Do You Have Any Eilat Suggestions?

Hello

I am heading to Eilat and will do some diving (as part of another trip). I have 1 day then 1 day with other plans then 6 days to dive.

Have you been there? What dive company would you recommend? Any specific dive sites I should not miss?

Also, and CHEAP places to stay? The only thing that I care about in accomidation is that there is a place to secure my camera gear.

My agenda is photography. Big critters are cool, but I really like macro stuff… I guess what it really comes down to is I would like to see some stuff that is more unique to that area.

Anything else I should know?

Thanks in advance!

Bill

Hi Bill,

I've been to Eilat a bunch of times. For accommodations, there are some inexpensive choices. First is the Adi Hotel. It is fairly modern. Nothing too fancy, but good for the money. The location is short walk up the hill, not far from the airport & central bus station. The shopping mall is only a 5-10 minute walk downhill. So if you want to get prints made on a Fuji Frontier minilab, no problem. I paid about $50 last year. http://www.adihotel.co.il/index.php?lang=en

In 2003 I stayed at the Moon Valley Hotel. It is located toward the rear of the marina area. It is much older but still a nice value.

Eilat has a bunch of good dive operators. I like Aqua-Sport. They are right on the beach. Red Sea Sports Club, Marina Divers, Lucky Divers and Siam Divers are the other ones. Aqua-Sport's website is http://www.aqua-sport.co.il

My favorite site is Moses Rock. It is a coral head in shallow water. The hard corals are healthy and there are a few red soft corals. Understand that you won't see too many soft corals in Eilat. The reef is covered with anthia fish.

Another good site is the wreck of the Satil. It doesn't have as many fish as Moses Rock, but it is one of the few places where you can see good soft coral growth. If I had one day, I would do the Satil in the morning followed by Moses Rock.

Japanese Gardens is promoted as the best site. I disagree. The topograhy is interesting but Moses Rock has better corals and fish. I did have a nice encounter with an octopus once.

If you have more time, do some day diving in Taba, Egypt. The diving in front of the Taba Hilton is great. You cross over, do two dives and come back before dinner.

Well, if you want to do macro photography, you can pretty much rule out guided dives. As you will never get enought time on one spot to find and photograph anything.

You could do private guided dives to focus on photography. At Aqua Sport, both Asaf and Gabi are into photography, so you might be able to request them. Asaf gave me good directions to a pair of ornate ghostpipefish last week. He has also told me where I should be able to find quite a few more pairs, and maybe even a seahorse (that's this weekend dive plan).

Another option is Noam at Nemo Diver's.

I can agree with DesertEagle, that the Adi is a nice hotel. I stayed there a few times last year. There are cheaper places to stay, but then you are starting to get into the hostel like places.

For dive sites, Moses Rock is a must. Lots of fish, lots of places for things to hide. I spotted a pair of torpedo rays there a few weeks ago. Plus the ornates I mentioned above are nearby.

Lastly, depending on what type of dive insurance you have, you may be required to purchase local insurance. It runs around $20 and is good for a year.

I totally agree with the others here but here a few more points

- Another nice hotel is Pierre it’s located in the city but taxis are very cheap there.

- I also recomended Taba, just across the border, there is a branch of Aqua Sport so you can arrange all from the main club.

- For WA there is the 'Satil' wreck that mentioned, and of course rocks like 'Moses'

- macro there is a lot of places, I likes the southern area near the border, there are two bridges there that you can go down from them and looks for few rocks around at 9-25m deep, there is a lot of cleaning station there with a lot of activity.

- Do some night dives, the conditions are ideal for that and there is a lot what to see.

I agree about the guided dives. It's best to dive with a good budy. I paid a little extra at Aqua-Sport and did some private dives with Ronen. He was using an Olympus C-5050. It was great to hover at the same spot so I could methodically photograph what I wanted. No hurrying, no scaring the animals.