Red Sea diving vs. other parts of the world

[Tigerman]

I'll add something with regards to the museum, sphinx and pyramids..
I've been there once and we did all three in one day - It really is not enough to see all there is to see at the museum..

 

[Christian]

Hello fellow divers, I am hoping to get some advice on Red Sea diving plans. We plan to go in late August. Would like to see the pyramids and then finish off diving. it will probably be our one and only trip to Egypt, so we need to plan well. The information about quality of diving there is very confusing. I feel that there is more masked promotion that true descriptions on the net. We dove in South Pacific, Australia, Maldives, Caribbean, Galapagos, Sipadan... but not Red Sea yet. Therefore we will see things in comparison. What I understand the North Red Sea routes are mainly wrecks, Thiselgorm as a must do. The South is promoted as pelagic site. Now, the bad descriptions by experienced divers say that the North is busy as a shopping mall and quite depleted of coral and fish compared to other parts of the world. The South is also described as not too colorful and some people do not even see a single shark.

The main question I am hoping to get an answer, what would be better:?
-liveaboard to the North, where the wrecks are always there, and bite the bullet diving at busy locations, not expect much of coral and marine life
a possible failure - the sites are too busy to enjoy, the wrecks are over hyped, marine life is too depleted
-liveaboard to the South, hoping that there will be white tip, hammerheads, dolphins etc. following us on each dive (can it compare with Wolf/Darwin?)
a possible failure - no pelagics, dull diving, pretty much wasted opportunity to dive Thislegorm etc

A possible recommendation for a luxury liveaboard with less people on a boat and more space?

Many thanks to all who answer!!!
Vladimir, Canada

Late August is toasty. Go on a liveaboard, both for comfort and diving quality. In that particualar time frame and taking into account that you want to see the "pyramids" of the Red Sea--I'd pick a quality boat that takes in Sinai and Brother Islands. You get to visit RasMo in it's prime period and Brothers which has some of the most beautiful soft coral on the planet a couple of wrecks and the chance of big stuff. Perhaps dive the Thistlegorm too (don't know if it's covered in that specific itinerary). You'd get to two of the best spots that the Egyptian Red Sea has to offer, in their prime period which is July/August. If diving is your main business, don't do landbased unless you're comfortable with the heat and/or prone to sea sickness.

good luck

 

[TSandM]

On the Cairo itinerary, my favorite thing was the older pyramids at Saqqara. There is a small tomb off to one side that has amazing scenes of everyday Egyptian life carved into the walls. I could have spent an hour or more looking at them . . . they are an incredible record, because they don't just show the nobility, but also people fishing, farming and carrying out other normal activities. That was probably the high point of the whole stay in Cairo for me.

Personally, I would spend less time in Cairo, and more in Luxor. Luxor and Karnak are amazing, and the trip out to the Valley of the Kings was absolutely worthwhile.