Is it possible to skip 'local dives' at Sharm?

[wonbok]

Hello,

My wife and I are planning a trip to Egypt in late January.
In light of the history of the country, our trip will be less about diving than sighteeing. (Two days tops at Sharm)

If we were to spend only two days for diving at Sharm, could we skip the local dives and go directly for the better ones?
From what I've read from this forum, we would be better off skipping the local dives and still not miss much.

Will the dive shops impose local dives?
If we told them we had done local dives last time we visitied (which was never), would they buy it and take us to Ras Mohammed National Park and other outer dive points?

 

[Phish-phood]

I haven't been there yet so I can't say for sure but I have been told by several people that diving with centres almost always involves at least a day on local reefs so that the ability of the group can be assessed and the rest of the weeks diving planned accordingly. Don't know if this is actually the case though.

 

[DesertEagle]

I had exactly the same question a few weeks ago when I went to Sharm. Despite my logbook that shows experience at all the reefs they still made me do my first day at a local site. Pretty much anything except for Ras Mohammed and Tiran is considered local.

My local dives were at the gardens, just north of Naama bay. I think the gardens are the most unexciting diving in the area. The diving centers will tell you things like "whenever we see a whale shark, it's always at far garden," or something like that. I don't blame them. There are too many divers in Sharm for them all to go to Ras Mohammed at the same time. Skill levels vary and they will also want to make sure that you are properly weighted. On my first dive I decided I could use 1 more kilo on my weight belt.

Not all local sites are equal. I would rather dive at Ras Um Sidd or Ras Katy or Ras Nasrani. If you make a request in advance the dive center may be able to accommodate you.

 

[Washy]

Emperor, Sinai Divers, Red Sea College, Sinai Dive Club and Camel Diver all required "local dives" when I asked.

I found the local dives a real bore and was fairly unimpressed by the dead coral reefs.

Good luck trying to get around this one - I would be very interested to know how you get on...


I suppose you could offer to pay extra as though you had actually done the local dive and then go straight to Ras Mohammed or Tiran...? They would probably argue that the local dives are for safety/conservation reasons - I think it's for cash.

Enjoy your dives, whatever you decide.

 

[chiara]

Not miss much?

You've got to be kidding!

Don't underestimate local dives in Sharm such as Far Garden, Temple or Ras Katy (just to name a few and out of memory, haven't been there for over two years and I don't have my logbook at hand).

Nice easy dives, but the Red Sea being such a wonder you'll fill your eyes with wonderful things.

The Thistlegorm can be busy, and it's four hours one way in seas that are often choppy being right in the middle of nowhere.

Please keep in mind that boats will only go there if they are full, as it is so far away no diving centre will allow for a small "clientèle", and they certainly don't do it every day.

Tiran is nice, so is Ras Mohamed.

Can't recommend a base, as the turnaround is normal practice and two and a half years is an awful lot of time in the business.

 

[Washy]

chiara once bubbled...
Not miss much?

You've got to be kidding!

Don't underestimate local dives in Sharm such as Far Garden, Temple or Ras Katy (just to name a few and out of memory, haven't been there for over two years and I don't have my logbook at hand).

You must have been very fortunate. Ras Katy was poor when I went through. I wasn't teeing myself up for the chance encounters with sharks, turtles or rays but I did expect to see something other than dead and broken coral.

The visibility was great, but there was little to see...

It was very over-dived and some of the terrible diving skills that I witnessed it was no wonder the coral had taken a battering.

 

[DesertEagle]

The divecenters always tell stories that the best whale shark encounter was at Middle Garden, etc. A few years ago I was in El Gouna and they took me to a spot called Abu Galawa or something like that. They say they often see dolphins there. Of course we didn't. The boat went there because it was quicker and the captain wanted to get back earlier.

I would like to post some of the photos from Middle Garden and Ras Mohammed. It looks like I can only enter a hyperlink, not an image. I don't have any web space right now but I would be happy to post some images if there is a way.

 

[GotAir]

Put the pictures right on the thread with using a hyper link. I thought i was pretty computer savy time I saw this. Mike
http://www.scubaboard.com/t40919/s.html

 

[DesertEagle]

I figured out why my photos wouldn't post- they were too big. I have my slides scanned into high res TIFF images. Even saving them as JPEG and downsizing it was still too big.

Local dive photo- Gardens.

Lots of dead coral. Almost all hard corals- very few soft corals. Some fish but not too many.

 

[DesertEagle]

Ras Mohammed- taken at Jackfish Alley. There is one particular coral outcrop loaded with soft corals, anthias and sweeperfish. I can add one with the sweeperfish another time. The soft corals there- wow.