Thanks for all the suggestions to my previous post about hotels in the Marsa Alam area.
We (husband, daughter (12 y) and SIL) choose Three Corners Equinox, based on reviews about the best house reef, decent food and proximity to Elphinstone (with direct boat from the pier next to the resort).
This trip was our "warm up"/test suits/equipment before our big trip to Galapagos in March/April.
We flew from Hannover directly to Marsa Alam - I asked the hotel to send a driver for us, but we couldn't see him at the airport. So I went outside and found a guy selling transfer trips and booked with him. Once we reached the parking lot, there was our driver with a sign ... made for a bit back and forth, since I already paid the new guy ... it was fixed, but if you're traveling to Marsa Alam and prebook a driver you apparently need to leave the airport building and walk down the ramp to the parking lot, where drivers are waiting. (Wish the hotel had let me know)
All in all I can say we had a great trip. So relaxing with the AI. Loved the hotel - nothing fancy and food is kind of bland, we do plan to return and bring some chili sauce;-) The hotel is a bit run down, but everything is working and the smiling staff made up for it.
We had rooms close to the dive center (1101 and 1102), both with 2 single beds and a nice terrace. Beds were ok, everything was clean. There's a small fridge, but it's not working very well. Bathroom with a bath tub (no plug though) and lots of hot water. Wifi was patchy at best, sometimes you could connect from the room, other times you needed to go to the lobby/restuarant. Cleaning was done every day and like every other hotel you get new towels, if you place the old once on the floor.
There's a small heated pool, that our daughter loved - not many other kids around (and those, who were there were mostly German, French and Italian) The sun loungers were really good and sturdy and the pool staff were happy to help with moving them around, getting towels and drinks.
The view from the panorama bar is stunning and they also have the best drinks at the resort, so would recommend to go there in the afternoon (like everyone else). As it's all inclusive all alcohol is "local", but we actually found the gin and tonic fine and both red and white wine drinkable. (we did bring a bottle of bombay saphire, but didn't feel the need to ask them to use it, so I don't know if you could bring your own to the bar and they could mix for you)
As stated the food was on the bland side ... one evening they had a Mexican theme and there were no jalopenos or salsa in sight, when I asked for a hot sauce I was directed to the different bottles and jars with condiments - and the sweet chili sauce ... there's also jars with spices like cumin, cinnamon and curry - no chili though. Breakfast was the best - get the falafel, when it's fresh and warm, very tasty. Egg station every day and waffles/pancakes alternate days. Pasta station for lunch and dinner I personally did not like, but our daughter was happy with it. Some days we had to wait 5-15 minutes to get seats for dinner at the restaurant, but no problem for us - would just grab an extra drink at the bar. You can book and eat at the "Italian" restaurant next to the Panarama bar, but food there was not that great either - and some of the dishes you have to pay extra for.
The dive center was one of the best organized we've ever dived with. Upon checkin they actually check your certification, and you get a box and locker with a number and padlock. That number correspond with a hanger for your BCD and another for your wetsuit + a special place for booties. A crew member is at the equipment hut, helping wash and hang your equipment and after just 1 day he already knew our numbers.
There's a board, where you can sign up for trips in the coming week - boat, zodiac or guided house reef. You can also do unguided house reef dives any time you wish (within working hours - early morning and night dives cost extra). The only thing we did not like was the timing for the "night" dive - 5.15 - and please be back 6.15 pm. The guides/instructors we dove with were all excellent and all crew went above and beyond - helping with tanks, equipment and even getting finns on. My SIL rented BCD, suit and regulator and all was in great condition.
The weather was "typical" February: 20 C and windy, so on our guided dive on the house reef we were pretty underwhelmed. Viz was maybe 7-10 m and there was no where near as many fish as I expected. We did see 2 very big turtles and a blue spottet stingray, but other that that it was meh - same for the "night" dive.
As the water was choppy we did not do any snorkeling, though I would have liked to. Also we did not see the dugong - will need to return for that one.
We did 2 trips with the big boat - very comfortable and well organized, but also a "tall" ship, which meant it "moved" a lot in the waves - I was really close to getting sea sick on our trip to Elphinstone, so if you're prone to sea sickness bring tablets/patches/bracelets (for me bracelets are the go to).
Our first trip was only 20 min out to AbuDhabab 4 and 2+3 - pretty reef with plenty of fish and we even say a baby black tip. Second was Elphinstone 45 min sail time - that was an amazing reef, I loved it even though we didn't see anything "big" - I wasn't expecting to, but loved the reef itself, totally recommend you do the trip, if you go to Marsa Alam. We were the only boat on Elphinstone that day/time.
As the weather was quite chilly, so was the water - 19-21 C. My husband wore his 7 mm semi dry suit and I had my new "3 mm" Bare Exowear suit with my 7 mm "shortie" (long sleeves and hood) - the 3 mm was nothing short of amazing! Thin like a rash so easy to put on/take off, less buoyant than a normal 3mm and with "thermal" inside to keep you warm - and that thermal part always feel warm/dry - it's not like putting a wet and cold neoprene suit on, it feels warm/dry except for the neoprene at wrists and ankels. I'm totally in love with this new suit and looking forward to diving with this setup in Galapagos.
We would love to go back to TTC Equinox, but would probably choose a different time of year (looking at October) - will also look at the other suggested hotels/resorts for next time, but we liked the laid back atmosphere at Equinox and the well organized dive center will be hard to beat.
