you do then finding a dive shop with un-guided house reef diving is the way to go. For the last two summers I have dived with Coraya Divers (In Coraya Bay, near Marsa Alam Airport). If I remember correctly you can dive unguided on the house reef from 8am until 5pm. There are also lots of options for local dives/day dives/jeep dives/night dives/early morning dives every day. The jetty is a short walk from the dive shop, so if you really wanted 4 dives a day it would be achievable. Bear in mind 4 shore based dives take a lot longer than 4 dives from a liveaboard as you have more faffing to do between dives, such as putting kit together and traveling to dive sites. Most of the dive shops have a rule that you and your buddy have to have a minimum of 25 dives if you want to dive unguided.

Another hotel to look at is LTI Akassia, just south of El Qoseir. The dive shop has changed hands since I was last there, but I did see an advert from the new dive shop last year offering a competitive price for unlimited diving on the house reef, I am not sure if they offer this? I haven't dived with the shop since it has had new owners, but several of the guides and instructors remain and they were a good group. The dive centre is called wonderful-dive. Really nice house reef.

 

[Wisnu]

Dive resort such RSDS Marsha Shagra offer lot of flexibility. Not difficult to get 4 dives per day. Book the unlimited (unguided or guided) diving package, very good value – unlimited dive at their house reef, shore dive or zodiac dive. No solo diving.
Normally for first 2 dive will be orientation dives accompanied by dive guide.
Their house reef is not bad at all, but if you are boring then you can join (at extra cost) shores dive outside house reef, 5 – 20 minutes’ drive by truck/bus or Elphinstone (20 minutes zodiac). If you and your partner is comfortable at Elphinstone then you’ll enjoy BDE

 

[bvbellomo]

Thanks - looks like some good options for 4+ dive days if I end up in Marsa Alam. Any suggestions around Hurghada?

 

[scubajasonr]

Any suggestions around Hurghada?

The hotels in Hurghada don't have house reefs in the same way the Marsa Alam hotels do. The hotels tend to have sandy beaches, and no real reef, with diving being from day boats. The nearest I can think of are Orca Divers in Soma Bay, a little bit south of Hurghada. Never dived with them, but always heard good things.