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

[Jai Bar]

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.

Problem is, most of the tourist divers do only 1-2 dives at a "good site", typically 45 minutes each, the guide on a hurry to get out, so in most cases there is no time nor patience (especially if it is a large group) to look for ghost pipefish, sea horses and the such.

This is a privilege that usually works for local divers who dive the same site 10-20 dives a week- and for lucky bastards. All of the fish that you've mentioned (or most of them)- I can find them in a single weekend in Eilat (which there is a consensus it is "inferior" to Sinai divesites).. But I dive there hundreds of dives and you get to know the fish personally. When I go to Sinai, I usually concentrate on the larger views, the walls etc and I usually don't find the frogfish etc which I can find 5-9 in a single dive in Eilat.

 

[divebunnie]

Wow! What a heated debate over whether an area is worth diving or not.

In reply to the post above.. I live and work in Sharm and if you are being offered mere 45 minute dives, then you are being short changed. We always offer the full hour (as long as you are good enough on air) and there is plenty of time to mosey around looking for little stuff.. if the currents allow.

Anyway, I digress... back to Nuweiba. I have only snorkelled there, and the place that I snorkelled was an area idyllic for kite surfers, so not really ideal for divers looking for reef. There was an extensive area of seagrass though, where I am sure a good hour or more could have been spent looking for seahorses, or turtles, so I guess it depends on what you personally like doing on a dive.

I will say that as a holiday destination, Nuweiba is an idyllic get away for those of us that live in the hectic tip of the Sinai. We stayed in an area that I didn't even know hosted accommodation... there were little camps of huts along the beach quite a distance from the main road. We went for the relative luxury of a brick built cabin, with aircon and everything! It was a busy weekend, with all of four other people on the beach... so we had empty swathes of wonderful white sand as far as they eye could see. Such a lovely contrast to the busy beaches of Naama Bay.

As has been said, this part of Nuweiba really is off the beaten track, so there isn't much to do, but there are a few things.. the coloured canyon, where you can see the beautiful layers of the Sinai desert rock in varying shades of peach and orange. You also have the secret Castle Zaman, a little known restaurant hidden in the hill, where you can eat the most delicious food slow cooked for two hours (order in advance). If you didn't know it was there, you would drive straight past it. Other than that, you can snooze on the beach and recharge.. fantastic!

 

[Jai Bar]

I will say that as a holiday destination, Nuweiba is an idyllic get away for those of us that live in the hectic tip of the Sinai. We stayed in an area that I didn't even know hosted accommodation... there were little camps of huts along the beach quite a distance from the main road. We went for the relative luxury of a brick built cabin, with aircon and everything! It was a busy weekend, with all of four other people on the beach... so we had empty swathes of wonderful white sand as far as they eye could see. Such a lovely contrast to the busy beaches of Naama Bay.

It reminds me of the days (20 years ago ) when we used to stay for a few days in Nabeq, with a taxi loaded with dozen tanks and lots of water- made a small shade between 4 palm trees. Went diving during the day, looking at the stars (and hordes of crabs walking on the sand) at night.

Even today, I consider Nabeq one of the best places for diving, but just because of logistics, distance from the city etc- it is almost not visited by divers. To my surprise, I meet divers who claim that it was a waste of time going there, which I can't understand- it is an amazing area below and on top of water!

By the way, back in the 80s places like Ras Nasrani you could be considered lucky if you met another couple of divers, in Ras Um Sid there was nothing and the only company and passing the time between dives was visiting the light house keeper. Used to put a tent on the shore and the nights were completely dark- there was nothing of the hotels that speckle the are today :cool2:

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

(as long as you are good enough on air)

And if you're not, contact me. I can give you a hand.

 

[swindale]

I wouldn't say its underrated. Its a very small place with a very small number of OK dive sites, nothing more.

Its got about 4 dive sites all very similar to each other. Granted they aren't crowded but its nothing special. The town itself is small and not a lot to do outside it.

2 days and you've "done" Nuewiba as far as diving is concerned.

My wife and I have been diving Nuweiba for some 7 years and I have personally dived 21 dive sites and this is only shore diving. We loved the area so much that 3 years ago we moved to a house in the mozina village and 2 years ago we moved to Nuweiba permenantly.

Only 3 weeks ago we dived a site we have not dived before.

There are sites that can only be dived by boat we have not dived, T and I reef just to name two.

To dive the sites that we have dived in 2 days this diner I mean diver must be superhuman or a bull****er, the latter seems to be right to me. Sorry if this offends but not to have all the facts correct and post this sort of utter rubbish insults me and all the folk that love to dive here in Nuweiba. We have made lots of friends with returning divers.

