Sudan liveaboard december VS Maldives land-based?

[manar]

Hello

Ever since I heard that Sudan is like Egypt 20 yrs ago, I have dreamed of Sudan liveaboard.

I got a chance to visit Maldives with my friends and planned to do some land based dives there, but as I didn't book the flight ticket going to Maldives, I now have to pay almost double for the flight ticket and am wondering if Maldives worth it. Especially when it's not a liveaboard dive.

So, I am thinking about Sudan liveaboard instead of Maldives, as I anyway will visit Egypt. From Egypt it is not that difficult or expensive to get to Sudan, and I will get to see a little bit of Northern Sudan I guess.

I tried to read some reviews of Sudan liveaboards but it seems like that there are not many recent reviews, plus I remember someone wrote that it was below expectation and would rather choose Southern Egypt liveaboard(which I did 2yrs ago) in 2009 or this year??


So, any of you who had done either or both of dives, either Maldives land based or Sudan liveaboards, I would really appreciate any of your advice.

Thanks!!

 

[ocdiver1]

i just returned from diving in Egypt as well as doing a Sudan liveaboard out of Port Sudan (the Sherazade). Honestly, while I enjoyed the trip, it was below my expectations. Other than being alone at a divesite (or maybe with one other boat), far different that Egypt, the diving was not really superior to the diving further north in Egypt. One really disappointing thing was that the coral was not in especially good shape...I was told roughly a year ago sea temps rose in the southern Red Sea and there was a real bleaching/die off event. Granted, my itinerary didn't go to the far south of Sudan..I had a friend who did that itinerary several years ago and raved about some of the sites, but my experience in Central/Northern Sudan was mediocre. I have great memories of the Maldives, but it's been a few years and I did a liveaboard rather than anything land based.

 

[ElChe]

I have a friend who visited Sudan in the last 2 decades for a dozen times and he said it's very different from Egypt, but he likes Maldives very much as well. I know two Egyptian liveaboards, the Cassiopeia and Andromeda which go to Sudan in the winter and as the guests use to say they see more sharks, there are some really nice spots and much less dive boats. They liked the dive spots like the Umbria wreck and famous Precontinent underwater station which appeared in Cousteau's movie World Without Sun. Not all of them go back regularly but some do. Sadly I haven't been there yet.

 

[Layla]

nine trips to Egypt
three trips to the Maldives
I'm going to the Sudan on Royal Evolution in March

 

[FairyBasset]

I just got back from a trip on the Royal Evolution to the deep south of Sudan. Had a fantastic time.
21 out of 23 divers on board were shark crazy! 2 were macro fans and I dont think they loved the trip as much as the shark fans.
We saw hundreds of schooling hammerheads in so many different locations. We also had lots of grey reef sharks and white tips and we saw one longimanus as we traveling on the boat.
On one particularly spectacular dive we swam with a huge manta, followed by a huge shoal of barracuda and then we dropped to 30 meters and had 50 hammerheads swimming up close and personal. FANTASTIC!!
Some of the other great dives were the Umbria wreck close to Port Sudan, Sanganeb Lighthouse Reef and the Conshelf (Cousteau) at Shaab Rumi. Most dives are around plateaus, moving into the blue to find the hammerheads.
It is really a long way down to the deep south from Marsa Alam, so you do not do 3-4 dives every single day, but the dives you do are really great.
The Royal Evolution itself is OK... bit tired looking. Food is average - not 5* as it says on the website. However the boat is one of the only ones going to the deep south and the crew is great.
I would definitely do the trip again.
If you like currents, big fish, lots of schooling fish and seeing nothing but sea for 360° then you will love this trip!

 

[supergaijin]

I have never been to the Sudan but I worked in Sharm and Djibouti (which is at the entrance to Red Sea). I now work in the Maldives.

As a generalisation the Red Sea can be a bit hit or miss- sometimes you get lucky and have an incredible week but othertimes the conditions aren't perfect and there's not much. When it's a hit- it's arguably up there with the best in the world.

The Maldives is a safer bet because the diving is good all year round and sometimes you get lucky with some encounters with schooling mantas or multiple whalesharks in some areas- it would help if you named the resort where you plan to go.

Liveaboards will always provide the best diving over a land-based dive operation.

 

[ArthurGerla]

I have loads of dive experience -both land-based and liveaboard- in the Red Sea including Sudan on Don Questo, and have recently been on three multiweek liveaboards in the Maldives central atolls. I would echo everything supergaijin said, especially the bit about liveaboards beating resort diving every time.

 

[Christian]

When you read Fairy Bassets and ocdiver1:s reports on Sudan, you'd think they're talking about two different destinations.
In fact, they are.
Look at the timing of their trips. Fairy Basset went in the spring and ocdiver1 in the fall. It is so very different and the only divers I hear saying that the difference between diving in Sudan and Egypt is the number of visitors and boats, are the ones going in the autumn months.
Maldives or Sudan? Sudan is a bit more adventurous trip in my experience (however that has changed with the Royal Evolution that gives access to Sudan from Port Ghalib). Both can provide excellent diving on par with Sipadan, Palau or any other 5* destination in the world. But Sudan is best dived in March-April-May and on a two week safari so if you can't go then the Maldives gives you better options. And either should be done from a liveaboard.

good luck