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November 3, 200619 yr

Can anyone offer advise (from experience) on the best times of year for diving in either the Cocos or Red Sea?

Thanks.

Chris

November 3, 200619 yr

Cocos seems to be june through sept for best action, but the ambient light not so great as its the rainy season. but, that is when hammers are at their greatest and offers the best chance at a whale shark...

Red Sea... can't help you there

November 3, 200619 yr

Best in Red Sea:

May-June and Sept-Oct

They say that juili-august is also great, but then it is toooo hot for me.

November 7, 200619 yr

Can anyone offer advise (from experience) on the best times of year for diving in either the Cocos or Red Sea?

Thanks.

Chris

Can't help you with Cocos, but for the Red Sea, it depends on where you go.

For Egypt summer is the best inmo - june-july. It is a comparatively cold sea this far north and tempretaures vary quite a lot. Water temperature will be between app. 25-27 Celcius in june-july in Egypt. In this time the reefs "wake up" and visibilty is usually very good.

In winter it can drop below 20 degrees C in the north (gulf of Aquba). In south Egypt (Zabargad-Rocky Island-St Johns' reefs), temperatures are normally one or two degrees warmer.

Land temperatures can be high, but it is dry desert heat, not to be compared with humid tropical heat. Also I always go on liveaboards (which is reccomendable for the serious diver) wich provides a constant breeze. And nowadays there are always AC in the cabins.

The same season applies for Jordan and probably northern Saudi.

For Sudan I would reccomend spring - march-april. In this period water will go from app. 25, 26 to 27-28. Many sharks at this time and scalloped hammerheads (not like cocos, but then visibility will be much better and there are some of the most beatiful coral as well). In the fall you can see and snorkel with large gatherings of mantas in Mesharifa, but the overall diving is not as good as in the spring when the reefs are much more alive and sharks and other predators abound.