Diving in Hurghada

[dougaldiver]

I agree with you on this one. However not everyone agrees with us, hence the controversy.

[ziko14]

i know a great boat with great great equipement with a very experienced instructor wit very good prices,i had several dives with him and he's great,if u r interested reply on my e-mail it's eshra14@yahoo.com,

[rockinrobin]

Thanks, I'll send you a mail in a short while.

Thanks also to Tamas, I've checked out the site and they're on my list of people to talk to.

[tkoles]

We dove in Hurghada in November. I definitely would rate it way below Cozumel, Honduras, Belize. Reefs in Hurghada are very damaged. It is painful to watch. Try to go to National Park sites around Little Giftun. Extra fee. Try to skip windy days. Most of the boats congregate on few leeward sites. There is more divers in the water than fish. They keep heads open so it is not unusual to see feces floating around and a lot of toilet paper.
Most dive shops use slow boats and bus you to the port. It takes 8 hours out of your day to do 2 boat dives.
El Mina wreck is worthwhile and is easy to access. I saw a school of about 30 lionfish hovering around the bow.
In my opinion diving in Hurgada is good for doing OW and the first 10 dives after. Otherwise it is rather painful.
We dove with New Dino dive shop. The shop you use would depend largely on where is your hotel located.
Good luck but do not expect much. Egypt sucks in general even if you do not get diarrhea.

[dougaldiver]

Responding to Tkoles. Wow, it seems like you were either really unlucky or had a dive centre that just took you to the worst places. It's a shame you had such a bad time of it as the diving in Egypt can be fantastic.

I have personally logged well over 200 dives in Egypt (the majority in Sharm El Sheikh area but a fair number in Hurghada) and still rate Egypt above most of the places I have dived in the Caribbean (although I admit I haven't dived some of the places you mention in comparison).

Yes they do use slow boats and they make a day of the diving with typically quite long dives (60 minutes plus in many cases, I have personally carried out dives up to 80 minutes by prior agreement) and long surface intervals to maximise time on the second dive. Have lunch on the boat, sunbathe or whatever. I personally find this a great way to dive.

[rockinrobin]

Thanks to everyone who gave us info and tips for the trip. We've just got back and had a great time. In the end we dived with Twins Diving Centre who were great and couldn't be more helpfull. I'll be posting something about them over the next few days.

[Mr. Fix]

I am from Egypt and have been diving there since 1994. I do agree that the reefs are deteriorating in some areas due to nearly the 2.6 Million Divers coming to the Red Sea every year. Still, there are still some nice dives but they are more appealing to the Advanced Divers. Generally, you need more alive reefs, go South and avoid Hurghada and Sharm.
I am glad to know that "Rockinrobin" had good times and hopefully, he will be back.