Once in a LIFETIME

[Ed Hatfield]

I don't mind current as long as I don't have to swim against it. Does the boat follow the drift dive and pick you up, or is it a swim against the current back to a moored boat? I enjoy reef, wrecks and pelagics...but would lean towards the reefs if I had to choose - only because we have excellent wreck diving here in 'The Great Lakes' and 'St. Lawrence Seaway' in Canada.

 

[Bronson]

I only did Sharm el Sheikh. The Na'ama Bay area where the hotels are locarted is overdived with lots of British tourists when they are on school hoilday break (easter time) so it gets crowded. The dive operations are like factories. I dove with Subex and would dive with them again. The dive operator seemed to take us away from all the crowds. I enjoyed diving the most in Ras Mohammed National Park. If i had to do it again i would go to Dahab for the reasons noted by other posts.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

I don't mind current as long as I don't have to swim against it. Does the boat follow the drift dive and pick you up, or is it a swim against the current back to a moored boat? I enjoy reef, wrecks and pelagics...but would lean towards the reefs if I had to choose - only because we have excellent wreck diving here in 'The Great Lakes' and 'St. Lawrence Seaway' in Canada.

Normally you don't swim against current, unless current changes directions and you have to cross a reef edge (Little Brother for instance) then you swim against current for a small distance. The zodiac picks you up so you don't have to get back to the moored boat swimming.

For reefs and big opportunity of pelagics try one of the southern itineraries. For reefs with less opportunity of pelagics try Ras Mohamed National Park, Tiran, and Dahab.

 

[Ed Hatfield]

From the posts so far I get the distinct feeling that the big three 'Daedalus, Brothers, Elphinstone' is the trip to take if you are 'up to it'. I am not a nervous diver and have done shark dives before. I will be alone as the rest of my group will head back to Canada after our tour of Egypt (not one other diver in the group). I have never been to the area before and I would appreciate more info on the best season to tour Egypt. I see one comment that suggests the fall. Is this a general concensus? What about operators...price...liveaboard conditions?

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

For high possibility of Oceanics try November.

All boats doing this itinerary must have marine parks (zone I and II) sailing permission. In conclusion, not all the boats are able to do it; only the good ones. Prices are around 1,000 Euro per week more or less. If you want detailed conditions PM me.

 

[InTheDrink]

Shadow, I stand to be corrected, but from my knowledge of other divers this year, including my own trip, there were Oceanics there pretty much the whole time/all year round. This seems to be a shift in behaviour but increasingly their behaviour (again, from what I'm hearing - I'm no expert myself) seems to be changing too - I've heard they're getting more and more 'confident' around humans. I also heard from my LDS (we were comparing pix of the big three from separate trips this summer) and he said there was another non-fatal accident (The Brothers?) a short while ago. Shame the non-fatal accidents aren't reported anywhere (or anywhere that I'm aware of).

Anyone heard any info of this latest incident? Could of course just be a rumour.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

No one can guarantee that you'll see a specific creature in a specific place. However, the odds of seeing Oceanics at the southern Egyptian Red Sea increases in November.

Yes they were around this year in July and August. Also the Tigers were around in Elphinstone at the same time.

The non-fatal incident at the Brothers was reported. It's the 4 Russian divers who made it to the shore (around 100 KM drift).

 

[flw]

we've used Tony Backhurst Scuba Travel | Worldwide Scuba Diving Holidays several times, and always had a great time - we'll be using them again next time we're looking for a week's liveaboard somewhere. I'm not aware of anyone having any problems with them.

 

[InTheDrink]

The non-fatal incident at the Brothers was reported. It's the 4 Russian divers who made it to the shore (around 100 KM drift).

Thanks for that. The impression I got, and possibly wrong, was that someone else was bitten. I'll check for more details with my LDS and start a new thread if applicable.

Thanks,
John

edit: I was aware of the russians little excursion

 

[Ed Hatfield]

I checked out the website and this appears to be a travel agent as opposed to a local operator. Is this the case or am I mistaken?