Really? I enjoyed the land touring, but it was about two days too long, and if I were to go back, I'd go straight to the boat and spend my time there.
Red Sea Liveaboard - Which Itinerary for Us?
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Mike and Joe:
Wow. I'm going to have to disagree with Lynn...
As much as I loved our time on board the M. V. Tala (Red Sea Explorers), I would point you elsewhere, given that you're not really into wrecks:
To quote Faisal: "We don't do fish!"
I agree it is the best boat for very experienced divers. I had an incredible time and will return, and wish every liveaboard was as accommodating to our diving style as the Tala. Having He on tap is a plus, too. If you like steel or deep, there is really no other boat.
Also, I, too, would highly recommend the rich history of a land excursion. The Nile valley's antiquities are breathtaking, and when we return, we will repeat the riverboat tour of the temples as well.
All the best, James
Wow. I'm going to have to disagree with Lynn...
As much as I loved our time on board the M. V. Tala (Red Sea Explorers), I would point you elsewhere, given that you're not really into wrecks:
To quote Faisal: "We don't do fish!"
I agree it is the best boat for very experienced divers. I had an incredible time and will return, and wish every liveaboard was as accommodating to our diving style as the Tala. Having He on tap is a plus, too. If you like steel or deep, there is really no other boat.
Also, I, too, would highly recommend the rich history of a land excursion. The Nile valley's antiquities are breathtaking, and when we return, we will repeat the riverboat tour of the temples as well.
All the best, James
There are plenty of nudi branches around in the Red Sea and there are places where you have to be blind not to find Flabellina, Chromodoris annulata, Chromodoris geminus, Dermatobranchus ornatus, Risbecia pulchella, Pteraeolidia ianthina, Trinchesia sibogae and Chelidonura flavolobata. Some people find only Chromodoris quadricolor maybe because it's all over the place.
Tala is a good boat and Faisal is a nice bloke but how anyone can say it's the best boat for very experienced divers or the only one that accommodates the technical side is beyond me. Not because it's not correct that it's a good boat for this sort of diving but because it shows that not much research has been done. There are plenty of boats around in the Red Sea with the same level of tek facilities and service. (Yes Russian - Yes Wrecks)
Transportation within Egypt won't cause any problems. Domestic flights are inexpensive and land travel is easily arranged. I live in Hurghada and drive to Hamata, Dahab, Marsa Alam and other places every month and I never get tired of travelling through the gorgeous landscape along the Red Sea Coast. I prefer ground travel than flying actually.
Regarding the seasons and the weather in Egypt you have a diagram over water- and air- temp, wind, suit choice on my website WELCOME TO AZIAB and click on Yearly Cycle. But I don't think you should think too much about the weather but more of what you can see during different time of year. For sure the winter is too cold for some and the summer is too warm for some and the wind is blowing all year around. You can be lucky and unlucky with the weather any time of the year. May and October are pleasant times for most foreigners, not too hot and not too cold.
Don't worry about the languages. As long as you don't choose a French, Russian, or Japanese Dive Operator who traditionally don't speak English you will find that all guide and guests can communicate. I actually prefer if you get a nice mix rather than one nationality on the boat. It "up" the atmosphere.
The Barge rests in 11 to 13 metres of water at Bluff Point on the east corner of the Island of Gubal. This is an absolutely stunning Night Dive (Spanish Dancers, Hunting Moray Eels, Lion Fish, Scorpion Fish, Stone Fish, Frog Fish and I have even had Whale Shark and Manta on dives in this site. You can also make a very good drift dive around the bluff with loads of soft coral and gorgonian. Sometimes you see big pelagic fish and dolphins here. On the North side of the peninsula you find the wreck of Ulysses which is one of the places you are guaranteed to see Flabellina and the place to see the tiny seahorse sitting in a gorgonian fan!
Finally; if you don't want to go to Cairo and look at piles of stones don't do it. Don't let other people tell you that you have to and that you haven't been to Egypt if you didn't see a pyramid. I've lived here for more than 10 years and I've been to the pyramids once... I would rather have been diving. Your a grown up and you can make those decisions by your self.
cool runnings
........a........
