On 4/11/2022 at 11:38 AM, sinetwo said:
Thanks again @JustinO, my findings so far are:
1. There's a huge cost to the transfer from Hurghada to Marsa Alam if you're going solo (currently 100eur each way, but I'll see if there are ways to share or cheaper options). There are no flights to RMF unfortunately, so it'll be the 3 hour transfer.
2. Flight prices ain't what they used to be! £520-550 incl. luggage or so. 
3. If Marsa Shagra can accommodate a single diver, that' would be ace. 22 eur per dive for a private guide ain't too bad either.
I'm waiting to hear back from them but at the moment it seems like a direct flight to Cancun or Hurghada are the best options.
My 2 cents about Fury Shoals and Wadi Lahami area:
Definitely one of my favorites - I cannot stand places like Sharm/Hurghada and Marsa Alam. All those giant compound hotels and 500 people dive centers are not my thing. Dahab used to be a place to have really nice diving, but big part of going there was also to visit all the folks...and tthey are long gone sadly.
One note is that Fury can be strange...there are some dive sites that will be all colors and crits, and others where you will yawn from boredom. Really depends on weather/time of year it seems as well.
Wadi Lahami village - stayed in 2017. Very nice and quiet place, tents and a few "normal bungalows" (huge things). Diving done on a RIB so can be a bit bumpy but they start really early (often RIB leaves 7AM) so you are at the divesites before any of the big boats, and back for lunch. As it is so quiet, no clue how it will work with buddy but you can always dive with DM . They are pretty ok there.
Also ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TOMATOES. Yes, tomatoes. Literally best I've have even eaten. There was about 10+ folks out there at the time, all absolutely stuffing their gob with tomatoes.
Price wise on the more expensive range, thought cheaper than the Nakari/Shagra. Didn't complain thought as we drove there from Cairo and had resident prices 
Orca Diving Wadi Lahmy - stayed end of 2021 for a quick week+ solo as gf could not travel. Place is a couple of clicks from the village, you can actually see the other place. Dive center/hotel are ran separately but dive center can help though sometimes chaos can result 
. Hotel can book via normal sites or (often 200+ euro less) ones like TUI (though can be a hassle, always pay with credit card!). Hotel is one of the smaller compounds, maybe 100 guests, but rather on the quieter side ie no giant parties each night with music banging till 2 AM. Pretty nice looking. Dive center is part of Orca clubs and pretty ok. Diving from either RIB or big boat (real big) about about 10mins drive away from port. Big boat is definitely very comfy, especially if you have only 10/15 folks....no stepping on each other toes and plenty of places to lounge. Can take time though, the local port authority is pretty painful and they double check boats/passenger count so can sometimes take 1h+ just to depart...so that you are back 16.00+ in the hotel.
Very good diving prices, i would say cheapest in the area (Lunch is extra though, can always ask hotel to pack one). They do allow unguided diving, or even a bit of "unnoficial" wandering off once they establish you seem to know what you are doing (or pretend well enough). Can give you number of the dive guide i went with, was very relaxed and pretty much sometimes arranged half the boat just so i had a nice dive
Important - very cheap transfer (more below)
One more place, though not sure would go there for longer unless doing courses/rebreather, as they only have shore reef - Orca Coral Garden (the one outside Safaga). Super relaxed, couple who ran it are super helpful. Full rebreather support and you can dive whenever you want, just grab a tank (solo diving was not allowed last time I was there). We (or gf) have always stopped there for a few days when driving on the North-South. Pretty nice place. They can also arrange boat dives from their 2nd Safaga location This one is slightly bigger and maybe even better for a solo travel - in fact that was (part) of my other plan last November (wanted to to more diving on Salem Express then transfer down to their Wadi Lahami location) but at the end they were booked full.
Now as for flights - to give you an example, since you seem to have a similar plan like i had last November - at the end decided for Orca Wadi Lahmy - the other village was to pricey alone (especially w/o resident discount anymore ). Plus the big boat definitely made things easier when solo with camera. Price wise was about 1600 Euro for flights/hotel/diving/transfers 12 nights/10 days of diving.
Flights - you can fly to Marsa Alam, that is the fastest, but also most expensive. When I was booking it, Hurghada cost me 350 Euro (charter from Bonn, including upgrade to 32kg etc), meanwhile similar flight to Marsa would have been 600-700 Euro. Hurghada is not that far, about 5-6 hours drive so its doable. You can always plan to land around 18.00, be in hotel 24.00/1, on teh way back it also kinda helps as driving is low, i.e for example started at 12.00, flight was 20.00 meaning day before could even do a night dive still decoing in the car
Transfers - Ignore all dedicated transfer services online or Hurghada. They are usually 100+ (often 150) one way.
Arrange with Orca - 98 Euro BOTH ways (return). You can also book the transfer even if not staying/diving with them. Had some folks for example in the nearby kite village also riding with me.
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; the diving, of course is extra and costs about 25 Euro/housreef dive and more, when you dive with the day-boat). This includes transportation Hurghada/Rohanou (located south to El Quesier, about 2/3 the way to Marsa Alam from Hurghada). When I uncheck the Transportation box it is 26 Euros less (two way transportation). Often transportation is in a mini-Van that starts at the airport and drop out the people at different resorts (and opposite when going back, then they collect the people from different resorts and bring them to the airport). Only once I took a personal transport directly at the airport and it was by far the most expensive ever...
