Thistlegorm day or overnight trip from Hurghada?

[outofofficebrb]

Hi! I’m headed to the Red Sea on a liveaboard for 2 back to back weeks in late September. (Zabargad, Rocky, Daedalus + Daedalus, Elphinstone, Brothers departing from Marsa Alam/Port Ghalib). I plan to fly to Hurghada via Cairo and before getting picked up and transferred to the liveaboard, I thought I could pull in a few extra days and try to dive the Thistlegorm. I hear it is accessible from Hurghada though a much longer trip and less convenient than a liveaboard.

Do you have any tips/advice/information or recommendations on a preferred operator for a day or overnight trip?

Thanks!

 

[Sunn]

Thistlegorm is reachable from Hurghada or from Sharm el Cheik on daily trip.

Of course, you'll have to wake up very early and will come back late.

Daily boats are less comfortable than liveaboard, but the sea will be the same for everyone !

Something you can't do with daily : night dive and early morning dive. (night diving there is not for newbies...)

 

[Freewillow]

Be aware that Marsa Alam is quite far away from Hurghada: 5/6 hours on a dangerous rod. If you go through CAiro, look for a conection to MArsa Alam, not Hurghada if you can.

Only done the thiselgorn from liveboard.

 

[diverLux]

Port Ghalib to Hurghada is 3 hrs by car on a safe road, gets a little busy near Port Safaga and here the road turns into a highway done it many times, no worry.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Our drive a couple of weeks ago took 4-1/2 hours from Port Ghalib to Hurghada, including a 20-minute rest stop.

 

[rosco-dive]

Don't your flights fly straight to Hurghada from the states? bit of a trip from Ghalib , or are we lucky to fly from London into Hurghada

 

[Lorenzoid]

Don't your flights fly straight to Hurghada from the states? bit of a trip from Ghalib , or are we lucky to fly from London into Hurghada

From the US, we have to connect through either Cairo or a European hub.

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi, everyone!

Thanks for all of your responses. Sorry I have been so quiet and seem so ungrateful - work has been crazy - I've had 52 hours since Sunday morning and it's only Wednesday afternoon here...Trust me when I say dive trips are the only thing keeping me going. The countdown on my computer desktop is coming in handy.

I reached out to a couple of dive shops that do day trips but they don't do pre-bookings, they confirm on the spot. Due to the distance and time commitments, they need minimums in order to run the trip and that is something they will only know as it gets much closer to that day. It sounds like I'll have to hang around in Hurghada for a few days if I want to make it happen, and even then, it's a maybe that we will head out there depending on interest from others. I'm not sure I have so many days to burn since I'm already taking a lot of time off for the trip. What say you all? How's the local diving in Hurghada? Worth it for a few days to see if there's a Thistlegorm trip or is it underwhelming, especially when compared to Brothers/Daedalus/Elphinstone/Zabargad/Rocky? (Thanks for info!)

Be aware that Marsa Alam is quite far away from Hurghada: 5/6 hours on a dangerous rod. If you go through CAiro, look for a conection to MArsa Alam, not Hurghada if you can.

Only done the thiselgorn from liveboard.

I looked into my options for flying to Marsa Alam. Flights are not every day from Cairo and flying to Marsa Alam requires some interesting stops or flight routings from the United States. I will have to look into it more.

Our drive a couple of weeks ago took 4-1/2 hours from Port Ghalib to Hurghada, including a 20-minute rest stop.

Thanks for the heads up!

Don't your flights fly straight to Hurghada from the states? bit of a trip from Ghalib , or are we lucky to fly from London into Hurghada

So far, I either have to fly through Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, or Cairo to get to Hurghada. I will have to look at my flight options again. Thanks!

 

[Christian]

There are a few local Hurghada dives that are nice. My personal favorites are the wrecks around Abu Nuhas, Abu Ramada and Small Giftun. They're not as good as the ones you will visit on your liveaboards, but worth doing if you're not "dived out" after 13-14 days at sea and some 40 dives.
Don't know if you've got it all 'booked and set' with flights etc, but I generally advice anyone from America to fly to London and get a deal with a British tour operator that will charter fly them directly to Hurghada, Sharm or Port Ghalib, take care of visa, local transfers and be able to advise on and arrange suitable "add-ons". Usually to very competitive prices. Check out Blue O Two, Tony Backhurst and ... someone else can fill me in.

If the traveler in questions comes equipped with multi-linguality, Germany, France and Italy have similar operators and packages on offer from Paris, Frankfurt, Rome ...

 

[Freewillow]

Hi outoffice, My mistake, The travel is closer to a good three hours. I have done this road a few times. I do not like it but is is feasible. Have a great stay there.