Dahab worth the cheap flight ticket?

[Ashantiashanti]

Hello there scubaboard,
I'm planing a dive holiday for my gf and I from the beginning of Dec. for perhaps two weeks.

We can get quite cheap tickets to Sharm, and have been recommended to dive at Dahab.
But is it worth it? We have just been diving in Mozambique, where we saw two mantas, lots of sharks
beautiful micro life etc. It really seems that our standards have been raised, and therefore now want
to pick a destination with similar, or better opportunities of underwater wildlife.

For double the price of our flight tickets we can cross the Atlantic to South America, venture to Eastern Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philipines etc) or fly down to South Africa or Maldives.

The reason why I'm considering Dahab is because my mate said that it is "World class diving" and possibilities of big fish. So, if true, then we might as well pay a cheaper ticket price!

Any information is greatly appreciated,
Cheers.

 

[decompression]

Dahab is good, very good. You get a lot of colorful and healthy life but it's the amazing topography that impresses. Just do some web research and that might convince you. It's well worth it for a discount price, it was a 2 day flight and $2600 to get to Sharm for me. Between Sharm and Dahab you can easily spend an amazing week or two diving, certainly "world class".

 

[Ashantiashanti]

Dahab is good, very good. You get a lot of colorful and healthy life but it's the amazing topography that impresses. Just do some web research and that might convince you. It's well worth it for a discount price, it was a 2 day flight and $2600 to get to Sharm for me. Between Sharm and Dahab you can easily spend an amazing week or two diving, certainly "world class".

Heya, thanks for that! Did you do offshore dives from Dahab to their local sites?
I've read that the best in Egypt should be the islands in the middle and southern parts of the Red Sea, such as The Brother Islands and Elphinstone Reef. However, it is recommended that one should access them via. liveaboards - did you see any liveaboard operators in Dahab, or am I better off finding one via. google?

Cheers.

 

[ArthurGerla]

Ashantiashanti,

Almost all diving in Dahab is from shore, though there are a few day boats. Usually you are bussed to the dive site, and there's at least one site that is only accessible by camel The diving is great, but if you go to Dahab to see big stuff you are likely to be disappointed. Likewise for Sharm. Though I've seen a leopard shark en grey reefsharks there, the only ones you can expect to see are whitetip reefsharks.

You cannot realistically get to the the southern offshore reefs from Dahab or even from Sharm. The way to dive those reefs is to book a dedicated liveaboard trip out of Marsa Alam or Hurghada. I would suggest you book a resort in Sharm, dive out of Sharm (by dayboat) and do the day trip to Dahab diving the 'Bells to Blue Hole' and 'Canyon' sites. Another site that is accessible from Sharm but not from Dahab is the wreck of the Thistlegorm. World class diving again, and a nice bit of history.

 

[decompression]

Ashantiashanti,

Almost all diving in Dahab is from shore, though there are a few day boats. Usually you are bussed to the dive site, and there's at least one site that is only accessible by camel The diving is great, but if you go to Dahab to see big stuff you are likely to be disappointed. Likewise for Sharm. Though I've seen a leopard shark en grey reefsharks there, the only ones you can expect to see are whitetip reefsharks.

You cannot realistically get to the the southern offshore reefs from Dahab or even from Sharm. The way to dive those reefs is to book a dedicated liveaboard trip out of Marsa Alam or Hurghada. I would suggest you book a resort in Sharm, dive out of Sharm (by dayboat) and do the day trip to Dahab diving the 'Bells to Blue Hole' and 'Canyon' sites. Another site that is accessible from Sharm but not from Dahab is the wreck of the Thistlegorm. World class diving again, and a nice bit of history.

Ditto!

 

[Ashantiashanti]

Ashantiashanti,

Almost all diving in Dahab is from shore, though there are a few day boats. Usually you are bussed to the dive site, and there's at least one site that is only accessible by camel The diving is great, but if you go to Dahab to see big stuff you are likely to be disappointed. Likewise for Sharm. Though I've seen a leopard shark en grey reefsharks there, the only ones you can expect to see are whitetip reefsharks.

You cannot realistically get to the the southern offshore reefs from Dahab or even from Sharm. The way to dive those reefs is to book a dedicated liveaboard trip out of Marsa Alam or Hurghada. I would suggest you book a resort in Sharm, dive out of Sharm (by dayboat) and do the day trip to Dahab diving the 'Bells to Blue Hole' and 'Canyon' sites. Another site that is accessible from Sharm but not from Dahab is the wreck of the Thistlegorm. World class diving again, and a nice bit of history.

Aww, no big stuff? ='( Hmm, I'm having some second thoughts about this now...
And the reason why I mentioned Dahab over Sharm is because we don't quite like over-touristed places, and I was told that Dahab is much more laid-back..
But thanks a lot for your input too.

 

[ArthurGerla]

Hah. Old-timers tell me Dahab used to be some kind of hippie enclave. But things have moved on since the eighties. And really, there are no authentic non-touristy places in Sinai anyway. Nor anywhere else in Egypt, come to think of it.

Don't let the relative scarceness of macrofauna get you down. There's plenty to see in Sharm. And that's from someone who has dived those offshore reefs as well, not to mention Darwin & Wolf in the Galapagos.

 

[Solly]

Ashantiashanti,

Almost all diving in Dahab is from shore, though there are a few day boats. Usually you are bussed to the dive site, and there's at least one site that is only accessible by camel The diving is great, but if you go to Dahab to see big stuff you are likely to be disappointed. Likewise for Sharm. Though I've seen a leopard shark en grey reefsharks there, the only ones you can expect to see are whitetip reefsharks.

You cannot realistically get to the the southern offshore reefs from Dahab or even from Sharm. The way to dive those reefs is to book a dedicated liveaboard trip out of Marsa Alam or Hurghada. I would suggest you book a resort in Sharm, dive out of Sharm (by dayboat) and do the day trip to Dahab diving the 'Bells to Blue Hole' and 'Canyon' sites. Another site that is accessible from Sharm but not from Dahab is the wreck of the Thistlegorm. World class diving again, and a nice bit of history.

This describes the situation well and very clearly.
I second what Arthur said.

 

[Ashantiashanti]

Hah. Old-timers tell me Dahab used to be some kind of hippie enclave. But things have moved on since the eighties. And really, there are no authentic non-touristy places in Sinai anyway. Nor anywhere else in Egypt, come to think of it.

Don't let the relative scarceness of macrofauna get you down. There's plenty to see in Sharm. And that's from someone who has dived those offshore reefs as well, not to mention Darwin & Wolf in the Galapagos.

So it seems we should head to Sharm instead then - better diving and offshore sites?
And, does anyone know some cheaper liveaboards in the region?

Edit: I've realized that I need to find 3 nights or so liveaboards to meet my budget. I found MV King snefro 5, via Diveadventuresasia. Their route is Ras Mohammed and Thistlegorm. But aren't these dive sites accessible from day dives?

Cheers

 

[decompression]

Ras Mohammed is a shorter trip than the Thistlegorm, but the 'gorm trip starts super early in the morning as you catch a nap on board and wake up on the site. Some dive ops might do this different but that was Emperor Divers.