Red Sea, as compared to other places?? Liveaboard?

[chienac]

Trying to plan a dive trip for the summer, and trying to figure out where we want to go. I was wondering, since I've heard mixed reviews,about how the Red Sea compares to other places I've been, such as Bonaire or Australia. I've heard that it is very crowded, and that a lot of the coral is dead. How is it, generally? Coral? Fish? Viz? Crowdedness?

Also, is it worthwhile to do a liveaboard, or is it better to do land-based?

Other options are perhaps Malaysia or Cuba...

--angela

 

[Seadeuce]

Red Sea areas are:

Aqaba (Jordan) - easy diving, little current, mostly from shore. Good day trips to Petra/Wadi Rum/Dead Sea etc.

Eilat (Israel) - more crowded, coral damage, little current, not a great choice in day trips.

Dahab (Egypt) - laid back, Bedouin village plus hotels. Diving variety from novice to experienced.

Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) - Currents, coral damage, crowded. Good dives available Thistlegorm wreck, Straits of Tiran, Shark Reef et al. Day trips to St. Catherine's Monastery/Mt. Sinai.

Hurghada (Egypt) - Range of diving again. Better coral than up north, some currents, can be crowded. No day trips as such.

Marsa Alam (egypt) - Safari diving from shore. Very good coral, no crowds. Wall diving.

Liveaboard options vary from three-day up north to weekly. Ten-day trips further south.

If you want excellent coral, less-crowded sites, you will have to go liveaboard on a southern itinerary - maybe to the Brothers, Elphinstone, Daedalus. Otherwise Rocky and St. John's Reef.

Google these and you will find operators/boats - but do your research before choosing. Some are better than others. You won't regret the trip.

IMO outside of certain Pacific areas, the Red Sea can't be beaten for colour or life. Wrecks too!

Malaysia would not be a bad alternative.

Enjoy.

Seadeuce

 

[grazie42]

I´ve vacationed there 3 times and compared to places like florida and the canary islands when it comes to marine-life is at least as good. And its very good value for money (to my mind).

I´d definetly vote for live-aboard rather than landbased. Live-aboards will get you to divespots that can´t be reached from shore and will get you to the popular sites like Thistlegorm in a way that allows for you to dive it uncrowded. Also its hard to beat getting 20+ dives in on a weeklong trip by doing shorebased diving. I also feel that a liveaboard is far better, socially, than shorbased as well. If you´re going alone or with a friend(s), on a live-aboard, there will always be someone who wants to do that particular dive the way you want to do it...At least thats been my experience.

 

[mania]

Dahab (Egypt) - laid back, Bedouin village plus hotels. Diving variety from novice to experienced.

Dahab is a sort of mekka for divers - at least European ones. First of all it's still more like a traditional village that a tourists resort, second of all has it's famous Blue Hole where a lot of depth records have been made.
And the dives are shore ones.

Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) - Currents, coral damage, crowded. Good dives available Thistlegorm wreck, Straits of Tiran, Shark Reef et al. Day trips to St. Catherine's Monastery/Mt. Sinai.

This is not entirely true. Currents - yes, coral damage - no. Coral up north is much less damaged than in the south - Hurghada. A reason is that in Sharm they based National Park earlier than in Hurghada. And sharm as a diving place was discovered much later...
But yes it may be crowded - depending on the time. If it's the season one - you have to expect crowds. Sharm is also an artificial city - was created for tourists.
Liveboards available as well as day trips - 99% of dives are boat dives

Hurghada (Egypt) - Range of diving again. Better coral than up north, some currents, can be crowded. No day trips as such.

As I already wrote - reef hiere is worse than up north. Majority of diver are boat dives. Plus it's closer to Safaga and the wreck there - such as ie Salem Express. It's one day but a long day trip

Marsa Alam (egypt) - Safari diving from shore. Very good coral, no crowds. Wall diving.

