I am new to the group and I am looking for inspiration for our next dive adventure. We love love love Asia and some of our favorites spots so far have been Philippines, Komodo and Raja Ampat. When it comes to photography, muck diving is my favorite but we also love the big stuff. We are looking for a dive destination that doesn't require multiple days of travel from Chicago. We have heard fantastic things about Egypt but we have been reluctant since we don't like diving with big groups or crowded dive sites. I've heard liveaboards are the way to go... If anyone has any suggestions (location, time of year, boat) it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi turriffk (love the user name!)

Ive organised trips a few times to Egypt. I'd advise strongly looking at the southern Red Sea. That's a bit less crowded than the northern area which has tons of day boats in addition to liveaboards.

I always use Emperor Divers liveaboard fleet who I have found to be very good. Take a look at their trips out of Marsa Alam heading south: St Johns and the Furys is very good and not crazy busy - well for the most part any way. Last trip we had Oceanic Whites and loads of dolphins.

The itineraries that have The Brothers and Elphinstone Reef tend to be busier but the diving is pretty good.

The Red Sea gets pretty cold in the winter, say November to April with temperatures in the celsius teens. In the summer it gets into the very high celsius 20s or even low 30s.

As for travel, Marsa Alarm is fairly easy to get to via Europe especially via the UK or Amsterdam. Cairo is easy of course and there are 2-3 flights a day from Cairo to Marsa Alam. We've found those reliable and inexpensive. A couple of days sight-seeing in Cairo is a bonus and well worthwhile. I can recommend a company who can arrange a car, driver and guide for you. Similarly, if you use a Marsa-based boat, a 2-3 night side trip to Luxor is very worthwhile. You can then fly from Luxor to Cairo.

I really like diving in the Red Sea (and Egypt more generally), although, have to say, I did notice a drop off in reef quality from 2023 to 2024. I don't know if that was seasonal or more long-term. The colour vibrancy was just not as good.

Any follow-up questions, just let me know.

12 hours ago, TimG said:

Hi turriffk (love the user name!)

Ive organised trips a few times to Egypt. I'd advise strongly looking at the southern Red Sea. That's a bit less crowded than the northern area which has tons of day boats in addition to liveaboards.

I always use Emperor Divers liveaboard fleet who I have found to be very good. Take a look at their trips out of Marsa Alam heading south: St Johns and the Furys is very good and not crazy busy - well for the most part any way. Last trip we had Oceanic Whites and loads of dolphins.

The itineraries that have The Brothers and Elphinstone Reef tend to be busier but the diving is pretty good.

The Red Sea gets pretty cold in the winter, say November to April with temperatures in the celsius teens. In the summer it gets into the very high celsius 20s or even low 30s.

As for travel, Marsa Alarm is fairly easy to get to via Europe especially via the UK or Amsterdam. Cairo is easy of course and there are 2-3 flights a day from Cairo to Marsa Alam. We've found those reliable and inexpensive. A couple of days sight-seeing in Cairo is a bonus and well worthwhile. I can recommend a company who can arrange a car, driver and guide for you. Similarly, if you use a Marsa-based boat, a 2-3 night side trip to Luxor is very worthwhile. You can then fly from Luxor to Cairo.

I really like diving in the Red Sea (and Egypt more generally), although, have to say, I did notice a drop off in reef quality from 2023 to 2024. I don't know if that was seasonal or more long-term. The colour vibrancy was just not as good.

Any follow-up questions, just let me know.

Thank you so much for this Tim, this is super helpful and I really appreciate it!

We definitely prefer warmer water temps so we will keep that in mind for sure. We dove with Emperor in the Maldives and we were quite happy with them. Once things start coming together, I will be in touch for the tour recommendations.

Thanks again!!

