Sudan -Deep South or North

[Liberty01]

I did safaris in Sudan in 2008 and 2009, both to the North and South, but not the very Deep South. To me, the North was better for hammerheads, but the biggest school of hammerheads was in Jumna (well beow 50m).

Planing a 2-week-trip around Easter, I wonder whether the hammerheads are still there. Are there a lot more divers nowadays?

2-week-Trips are offered to the Deep South only. It is claimed that in the Deep South, there are even more sharks. Alternativel, I could combine two 1-week-trips in the North, maybe Far North.

Has anyone been to Sudan recently, particularly to the Deep South and can comment on it?

Cheers,
Liberty

 

[danz]

I did in May 2014 a 2-week trip with the Don Questo in the deep South.
I liked it very much. Very pristine and a lot of stuff to see: hammers, silky's , manta's and and even a whale shark.
Here is a small clip of our trip: Counting Fish - Underwater Research in Sudanese Red Sea - Media - www.marinevideo.eu

 

[funscuba]

When would you say is the best time to dive in sudan and where ? Is liveaboard the only way ? And which companies would you recommend ?

 

[ukdave0]

Just got back from the Sudan aboard the Andromeda. Was supposed to be a 14 day, deep south tour. The first 5 nights were the deep south tour, then a crew member got sick (later heard it was kidney stones) so we headed back to Port Sudan. We made it to the farthest south point that was planned before turning around.

Then the passengers all agreed, after owner arm-twisting, to go north for the final week. Main rationale was the chance to see bigger stuff. Deep south water was 31, which was too warm for sharks. North was known to be cooler, about 29. Many passengers were already bored with the south so it didn't take much arm twisting.
Turns out there were no sharks or anything large up north. We had virtually no currents the entire time so that may be the reason.

For this trip, IMO, the South's corals, topography. and fish density were better. I quickly got bored with the poorer corals (still good though) and lower fish densities (except for a handful of dives). North had the potential to be much better due to big stuff and more fish, but it mostly didn't happen for us. Cruise Director said April/ May was best time for big stuff up north.