Marsa is a bit similar to Dahab - village style, mainly shore dives. Possibility for liveboards that go far south - down to Sudan

I would take Red sea without wondering. Cuba - as it was written recently here - seems to be rather boring.
Mania

 

[gehadoski]

I recommend you to go on liveaboard to the south area of the Red Sea (Brothers, Elphinstone, Rocky and St. John's Reef, Tedalus). it is wonderful and alot of marine life, sharks, Dolphine, mantas, ...etc. also. Also most of the boats that are going to that area are big and well equiped boats. Trust me if you try it once you won't foget it

 

[Christian]

If you go in summer, Egypt is your alternative. The best spots are Brother Islands, Deadalus Reef & Elphinstone Reef, all can easily be reached with a liveaboard from Hurghada. A place like Brother Islands is among the best places in the world to dive. It has clear water, lots of fish, wrecks, sharks ...
The best diving in the Red Sea is probably Sudan, however summer isn't a very good time because it gets too hot in the air and in the water.

good luck

christian

 

[neilstewart]

Go to the Red Sea but you must do it liveaboard style. It does not really matter too much which route you take. Southern route great for big wildlife, Northern route great for wreck diving.

Compared to other places it Knocks spots off pretty much the whole of the carribean, I have done Tobago, Barbados, Burmuda, Grenada, Turks & Caicos (best out of carribean I have visited) Curacao and Bonaire (2nd best).

Can't compare to Australia, never been but I would put it on a par with Similan liveaboards, above land based Bali diving but just below land based diving in the Maldives (but that is highly dependent on which island you choose and when you go).

There are many many places that have a reputation for seriously good diving but many of them are logistically difficult and expensive e.g. Galapogos or Cocos Islands, Irian Jaya etc.. but a Red Sea Liveaboard, for a european based diver, still provides the about the best cost effective logistically easy diving you can do.

Of course putting things in a list is not really sensible, your enjoyment is based on what you see, who you are with and your comfort level whilst on holiday.

Research the boats and the routes on the net, decide what suits you and go for it, I'm sure you will ask yourself why you did not do it before.

Neil

 

[divermichelle]

Hi Angela,

I've just been to Sharm in Jan 05, so I'll offer this opinion-

Do go on a liveaboard if you can.

If you are not traveling with a male, you might want to consider the M/S Ghazala out of Marsa Alam. From another post, it is run by a British couple who have trained their local crew about appropriate behavior toward western women so you won't get the leers, rude/sexual remarks and propositions/sexual advances that occur on many other boats.
Also, Marsa is supposed to be relatively unspoiled and has beautiful fish.

However, divers from the western hemisphere might want to consider Belize or Roatan (Honduras). It's half the airfare of traveling to the Red Sea, it's the second largest reef system in the world, it's relatively unspoiled (and well protected), and English is the official language in Belize (Spanish in Honduras). Belize offers the Blue Hole as well. They also don't have the two-tier (locals and westerners) price system that is a fact of life in Egypt. Roatan has a great operator (Anthony's Key Resort) that offers a lot of interaction with dolphins, and the nearby island of Utila has whale sharks almost constantly.

Hope this helps.

 

[Louie]

My conclusion from Red Sea trips: generally speaking, the further south, the better (fewer divers, less spoilt from overdiving damage, etc).

I did a liveaboard out of Marsa Alam and for a week, experienced some very good diving (St Johns, Fury Shoal etc). Corals were in very good shape - although we did see some signs of anchor damage in a few sites.

My associates who'd done Sudan has said the sites were spectacular but the logistics and conditions (and cost) of doing Sudan is a bit of a drawback.

 

[sea2sea]

We were in N'aama Bay 2 years back, and fully enjoyed it. I had just been to Bonaire a few months prior, and compared to that I would have to say that it was more "majestic," for lack of other words to describe it. Bonaire has beautiful colors, corals, fish, etc.
The beauty I found in the Red Sea was also the colors, but of a different sort- the fish mostly. Also there are interesting wall formations, caverns, and drop-offs. The blue of the water (to my eyes) was an intense, deep blue, different than the Caribbean blue color. We were there in April/May and the viz was great, temps around mid 70's.

We dove with Sinai divers, and they were pretty good-- they had friendly and skilled staff at the time, and during the surface intervals, a homemade, hot meal is made for you (delicious)! I think a large majority of the dive-ops do this, so there are many options for you. We were bound to the land since there were some non-divers with us, but it was fun to walk around the (albeit touristy) area in the evenings - and food was excellent.