Recommended DC Hurghada & Elphinstone

[Geordieboy]

Hullo there all, first post for a good long while!

I was hoping someone might be able to help on a couple of questions... The wife and I are off to Egypt in July and we will be going to Hurghada for a bit of the trip; haven't dived since Sipadan two years ago!

Does anyone know of a good DC in downtown Hurghada (we are thinking of staying at Triton Empire Beach resort if means anything)? I was considering Emperor Divers, but can't tell how far away it is from that area of Hurghada - their website says they've moved to El Mina harbour:confused: If anyone can give a yay or nay to them or give a DC near Triton, it'd be muchos helpful.

Also, does anyone know if it's possible to dive Elphinstone on a day trip from Hurghada - the wife likes diving, but not enough to do a liveaboard:shakehead:

Oh, I'm AOW with about 60 dives, the wife is OW with about 15 if that makes any diff to the answers.

Take it easy, and cheers for the help.:D

[Red Sea Shadow]

No, diving Elphinstone on a day trip out of Hurghada is impossible. It's just too far :(

[bluemi]

Emperor Divers' location:

27 14 03.75, 33 50 51.67 - Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=27+14+03.75,+33+50+51.67&jsv=107&ie=UTF8&ll=27.234408,33.847675&spn=0.083947,0.187454&t=h&z=13)

Hope this helps.

[Geordieboy]

Cheers Red Sea Shadow and Bluemi, much appreciated.

[BenZed]

If you and your wife want to do it together... Elphinstone is for advanced divers, they used to have a local law that said you had to have 50 logged dives. It can be a bit choppy there, so you really need to know what you're doing and a guide you can trust.

While I was in the area last, a group from our hotel went in the water from the zodiac without proper instructions - half of them did not know to go straight under and look around for their buddy at 3 meters below the surface (which should have been clear from their briefing)... they got tossed around in the waves for minutes waiting for a sign from the guides that it was OK to go down, and that basically ruined the dive for them before it even started.

But it's a spectacular dive when you do it right!