I do not know the dive center he or she dived with but I suggest that any one thats wants to dive here in Nuweiba check out all dive centers.

I will not mention African Divers as this would not be fair to the other centres.

Just off to meet 2 Japenese divers that have returned, this is the 3rd time we have dived with them.

This is a a first for me on this site but felt so insensed had to do it. Hope you come to Nuweiba as it is great diving. How many bigger places that you have dived can offer as many sites! John Swindale (nonworking lowley DM and not ashamed to put my name to this quote)

 

[diverLux]

To dive the sites that we have dived in 2 days this diner I mean diver must be superhuman or a bull****er, the latter seems to be right to me. Sorry if this offends but not to have all the facts correct and post this sort of utter rubbish insults me and all the folk that love to dive here in Nuweiba. We have made lots of friends with returning divers.

These are ill chosen words, it will not help your case and certainly irritate this reader.

 

[swindale]

I wouldn't say its underrated. Its a very small place with a very small number of OK dive sites, nothing more.

Its got about 4 dive sites all very similar to each other. Granted they aren't crowded but its nothing special. The town itself is small and not a lot to do outside it.

2 days and you've "done" Nuewiba as far as diving is concerned.

The truth would be nice lies are misleading and unhelpful

 

[swindale]

These are ill chosen words, it will not help your case and certainly irritate this reader.

I only strive to point out that lies are not helpful, to make up untrue stores should be on the fiction shelf, and not spoil our much loved sport, So all of us should only report the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me GOD.

 

[ScubaDemon]

Problem is, most of the tourist divers do only 1-2 dives at a "good site", typically 45 minutes each, the guide on a hurry to get out, so in most cases there is no time nor patience (especially if it is a large group) to look for ghost pipefish, sea horses and the such.

This is a privilege that usually works for local divers who dive the same site 10-20 dives a week- and for lucky bastards.

I do not know where you have dived and what dive guides you have had, but I feel truly sorry if this is your impression!

Sure, if you go to a dive centre that puts 15 or even 20 divers in one group with one dive guide (been there, done that), then you might be right, the dive guide just hasn't got the time to find anything interesting to show to the people, nor can he make sure everybody in the water is safe.

HOWEVER, there are VERY good dive centres around, where group sizes are strictly limited to e.g. 6 divers only, exactly for this precise reason: that the dive guide is NOT only a shepheard, but can make sure he finds things like sea horse, frog fish and other creatures that are hard to see for the guests themselves.

I am a diver who appreciates quality, and I have learned that being a good dive guide requires a lot of skill, patience and enthusiasm. It's nowhere near of being an easy "holiday job" that just about anybody could do, and not everybody is born to be a dive guide.
A guide who sends people out of the water after 45min is not really interested in doing his job properly, or works for a dive operation who does not care. I know that there are dive sites and logistical circumstances, where a limit on dive time makes sense and can even be necessary, however, I found that in GOOD dive operations in the Red Sea and around the World, divers are usually left in the water until they reach their safe minimum tank pressure (e.g. 50 bar in metric areas). If that takes 80 minutes or more, then so be it, and in those GOOD dive operations, this was never a problem, on the contrary, the dive guide enjoyed his extra time in the water with us divers having "better air consumption".

Therefore, people, please do your research before you go on holiday, and use your brain when picking a dive operator!

On a personal note: I really HATE that unmotivated dive guides and instructors seem to have spoilt the dive experience for so many. I fully acknowledge that those jobs in Scuba are extremely hard and that diving staff is often abused by dive centres, who have them work ridiculous hours and slave them around, BUT in the end paying customers can expect an excellent service, and when a dive guide clearly has no interest in doing his job properly, it is not the right job for them.

Think about it!
A dive guide who after every dive can't wait to get out of the water, or is QUOTE "on a hurry to get out" shouldn't really be a dive guide, should he?

 

[thomsop]

I was in Nuweiba a couple of weeks ago and had the pleasure of 8 dives with the Japanese couple referred to above and Sarah and Daniel of African Divers (I'm not going to shy away from plugging them, they fully deserve it). With the exception of "Sinkers" that I wasn't that impressed with (the dive site nothing to do with African Divers) the shore diving is excellent. In fact Diver magazine has the Abu Lou Lou Reef as one of the top 5 most underrated sites in the Red Sea.
Thanks to the great dive guides I can now add ghost pipe fish, blue spotted ray, torpedo ray, frog fish, seahorse, stone fish and scorpion fish (amongst many, many others) to my "list".
The fact that on 7 of the 8 dives we (3 -5 divers + Daniel or Sarah) were the only ones in the vicinity made it all the more enjoyable. :cool2: