Red Sea Liveaboard - Which Itinerary for Us?

[tuffshed]

My dive buddy and I are planning our first trip to the Red Sea. We live in the western US, so most/all of our diving has been in the Carribean. Since it will be a bit more expensive to go than European divers, we wanted to make sure we got on the best itinerary for our interests. It's really tough to decipher the marketing info on the various liveaboard sites, so I'm asking here for what you think we might like.

First off, we think we want to be on a liveaboard, to be able to access more remote (and hopefully pristine) sites, to be flexible for the weather, and to get in lots of dives. We really don't plan on doing any land touring, we are here for the diving.

Next, we really aren't into wrecks. A lot of the marketing hype touts all the wrecks, sorry but not too interested in this.

What we really want to see is stuff we can't see in the Carribean, soft corals, giant anemones, soft corals.... and did I mention soft corals. Walls are great. Drift diving is good too, but not so many that you can't relax and just hover and observe (calm is better/easier for photos too). Pelagics are cool, but nothing beats the funky smaller critters, or schooling fish. Deep dives are not for us, we are photographers. We really want to see the colors and the abundant and crowded (fish wise) sites that the Red Sea is known for.

So it seems from scanning the itineraries of various companies that the further south sites may be our cup of tea, St. Johns, Fury Shoals, Brothers or even further south to Sudan, but it's so confusing, they all sound good.

Time of year for us might be June-Sept. We live in the desert, 100F is just starting to get warm for us, and being Carribean divers we are spoiled warm water wimps, although if we will miss good vis or calm waters during this time we are willing to change. We both have 300+ dives and are pretty competent divers.

What typical liveaboard itinerary would you suggest based on our interests?

Thanks
- Mike and Joe

 

[ArthurGerla]

South is the way to go. Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone, St. Johns. Look for itineraries like 'Simply the best'.

I spent two weeks in Sudanese waters on Don Questo in june. That was even better. Some currents, but mostly wall dives along unspoilt reefs. We didn't see another boat until we returned to Port Sudan, aside from a clandestine Yemeni fisherman steaming at top speed to get away from us. Hammerheads on deep dives (40-60 meters), tiger shark up close on two or three occasions, dozens of inquisitive silkies, snorkeling with them under the boat at anchor. Amazing stuff. Of course, all the small colourful life is there in abundance.

Sudan is much more expensive than Egypt however, and more difficult to get to.

For something completely different, consider a stay on shore at a place like Marsa Shagra. Unlimited unguided shore diving, a rarity in the Red Sea but ideally suited to photographers. Day trips by boat, zodiac or truck to reefs along the coast.

 

[Misa]

if you guys are into wreck diving take a look here...it takes 2 days to do it.

Thistlegorm (in top 5 wrecks of the world), Rosalie Moller(awsome wreck), Carnatic, Ulysse, Giannis K, worth the trouble...and for the rest...south safari. big brother, elphinstone, daedalus, hamata, etc.

 

[samaka]

Hey Mike and Joe.

Wow are you in for a treat. First I have to say that I'm happy to hear that there are divers out there who are into the small critters like me. Normally most divers miss those because they swim too fast or too far away from the reef. If you go on a liveaboard to the deep south you can be sure that most of the other guests are there to see sharks and very few want to go for long shallow dives hunting nudi branches and frog fish. I know this because I've been guiding divers on Red Sea Liveaboards for years.

You mention areas like St. John's and Fury Shoal and you are spot on there. These are really nice for the stuff you are after. I've been diving a lot in Fury Shoal/Wadi Gemal the last year and I have to say that it's absolutely fantastic and has not yet gotten the reputation it deservs. This has of course the plus side that there are less boats and less divers around. Mostly the liveaboards sneak in to the area on the way in or out but very few spend longer time there. Brothers, Daedalus, Rocky, Zabargad, Elphinstone... All good dives... fantastic dives... But the main attractions at all of them is the big stuff...

If you are really cleaver you go for dayly diving in the Fury Shoal/Wadi Gemal. You can then make one early morning dive on the house reef, then go on a full day excursion with two/three dives, and when you get back you make a night dive on the house reef. This is more dives than you would be able to squeeze in on a liveaboard since night dives are not allowed on the off shore dive sites. I've got a friend, Leo, who works down there and every other day he sends me text messages about frog fish and other critters he's been photographing.

I think wrecks are cool and actually there are a few where you have very good chances to see frog fish and nudi branches like flabelina and even tiny seahorses but if you don't like wrecks you don't like wrecks. In the Fury Shoal area are a couple of reefs with wrecks and when you go to these places you can just choose to dive the reef instead. Soft corals and gorgonians you will get enough of, steep walls, coral gardens, caves and tunnles, pinnacles and all the classic Red-Sea-Beauty-Postcard-Camera-Angles you can ever dream of.

Some more info you find on my website WELCOME TO AZIAB and feel free to email me with questions.

.......a.......

 

[tuffshed]

Samaka,

Thanks, this is exactly what I want to know, your site is fantastic. Are there other sites you could recomend (the competition)?

