Diving off Port Sudan

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Juho

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Messages
19
Reaction score
2
Location
Finland
# of dives
200 - 499
I have in the next couple of months time to spend max. one week to dive in the Sudanese Red Sea. I can easily get myself to Port Sudan (as I'm working in the country) and I'm interested in visiting the best sites there. Those of you who have looked into the matter, I'd appreciate some insights to the following questions:

1. Best time? July and August are probably too hot, so I'm initially looking at May here.
2. Any seasonal spectacularities (e.g. Whale Sharks in Ningaloo at the same time) or other really good times to be there? I'm mostly interested in large pelagics.
3. Are all the best dive sites accessible through day dives or is liveaboard the only realistic option?
4. For big fish and sea mammals, what are the "must" sites?
5. Company names, www-pages, individuals with good deals or other recommendations? I don't want luxury but appreciate reliability.

I got PADI AOWD+EAN and 100 dives (mostly in tropical waters) under my belt and diving at depths 30-40m is not a problem.
 
1. March-april-may
2. Sharks in spring, mantas in fall
3. Liveaboard - not sure there are day boat options now.
4. Sharks can bee seen off most reefs, but normally Sha'ab Rumi South/Angarosh/Sanganeb North & SW plateau. Mantas can be seen in season in Donganeb Bay/Mesharifa. For mammals - there are plenty of dolphins around both Sanganeb and Sha'ab Rumi, but it's not that common to see them under water on scuba. I have done twice, once on Sanganeb and once on Sha'ab Rumi. But it's not that uncommon to see them jumping around the zodiac.
5. If you stay in Sudan, you probably know that luxury is a rare thing there - I'd reccomend you to get in touch with Lorenzo on Don Questo for a very experienced (in Sudan) diver and skipper that is also very good to deal with. Another option is Tony Backhursts Royal Emperor, which is the best dive platform in Port Sudan at the moment. If you want to dive enriched air, I believe the RE would be the only option (not sure even they have).
 
Pretty much agree with everything Christian said. I just got back from a two-week liveaboard to Sudan on the Royal Evolution (built by Yasser al Moafi, who used to own Royal Emperor). It sails from Port Ghalib in Egypt into Sudan, does all the Sudanese sites, and then returns to Egypt. It has nitrox, etc, etc.

However, since you are in Sudan already, I'd look to hop on Royal Emperor. It offers nitrox, and JCS, the guide, is a star. It is a sturdy boat, probably one of the best to operate out of Port Sudan.

If you want pelagics, this is the place for them – we had shoals of 30-40 hammerheads off Sanganeb North and Sha'ab Rumi, a 16ft tiger shark several times on the south plateau of Sha'ab Rumi (once when we were on our 5m safety stop!), along with multiple grey reef sharks, and a few silkies, silvertips and whitetip reef sharks.

Make sure you do the Umbria as well – definitely one of the world's best wreck dives.

Mark
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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