Best Diving in Red Sea

[String]

Had one of those things at lighthouse in the confined area a few days ago. Strange animals.

 

[Marcel Steuermann]

Hey,
did several tours to the Red Sea, and I would say that the best dive sites are located in the very south of Sudan, places like Darat Abid, Darat Ghab, Kara Masamarit and Masamarit. Also Shab Rumi in the Central Sudan is still worth to go.

Still, Egypt isn´t really bad. I can recommend Sharm el Sheick in high Summer. It´s the season when the big pelagic animals go to Ras Mohammed.

Further south, I really enjoyed some places reachable from Safaga. I think Abu Kafan is one of the best egyptian places. The Brothers of course provide terrific diving. I didn´t like the egyptain south too much. They sell this as exploratorical diving without too many other boats but that doesn´t mean anything. If you want to see big fish, you need deep water and currents. The best place for me at St. Johns was Big Habili, steep walls, currents, hammerheads....

cheers

 

[samaka]

Further south, I really enjoyed some places reachable from Safaga. I think Abu Kafan is one of the best egyptian places. The Brothers of course provide terrific diving.

Yeah Abu Kaffan is really good but not the only good dive around. There are plenty of similar dives with good chances to see big stuff

I didn´t like the egyptain south too much. They sell this as exploratorical diving without too many other boats but that doesn´t mean anything. If you want to see big fish, you need deep water and currents. The best place for me at St. Johns was Big Habili, steep walls, currents, hammerheads....

Sounds like you've been to that area once or twice... maybe three times... This is a common misconception among people who's been here just a few times but think they know. Most of the time some inexperienced dive guide comes up with an excuse for why there were no sharks on the dive and this goes on into the category of "well known facts" after a few generations of word of mouth. You don't need deep water to see sharks. You can see almost any type of shark (the species commonly seen by divers) on almost every depth. with a few exceptions like longimanus that rarely goes deeper than 15metres (45ft) I've got 3.485 dives in the Red Sea and been guiding divers in those areas for years and I can honestly say that you don't have to go deep to see sharks. Current helps though.

Habili Aali (some call it Big Habili) is an excellent dive but there are others in the St. John's area with better odds for sharks.

cool runnings
........a........

 

[InTheDrink]

On Elphinstone, Daedalus & Brothers in June 09 we had Longimanus on 13 out of 18 dives. Hammerheads on about 8 dives.
Grey reefs on quite a few.
Thresher sharks on one.
Current was pretty gentle on all dives.
Max depth 35m.

We sailed from Marsa Alam. I will be returning there every year. It was amazing. Don't think depth or currents played a big factor. Longimanus was EVERYWHERE.

J

 

[Dadali]

Ditto to what String said.

If your holiday is only about diving, then it's definitely a liveaboard. The itinerary depends on your preference. For wrecks try the north itinerary. Also now there's a Gulf of Suez itinerary introducing some supposedly newly discovered wrecks. For pelagics and big stuff, try the south, especially Brothers - Daedalus - Elphinstone itinerary. For macro, I'd say try the Gulf of Aqaba itinerary (Taba - Nuweiba - Dahab - Tiran).

"For pelagics and big stuff, try the south, especially Brothers - Daedalus - Elphinstone itinerary."
When would the best time to go to see the big stuff? May, June? Does anyone know a good dive co could be daily or liveaboard.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

"For pelagics and big stuff, try the south, especially Brothers - Daedalus - Elphinstone itinerary."
When would the best time to go to see the big stuff? May, June? Does anyone know a good dive co could be daily or liveaboard.

June July for hammerheads, November December for other shark species. Samaka has detailed info regarding that.

These sites are only accessible via liveaboard boats, except for Elphinstone.

 

[DCDivenut]

"For pelagics and big stuff, try the south, especially Brothers - Daedalus - Elphinstone itinerary."
When would the best time to go to see the big stuff? May, June? Does anyone know a good dive co could be daily or liveaboard.

I am going in June (18-25) with Emperor Divers doing their Brothers/Daedelus/Elphinstone itinerary. I booked it through Red Sea Shadow who was awesome in terms of helping me figure things out! It is on the Emperor Elite boat which is supposed to be top notch and that itinerary is simply amazing.

To be 100% honest I am the first person on the boat so I am looking for more people to help get to the minimum so the boat sails That being said, I do think it is an awesome enough itinerary that I am doing some logistical back flips to make the trip work. if you want to chat more about why I booked this trip with this boat feel free to respond here or PM me. Red Sea Shadow is also a great resource.

 

[Tigerman]

Pretty much it doesnt really matter where you go I think. The red sea kicks ass to begin with and as far as I know regardless where you go youll have the option to go to Ras Mohammed which is one of the "hotspots" for good and bad..
The local dives is also very good at Sharm El Sheikh and between april and august youre standing a VERY good chance of finding the manta rays in Sharm.
Sharm El Sheikh IS a bit crowdy at times so finding a hotel thats not in the middle of the shopping streets could be a good thing if youre sensitive to "ambient noice" during the night

 

[TSandM]

I spent a week on the Red Sea Explorers boat in October, and it was one of the absolute best diving trips that I have done. Accomodations and food were satisfactory (it's not a luxury yacht) but the diving . . . ! It's a beautifully set up boat, with a superb crew, and their goal is to peg the fun-o-meter for everyone on board, even if that requires organizing different kinds of dives for different subgroups on board. At any given site, we had people monkey-diving with scooters, people diving with a guide, people diving without a guide, and people doing technical dives -- and they handled it all smoothly, efficiently, and with no fuss. Plus, we really enjoyed the staff, who are all avid divers and great fun to talk to. The price I thought quite reasonable, as well.

 

[Amphibious]

best diving in the red sea? go south... way south.

Farasan banks