Recommendations for the Red Sea

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rh

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Hi everyone,

I am certified as PADI Adventure Diver (including the 30m deep dive) and have so far dived at the Great Barrier Reef and at two places in South Africa.

Now I have enough frequent flyer miles to fly to the Middle East (and they need to be spent soon before they lose their validity) so I was considering to go diving in the Red Sea. Could you guys give me some advice?

- What is a good time? I am time wise very flexible, I was considering this autumn.
- What are good and good value places and dive shops?
- Does a cruise make sense? In Australia I stayed on a liveaboard and enjoyed it very much.
- It was recommended to me to get a Nitrox certification before going to the Red Sea because the water is so warm that you can stay down very long. What is the best way to get that certification? When I was in South Africa, the PADI dive shop there offered a purely theoretical certification course (no actual dives) for Nitrox and they told me that you can also do that online. But when I go to the PADI website all I can find is an online course that would STILL require you to do some actual dives to get the certification.

Thanks a lot for all information in advance!

rh
 
Check the posts on the redsea forum, you will find plenty of recommendations.
Autumn is a good time.
Depending on what you are looking for, you should decide a live-aboard or not and you also should decide your destination (north or south)

Nitrox class is theoretical indeed, however you can combine with a couple of nitrox dives. It is an easy one and any dive shop you will decide to go for can help you doing that.

Our mate Samaka has a wonderful website with a lot of valuable info: WELCOME TO AZIAB

If you narrow down your selections we can be of more help.

How long are you planning to stay?
 
Early autumn is good. A liveaboard is the way to go if all what you want is diving (no culture, night life, etc...). You can't go wrong with nitrox. It's theoretical and if you didn't manage to do it online, just book it along with your dive package. Both liveaboard and land-based operators offer this course.
 
Hi,

thanks for your responses. I really haven't made any decisions yet (no hurry ATM), so I am very much at the begining of the planning phase.

Length-wise I was considering to go maybe 10 days.

Obviously when in Egypt already it would make sense to also visit some cultural things... on the other hand that would make the holiday less relaxing... hmm...

rh
 
IMHO I would skip the Northern Red Sea.

The best diving I did in the RS was when I got to Safaga and a little bit below. So my advice would be to look for something down there. I worked as an Instructor for 2 years in the Sinai, and it wasn't until I did a Southern Liveaboard that I was trully blown away by the diving.

The nitrox can 'partially' be done online. This can be an expensive option as PADI charge a fee for the online knowledge development and then the diveshop will charge you to complete the practical applications. And this could be very little, as if you opt out of doing the dives all you would need to do is analyze a nitrox tank and plan 2 theoretical dives. Personally if you're going to go liveaboard find one that gives you free nitrox when qualified and do the course on board. The theory is very easy and will take you no more than a surface interval or 2.
 
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Early Autumn is always a good time in the Red Sea - late enough to avoid the searing heat of the summer, the water is at it's warmest, and if you come in September you can avoid the manic rush of October - at least, that's how the season works here in Sharm.

Safaris are great - the South is better than the North, but you tend to pay a little more for it, although this does depend a little on your port of embarkation and proximity to airports. There is nothing at all wrong with the Northern Red Sea - a liveaboard out of Sharm or Hurghada will still be spectacular, although you're likely to find the reefs busier, and maybe not quite as spectacular as the South. If you want a liveaboard with 32 inch plasma screens and an en-suite bathroom you can get these if you like, but if you're all about the diving and happy to share facilities, you can get much lower prices. Me, I want divers to hang out on deck, drink a beer under the starry sky and talk about the day, not retire to their cabins to watch an infinite selection of DVDs.

For good value - if you book with a reputable centre you will get good value - but this depends on what you want and where you are - Good value in Sharm or Hurghada costs more than good value in Dahab or Marsa Alam, because overheads in the big resorts are more significant and therefore prices are higher. There are plenty of good operators and if you are unsure I recommend you book with one of the big centres with an international reputation. Yes, I work for one of those, but if you can't get word-of-mouth recommendations they are - generally speaking - a good place to start.

Nitrox Course - meh - sorry to say this but the PADI version is so easy these days you are better off buying or borrowing a book (make sure it's current, i.e. 2010 or later), and signing up for the course when you arrive. It takes 2 or 3 hours max. Please do not discuss the pros and cons of the course here, that's been debated ad nauseum on the forums.

Sorry - that post doesn't give you a lot of answers really, but there is a lot of variety here in the Red Sea, and a lot of it comes down to budget, to be honest. Do not go for cheap. Cheap is rarely good, but you can have excellent service relatively inexpensively.

Hope that helps a little

C.
 
Please do not discuss the pros and cons of the course here, that's been debated ad nauseum on the forums.

I won't mention the pros and cons of the course, but I will say that a course (almost any course) which gets you a Nitrox card is worth doing before or whilst diving in the Red Sea. The costs are minimal, the extra fees in Sharm at least are minimal (or n/a), you get more bottom time in the optimal Red Sea depth range 10-25 metres and (if you believe the not scientifically proven but generally accepted wisdom) you feel a bit better for it and generally enjoy your dive trip a bit more. For an extra couple of Euros a dive, most experienced 'hobby divers' I know of say that Nitrox is worth it in the Red Sea and I agree.

Do the course, not for the merits of the course but just to get access to the tanks. Almost all instructors dive on Nitrox in Sharm and Hurgadha. That should tell you something?

I wouldn't worry to much about it in advance though, all decent DC's out there will do a Nitrox course of some kind and, frankly, at intro level it's GCSE maths and a bit of GCSE physics at best!
 

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