We (husband, daughter (12 y) and SIL) choose Three Corners Equinox, based on reviews about the best house reef, decent food and proximity to Elphinstone (with direct boat from the pier next to the resort).
This trip was our "warm up"/test suits/equipment before our big trip to Galapagos in March/April.
We flew from Hannover directly to Marsa Alam - I asked the hotel to send a driver for us, but we couldn't see him at the airport. So I went outside and found a guy selling transfer trips and booked with him. Once we reached the parking lot, there was our driver with a sign ... made for a bit back and forth, since I already paid the new guy ... it was fixed, but if you're traveling to Marsa Alam and prebook a driver you apparently need to leave the airport building and walk down the ramp to the parking lot, where drivers are waiting. (Wish the hotel had let me know)
All in all I can say we had a great trip. So relaxing with the AI. Loved the hotel - nothing fancy and food is kind of bland, we do plan to return and bring some chili sauce;-) The hotel is a bit run down, but everything is working and the smiling staff made up for it.
We had rooms close to the dive center (1101 and 1102), both with 2 single beds and a nice terrace. Beds were ok, everything was clean. There's a small fridge, but it's not working very well. Bathroom with a bath tub (no plug though) and lots of hot water. Wifi was patchy at best, sometimes you could connect from the room, other times you needed to go to the lobby/restuarant. Cleaning was done every day and like every other hotel you get new towels, if you place the old once on the floor.
There's a small heated pool, that our daughter loved - not many other kids around (and those, who were there were mostly German, French and Italian) The sun loungers were really good and sturdy and the pool staff were happy to help with moving them around, getting towels and drinks.
The view from the panorama bar is stunning and they also have the best drinks at the resort, so would recommend to go there in the afternoon (like everyone else). As it's all inclusive all alcohol is "local", but we actually found the gin and tonic fine and both red and white wine drinkable. (we did bring a bottle of bombay saphire, but didn't feel the need to ask them to use it, so I don't know if you could bring your own to the bar and they could mix for you)
As stated the food was on the bland side ... one evening they had a Mexican theme and there were no jalopenos or salsa in sight, when I asked for a hot sauce I was directed to the different bottles and jars with condiments - and the sweet chili sauce ... there's also jars with spices like cumin, cinnamon and curry - no chili though. Breakfast was the best - get the falafel, when it's fresh and warm, very tasty. Egg station every day and waffles/pancakes alternate days. Pasta station for lunch and dinner I personally did not like, but our daughter was happy with it. Some days we had to wait 5-15 minutes to get seats for dinner at the restaurant, but no problem for us - would just grab an extra drink at the bar. You can book and eat at the "Italian" restaurant next to the Panarama bar, but food there was not that great either - and some of the dishes you have to pay extra for.
The dive center was one of the best organized we've ever dived with. Upon checkin they actually check your certification, and you get a box and locker with a number and padlock. That number correspond with a hanger for your BCD and another for your wetsuit + a special place for booties. A crew member is at the equipment hut, helping wash and hang your equipment and after just 1 day he already knew our numbers.
There's a board, where you can sign up for trips in the coming week - boat, zodiac or guided house reef. You can also do unguided house reef dives any time you wish (within working hours - early morning and night dives cost extra). The only thing we did not like was the timing for the "night" dive - 5.15 - and please be back 6.15 pm. The guides/instructors we dove with were all excellent and all crew went above and beyond - helping with tanks, equipment and even getting finns on. My SIL rented BCD, suit and regulator and all was in great condition.
The weather was "typical" February: 20 C and windy, so on our guided dive on the house reef we were pretty underwhelmed. Viz was maybe 7-10 m and there was no where near as many fish as I expected. We did see 2 very big turtles and a blue spottet stingray, but other that that it was meh - same for the "night" dive.
As the water was choppy we did not do any snorkeling, though I would have liked to. Also we did not see the dugong - will need to return for that one.
We did 2 trips with the big boat - very comfortable and well organized, but also a "tall" ship, which meant it "moved" a lot in the waves - I was really close to getting sea sick on our trip to Elphinstone, so if you're prone to sea sickness bring tablets/patches/bracelets (for me bracelets are the go to).
Our first trip was only 20 min out to AbuDhabab 4 and 2+3 - pretty reef with plenty of fish and we even say a baby black tip. Second was Elphinstone 45 min sail time - that was an amazing reef, I loved it even though we didn't see anything "big" - I wasn't expecting to, but loved the reef itself, totally recommend you do the trip, if you go to Marsa Alam. We were the only boat on Elphinstone that day/time.
As the weather was quite chilly, so was the water - 19-21 C. My husband wore his 7 mm semi dry suit and I had my new "3 mm" Bare Exowear suit with my 7 mm "shortie" (long sleeves and hood) - the 3 mm was nothing short of amazing! Thin like a rash so easy to put on/take off, less buoyant than a normal 3mm and with "thermal" inside to keep you warm - and that thermal part always feel warm/dry - it's not like putting a wet and cold neoprene suit on, it feels warm/dry except for the neoprene at wrists and ankels. I'm totally in love with this new suit and looking forward to diving with this setup in Galapagos.
We would love to go back to TTC Equinox, but would probably choose a different time of year (looking at October) - will also look at the other suggested hotels/resorts for next time, but we liked the laid back atmosphere at Equinox and the well organized dive center will be hard to beat.
