Red Sea!

[octopusz]

Hello-
I'm hoping to do a liveaboard in the Red Sea at the begining of August, and am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. I'm looking to do 4-5 dives a day, and, as always, am looking to get by on the cheap. As for the boat, all I care about is that it floats, is clean, and the food's good. Also, I'm planning on visiting the pyramids, so any advice there and on hotels/hostels would be great. I'll be traveling by myself, and am wondering if there's anything I need to worry about as I'm a single American female.


Cool beans!

Thanks!

 

[whalerock]

Hi Octopusz,
I doubt that you will find a liveaboard that offers you 5 dives a day. Most boats offer 4 a day, however if you plan to go to the off shore sites like Brothers or Deadalus there are no night dives allowed an often they offer only 3 dives, but its also because most dives will be there 30 to 40 mtr deep.
If you go for the northern route you will get 4 dives most of the days and visit all to good wrecks and some nice reefs.
A good operator is blue o two from the UK, they have a few boats there. There are also some very cheap options out there, but keep in mind you get what you pay for. A good operator can help you out with hotels and travel arrangements.
The pyramids visit is easy, fly to Cairo, or get a bus if you need to safe some $$, get a cheapish hotel in Cairo, flag a taxi and tell him to drive you to the Pyramids, the are right on the outskirts of Cairo, you dont need to book a special tour, you can do this easy on your own and then get a taxi back to your hotel.
However as a single travelling female I would maybe go with an organized tour in Cairo and maybe would not really go for the overnight bus from Hurgada.

 

[TSandM]

I've done two trips to the Red Sea, one a week and one a ten-day. Both were on the MV Tala, operated by Red Sea Explorers. I cannot recommend the operation highly enough (and they have a second boat now). They are not expensive, and the boat has no frills. It's comfortable and clean and they make sure everything works, and the food ranges from edible to very nice, depending on who is doing the cooking. What's extraordinary about the boat is the dive deck -- they are incredibly efficient and knowledgeable, and extremely good at getting you on good sites at the right times, and retrieving divers safely and efficiently. Except when the sailing schedule mandates it, there are no maximum dive times. You can dive with a guide if you wish, or without one if you prefer -- the dive briefings are spectacular in 3D and facilitate either.

Faisal Khalaf, who is the owner of the Tala and runs the trips, is a kick and an extremely nice man. His goal is to make sure that every person on his boat extracts the maximum amount of fun out of the trip that can be accomplished. And they have scooters!

 

[Grocio]

Hi there,

I've booked a liveabord trip on Freedom III for 4-11 August. It's organised by Sharks Bay Umbi Diving Village (based in Sharm el Sheikh) and it seems to meet most of your expectations. For the route, dive sites, price and availability you can check their website: Sharks Bay Umbi Diving Village | You come as a guest but leave as a friend?.

By way of aside, travelling in Cairo is always rather stressful, and it might be much more stressing for a woman travelling solo.

Good luck!

 

[rameus]

hey there

i've done 3 liveaboard trips in the red sea with two different companies. first one was heaven fleet with the heaven harmony. depending on your level of diving experience i would not suggest that. there is not much guiding there at all. especially when you are travelling alone you may want to have a guide you can stick to since it's a big ocean ;-)

my second experience was with emperor divers. i did my first trip in february and was so happy about it that i booked the next tour for the following may because the tour was great, food was excellent and the guides were really nice! the boat was the emperor elite.

however if you decide to do landbased diving i have done that in hurghada with divepoint red sea. they have reasonable prices and good guides, too. if you are not sure if you want to go on a liveaboard, feel free to check my article about (dive) experience suggested for liveaboard trips.

thom