Tala is a good boat and Faisal is a nice bloke but how anyone can say it's the best boat for very experienced divers or the only one that accommodates the technical side is beyond me. Not because it's not correct that it's a good boat for this sort of diving but because it shows that not much research has been done. There are plenty of boats around in the Red Sea with the same level of tek facilities and service. (Yes Russian - Yes Wrecks)
Transportation within Egypt won't cause any problems. Domestic flights are inexpensive and land travel is easily arranged. I live in Hurghada and drive to Hamata, Dahab, Marsa Alam and other places every month and I never get tired of travelling through the gorgeous landscape along the Red Sea Coast. I prefer ground travel than flying actually.
Regarding the seasons and the weather in Egypt you have a diagram over water- and air- temp, wind, suit choice on my website WELCOME TO AZIAB and click on Yearly Cycle. But I don't think you should think too much about the weather but more of what you can see during different time of year. For sure the winter is too cold for some and the summer is too warm for some and the wind is blowing all year around. You can be lucky and unlucky with the weather any time of the year. May and October are pleasant times for most foreigners, not too hot and not too cold.
Don't worry about the languages. As long as you don't choose a French, Russian, or Japanese Dive Operator who traditionally don't speak English you will find that all guide and guests can communicate. I actually prefer if you get a nice mix rather than one nationality on the boat. It "up" the atmosphere.
The Barge rests in 11 to 13 metres of water at Bluff Point on the east corner of the Island of Gubal. This is an absolutely stunning Night Dive (Spanish Dancers, Hunting Moray Eels, Lion Fish, Scorpion Fish, Stone Fish, Frog Fish and I have even had Whale Shark and Manta on dives in this site. You can also make a very good drift dive around the bluff with loads of soft coral and gorgonian. Sometimes you see big pelagic fish and dolphins here. On the North side of the peninsula you find the wreck of Ulysses which is one of the places you are guaranteed to see Flabellina and the place to see the tiny seahorse sitting in a gorgonian fan!
Finally; if you don't want to go to Cairo and look at piles of stones don't do it. Don't let other people tell you that you have to and that you haven't been to Egypt if you didn't see a pyramid. I've lived here for more than 10 years and I've been to the pyramids once... I would rather have been diving. Your a grown up and you can make those decisions by your self.
cool runnings
........a........
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When Joe and I did Thailand, we took a few days off at the end to look around Bangkok and surrounding area. In my opinion, it was quite exotic. I suppose that it might have to do with the fact that Thailand escaped the colonial occupation that a lot of Asian countries experienced. Thus, the culture and history didn't reflect a lot of Western influence. We had a good time.
So far, I judge my dive trips against a week on the Palau Aggressor. That was some of the best and most exciting diving I've done. I'm not bad mouthing the other diving. But so far, Palau sets the scale.
We probably won't do any tec diving since I'm the only one in the group with any tec training at all. I still enjoy the reef diving and photography too.
Art
PS Thanks to everyone who has responded to this thread. I prefer diversity in expressed opinion. It helps me to make up my mind.
Thank you for the correction -- I didn't have my logs in front of me when I was writing.
All through the Red Sea, we saw morays so big I could hardly believe them. On the last dive of the trip, it seemed as though every single clump of coral had an enormous moray wound into it -- I stopped counting them!
Lionfish were everywhere, and I even got to watch one catch a small fish on one of the night dives.
It was outrageous diving. The only thing we didn't see a lot of was big schools of fish, except for the ubiquitous anthias.
All through the Red Sea, we saw morays so big I could hardly believe them. On the last dive of the trip, it seemed as though every single clump of coral had an enormous moray wound into it -- I stopped counting them!
Lionfish were everywhere, and I even got to watch one catch a small fish on one of the night dives.
It was outrageous diving. The only thing we didn't see a lot of was big schools of fish, except for the ubiquitous anthias.
There is no Barge or any wreck on the mentioned depth on Um Gammar, There are some remainings of a police patroll boat on Shabruhr Um Gammar and a Barge on Gubal. The latter one being famous for big moray eels, especially because you can see them very active and hunting during night dives.
