Red Sea Diving (Eilat)

[astroprojector]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone suggest good diving places in Eilat. Little bit about me. I am vacation diver, not certified. I have done several beginner dives in Cozumel and Cancun (about 5 dives total, no deeper than 45 feet). I will be in Eilat this June and would like to dive in the Red Sea with my GoPro 2 camera.

Can someone recommend a good diving company, or suggest some places I should go?
For Red Sea do I need red or purple filter?

 

[rdd]

I've been to Eilat twice this year (2014). I thought it was great. Memorable dives were the Silat (a sunken cruiser with tons of life), Moses rock, and the Japanese gardens. I used Aqua-sport and Manta (out Yam Suf Isrotel). Aqua-sports' guides are good but the top-side management is awful: slow, chaotic, there is no safe place to store your belongings while diving, and the schedule is more of a rough guide. They do however run a boat out to the Japanese gardens, , they do run trips to Taba (if you are willing to risk entering the Sinai), and they are on the beach. The latter convenience is nice but doesn't help to reach the Silat or the Japanese gardens. My experience with Manta was the opposite. They run a professional dive center. Manta is across the street from Aqua-sports. I wasn't bothered by the crossing the street to enter the water.

FYI: To dive in israel you need (i) your certification (the 60ft limit for OW is enforced by the guides; without AOW you will miss out on morning guided dives), (ii) dive insurance, and (iii) stamped log book. If you don't have the latter, you will need to do a check out dive ($70 + your time).

 

[world_traveler]

I'm diving in Eilat a few times a year and I agree with RDD on the top side management of Aqua Sport. Besides, after diving with them for some time I began looking for other shops after diving with 2 unpleasant and impatient instructors on private dives that were meat to improve my skills.
Till now I found 2 good diving centers: Shulamit's and Manta ( you'll find both on Tripadvisor). Both have good equipment ( Shulamit's maybe newer), pick-up from the hotel, very professional and friendly service.
The first one is a small, very personal oriented shop, each time I dived with them the groups were small (2-4 divers). They don't dive on Saturdays.
The second is a big center, well organized, better facilities. I did 4 private dives with them to improve my buoyancy enough for photography and my photography skills - they have special instructors for photography. I enjoyed every minute of learning and my photos are much, much better .
I think for you the best is to take private dives that will suit your level and will give you the time to take all the photos you want in the places you want.
Enjoy Eilat!

 

[M-diver]

Another option, just a bit north of aqua sport there is a dive center "marina divers", they are part of reef diving group. You should be able to google them up. Their location is very convenient for AOW divers as they have sunken navy wreck right of their beach and great coral formation as well but those are best enjoyed below 60 ft.

Since the OP is not certified, I guess it will be something like a Discover scuba session. I would recommend to ask if anyone will take you to the "caves" area. It is not really a cave, just a swim thru in a reef but this is a shallow 10-15 ft reef with lots of life and coral variety.

Another option would be the coral preserve just south of aqua sport and manta. It is a paid entrance so a bit of additional cost should be expected. But this is how you get to dive Moses rock (mentioned before) and Joshua rock which are remarkable dive spots

Have fun


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Doubler]

Why not just get certified?

 

[iztok]

I dove with Marina Divers few times and due to proximity of the beach, fairly easy parking, good lockers, and friendly staff, it is my to go place. Granted I usually only need tank rental and a buddy. This year I am making an exception because I am doing my instructor specialty courses nearby (across the street from Marina Divers - called U-Dive).