North vs South ... major differences?

Greetings to all Red Sea types -

Our diving usually takes us to SE Asia, but we're considering the Red Sea. Been reading the forum and Googling some web sites, and still can't find a clear description of the difference between diving in the North or the South. Let me phrase the question this way ...

If our interest is primarily "big stuff" vs macro, and we aren't interested in wrecks, would one area generally be better than the other? And if we go for the big stuff area, would that mean we'd be missing the best hard/soft coral sites? And if our target month was June, would that make a difference?

How about chances for mantas and whale sharks ... where and when?

And just for reference, we're experienced divers, liveaboard fans, and like 4 dives a day.

Thanks for any suggestions or opinions!

For the "big stuff", the south is better. The corals are everywhere in the Egyptian Red Sea so you won't miss that. June in the south is good weather and might be good for hammerheads, but for oceanics November/December is better. Mantas and whale sharks sometimes show, and I'd say June is fine for them.

Hmmm ... the South sounds like what we're looking for. Been look at the Simply the Best route, but curious ... I see some boats depart from Marsa Ghalib ... how does one get there? Closest airport is Hurghada, is it not?

I sailed from the Maldive to Egypt. The most unspoiled and spectacular dives for coral and small fish is off the coast of Sudan. We sailed into the Marsa's and everywhere we looked there was spectacular diving. I have no idea how to get there other than the sea.

Marsa Alam International Airport is within 10 minutes or a couple of kilometers from Port Ghalib.
MARSA ALAM International Airport

highdesert:

Hmmm ... the South sounds like what we're looking for. Been look at the Simply the Best route, but curious ... I see some boats depart from Marsa Ghalib ... how does one get there? Closest airport is Hurghada, is it not?

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Most of the times this route (Brothers - Daedalus - Elphinstone) is done from either Hurghada or Marsa Ghaleb. The nearest airport to Marsa Ghaleb is that of Marsa Alam. However, any decent operator will do the transfers from/to either airport. The price is usually included in the package.

Sounding better all the time ... thanks!

The airport in Marsa Alam = far fewer flights than Hurghada. Many holiday/charter airlines from Europe only fly in/out of MA on certain days of the week...making it hard to match up with a liveaboard that sails on a specific day of the week. It is more likely you would fly into Hurghada, particularly if coming from the States through Europe.

Any reputable liveaboard company or trip organizer will arrange the transfers for you. I've done the transfer from Hurghada to both Port Ghalib and Marsa Alam (3.5-4 hours) and kind of like the experience = if you never been to Egypt before, the scenery is really quite beautiful - aquamarine water on one side and the desert and nearby mountains on the other. On one of these trips our bus broke down during the journey (at night).....peaceful and more stars than we could count in the night sky as we waited for a replacement bus.

Mantas = we saw some on a deep south itinerary last June, but it was only from the surface at night and they were gone by the time we got in the water. Whalesharks......hit or miss. Other sharks = highly likely at that time of the year on a southern liveaboard itinerary (Simply the Best or Deep South).

To answer your original question of North vs. South = the further south you go, the less land-based development there is and the fewer boats you will see. There is great diving in all parts of the Red Sea, but I will say that I prefer the south due to the "fewer humans" factor, particularly if diving from a liveaboard.

If you want a decent liveaboard = you won't go wrong with Blue O Two. I used them for a trip last June (Deep South) and am using them again this coming June (Simply the Best). They are very popular with UK divers, with lots of satisfied and return customers. They book all inclusive packages with flights/transfers/visas/liveaboards (on their own high quality boats). Other well-traveled divers who have used them told me BO2 meet and often exceed the quality they've experienced on the Aggressor fleet.

http://www.blueotwo.com/

My £0.02

Chris

large_diver:

I will say that I prefer the south due to the "fewer humans" factor, particularly if diving from a liveaboard.

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My experience is exactly the opposite.

There are often too many safari boats around the Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone, or St-John's reefs, given the relatively small size of most of these reefs and their off-shore location. For example, in high season it's not uncommon to see up to nine safari boats moored on Small Brother (diameter less than 500 meters). That means:
- up to 200 divers, all eager to jump at the same place to watch the sharks
- up to 18 zodiacs almost constantly roaring around
- a forest of lines tying the boats to each other and to the reef
- fumes and noise of the neighboring boats' generators all day and night.

And that's the same story at the other famous and fashionable places in the South.

As Red Sea Shadow rightly said, during a live-aboard to the Brothers and Daedalus you'll have more opportunities to see sharks than in the North, and the corals are really gorgeous there as well, but choose the right moment or you may become fed up with the "human factor".

All varied an interesting responses ... thanks to everyone. Let's just say this is still a "fact finding" mission; I'm not ready to book with anyone right now. But I'm developing a good idea of what to look for when I proceed.