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This is an easy (but costy) way to dive the Sudanese Red Sea which, inmo, offers better diving than the Egyptian Red Sea (generally a lot fishier and more diverse):
Red Sea Liveaboards | Diving Safari Red Sea | Red Sea Scuba Diving | Royal Evolution - Royal Evolution - The Red Sea just got a whole lot better!
You start and end the 14-day liveabaord in RAs Ghaleb/Egypt and will do a few days in the Fury Shoal and St Johns-area. It will take you some true world class sites like Sha'ab Rumi, Sanganeb and the Umbrea wreck (trust me, even people who hate wrecks love this one). There are charter flights directly to Marsa Ghaleb (Marsa Alam) from Gatwick/London and from other major European cities.
There are certainly critters in the Red Sea, but the real features of it inmo opinion are the blue water, the reef scenery/colors – a genuine wide angle-place for photographers. If you want to shoot critters, it does not compare favourably to the Indo Pacific region.
Red Sea Liveaboards | Diving Safari Red Sea | Red Sea Scuba Diving | Royal Evolution - Royal Evolution - The Red Sea just got a whole lot better!
You start and end the 14-day liveabaord in RAs Ghaleb/Egypt and will do a few days in the Fury Shoal and St Johns-area. It will take you some true world class sites like Sha'ab Rumi, Sanganeb and the Umbrea wreck (trust me, even people who hate wrecks love this one). There are charter flights directly to Marsa Ghaleb (Marsa Alam) from Gatwick/London and from other major European cities.
There are certainly critters in the Red Sea, but the real features of it inmo opinion are the blue water, the reef scenery/colors – a genuine wide angle-place for photographers. If you want to shoot critters, it does not compare favourably to the Indo Pacific region.
Wow, lots of good info here. Keep it coming.
It still seems to me that South would be best for us. I think it was Art that was asking about the pyramids. I myself was thinking that Luxor might be a better stop than Cairo for this kind of thing. From the bit of research I've done, Cairo seems a bit of a hastle just to visit the one site (Giza and the pyramids). Luxor seems to be much less dangerous and smaller city (easier to get around), plus the sites, statues, etc. seem to be much more diverse. I also hear that summertime, when we are tentatively thinking of going, is horrible due to the heat, but like I said before we live in the desert, 100F is only luke warm to me. With no humidity, heat has no bite, how is the humidity in Luxor/Cairo. What do you think jof Luxor vs Pyramids?
Right now, I'm leaning towards the following itinerary:
1 week liveaboard, St. Johns/Fury Shoals itinerary
3 days shore diving at Marsa Alam area
2 days Luxor
I'm basing some of that on what others want to do, but also on what I hear about the night diving off of liveaboards...or actually on what I'm not sure of... So tell me, is it really ILLEGAL to night dive off liveaboards ???? What is the scoop on night diving? Where those night dives you talk about from shore or a liveaboard?
Thanks mucho,
- Mike
It still seems to me that South would be best for us. I think it was Art that was asking about the pyramids. I myself was thinking that Luxor might be a better stop than Cairo for this kind of thing. From the bit of research I've done, Cairo seems a bit of a hastle just to visit the one site (Giza and the pyramids). Luxor seems to be much less dangerous and smaller city (easier to get around), plus the sites, statues, etc. seem to be much more diverse. I also hear that summertime, when we are tentatively thinking of going, is horrible due to the heat, but like I said before we live in the desert, 100F is only luke warm to me. With no humidity, heat has no bite, how is the humidity in Luxor/Cairo. What do you think jof Luxor vs Pyramids?
Right now, I'm leaning towards the following itinerary:
1 week liveaboard, St. Johns/Fury Shoals itinerary
3 days shore diving at Marsa Alam area
2 days Luxor
I'm basing some of that on what others want to do, but also on what I hear about the night diving off of liveaboards...or actually on what I'm not sure of... So tell me, is it really ILLEGAL to night dive off liveaboards ???? What is the scoop on night diving? Where those night dives you talk about from shore or a liveaboard?
Thanks mucho,
- Mike
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