Sharm,Dahab,or Marsa?

Hello friends

I will be in the Red Sea in December(first time in that area) for some diving and abit of holiday too.Which of these places have good liveaboard access,good land based and good nightlife.A good mixture of the three.

p.s December water temperature?20 degrees?Will 3mm be ok?

I`m thinking to go diving in Sharm or Marsa in november or december too, so any info you guys provide will help me too:)

Cheers

Go to sharm. I'ts the best place in Egipt for stay and dive pack (best dives and best nightlife). I was 2 times in hurghada, 2 in sharm and 1 in marsa. Take at the 5mm.

I have nothing but praise for Subex based at the Movenpick Resort Sirena Beach in El Quseir

We went in November and had a most excellent time. The hotel was first class and the dive operation ran like clockwork.

The Subex dive center was one of the best centers I have ever dived from. There were male and female locker rooms positioned around an enormous gear wash complex (separate tanks for neoprene, camera and computers etc) Each locker had its own power strip in the back to charge torches and camera lights etc. Every diver regardless of experience is taken on a check dive by the staff instructors and then rated "group" or "independent". Whilst this may seem annoying to the experienced diver, they do it to protect their reef from bad bouyancy. "Groupies" may only dive on one of the six scheduled dives per day with a guide, "independents" only need a buddy and they can dive at any time, ideal for photographers. They closely control the number of divers in the water at one time, and by doing so have kept their house reef in pristine condition. The reef is a horseshoe shaped bay starting off very shallow, and extending down to 40m, so depths for everyone. You have a choice of jumping in from the end of the pier, or taking a Zodiac out to the reef edge and dropping off to swim back in.

Subex also arrange day safaris to other dive sites nearby, but don't go out to the offshore reefs such as Elphinstone or Brothers.

One of the best things about this dive operation however was the debrief. You only got this with the guided tours, but after everyone has rinsed and stored their kit, the guide sat down with the fish books and went through every critter seen on the dive. Talking about their habitat and behaviour as well as simple identification.

If you are looking for land based diving in the Southern Red Sea go Subex/Movenpick.

BTW I wore a 5mm semi dry, however I ALWAYS wear a 5mm semi dry regardless of water temperature (I have never been too warm when diving), however looking at my wife's log she had a 5mm single piece and states the water temperature as "lovely"

Hope this helps some

Cheers

Hal

Thanks guys

Well its a difficult decision to make when considering diving and holiday however im leaning more towards Sharm cause after the dives what do i do at night.I hope Sharm is quiet vibey.Plus i hear that i can do some daytrips to some good reefs after i do the liveaboard.It seems the choices in the Red Sea are endless.So many varied sites.

Also i live in Cape Town(15 minutes away from Great White territory) and the water temperature is usually about 12 Degrees.So any temperature in the Red Sea will feel like a bath to me.

Cant wait to get wet!

We will be in Marsa Alam June 5-12 and Safaga from 12-17. From my reading Marsa Alam is not your pick for after-diving entertainment. It is also out of the way for cultural visits to for instance Luxor. That is why we split the trip with the first week being hard-core diving, a cultural break upon arriving in Safaga, and then more diving. We are staying in the Red Sea Safari Marsa Shagra dive camp and Nemo Dive Club, respectively, because both of them offer unlimited shore diving and have a house reef.

I'll send in a trip report on return but I think Sharm may be the best pick for your combination of interests.

It will also be our first trip to the Red Sea and we are really looking forward to it.

Bart

Hi all

The Red Sea is my favourite part of the world for diving and I've been to all three locations (once in Sharm, twice in Dahab and twice in Marsa Alam).

Sharm: excellent diving, good for beginners, diving is on day-boats (2 - 3 dives a day) but busy divesites. Good nightlife, nice bars, a bit too Westernised for my taste. Still if you haven't been before, you'll have an excellent time. I was diving with Ocean College and I have nothing but praise for them.

Dahab: very chilled out, almost exclusively shore diving, very much a diver/surfer location. Excellent diving. Some nice outdoor bars and restaurants (the tourist area is just one street!). Dive-Urge (small centre which offer their own very good accomodation) and Reef 2000 are excellent dive centres (Just google them!). Reef2000 offer a yoga/diving week for those who want to combine the two.

Marsa Alam: diving OK, don't miss the Abu Dabab (dugongs) and Elphinstone (sharks) dives. Not much to do at night though. I stayed at Coral Beach Diving Hotel and Marsa Shagra Eco-Village. Marsa Shagra is a hard-core divers choice. They have a house reef and you can dive it as many times as you want!! Excellent for practising u/w photography skills...

thx

DK

We will be in Marsa Alam June 5-12 and Safaga from 12-17. From my reading Marsa Alam is not your pick for after-diving entertainment. It is also out of the way for cultural visits to for instance Luxor. That is why we split the trip with the first week being hard-core diving, a cultural break upon arriving in Safaga, and then more diving. We are staying in the Red Sea Safari Marsa Shagra dive camp and Nemo Dive Club, respectively, because both of them offer unlimited shore diving and have a house reef.

 

I'll send in a trip report on return but I think Sharm may be the best pick for your combination of interests.

 

It will also be our first trip to the Red Sea and we are really looking forward to it.

 

Bart

It seems that the way to go would be to do the Liveaboard in the first week or 2 then do abit of sightseeing and so on.Im thinking 3 weeks should be enough to see at least 2 of these places.

One more question.What is your favourite liveaboard out of Sharm?

I've also been to all three. Marsa Alam remains my favorite because of the essentially unlimited diving. I am also too old to care about nightlife.

One thing to consider about Sharm: it's exclusively boat diving. Departure at around 0800, two dives with a lunch break, then return around 1600. That isn't a bad thing, but I like to get in more diving. December will be windy so the boat trips will be a bit bumpy.

I also wear a 5mm in the winter and find myself getting a bit chilled by the end of the week, but it isn't really bad. I would recommend a hood.

You won't go wrong with any of the three locations. It's simply a question of what you want to do on your vacation. Sharm and Dahab have great dive sites along with restaurants and nightlife. Marsa Alam has fantastic sites and more opportunities to dive them. I'll return to Marsa Alam for the third time in September. I am considering taking two weeks and spending one week in Wadi Lahami again.

In a sense, it's academic which location you visit. You're going to be hooked on diving the Red Sea, so you will have plenty of chances to visit them all.

Phil