Where would you go for £1000?

I'm looking for somewhere to go with my wife for around £1000 ~ £1200 each (can add for food on top of that). We were thinking something in Egypt although that's not looking so good now. It's not a huge budget so what alternatives can we afford?

We like warm water and even warmer weather.

Planning to go sometime in May.

We don't drink much or need great nightlife although we do like food.

Mrs Wizbowes is not so big on wrecks - in fact she really doesn't like them at all.

Both very competent divers although we've not been diving since our first kid appeared in 2006.

I'll want to take pictures, snorkel etc when not diving.

Leaving from London

Anyone got any smart ideas?

I would have said Egypt as well, but if you are looking to book up pretty soon, then I would not suggest there. If you can wait a month or two until things have simmered down, then I am sure you will bang a deal to Egypt. The price of flights are falling by the day. I am due to fly out there in a couple of weeks and have had my eye on the flights since the revolution started. A liveaboard would be my first choice, look for an itinerary that isnt wrecky. Failing that have a look at Oonas divers website and look into Marsa Shagra. Its a great little set up and you will have plenty of change out of your £1200.

If this question was asked a few years ago, then it would have had a lot of answers with differet choices, but air travel prices have gone sky high ( no pun intended ) and because of this it narrows it right down. Have you looked at the Azores. 4 hours from the UK with some great diving opportunities.

Failing that 2 weeks at Stoney

Stew

Heres a list from Thomson!

Dahab is there All Inclusive for £450 each, I'd go for that

Dahab is there All Inclusive for £450 each, I'd go for that

Hmm - thanks. £450 is hard to resist. I;m a Yorkshire man through and through!

Come over here!

Weather's lovely, 30'ish degrees in May. Sea temp is around 28 degrees. We have Cenotes to dive in and enough tacos to sink a battle ship.

You can easily get an AI from Thomas Cook or someone including flights for that.

If you want anymore info on the area send me a PM and I'll gladly answer any questions you have.

PS

I don't work for any tour company or anything, I just live here.

PPS, we're in Playa Del Carmen.

Yeah it sure is hard for us Europeans to find anything that compares to the diving you can get in the Red Sea for the money. A liveaboard is always a great option and there are some wonderful boats on the Red Sea now with value for money that is hard to beat.

Cheers, Simon

My money is on a late deal to Red Sea Diving Safari's site at Wadi Lahami. For an u/w photog its difficult to beat the Fury Shoal and, uncommonly for a shore based operation, you get four dives a day and a dive centre manager who's laid back attitude is illustrated by his dive briefing "surface with some gas left..."

Sign up to all of the Red Sea tour operators and you will be getting some great bargains emailed to you over the coming weeks. Egypt needs all the tourism support it can get at the moment, so take full adavatage of the recent events to grab yourself a bargain.

in no particular order

emperor divers

oonas divers

blueotwo

seaserpent fleet

tony backhurst scuba travel

dive worldwide

and there are many more.

Stew