I managed to squeeze in a quick, little diving holiday to Sharm el Sheikh this May 27 - June 8.
I am very happy that I went...because boy, oh boy the diving was phenomenal! :-D
To get to Sharm el Sheikh I flew with Turkish Airlines which cost me 415€ for a return ticket.
Turkish Airlines is usually my airline of choice when I go abroad for diving since they have a very liberal bagage policy of 30kgs included in the ticket + another 30kgs free scuba gear allowance for a number of destinations (including Egypt).
Also they fly daily from my local airport to Istanbul and from Istanbul Turkish Airlines has daily direct flights to both Sharm el Sheikh and Hurgharda in Egypt.
For hotel I first considered the Helnan Marina since it is very close to the jetty in Naama Bay where most daily boats depart from. Also Helnan Marina was nicely priced at 300€ for 12 nights including breakfast.
But I finally choose to stay at the Camel Dive Club Hotel (also in Naama Bay) which was also 300€ for 12 nights including breakfast.
I used to know quite a few dive instructors in Sharm el Sheikh...but business has been down and many have left.
This holiday I chose to dive with Ocean College as I know one of the dive instructors (Daniel Stokes).
Ocean College has their own daily boat, but because business is still down they practice boat sharing.
Most days we went with the Ocean College daily boat, but there was sometimes also dive instructors and guests from other dive centers onboard (most often from Emperor Divers).
The best thing about choosing to dive with Ocean College was that diving was very exclusive and intimate.
I had 9 days diving with Ocean College with 3 dives per day. Of these 9 days on 4 days it was just me, 1-2 other divers and then a dive instructor from Ocean College...and 5 days it was just me and a dive instructor from Ocean College (either Dan, Jill or Eloise).
For 675€ I had 9 days of diving per daily boat with a total of 27 dives on nitrox 32%.
Of these 9 days we dove the Straits of Tiran 4 days and Ras Mohammed National Park 5 days.
Home | Ocean College
I have around 1500 dives...and I have dived many places in the world...the Red Sea (mostly liveaboards), the Philippines, both west coast and east coast Australia, Indonesia, Mozambique and South Africa.
But I most say that these 9 days of diving Sharm el Sheikh May 28 - June 8 were some of the best diving that I have ever had!
Especially Ras Mohammed National Park was out of this world...huge swirling schools of giant trevallies, blue trevallies, unicorn surgeonfish, jackfish and soft beaked parrotfish...and big schools of batfish and barracudas!
Also of course we had the occasional hawksbill turtle, green turtle, eagle ray, feather tail stingray...all the usual suspects ;-)
Also the corals were in excellent condition...they seem in even better condition than last I visited Sharm el Sheikh 2 years ago.
The visibility was the classic phenomenal 20-30 meters and the water temperature was 25-27 degrees Celsius.
Most days there was only 2-3 other daily boats at the dive sites we dove.
I can strongly recommend visiting Sharm el Sheikh for diving. Especially in Summer time (May - August) the fish life is out of this world....the fish schools in Ras Mohammed National Park were huge!
In fact I think that diving Sharm el Sheikh in Summer time most definitely should be on every diver's bucket list! :-D
Below some photos I shot during my 9 days diving Sharm el Sheikh this May 27 - June 8.
I am very happy that I went...because boy, oh boy the diving was phenomenal! :-D
To get to Sharm el Sheikh I flew with Turkish Airlines which cost me 415€ for a return ticket.
Turkish Airlines is usually my airline of choice when I go abroad for diving since they have a very liberal bagage policy of 30kgs included in the ticket + another 30kgs free scuba gear allowance for a number of destinations (including Egypt).
Also they fly daily from my local airport to Istanbul and from Istanbul Turkish Airlines has daily direct flights to both Sharm el Sheikh and Hurgharda in Egypt.
For hotel I first considered the Helnan Marina since it is very close to the jetty in Naama Bay where most daily boats depart from. Also Helnan Marina was nicely priced at 300€ for 12 nights including breakfast.
But I finally choose to stay at the Camel Dive Club Hotel (also in Naama Bay) which was also 300€ for 12 nights including breakfast.
I used to know quite a few dive instructors in Sharm el Sheikh...but business has been down and many have left.
This holiday I chose to dive with Ocean College as I know one of the dive instructors (Daniel Stokes).
Ocean College has their own daily boat, but because business is still down they practice boat sharing.
Most days we went with the Ocean College daily boat, but there was sometimes also dive instructors and guests from other dive centers onboard (most often from Emperor Divers).
The best thing about choosing to dive with Ocean College was that diving was very exclusive and intimate.
I had 9 days diving with Ocean College with 3 dives per day. Of these 9 days on 4 days it was just me, 1-2 other divers and then a dive instructor from Ocean College...and 5 days it was just me and a dive instructor from Ocean College (either Dan, Jill or Eloise).
For 675€ I had 9 days of diving per daily boat with a total of 27 dives on nitrox 32%.
Of these 9 days we dove the Straits of Tiran 4 days and Ras Mohammed National Park 5 days.
Home | Ocean College
I have around 1500 dives...and I have dived many places in the world...the Red Sea (mostly liveaboards), the Philippines, both west coast and east coast Australia, Indonesia, Mozambique and South Africa.
But I most say that these 9 days of diving Sharm el Sheikh May 28 - June 8 were some of the best diving that I have ever had!
Especially Ras Mohammed National Park was out of this world...huge swirling schools of giant trevallies, blue trevallies, unicorn surgeonfish, jackfish and soft beaked parrotfish...and big schools of batfish and barracudas!
Also of course we had the occasional hawksbill turtle, green turtle, eagle ray, feather tail stingray...all the usual suspects ;-)
Also the corals were in excellent condition...they seem in even better condition than last I visited Sharm el Sheikh 2 years ago.
The visibility was the classic phenomenal 20-30 meters and the water temperature was 25-27 degrees Celsius.
Most days there was only 2-3 other daily boats at the dive sites we dove.
I can strongly recommend visiting Sharm el Sheikh for diving. Especially in Summer time (May - August) the fish life is out of this world....the fish schools in Ras Mohammed National Park were huge!
In fact I think that diving Sharm el Sheikh in Summer time most definitely should be on every diver's bucket list! :-D
Below some photos I shot during my 9 days diving Sharm el Sheikh this May 27 - June 8.