I've been to the red sea 3 times, two of them from Sharm el Sheikh and another one from Hurghada. This is everything north Red Sea, if you expect big stuff is not the place, Although I dove with dolphins for more than one hour in Abu Nuhas reef, very good spot for wrecks. And I dove with a big hammerhead in gordon reef, that's all north. If you are lucky you'll dive alone in the scattered spots, but in famous spots like Abu Nuhas will be a bit crowded, and if you go to the very famous Thistlegorm you'll dive probably with more than 200 divers at the same time, it's very crowded, but it's worth it.

Be careful with the boat you choose, a few of them say they are luxury and charge like luxury when they are actually not. I was in the Agressor II in October 2024, they sell luxury, but it's not. Not a bad boat for a normal price in Egypt north, 1300 € more or less for a cruise saturday to saturday plus flights, plus tips, plus beers..., but nothing else, even they are very friendly and well equipped for photographers, big tables for the cameras and air whips to dry up the housing after rinsing.

Go South (Marsa Alam)

June to August (more crowded but good weather )

Caution:

if you go in winter and the wind is above +30km/h they close the port (Hurgada) for security reasons and no sailing aloud.

Last couple years theres was lots of liveaboard accidents, and in 2024/25 the government implemented lots of restrictions to prevent more accidents, 2 motor engineers on board now is mandatory and they ban night sailing.

The liveabaords are refurbish old yachts made of wood, and their bottom is flat.. meaning not made to break the waves.

Sometimes the boat operator add extra deck to accommodate more passengers, messing with boat stability due being taller, get a windy day and the thing shakes a lot (flat bottom remember).

The times ive went ( emperor ) the captain told us, he had inherited their boat license from his father, fisherman, 40 years at sea, at sea since age of 10, very experience, know the tides, currents, cross winds, but there's no navigation charts, everything is done visually avoiding surface corals + with a smartphone with GPS..

In November 2024 we booked a chart (20 divers) and before we leave the port, the captain refused to make the south route due the weather conditions, he made an ultimate, or north or we won't leave, and until today im glad the captain took that decision, because 2 days later, other boat that leave same day has us, the Sea Story sank capsize...killing 11 people onboard.

Ive worked 15 years at sea, weekly drills, fire fighting training, sea rescue, etc, etc, some stuff what ive seen in Egypt shock me, other has pleased me.

Staying at Sharm el-Sheikh resort can also be good option (safer) .. theres dive centers booking daily to SS Thistlegorm or Ras Muhammad National Park.

Need to return one day to go to Rosalie Muller & Salem express (liveaboard)

Edited Sunday at 11:10 PM1 day by Nando Diver

I like diving in Egypt since the early 80ies, at least once a year. Red Sea is wonderful and close to Europe, but I must say that since (at least) 2000 it is overcrowded with scubadivers.

Liveaboards can no longer be considered as a way to avoid the masses. Even to the contrary: last time when I was at the wonderful Dealdalus off-shore reef, I counted 20 liveaboards ancoring on the (protected) South side when beeing on top of the lighthouse, it looked more like a marina. Most species seen UW are therefore divers that produce air-bubbles (but one could still see and photograph the outstanding coral and encounter some hammerheads)...😑

On the last liveaboard trip few years ago, I was diving at Shaab Claudia, famous for grottos, caverns and coral garden (St. John area). There were divers from three liveaboards diving there simultaneously and it was just a mess. When I was trying to make photo in a narrow cavern, other divers were just crawling over me. When I would have known that it will be such a mess, I would have remained happily on board and renounced the dives (I know this beautiful diving place from many dives before)...🤣

In addition to the scuba diving mass tourism comes serious coral bleaching during 2023 and 2024, mostly affecting the regions south to El Quesier...😔

Is Egypt now cancelled from my list of scuba destinations?

Definitely No - scubadiving is still good, Egypt is very budget priced, just four hours flight away and I have developed strategies to avoid the masses...

