Hamata first week of January

[StirlingDiver]

I'm thinking of going to Hamata in the first week of January. I've never dived the Red Sea before, so I only have second hand information on it. I'm looking at land based diving with a few days on a boat and few days diving from the beach.

I'd like to know what the weather and water conditions are likely to be. I've heard it's likely to be windy, but how restrictive is that likely to be? Also, what kind of wetsuit would you recommend? I mostly dive without a wetsuit down to 27C. Any recommendations for accomodation (3 star down to no stars)?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mortenscuba]

We just came home from a trip to Hamata and Marsa Alam 2 weeks ago. We dived with Emperor Divers and stayed one week in Hamata and one week in Marsa Alam.
I would recommend that you go to Marsa Alam instead of Hamata.
Hamata was quiet and we saw a lot of beautiful corals there, but not a lot of fish. My guess is that there has been a lot of fishing down there.
In my opinion the diving in Marsa Alam is better, with more fish and more exciting things to see (dugong, sharks etc).
If you dive with Emperor Divers in Marsa Alam you can stay in the Marina Lodge Hotel.
Thats where Emperor have their boats, so you can go from you hotelroom straigth on to the boat.

Morten

 

[StirlingDiver]

We just came home from a trip to Hamata and Marsa Alam 2 weeks ago. We dived with Emperor Divers and stayed one week in Hamata and one week in Marsa Alam.
I would recommend that you go to Marsa Alam instead of Hamata.
Hamata was quiet and we saw a lot of beautiful corals there, but not a lot of fish. My guess is that there has been a lot of fishing down there.
In my opinion the diving in Marsa Alam is better, with more fish and more exciting things to see (dugong, sharks etc).
If you dive with Emperor Divers in Marsa Alam you can stay in the Marina Lodge Hotel.
Thats where Emperor have their boats, so you can go from you hotelroom straigth on to the boat.

Morten

Thanks

 

[Solly]

check redseadiving safari website, they have 3 locations starting shagra village 20km norht of marsa alam (20-30 minutes in rib from elphinstone), nakari 20 km south of elhonstone and lahami in hamata... they offer many packages including shore dives, boat dives ..etc.
Red Sea Diving Safari - Marsa Alam - Home

water would be cold (in our egyptian perspective... 24-25 degrees and I use a 5mm suit for that,) so if you use no suit till 27 then I guess a 3mm suit would be needed, windy.. yes but it all depends you can find a magic week with no wind... air temperature will be in the 20s in the sun but much much low in the evening....

enjoy

 

[dbulmer]

I've been to both Marsa Alam and Hamata and I'd pick Hamata over MA.

However, one thing to consider for both places is how much diving do you want to do?
If you are wanting to do a lot of diving think about a liveaboard.

Both resorts are quiet. I visited Hamata on my own last October - in the hotel I stayed at Zabargad Berenice there were no more than 14 divers in the entire 2 weeks I was there. I'd gone there for beach diving but ended up boat diving - I had real problems finding a buddy (other than Emperor staff) because of the lack of divers.

In Hamata I dived with Emperor Divers based at the Zabafgad Berenice hotel.

Emperor were excellent to dive with - good knowledgeable staff and I recommend them highly.

On my second day at Hamata there is a jetty at the hotel which leads onto the house reef.
My buddy was the Emperor team leader at Hamata at that time.

We descended to about 7m and heard a clicking sound - it was a pod of 4 bottle nosed dolphins. Two of the dolphins circled me for a short period of time

A dugong is beautiful to see but a pod of dolpins - well you decide!

If you do decide on Hamata - try to fly to Marsa Akam airport - it reduces your journey time.
I flew to Hurghada and travelled by taxi. They quote about 4 to 5 hours by taxi from Hurghada - it actually took about 3.5 hours so don't be put off by the time they quote.

 

[StirlingDiver]

Hi Solly and dbulmer

Thanks for the balanced, informative input. I've actually decided on Hamata. I kind of like the frontier thing and if there aren't that many people there, then I'll just have to take my chances .

There isn't much info on this board on Hamata, so I'll post a report when I get back.

All the best

StirlingDiver