Eilat for Two Weeks

[winomonkey]

Hi -

New to the board here. I am going to be in Israel for an archaeological dig for four weeks this summer, after which my friend and I will be heading down to Eilat for a couple of weeks of diving. I am curious who you would recommend I go with out of the Eilat region. I have been looking at Nemo divers, as the have several liveaboard charters which sound interesting, but I am not sure if they are the best company to go with. So, any recommendations as to companies, local sites, etc would be greatly appreciated.

We will be travelling with our own gear, sans tanks and weights, so rentals shouldn't be too big of a problem. We will do a bit of our diving on our own before and after the charter. However, I am curious if $7 air / $13 nitrox is a good deal, or if there are better places to go for that. Also, one last gear question - what kind of suits would you recommend we wear? I am used to the Pacific NW here in the US, and have been wearing 6.5 mm neoprene. Should I go for a 2.5 shorty or a full body dive skin?

Ciao,
Garret

 

[DesertEagle]

Hi Garret. Welcome to ScubaBoard.

Eilat only has a few miles of Red Sea shore. As a result, the operators go to the same sites. All are competent, so it's mostly a matter of which atmosphere you enjoy most. Frankly, if you have a good buddy, it really shouldn't matter. On my last trip I used Aqua-Sport and Red Sea Sports Club. Both were good. Marina is another club that looked nice. You should also consider a dive at the Dolphin Reef, which has its own dive center. I am not familiar with Nemo Divers. If they are like the other companies then they should be very good.

My favorite dive in Eilat is Moses Rock. It has the best fish life of the sites in Eilat. Another favorite was the wreck of the Sufa (right in front of Marina Divers, you could easily walk from Aqua-Sport or Red Sea Sports Club). The Sufa is covered with soft corals. You don't see to many soft corals at the other reefs in this area. The site with the best reputation is Japanese gardens. Frankly I didn't think the marine life was that great. Moses Rock is more colorful. However Japanese Garden has more unusual topography. It's a little more like the dives further down in Sinai.

You can stay in Eilat and do some dives accross the Egyptian border in Taba. My favorite site is called "black coral" and it's right in front of the Hilton. A little further south is another good site called the Canyon. Both are better than anything in Eilat. Aqua-Sport runs the center in the Hilton.

My own preference would be the 2.5 shorty. I think you will want a little thermal protection, so the skin may not be enough.

 

[djkpsu]

Garret,

Welcome to SB and soon to Israel.

I am in Eilat just about every weekend (actually I'l be heading there in a few hours for a long weekend). I have dove from Marina several times. They have a nice operation right on the water, as does Aqua-Sport. I am not sure about Nemo, but they are probably fine.

I can agree with DesertEagle that the diving in Eilat isn't the graetest. There are a lot of divers and not many dive sites. I have not been acroos to Taba, but I plan on doing that with Aqua-Sport sometime soon. I have gone over to Aqaba, Jordan, and the diving there was much better then Eilat.

Either Taba or Aqaba are good choices, and can easily been done in just one day.

As far as wetsuits go, I wear a 5/4/3 full. The water temp has been 23 lately, and I don't think a shorty would be enough for me.

If you need a place to stay in Eilat, pm me.

 

[acanter]

Two of us - Padi advanced open water certification will be in Eilat for only 3 days due to fixed departure.
Would like to do night dives and wreck dives.
Any suggestions for accessing best dives with those restrictions ?

 

[djkpsu]

Two of us - Padi advanced open water certification will be in Eilat for only 3 days due to fixed departure.
Would like to do night dives and wreck dives.
Any suggestions for accessing best dives with those restrictions ?

The Satil and the Yatoosh are the two main wrecks. The Satil is directly in front of Marina Divers, and I think you can swim from the Yatoosh from there also. Max depth of the Satil is 26m, and I think the Yatoosh is a little shallower. I have done the Satil several times, but have not been to the Yatoosh.

There is also a WWII landing craft somewhere, but I am not sure exactly where. A friend of mine is going to try and look into that site this week.

I think night dives can be arranged through just about any dive shop. There are just some arrangements that need to be made with the Navy/Coast Guard prior to the dive, but the shop will take care of them.

 

[DesertEagle]

Sorry, I meant to say Satil for the wreck instead of Sufa.

 

[Jai Bar]

Two of us - Padi advanced open water certification will be in Eilat for only 3 days due to fixed departure.
Would like to do night dives and wreck dives.
Any suggestions for accessing best dives with those restrictions ?

As have been said, the "Sufa" missile boat ("Satil" is just a Hebrew abreviation for "missile boat") and "Yatush" patrol boat (from Vietnam, like the boats in the movie "Apocalypse") are easily accessed from a shore dive. Both are in the range of 25-30 meters deep and not far from the shore.

In the north beach, there is an artificial pyramid, three WW-II amphibian vehicles, an asphalt-roller tractor, electricity pole and also a sculpture garden (in memory of Ofer Michaeli, who died in the 90's in the Blue Hole). Most of these structures are covered with soft coral. However, they are definitely *not* shore dives, so you should inquire in dive clubs if and when they take a boat there. There are several small wrecks (OK, very small ones such as Kayaks, bath tubs and small pedal boats ) scattered here and there- some are beyond your cert level, others may not interest you and if you have only three days better keep to the well-known ones...

Night dives- just put the gear on and step anywhere into the water. Moses rock is nice also at night, Sufa is cool if you are not intimidated from deep night dives (and assuming you've done it daylight and know how to get there), the "caves" near the "Princess Hotel" is also a popular night site .
Night dives in Eilat must be coordinated with the local naval base- ask in the club's counter to make the phone call and arrange it for you.

Don't forget to bring logbooks and insurance (can be purchased in all dive clubs at the counter), drink a lot of water (darn, it's hot and dry in Eilat!).

And last thing- there is much more life in the water than appears to be from first sight. Open your eyes- and with some luck- you can see pretty cool stuff in Eilat, such as Eagle Rays, huge stingrays, turtles, Barracudas etc. etc. and there are lots of small fish species, nudibranches etc too.