Mini Safari or land base diving in Sharm

[yippy]

Hi,

It will be my first time diving in the Red Sea. I am considering end of May for a week. I never done a liveaboard before either. I am interested to dive in Ras Mohammed and Tiran. My questions are:

1. Only King Snefro 6 offers the perfect departure date covering Ras-Tiran route for 4D3N for me. May I know if anyone has any experience with the boat and dive guides? Any good?

2. For land base diving, if I opt for say a 5 day stay & dive package, how often will they go to Ras Mohammed and Tiran? Especially these are the sites I want to see most. As these package only do 2 tank dive, I may need to pay for the third to dive say in Ras Mohammed ( if that's done by the operator ). Therefore comparing the cost and ease and certainty (as in where to dive), maybe the liveaboard is more appealing? The total cost seems to work out rather similar-ish. Unless there's a land base dive operator dives in Ras and Tiran often then please let me know who!

Thank you!

 

[VsubT]

Recommend Ocean College based at Sensatori resort. You’ll most likely need to do checkout dives there the first day, but their boats leave from town. Eloise and Dan are great guides, and they seem to alternate between Ras & Tiran daily. Have fun!

Lance

 

[yippy]

Recommend Ocean College based at Sensatori resort. You’ll most likely need to do checkout dives there the first day, but their boats leave from town. Eloise and Dan are great guides, and they seem to alternate between Ras & Tiran daily. Have fun!

Lance

Thank you @VsubT ! I tried to google Ocean College to get an idea on price after reading a post from another poster here when he was diving with them last August after saying how much he enjoyed it and he mentioned about Eloise and Dan in his post! I don't mind doing a check dive. I prefer it especially i never dive in the Red Sea before. May I know if there's any place you recommend me to stay? I just need somewhere clean, simple, cheap, safe and near food and beach (sounds like a perfect location )

 

[VsubT]

Their website went down a while back, and it doesn't seem to be up now either. They're still active on their Facebook page though. They were quick to respond by email at: info@ocean-college.com and their phone is +20 122 807 5516.

Not sure I'd recommend staying at the place we did, but we heard good things about the Renaissance from one of the regulars. Anywhere close to Naama Bay will get you near the dock OC uses most of the time, but they picked us up at our hotel up near Sharks Bay with no issues. Lots of choices for hotels.

Lance

 

[yippy]

Their website went down a while back, and it doesn't seem to be up now either. They're still active on their Facebook page though. They were quick to respond by email at: info@ocean-college.com and their phone is +20 122 807 5516.

Not sure I'd recommend staying at the place we did, but we heard good things about the Renaissance from one of the regulars. Anywhere close to Naama Bay will get you near the dock OC uses most of the time, but they picked us up at our hotel up near Sharks Bay with no issues. Lots of choices for hotels.

Lance

@VsubT Thank you! That explains why I just couldn't get to their website *lol* I travel alone so I won't need any fancy pool or facilities. Somewhere simple, clean and safe with hot shower will do the trick. Eat-Sleep-Dive-Repeat..pretty much sums it up! *lol*

 

[diveUAE]

We went on the 4D2N with King Snefro in 2008 (our first LOB) and loved it! Returned to Red Sea last year and did a 7D LOB with King Snefro fleet: boat and food was still great, our dive guide a bit fast for my liking (and when we pointed out, we would like to go a bit slower to look for critters he got really upset), still I'd say it's a super option for a LOB - especially if you've never done one before. LOB is so much easier, you get more dives and as a solo traveler you always have company.

 

[Christian]

The ”mini safari” is a great way to get introduced to liveaboards. If you want to dive and don’t mind missing out going to bars or shopping, it’s miles more convenient than day boats. The further into summer you can push your week the better inmo. Ras Mohammed ”blossoms” in late june-july.

 

[a_lamonta]

I am also booked in May, but it will be my 11th time there. I did my open water and AOW there in my university days.
Regarding your question of how often RM and Tiran, keep in mind that Ras Mohammed and Tiran are very close, those are not special trips; the daily boats go there every day.
Back when it was busy and hotels were USD$250/night, they operated on a weekly schedule. monday was RM, tuesday local south, Wed Tiran etc.
Since the november 2015 plane, it's empty, so they go one day RM, the next Tiran, RM, Tiran... I had to ask the last few times I went (I've been going twice per year lately), I want to do local too! the local sites are just as nice.
RM is a national park, so there is an added fee on that day (8 Euro I think). But if your goal is to do Ras Mohammed and Tiran, you do not need a liveaboard for that. That's just local boat diving. Hotel packages usually include 2 days boat on a 5 day pack. Additional boat days are 10Euro extra per day.
Calculate it all in, with 20 Euro per day for 3rd dive, and that's your price.
That does not mean that liveaboard is not fun too, you get more diving in, and more early diving and night dives. I am in the process of booking 1 of my 2 weeks in may as a liveaboard, the other will be hotel and my usual dive center.
But if your only goal is Ras Mohammed and Tiran, keep your options open, both liveaboards and daily boats go there every day.