Isn't Nuweiba very under-rated for diving experience and value?

[tacky]

A bit more than just four dive sites. Take a look here:

Nuweiba Dive Sites, Descriptions and Maps - by Emperor Divers

But I would guess some more experienced divers would would want more spectacular and varied sites?

 

[ScubaDemon]

String, I don't know which dive centre you dived with, but AFRICAN Divers Nuweiba offered nearly 30 different dive sites beginning of this year, plus, now where there is a fully equipped dive boat in the area, they extended this number to 34 different dive sites they offer.
I have dived them all, so it is true! You can look at this link, too, where they say, it is 34 dive sites in Nuweiba now:

NEW! Boat Diving in Nuweiba

String, what is true is that there are two or three dive centres in Nuweiba that seem to have some strange policies.. e.g. one that only offer dives at their house reefs plus one that dives only the house reef and a handful of other places, but the good service providers in Nuweiba have far more to offer!

Do you really think that there is a stretch of 65km RED SEA coast line that only has 4 dive sites??

Please don't blame the area if your dive guide can't be asked to show you the proper dive sites or find interesting things for you! Some dive guides make their lifes easy and don't really care if the divers enjoy their experience, but as a matter of fact, there are still plenty of people in Nuweiba who know what they are doing, who care about the area, and who will be able to show dive sites to you that can be ranked "A-list", and are amongst the most special and beautiful in the Red Sea. Plus, every year new prisine dive sites are discovered (like 2 new Canyons this year, one for recreational diving plus the "deep" Nuweiba Canyon, which is a stunning technical dive from 45 to over 100m).

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

String, I don't know which dive centre you dived with, but ...

Personally I'm really interested to know

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

String, what is true is that there are two or three dive centres in Nuweiba that seem to have some strange policies.. e.g. one that only offer dives at their house reefs plus one that dives only the house reef and a handful of other places, but the good service providers in Nuweiba have far more to offer!

Actually all the dive centers in Nuweiba are four! So if two or three are providing the same thing, this makes the rest (hmmm, one?) looks strange.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

I have dived them all, so it is true! You can look at this link, too, where they say, it is 34 dive sites in Nuweiba now:
.....
Do you really think that there is a stretch of 65km RED SEA coast line that only has 4 dive sites??

With 34 dive sites, Nuweiba has more to offer than Sharm El Sheikh with its local sites, Tiran and Ras Mohamed combined!!!

65Km Red Sea coast line with only 4 sites is valid. An example is Eritrea. Although it's just south of Sudan (which has some amazing dive spots), it's has almost nothing to offer, except for the archipelago (and still not to be compared with Sudan).

It's all a matter of topology, currents, salinity, in addition to other phenomena. But in conclusion, yes 65Km Red Sea coast line with only 4 sites is perfectly valid.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

plus, now where there is a fully equipped dive boat in the area

Now that's an add-on. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[String]

I can give you 10km+ stretches of coastline with no worthwhile diving. Just because its the red sea doesn't mean there's reef and life everywhere. There are many barren places. Funnily enough they aren't dived.

IF Nuweiba is claiming 65km of coastline then effectively it's diving Taba and Dahab at the same time (and even then it doesn have 34 dive sites).

The dayboat is just advertising "34 sites" without going into detail - but the half broken links on the website show it includes nuweiba, dahab, RAG,sharm,ras mohammed and Thistlegorm. It does RAG, up north to Iit's not "diving nuweiba" (ive seen it at blue hole before now).
Don't believe the hype. Nuweiba local has 4 dive sites. Dived by all the centres all the time. That's all there is around there! Its that reason it isnt a massive diving destination - lack of choice and variety. Small reef, good for macro stuff, not too crowded but no more than a day or 2 and you've seen it all.

(It's also the reason they're constantly advertising for staff to work there, very small number of sites and nothing at all to do after work)

The Empereror link is more realistic, it shows 5 local sites (1 of which is their house reef) and 2 further sites to the south which they admit are 1.5 hours drive south. (RAG national park again).

 

[ScubaDemon]

String, this is just not true.
I can see Red Sea Shadows point that there might be stretches of Red Sea coast that are not dived, for different reasons, and that you won't find a stunning reef wall everywhere you jump into the water, but I have dived in so many places that aren't named dive sites, and there was always something to see. I can see that there might be places with next to nothing, due to currents, topography, etc., so nevermind.

