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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / July 2005Red Sea
Has anyone dived the Red Sea? I am doing a week long liveabord in the southern area and am looking for any information about the area. Thanks I dived it back in 1979...it was Sharm as my base and dived around that area. It was very spectacular diving and having dived all over the world -- I give the Red Sea -- on a scale of one to ten...it gets a 10. No other place gets a 10 from me....not the Coral Sea, Palau, Galapagos, the Maldives, Indonesia, the Solomons, Fiji, PNG or even the Philippines. Well, the Philippines, in terms of a greater variety of soft corals, did come close. I wouldn't even dare mention anything in the Caribbean here which doesn't rate above a "5" in my estimation. Why do I rate the Red Sea so highly... because it's got...among other things... incredible u/w topography fabulous corals the big animals colorful reef fish good viz I could go on and on...but right now, I'd be to worried about terrorism to go back. Also, since the time I was there, some sites may have gotten kicked in, dynamited or God know what else! But I'm sure that the Red Sea still remains the summit of all diving in a lifetime of dive travel if you join a live-aboard and travel to some lesser visited sites. > Has anyone dived the Red Sea? > I am doing a week long liveabord in the southern area and am looking for any > information about the area. > Thanks Daniel Kessler <dkessler@pop.cybernex.net> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :I dived it back in 1979...it was Sharm as my base and dived around that area. :It was very spectacular diving and having dived all over the world -- I give the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] : :Why do I rate the Red Sea so highly... