Hi everyone,
Quick question that I did try to search before posting this. I'm looking to go to Marsa Alam to dive for a week at the end of a June on a solo trip. I'm probably going to dive with Emperor as I've heard good things. While staying at a resort, though, there is not guarantee I'd be able to hit Elphinstone, Dolphin House, and Abu Dabab in one week. I'll probably be able to get to at least one.
My question pertains to the other reefs in the area:
Marsa Alam Dive Sites, Descriptions and Maps - by Emperor Divers
Are these dive sites still pretty good? Anyone have experience with them? I just want to be sure it would still be worth it without hitting all the well-known sites.
Thanks!
I've been going to Marsa Alam for a week of diving on a yearly basis for a number of years now and I would dare to say that it would be very hard to find a crappy dive site there.... at least within the 50km north or south of Marsa Alam, which is what I've seen up to now. It's ridiculous how beautiful it is. It's God's aquarium (or who/what ever you believe in).
I personally dive with Red Sea Diving Safari's from Marsa Shagra. It's the perfect vacation for me because I can do whatever I want whenever I want all week long. It's a "diving camp" though so you live in a bungalow and there is literally nothing there except where you sleep, where you eat and the Red Sea.
In my opinion a more perfect place for a diving vacation does not exist on this planet.
As for the dive sites, Dolphin House is... meh. you stand a relatively good chance of encountering dolphins anyway (click link below to see me diving with a "random" dolphin who just joined our little group) so unless hanging around on an otherwise boring dive in the HOPE that a dolphin comes to you, then I wouldn't put it on the top of the list. If something has to get scrapped for any reason, scrap that.
Elphinstone is a deep/wall drift dive. You stand an excellent chance of seeing sharks there. I would do that dive for sure provided the currents are running from north to south. I've dived it with a reverse current before (south to north) and unless you're a VERY strong diver you want to skip it on those days. The day we did it with a reverse current the least experienced diver they took had 750-odd dives and even then it was a real roller coaster with currents going everywhere, including straight down. When the guide launched the DSMB near the end of the dive it didn't even go to the surface at first. It first launched horizontally and didn't start floating up to the surface for maybe a 5 count. On normal days (north to south current) it's an easy and very impressive dive, though, so don't let me scare you.
Abu Dabab is a nice shallow dive over a sandy bottom. It's a nice and easy dive and you will almost certainly see (large) turtles there but don't let them tell you than you'll see a dugong. The last diver I personally know who saw a dugong at Abu Dabab was in .... 2008 is memory serves. I personally love the turtles -- they are my favorite marine animals -- so I go there every time I'm there, but finding a dugong there is like trying to spot a fire fly in a monsoon. Go for the turtles!
A better "shallow" dive if you're not into turtles is to do one of the shallow wrecks like the Abu Ghusun. It's in a very diveable depth, IIRC 20m at the bottom and 8m on top of the wreck. Beside the wreck there is a large field of sea grass where you stand a good chance of seeing sea horses. The reef adjacent to the wreck is also very pretty.
I'm not familiar with all of the sites on the website you linked but like I said, I wouldn't worry about any of them being crappy. There is also a fair amount of variation. If you want to see anemones and clown fish, no problem, they have a dive for that. Coral tunnels? done. Deep? no problem. Pretty much a guarantee of turtles and depending on the season reef sharks are common..... the list goes on and on. I've made hundreds of dives in that area and I just can't imagine ever getting bored.
One last tip is to dive at night. With a full moon you can even make a night dive without turning on your flashlight (done that, it's aMAZing!). The nocturnal life on the reef is very different than during the day and even if you haven't been diving at night before, take a course and go do it. Seriously!
R..
Me and my dive buddy
