Egypt Saint John Cruise
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gehadoski
Contributor
Hi there I live in Egypt. I actually didn't went to saint john, but I have been to other places in the south of Egypt such as brother and elephant stone(in places like saint johns). First of all
what is you level ?? How many dives do you have logged ??
what is you level ?? How many dives do you have logged ??
I'm a PADI advanced and I have 50 dive logged.
What I'like to figure out if the Saint John cruise or others SUD Egypt dive place are crowded as Sharm is. Last year I was in Sharm and I saw more people than :goldfish: :goldfish: under the water.
Do you know if this cruises are crowded as are the dive in Sharm ?
What should I expect to see under the water shark, hammer shark .. mantas
?
Is May a good period to dive there ?
thanks ...
What I'like to figure out if the Saint John cruise or others SUD Egypt dive place are crowded as Sharm is. Last year I was in Sharm and I saw more people than :goldfish: :goldfish: under the water.
Do you know if this cruises are crowded as are the dive in Sharm ?
What should I expect to see under the water shark, hammer shark .. mantas
?Is May a good period to dive there ?
thanks ...
gabyne
Contributor
mexico:I'm a PADI advanced and I have 50 dive logged.
What I'like to figure out if the Saint John cruise or others SUD Egypt dive place are crowded as Sharm is. Last year I was in Sharm and I saw more people than :goldfish: :goldfish: under the water.
Do you know if this cruises are crowded as are the dive in Sharm ?
What should I expect to see under the water shark, hammer shark .. mantas
Is May a good period to dive there ?
thanks ...
Hi,
friends of mine were there in November 03 and Februar 04; they liked it a lot. It is not at all crowded, there are just a few liveaboard boats going to the St. John's reefs - they almost never saw another boat during their trips.
They saw C. longimanus, the oceanic whitetip shark (very impressive!), dolphins, mantas, the usual whitetip and grey reefsharks, Napoleons (Maori wrasses) and some saw hammerheads - but for the latter you have to be quite lucky. Another spot with big fish action are the Brother islands in the Red Sea - there you should have good chances to see hammerheads also.
From the weather side, May is a good month - warm temperatures, calm seas.
Cheers, Gaby
Personally I find Saint John overrated. You'll probably spend more time sailing than diving. If you do go to Saint John, make sure you depart from Hamata (to minimise sailing time).
My advise would be to book a 'Best of trip' (Brothers, Elphinstone and Daedalus) on a top boat (Such as Oyster or Hurricane). Last year we did 22 dives on 1 week and saw Hammerheads on 14 dives.
Don't expect to see much manta's, they are pretty rare in the Red Sea. May is the best period for the Brothers.
steven
My advise would be to book a 'Best of trip' (Brothers, Elphinstone and Daedalus) on a top boat (Such as Oyster or Hurricane). Last year we did 22 dives on 1 week and saw Hammerheads on 14 dives.
Don't expect to see much manta's, they are pretty rare in the Red Sea. May is the best period for the Brothers.
steven
I've been going to Egypt at least once a year for the past 5 years. Sharm has great diving but can be overcrowded (although I did get to dive with 35+ hammerhead sharks at Jackson Reef last Oct).
St Johns has some of the best coral in the Red Sea (and therefore the world). You're right on the border of Egypt and Sudan in that area so the reefs are pristine and its unlikely there will be anyone there other than your boat.
Despite what others have said, Manta's are actually pretty common in the Southern Red Sea as there aren't the crowds to scare them - I've seen them on ever trip so far.
You'll almost certainly see dolphins from the boat (and maybe in the water). White-tips and grey reef sharks are a cert. You also have a good chance of seeing schooling scalloped hammerheads and the occasional oceanic white-tip (although sites such as Elphinstone, Fury Shoal and the Brothers are better - especially Elphinstone where there have been a couple of oceanic white-tips hanging around on and off for a year now!).
I agree that the best trips are the one's inlcuding the "Big 3" - Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone).
I've been to the Caribbean, Maldives, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Indonesia and Fiji and in my opinion the southern Red Sea is better than all of them (and is sooo cheap!) - hence the reason I keep on going back every year.
Hope this helps.
St Johns has some of the best coral in the Red Sea (and therefore the world). You're right on the border of Egypt and Sudan in that area so the reefs are pristine and its unlikely there will be anyone there other than your boat.
Despite what others have said, Manta's are actually pretty common in the Southern Red Sea as there aren't the crowds to scare them - I've seen them on ever trip so far.
You'll almost certainly see dolphins from the boat (and maybe in the water). White-tips and grey reef sharks are a cert. You also have a good chance of seeing schooling scalloped hammerheads and the occasional oceanic white-tip (although sites such as Elphinstone, Fury Shoal and the Brothers are better - especially Elphinstone where there have been a couple of oceanic white-tips hanging around on and off for a year now!).
I agree that the best trips are the one's inlcuding the "Big 3" - Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone).
I've been to the Caribbean, Maldives, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Indonesia and Fiji and in my opinion the southern Red Sea is better than all of them (and is sooo cheap!) - hence the reason I keep on going back every year.
Hope this helps.
brendanrtw
Guest
Can you give me some reccomendations or links to dive operator that provide the itineraries you mentioned.
Cheers!
Cheers!
If you can arrange your own flights you can try Emporer Divers (www.emperordivers.com) - they have several liveaboards.
In the UK most people use Tony Backhurst Scuba (www.scuba.co.uk) and Red Sea Divers (www.redseadivers.com). These two companies cover a huge range of liveaboards from budget to luxary. However, the prices include flights from the UK and I'm not sure whether they will just do the boat without flights.
Anyway, hope you find this useful and have a great trip!
In the UK most people use Tony Backhurst Scuba (www.scuba.co.uk) and Red Sea Divers (www.redseadivers.com). These two companies cover a huge range of liveaboards from budget to luxary. However, the prices include flights from the UK and I'm not sure whether they will just do the boat without flights.
Anyway, hope you find this useful and have a great trip!
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