Red Sea, as compared to other places?? Liveaboard?

[chienac]

Thanks to everyone for all of the input. My buddyand I ended up booking a liveaboard, the Sea Serpent, out of Marsa Alam for early July and are very much looking forward to it. We will be hitting Elphinstone and the Brothers

 

[TX101]

I've just come back (last week) from doing a liveaboard of the southern red sea (Elphinstone, Brothers, Daedalus). I also did day boats from Sharm mid last year and have done day boats from GBR the year before.

I prefer wreck diving to reef diving. My wife prefers reef diving. The diving we did in the GBR is a lot shallower than the red sea - you would be lucky to get a max depth of 20m in Australia, where in the red sea you can drop down to 40m and slowly come up along a wall. My wife believes that the GBR offered better coral and fish life than the red sea - but I think that's because most of it was shallower and thus looked more colourful.

To me, every reef looks the same.. I enjoyed the livaboard, simply because we went to the Salem Express and we also hired doubles + stages for the week, so I could do nice long, deep dives if I wanted to. However, in terms of 'big fish' - I saw 2 small reef sharks and 1 turtle the whole week. So from that perspective, I felt the "southern red sea" was a bit of a waste.

I think if I was going to go for a 3rd time, I would do a northern red sea livaboard that was doing mainly wrecks.

 

[Andy Hipkiss]

My wife believes that the GBR offered better coral and fish life than the red sea - but I think that's because most of it was shallower and thus looked more colourful.

To me, every reef looks the same..

I felt the "southern red sea" was a bit of a waste.

I think if I was going to go for a 3rd time, I would do a northern red sea livaboard that was doing mainly wrecks.

For wrecks then the north is better (though crowded) but for "aquarium" type diving then Fury Shoal and St Johns are superb. Playground and Umm Kuf are just stunning.

With Brothers, Elphinstone and Daedelius I guess it's all down to luck. I've dived with 7 Oceanic White Tips at a distance of ooh, maybe 30 cm (12") last November which certainly makes Elphinstone a bit unforgettable! However I've also dived Elphinstone recently when a Tresher about 30m away was the "highlight" on the dive on the pelagic front.

YMMV but I am in no rush to go back to the northern routes, St Johns (yet) again is a must. I'm not into man made objects underwater though.

 

[Christian]

What did you think of the AIDA and the Numidia?

/c

I've just come back (last week) from doing a liveaboard of the southern red sea (Elphinstone, Brothers, Daedalus). I also did day boats from Sharm mid last year and have done day boats from GBR the year before.

I prefer wreck diving to reef diving. My wife prefers reef diving. The diving we did in the GBR is a lot shallower than the red sea - you would be lucky to get a max depth of 20m in Australia, where in the red sea you can drop down to 40m and slowly come up along a wall. My wife believes that the GBR offered better coral and fish life than the red sea - but I think that's because most of it was shallower and thus looked more colourful.

To me, every reef looks the same.. I enjoyed the livaboard, simply because we went to the Salem Express and we also hired doubles + stages for the week, so I could do nice long, deep dives if I wanted to. However, in terms of 'big fish' - I saw 2 small reef sharks and 1 turtle the whole week. So from that perspective, I felt the "southern red sea" was a bit of a waste.

I think if I was going to go for a 3rd time, I would do a northern red sea livaboard that was doing mainly wrecks.

 

[xepi33]

I did a liveaboard out of Marsa Alam and for a week, experienced some very good diving (St Johns, Fury Shoal etc). Corals were in very good shape - although we did see some signs of anchor damage in a few sites.

Do you have a link to the liveaboard you did???

Thanks

 

[El Orans]

Do you have a link to the liveaboard you did???

Thanks

Emperor Divers has several boats going south.

 

[ThierryA]

Hi,

Just came back from my fifth liveaboard trip in Egypt in the last 18 months (also did four or five trips to Dahab during this time) and would really recommend the south around Marsa Alem if you are into coral reefs etc. Elphinstone was still my most unforgettable dive with a drift dive along a pristine wall and oceanic white tips at the end of the dive.

Came back two days ago from a four day trip to the wrecks between Sharm and Jubal. It was also unforgettable. Dove the Thistlegrom and Ghiannis D. twice (each) and I enjoyed it immensly.

Of all the operations I used, I have to recommend the last one. It was by far the best crew, boat, divemaster, etc. It is the Seaqueen fleet owned by an italian (and the obligatory egyptian associate). The boat we were on was the South Moon. The Seaqueen 1 is an old russian steel boat that is faster and larger than most liveaboards and can do the south starting from Sharm easily.

If you are looking for luxury, I visited the Snapdragon when it was anchored in Sharm and it's obvious you can get a lot more if you pay twice the US$100-130 a day I am used to pay, but the main interest for me is the diving, so...

Diving in Egyp is always a treat.

 

[chienac]

Thanks for all of your input. My friend and I will be going to the Brothers and Elphinstone out of Marsa Alam on the Sea Serpent in early July. Hoping it will be good and that I will only throw up a few times (no matter how much Dramamine I take, I still am not so good on boats, but I go anyways -- anything for a good dive!!)

Went to Belize in March, and have been to Australia once and Bonaire a couple of times... Trying to figure out where to go next, perhaps this fall or winter.