scuba in Israel
- Thread starter Suzanne
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
ams511
Contributor
Suzanne, my Nitrox instructor is from Israel, If I can get ahold of him I will try to get some info. He is in Thailand now. From what he said the Red Sea is a must do dive. The temperature in the summer is warm, just need a shorty while in the winter he used a 5 mil suit. He used the same suit here and froze his butt off in April. I am not sure where he worked. He also said something about they test skills before the dive because of damage to the reef system. He also said the Egypt side of the Read Sea is actually better because of less dive traffic.
Israel has three seas: The Mediterranean sea, The Red Sea and the Dead Sea.
Diving the dead sea appears to be suicidal, so we'll talk about the other seas
Med Sea: there are several diving clubs all over the coast from the very south to the northern border of Israel. There are several nice wrecks, including an Italian WW-II submarine (at 33meters), two missile boats, several steam boats, tug boats and more. Med sea also offers archeological sites such as Cesaerea's sunken roman port and also some special places like diving the grottos of Rosh Ha Nikra.
Water temp in the summer can reach up to 30 degrees (Celsius). When the water gets warm also the Jellyfish swarm in and diving gets...more interesting if you know what I mean.
Red Sea: Eilat. Not as good as Sinai, but encountering Dolphins is rather a common experience, with luck- turtles, eagle rays. There are quite a lot of fish species to see, and some parts of the reef are quite good.
There are many dive clubs all over the 14Km of coast, from which only a few Km are open for diving (the rest is closed because of the commercial port, military base etc.)
Water temp in the summer is about 25-26 Degs. Nowadays it is about 23-24.
In Egypt there is definitely *More* diving traffic than Eilat. Much more. In a single day you'll see more divers in Tiran (or Ras Muhammed) than in a whole week in Eilat. In spite of this, the reefs are by far better in Egypt. Perhaps water condition, currents and commercial pollution has less impact in Egypt.
Recommendation? If you can go to Sinai- go for it. It is by far better than Eilat.
If you're "stuck" in Israel, you'll be able to do some excellent dives and most probably see some interesting fish and other critters too. You may even have some surprises.
Which company (club)? There are several, all of them are of good quality. You can try "Manta" (a.k.a Red Sea Sports), "Aqua Sport" and "Meduza" dive centers. All of them have good equipment, excellent guides and facilities. You can get also daily boats to some near sites in Sinai, such as Coral Island.
Good luck.
P.S. If you're coming to Israel, put a message on this board. There are several Israeli participants who will be glad to assist.
Diving the dead sea appears to be suicidal, so we'll talk about the other seas
Med Sea: there are several diving clubs all over the coast from the very south to the northern border of Israel. There are several nice wrecks, including an Italian WW-II submarine (at 33meters), two missile boats, several steam boats, tug boats and more. Med sea also offers archeological sites such as Cesaerea's sunken roman port and also some special places like diving the grottos of Rosh Ha Nikra.
Water temp in the summer can reach up to 30 degrees (Celsius). When the water gets warm also the Jellyfish swarm in and diving gets...more interesting if you know what I mean.
Red Sea: Eilat. Not as good as Sinai, but encountering Dolphins is rather a common experience, with luck- turtles, eagle rays. There are quite a lot of fish species to see, and some parts of the reef are quite good.
There are many dive clubs all over the 14Km of coast, from which only a few Km are open for diving (the rest is closed because of the commercial port, military base etc.)
Water temp in the summer is about 25-26 Degs. Nowadays it is about 23-24.
In Egypt there is definitely *More* diving traffic than Eilat. Much more. In a single day you'll see more divers in Tiran (or Ras Muhammed) than in a whole week in Eilat. In spite of this, the reefs are by far better in Egypt. Perhaps water condition, currents and commercial pollution has less impact in Egypt.
Recommendation? If you can go to Sinai- go for it. It is by far better than Eilat.
If you're "stuck" in Israel, you'll be able to do some excellent dives and most probably see some interesting fish and other critters too. You may even have some surprises.
Which company (club)? There are several, all of them are of good quality. You can try "Manta" (a.k.a Red Sea Sports), "Aqua Sport" and "Meduza" dive centers. All of them have good equipment, excellent guides and facilities. You can get also daily boats to some near sites in Sinai, such as Coral Island.
Good luck.
P.S. If you're coming to Israel, put a message on this board. There are several Israeli participants who will be glad to assist.
ChrisM
Contributor
Have been diving from Eilat to Dahab on the Sinai side and down to Saudi Arabian border on Jordanian side in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aqaba. Diving is better the further south you go, in my opinion.
There is a dolphin dive in Eilat, we went there for the day, fairly expensive and bad conditions that day but it was fun nonetheless. That seemed to be the big attraction. It was early on in my dive career, and I'm not so sure about diving with dolphin programs anymore. They say the dolphins are not "captive" and can leave whenever they like.
The town of Eilat itself reminded me of Santa Monica, Calif..... very western (but a change of pace from Aqaba, fairly eastern altho relaxed)
Chris
There is a dolphin dive in Eilat, we went there for the day, fairly expensive and bad conditions that day but it was fun nonetheless. That seemed to be the big attraction. It was early on in my dive career, and I'm not so sure about diving with dolphin programs anymore. They say the dolphins are not "captive" and can leave whenever they like.
The town of Eilat itself reminded me of Santa Monica, Calif..... very western (but a change of pace from Aqaba, fairly eastern altho relaxed)
Chris
Jai Bar,
I have heard about this Italian WW-II submarine in the water off Israel. I have tried to find information on the site but have come up with nothing. Can you tell where it is located...the closest town for a dive shop the dives this site?
Any information would be great.
I have heard about this Italian WW-II submarine in the water off Israel. I have tried to find information on the site but have come up with nothing. Can you tell where it is located...the closest town for a dive shop the dives this site?
Any information would be great.
TEERLKAY:
The submarine's name is 'Scire'. It was a famous Italian submarine from the 10th flotilla during WW-II. The submarine had many sucessful patrols in the Mediterranean sea. It was used to get close to harbours and ports, and secretly deploy commando 'frogmen' who swam for long carrying mines which were attached to allied vessels. Later during the war the Scire was used to launch mini-torpedo-submarines who were manned by 1-2 frogmen.
In its last operation, the Scire had some problems opening the compartment doors where these manned torpedoes were carried, so they went up to decrease pressure and were spotted by the Brittish navy. The submarine was sunk just a few Kms from the port of Haifa, where it rest today.
There is a great book written by the Scire's captain who survived the war (I think there's a film being prepared too): http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/155750072X/103-3545775-6679857?v=glance
The closest town is Haifa, of course. There are 2 dive clubs who routinely take divers to the 'Scire'. Unfotunately, it seems that both clubs don't have a website :06: (I can get you the phone numbers, if you want).
TEERLKAY:
"Val-Tal", Haifa. Phone number +972 4 8511523
There are a several wrecks close to this club.
"Blue", Kiriat Haim. Phone number +972 4 8714048
In the attached photo you can see the Scire's conning tower and periscopes. It's not a good quality photo, but you can see the idea...
DesertEagle
Contributor
My recommendation is Aqua Sport in Eilat. They also have a facility over the border in Taba, Egypt. Some of my favorite dives are in front of the Taba Hilton and a few hundred meters south. The reefs there are in very good shape and don't see many divers. Expect mostly hard corals and swarms of anthia fish. I liked these shore dives more than the boat dives that leave from Taba. It's an easy way to spend a day and then go back to Eilat for a nice dinner. Taba will give you most of what Dahab does without having to bargain with the taxi drivers. I'l get some photos scanned and post them shortly.
Similar threads
