Red Sea or Palau for a solo dive trip?

[also_anon_dc]

I'm also curious why you're limiting your Red Sea options to just Aggressor. There have been some not so great reviews of the Red Sea Aggressor on Scubaboard recently and there are far cheaper boats in the Red Sea. You can do a comparable trip on a Blue O Two boat for less than $1000. Airfare should be less than half of what you'd pay to get to Palau.

 

[Centrals]

Fare to Palau is ridiculous at the moment. WAIT.
Komodo in Indonesia before the postponed(until Dec) Tourist Fee becomes reality.

 

[rongoodman]

Although the Cosos Island is a great destination, I weigh it against the long open ocean transit.

That's one of my favorite things about the trip.

 

[jsyteng]

Don't forget Cocos Island! Somebody mentioned space being available on one of the Agressor boats in Sept.

yeah, I was zeroing in on that but the last male share space just got scooped up.

 

[jsyteng]

Fare to Palau is ridiculous at the moment. WAIT.
Komodo in Indonesia before the postponed(until Dec) Tourist Fee becomes reality.

I unfortunately can't wait if I want to squeeze this in before my new job starts.

 

[jsyteng]

Never been to either; have mulled over the possibility of both. Got some questions that might help the brain storming process...

1.) Do you care anything about topside attractions? Such as visiting pyramids, etc...?

2.) If you want to do that, and find Egypt more appealing (e.g.: historical notoriety, those pyramids), is that something you could do on this trip, or that would be better saved till later?

In other words, if you would like to do topside activities in Egypt in addition to the liveaboard, but you only have time to do travel and a liveaboard at this time, and Palau's topside doesn't appeal to you the same way, then doing Palau now and saving the Red Sea for later (when it's easier to take on an extra few days to your trip) might make sense.

Conversely, if you've more time to use now, and that's unlikely in the future, then taking advantage and hitting the Red Sea now might make more sense.

I'm not factoring in optimal seasons for either, just asking if the topside aspect means anything to you.

Topside doesn't mean much as I'm strictly solo and want to maximize dive time. I'm reading that the 3 1/2 hour land transfer from Hurghada to the boat is tough ride. I'm willing to spend more time in the air vs. doing long drives to the boat departure point.

 

[jsyteng]

Just curious, why are you limiting your choices to Red Sea or Palau. There are several destinations with excellent diving AND reasonable air fares. Socorros, Maldives, Galapagos, Indonesia, Thailand.

 

[jsyteng]

Red Sea and Palau still have spots open on the Aggressor for mid-September. I did take a look at Galapagos but don't think I'm mentally ready for it. Did not really consider Maldives, Indonesia, or Thailand.

 

[also_anon_dc]

You might want to consider Maldives. Most (all?) liveaboards leave a short distance from the airport and you won’t have an annoying land transfer. I just booked Emperor Explorer for late August.

 

[rongoodman]

What does your flight look like to the Maldives?