#1.: We prefer housereef diving in small and quiet resorts that offer nothing but scuba diving (independent diving without guide and at any time you want). One can still produce beautiful photos, mostly macro, but also WA can be rewarding (when e.g., at the early morning before breakfast and before the other scuba divers come curious dolphins show up, it can be a unique opportunity for WA and will be a lifetime memory)...

#2.: Special liveaboard trips, organized by and for UW photographers. A major driving force for the scedule of these trips is to avoid other liveaboard. E.g. on such trips, one organized by Alex Mustard, another one by the, went astray, Adam Hanlon, on each we had the famous Thistlegorm for two days just for us alone, accessible at any time (including night dives) for buddy teams of UW-photographers. Indeed perfect conditions, I think I never will book a "regular" safari again (I am not eager to go to such destinations, having multiple liveboards, masses of divers and air-bubbles and beeing forced to dive in hastily guided gruops)...

For someone coming the long way from Canada, I recommend such a special "UW-photographer" safari (in case you want optimum chances to see sharks at the offshore reefs (Deadalus and Brothers) it should better be in autumn). Since one week is pretty short for such a long trip, add a week of independend housereef diving at one of the small scubadivers resorts...

Wolfgang

P.S.: I have done many liveaboard safaries so far in Egypt and all, but a single one, were good, many outstanding (In case you are interested, I can inform you about boats by PM)...

Edited yesterday at 02:42 PM1 day by Architeuthis

I’ve used and like the Royal Evolution. It has operated in Egypt and Sudan for 20+ years and has had the same owner Yasser Elmoafi for all the time—a true pioneer in Red Sea liveaboard diving who has ”created” a few of the routes.

With that said, there are too many boats in the Egyptian Red Sea nowadays so it’s crowded also on the off shore islands. Beautiful dives tho. Summertime is the overall best inmo with good chances of seeing hammerhead sharks.

In fall and winter, oceanic white tips.

The latest years I have ditched liveaboards for camps with housereefs where you can go unlimited w/o guide or even solo, like Red Sea Diving Safaris, run by another pioneer Hossam Helmy.

I've done a fair bit of diving in the Red Sea, maybe not as much as some here, but I have tried most areas.

As a general rule its 'middle of the road' type diving, fish and reefs rule, and whilst there is plenty of variety on that front its not the best area for really small or really big stuff.

Northern sites from Sharm are generally based around the Ras Mohammed and Tiran areas with a decent selection of wrecks available. Very nice but busy and whilst there are a couple of specific times such as snapper aggregations around June or Hammerheads off Jackson reef late summer these are really bonuses rather than basing your trip around.

A little further south is Hurghada, and if you prefer day diving this may be worth a look. My favoured area by far is El Gouna to stay in as you have far more freedom of movement than Hurghada itself, and a few choices of boats. Personally I dive with a local guide called Moustafa Housin but private guiding can push the price up quite a bit.

Going further south you're getting more into Liveaboard only territory (yes I know the Marsa Alam area has day boat diving). The classic route is based around Daedalus, Elphinstone and the Brothers, and whilst the diving is excellent it will be busy. The boats do their best to stagger divers but you won't be alone at any of the main sites. A big draw there are the oceanic whitetips in autumn but due to a few incidents elsewhere in the Red Sea I've found the boats nervous about diving with them unless you're on a specific shark itinerary.

All told, my favourite area is the Deep South, which generally means liveaboards from the Marsa Alam area. Coral bleaching has occurred over recent years but the reefs are nice, there are some small cave systems to explore, and little gems like snorkelling with spinner dolphins at Sataya reef if that can be organised for an early morning

Water temp is nice a. year round, but over winter it can get a bit breezy getting out of the water, and you'll often find guides in drysuits simply because of the wind. Personally I jus dump my gear and take a quick shower (no the ones on the rear dive deck) and put on dry clothes - problem solved)

Boat wise, the Aggressors are nice but not what I'd call luxury. You can get fantastic deals on them st the start of the season around March though. I had a nice experience on the Ghazala Explorer and the Emperor boats are generally well regarded

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by Pooley