Yes I'm into the small things. The most amazing thing I've ever seen, land or sea, was a juvenile trunkfish, about the size of a pea. The dive master and I spent probably 20+ minutes watching what appeared to be an alien spacecraft while most of the others were on deck with empty tanks after swimming about the reef like Mark Spitz. It sounds like the itinerary that people call Simply the Best is the way to go. I don't mind doing wrecks, or looking for pelagics, but we've got that stuff in the Caribbean. I'd prefer to spend my time on the reef amongst the coral and gorgonians.

So what's the scoop about night diving? I think night diving is one of the big reasons for being on a liveaboard. Just drop off the side whenever you feel like it. Some of my best night dives were from liveaboards. Is it banned everywhere offshore? What is the reason?

Thanks again.

 

[TSandM]

I don't think you'll have any problem finding sites with abundant soft corals, sponges and anemones.

We just got back from doing the northern itinerary, which was a lovely mixture of wrecks and walls, but even the wrecks were fascinating from a sea life standpoint. They are covered with soft corals and sponges, and full of fish. The one thing we didn't see much of was nudibranchs, and almost all the ones we found were of the same species.

Whether you do the northern or southern itinerary, I would HIGHLY recommend the boat we were on, which is the MV Tala (Red Sea Explorers - Redefine the way you dive!!). It is not a luxury liner, although the accomodations were comfortable and the food was abundant and good. But it is a diving MACHINE. A wonderful and well-trained crew works rapidly and accurately to fill tanks, load divers, and deliver them to the dive sites. At any particular stop, we'd have student divers off the back of the boat, recreational divers going with a guide on one Zodiac, recreational divers who wanted to dive without a guide going somewhere else, and sometimes even a tech team or two gearing up for a deeper dive -- all with no fuss, no muss, and no bother.

Faisal Khalaf, who owns the boat, is a delightfully funny and warm man, who has mastered the art of never getting irritated, even when he's being pulled in three directions at once. (This is a skill that I, as an emergency room physician, can really appreciate; it isn't easy!) His dive guides are highly trained and cheerful, delightful people. We didn't feel like paying passengers -- we felt like houseguests.

I can't say enough good things about the boat, the crew, and the diving in the Red Sea. Wish I were headed back!

 

[Desert_Diver]

Lynn-

I am thinking about going to the Red Sea with Mike and Joe. We all work at the same company and all underwater photographers.

On your trip, what were your favorite dives?
Were the wrecks shallow or deep?
Did you have any difficulties with transportation? Either air or ground.
In your opinion, what season has the best diving weather?
Did you dive with a group of widely diversified nationalities or were they primarily English speaking? (We are probably limited to conversataions in Spanish, German and English).

Or, I guess you could give me the short answer and direct us to your trip report.

Thanks,

Art

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

What we really want to see is stuff we can't see in the Carribean, soft corals, giant anemones, soft corals.... and did I mention soft corals. Walls are great. Drift diving is good too, but not so many that you can't relax and just hover and observe (calm is better/easier for photos too). Pelagics are cool, but nothing beats the funky smaller critters, or schooling fish. Deep dives are not for us, we are photographers. We really want to see the colors and the abundant and crowded (fish wise) sites that the Red Sea is known for.

Then discard Brothers - Daedalus - Elphinstone itinerary.

Fury Shoal and Sataya are good areas for that. This is normally called the south itinerary. Also Ras Mohamed is known for all that (soft corals, anemones, small critters, and schooling fish, especially in the summer). For more info about Ras Mohamed, visit SCUBA diving trips in Ras Mohamed, Sharm El Sheikh, South Sinai, Red Sea, Egypt

 

[TSandM]

Art, I could direct you to my trip report if I weren't a lazy butt and had gotten the photos in it and gotten it posted!

My favorite dives were a reef dive called, I believe, Um Gabar, which began at the crumbled remains of a barge and drifted along a shoulder of reef. This was a beautiful dive of tremendous color. It was shallow (max maybe 50 or 60 at the beginning?)
The Thistlegorm was amazing. That was a little deeper (80 - 90?) And the Numidia wreck on Big Brother was a fantastic dive -- I did that one twice, once with a max depth of 100 and once as a tech dive.

Our only problem with transportation was the clerk at the KLM counter in Cairo deciding we couldn't take our carry-on bags on the airplane (we talked him out of that) and the TSA equivalents in Amsterdam deciding we couldn't take our HID light heads on the plane (despite having done so for four years, and we couldn't talk them out of that one). Otherwise, we made our connections and had no problem with flights, and the Tala crew met us at the airport with a bus (a little confusion there about where we were, but it got sorted).

I don't know what season has the best weather. Andrew tried to talk us into coming in the summer, because the water is warmer, but I think it would have been unpleasantly hot. Our weather was PERFECT, if occasionally somewhat windy -- air temps in the low to mid 80s, water temperature close to 80 except at significant depth.

We had Americans, Canadian, Norwegians and South Africans on the boat. My understanding is that there are often quite a few Russians.

It was an absolutely awesome trip -- may quite possibly be the best exotic dive trip I've ever done. It'll be a hard act to follow!

 

[RJP]

We really don't plan on doing any land touring, we are here for the diving.

You're gonna go all that way and NOT do any land touring?



The land portion of our three-week trip blew the diving portion away.