Northern Red Sea water temps - November

[nickjb]

I have about 60 dives in the red sea too and I have only seen one shark there. It was in the Tiran Straits, just swam right by.

South Africa next year... hopefully.

 

[Jonathan]

did you say four other boats Zeina? Wow, that was a quiet day! I've dived it 3 times and the least amount of boats I saw was probably 15 and the most around 20. Hard to say because they kept chugging in and out.

As the wreck is not officially recognised by the Egyptan Gov. (wasn't last time I was there but that was 18 months ago) it does not have a permanent mooring so people tie off to the wreck itself. I did 3 trips over an 18 month period and could notice the considerable degradation of the wreck in that time - dread to think what it is like now....

My 4th trip we actually voted not to go there..... mind you we got to do Salem instead

Jonathan

 

[Zeina]

That must be dreadful!! :upset:
I thought 4 was bad enough
Jonathan, your news are sad...
Someone (like the Egyptian gvt?) should be preserving this amazing wreck...

 

[Cris]

hi guy
i was in sharm last week.water temperature was 27 celsius. ( by the way it has been raining some two weeks ago - first time from 1996). viz was pretty poor in ras Mohammed due to plancton blossom, but we saw a Manta ray at Ras Za'atar (!). we saw also three white tips on different occasions and it's pretty unusual for a crewed place like Sharm. we went to the Thistlegorm last friday, before leaving ( around 12 am) we counted up to 23 boats: well, 23 x 15 (everage number of divers on each boat) x 80 $ ( everage summ charged for two tanks on the wreck) = a lot of money everyday x 365 day a year. and still there are no buoys around!
:upset:

 

[rusky4u]

i also was there last week!

water temperature: 27/28 centigrade
5mm wet suit, never felt cold

according to instructors in the boat, the place is now on a kind of high season!
If you try to be the first on whatever spot, the chance is you will not make it since every boat is trying to do the same!
So the best choice is to sleep a bit more and dive in between liveaboards and daily trips…
The only crowded place was….the Thistlegorm!

Be aware of strong drifts!

Viz was good enough!!!

Turtles in Shark Reef & Yolanda and in Jackson Reef.
:turtle:

 

[Cris]

hi rusky,
were you on board Giglio?
i ask you cause i shared the boat with a group of divers from Spain
cheers

 

[rusky4u]

Hi Cris!

nop, i was on Mahy Tours, an emperor divers boat...
since you mentioned another group of spanish divers (by the way, i`m portuguese but living in madrid!)...i wonder...

...after finishing a dive (cant say where…don`t remember…) we noticed some activity in the surface…
it was a group of spanish divers in nowhere land, in the surface, with no gear on!!!
No tanks, no jackets, most of them had no fins…and…no boat around, just in their suits!!!!
we asked if they were ok and it looked liked they were having a party!!!
considering current and traffic in the area it seems like a very weird way of having fun !!!

i hope you had a good time in the red sea, it was my first but definitely not the last time!!! It was overwhelming!!!!
i was amazed with everything, from the huge diving industry they have there to the underwater splendor !!!!

ciao!!!

 

[vlada]

flying to Cairo in few hours - i will post a report with pics when i get back

Vlada

 

[Cris]

Vlada, hope you gonna have the best time ever


Rusky4u, sorry for my mistake!

Cheers

 

[vlada]

to answer my own question - the water temps were between 23 and 25C (74 to 78F) - very warm

I am getting my pictures scanned and will post the link to a report soon, but overall impression is - it did not live to my expectations.
Most sites closer to Hurgada are overdived and full of dead coral. Some of the great sites are overcrowded, night dive on Thistlegorm was like a day dive due to the light from all the boats moored above

I can think of some places in Caribbean that would beat the Northern Red Sea diving and are much easier to get from North America

I've seen the promise of the Red Sea though - glimpses of what it must have been years ago - and i want to come again, but go deep south this time, where the development and too many divers have not ruined it yet - any advices?

Thanks to everyone for your advices and comments,

Vlada