Where in The Red Sea in April

[Conor]

Hi

myself and some friends are scheming our next holiday, so far we have agreed on the Red Sea around mid April, now I need some advice on which area and which school.

Relevant things may be,
we have to go during the school hols (my gf is a teacher) is it likely to be crowded ?
Some of the group will be doing an OW, some wil be doing more advanced training and the remainder just diving, which are the good PADi schools ?
Some of the group may want to take in a bit of 'dry' culture, what places have good things to see out of the water ?

Any reccomendations on locations, school and operators would be appreciated.

Thanks

Conor

 

[JPTM]

I've been to the Red Sea three times and had always great dives there. I did my AOW in Sharm with Sinai Divers (www.sinaidivers.com) and it was very good (nice conditions and good instructors). I never was there in April but I believe it will be less crowded than in Summer. Near the Red Sea there is not much to see besides the desert. If you're looking for the ancient monuments you have to travel to Cairo or down the Nile (Luxor, Valley of the Kings, etc.) Maybe you may spend some days visiting such monuments and places and then go to the Red Sea for diving. Please feel free to PM me in case you need any additional information.

Take care.

 

[DaveMercer]

Hi,

Red Sea in April is absolutely fantastic, warm waters 21 or 22 deg C and balmy air temp of around 26 deg.
Sharm is ok as JPTM mentions and there are some good schools there, but if you want some variety, quieter sites and training for your OW candidates then you could do worse than look at Dahab.

This is about 1 hour north of Sharm, and is a much smaller resort than Sharm with mainly shore-based diving onto some pristine reef systems. The sites are therefore much less crowded and very suitable for trainees or certified divers alike.
Have a look at www.coralcoastdivers.com they are a PADI Gold Palm resort with full training facilities and are situated right on the reef top and only a 10 minute walk from the night life of Dahab. It's a British run dive centre with appropriate safety standards.......

Marine life in April should be good also, when I was there last year we saw Turtles, Dolphins, Barracuda and the biggest Napoleon Wrasse I've ever seen. The sites to the south may also have hammer-heads around as I think this is the schooling/mating season. Best keep out of the way then....!

Hope this helps, enjoy the diving

Dave

 

[vicky]

Indeed, most out-of-water activities in Sinai involve the desert. However, it is a beautiful place. So, where to go? If you have some time, a short trip to Santa Catherina is a nice place to visit. You can visit the monastery itself and also climb Gebel Mousa (Moses Mountain) and you can do it by night to see an amazing sunrise. You can take local guides to show you the way. If you have more time you can do short treks in this beautiful region. You can easily arrange anything between 2-7 days . Taking camels (both for equipment and/or riding) is also a cool option.
You can arrange also short/daily geep tours in the surrounding desert near Sharm itself.
Visiting Ras Muhammad national park's shore is also nice (although it is much nicer underwater). whatelse? Perhaps a visit to Nabeq? (It is also a nice shore and Mangrove forest, but again- much nicer underwater...)
Besides that there isn't really too much to see, especially not "Egyptian Culture". The only place I know that has some Egyptian ruins in Sinai are the mines of "Sarabit El Khadem", but it is too far away from Sharm. I think this amazing place is rarely visited by tourists.

Did I mention that the best things to do in Sharm are diving?

 

[DiveScribe]

Conor,

I would recommend either Sharm el Sheikh or Dahab since you will need a base where good instruction is available.

Sinai Divers is an excellent company. I have been dealing with them for nearly 15 years and they are a first rate organization. As is Sinai Dive Club whom I've know for nearly as long. Sinai Divers operates in both Sharm and Dahab while Sinai Dive Club only Sharm.

April is a wonderful time of year to dive that part of the Red Sea. Air temperatures are not too hot yet and the water should be nice and comfortable.

Choosing between Sharm and Dahab is another matter. More non diving activities in Sharm - even golf if you're infected with that particular virus (I'm a recovering golfer myself). But it is also a lot more crowded. The heavy diver activity has also taken its toll on some of the reefs but there are still some spectacular places to see - Ras Mohammed is special as are the reefs in the Straits of Tiran.

Dahab is a much more low-key and smaller place but still with excellent facilities. It used to be not much more than a bedouin camp that attracted an assortment of free spirits who enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere the windsurfing (more of a breeze there, in general, than Sharm) and later on scuba. As was mentioned in another note, most diving in Dahab is shore diving but Sinai Divers now has a boat in service although not every day. Not as much soft coral in Dahab as Sharm but there are some great sites - including the famou Blue Hole.

Hope that gives you an idea of what to expect. I think you'll enjoy either place.

Good luck.

Larry

 

[jamila]

Hi!

I went to Mars Alam and dived with Red Sea Diving Safari. It was perfect. You have a house reef with unlimeted dives and twice a day a pickup safari. Good food, good staff and great house reef. Do a dive before breakfast was so nice!

We stayed in a room with shared wc and shower. Worked great, it was clean all the time.

Good luck!

Cheers

 

[caymaniac]

I dove out of Hurgada, and stayed at the Hor Palace! We did day boats, the table type reefs were beautiful. This area at least when we were there was visited by a number of German tourists. Easy diving, some great sites for soft coral.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac

 

[Conor]

Thanks all for the advice.

Since I first posted things have gone a little off the rails. Four of the guys work for the same company and have had a deadline shift so they don't know if they can go. Which means we are still only certain that my gf and I can go, and the others may or may not join us. During this time, due to the deadline etc, there has been so much indecision that it looks like its almost impossible to go to any of the preferred lolations (dahab, Marsa Alam) on the dates we have available.

At this rate we may end up going somewhere completely different unless we can find some flights pretty soon.

For the record, the reasons behind the choice of location are a combination of two things;
If it is just the two of us then we want the most laid back location possible - i.e. Marsa Alam/Dahab
My gf has never dived from a boat and gets sea sick, so there must be enough shore diving just in case it becomes an issue (i.e. not Sharm)

Thanks again for your help

Conor

 

[leadweight]

Good luck on your trip. I would really love to dive the Red Sea, but with W about to unleash hell in the region, it seems that travel over there as an American is a bit dicey. However, I have heard that the packages out of London are great (and there is cheap air from nearly everywhere in the US to London).

Happy diving, motorcycling and everything else.
March 8 and I am off to Roatan.

 

[Conor]

I guess you have started counting the days then.

You can get greta deals out of London to the RedSea, if my girlfriend wasn't a teacher it would be around £300 ($450) but as we have to go during the school holidays the prices jumps up to about £600 ($900). Which is still not bad for two weeks of coral and warm water.

And the weathers getting better in the UK too so the bike will be seeing a lot more action.

Enjoy Roatan, let us know how it goes