SO, let's name some Nuweiba dive sites (I try to put them in North to South order):
Castle Beach, Ras Shaitan, Angelfish, The Valley, Outside Rock Sea, Rock Sea, Nuweiba Canyon, Ma'agana, Um Um Raicher, Labyrinth, T-Reef, Ray Hole, Swisscare Reef, Sha'ab Elaria, MFO North, Pipeline, "House Reef", Sinkers, Abu Lou Lou, Ray's Place, Farrah Shore, Myserique, EL Hibeq, Ras Mumlah, Ras Abu Galum.

These are 25 dive sites, and I dived them all. They are all different and some have been named "within the top-ten of the Red Sea" by an American dive magazine lately. A marine biologist I met, from the University of Hawaii, told me that the reef quality she saw is amazing. I guess this is an expert opinion to trust. Nuweiba has huge coral gardens and some steep wall dives, plus the two canyons (one shallow one tech only). Of course some of the reefs are "small", but that does not mean that they are worse than others, nor does it mean that they are all that small.
There are dive sites everywhere in the Red Sea, where you dive around relatively small pinnacles. Sometimes those are even the dives where you see the most, because you concentrate on a much smaller area. From what I have seen of Nuweiba, some coral gardens are really huge, and some easily good for multiple dives.

Here is what I have seen and photographed in Nuweiba:
fuzzy ghost pipefish, ornate ghost pipefish, different sea horses, red, green, white, black and purple frog fish (from 2cm to 45cm), red sea walkman, stargazer, toad fish, ... plus all the usual Red Sea stuff like turtles, rays, snappers, barracudas, napoleon wrasses, batfish, jackfish, goat fish, different puffer fish etc. etc.
For me this is quite plenty, plus all the amazing rare stuff.

I find 5 dive centres in Nuweiba, and given that it is not a mass-tourism destination, this is good. One is PADI 5* IDC centre and TDI facility. What else do you want? I very much prefer a small place that is friendly, individual and has small groups, because this means the most customer service.

I guess, in the end it comes down to personal preference, but I can see as well that people from Dahab would much rather have people go there than to Nuweiba, and therefore cannot admit that Nuweiba is a nice place to spend a quality dive vacation, too.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

I guess, in the end it comes down to personal preference, but I can see as well that people from Dahab would much rather have people go there than to Nuweiba, and therefore cannot admit that Nuweiba is a nice place to spend a quality dive vacation, too.

Not really. People in Dahab would love to have alternatives to their local dive sites. At the end of the day it's good for business, especially that Nuweiba is to the north of Dahab, which means that Dahab operators can execute Nuweiba excursions, while Sharm operators can't

The thing is, the sites you mentioned are Taba, Nuweiba and partly Dahab combined. They stretch over a large area, more than the 65 KM you mentioned. And, IMHO, are not worth all the pain (except for Ras Abu Galoum and Ras Mamlach). The easier way to do them is via liveaboard (already exists).

 

[Jai Bar]

My two cents...

I used to know a famous marine biologist, David Fridman (the cute purple fish, Fridman Dottbyback is named after him) who used to dived quite a lot in the Sinai cost during the 60's and 70's.

Whenever we were going diving, he would ask us where are we going to dive. And of course, at these years there were not many dive clubs (Dahab had only one or two, Nuweiba none, Sharm had less than 10 ), so we always went for Sharm and Dahab and he would always say- "what a pity, the best diving is just in the stretch around Nuweiba...".

Since there were no clubs, nowhere to get and fill tanks we always looked on the road and always promised to stop sometime just to snorkel or get there with tanks and dive there, but always the taxi drivers would not agree to stop on the way, there were no camps (except at Ras a Satan, I think), and the logistics and transport from Dahab made diving in these areas so expensive... Always skipped it and always got laughed upon by the late Fridman...

Today, I believe to what Fridman used to claim from his experience 20 years before I even got to know diving. Sure, other locations offer great diving but many times it is more famous just because it is also easier to get there and dive.

I don't think Nuweiba is better than Dahab or Sharm or anywhere else, but it is not the least special, it is less crowded and less popular. I did a few boat Safaris from Taba to Dahab and I can only say the dive sites along the route are good, but I like more Ras Mohammed and Tiran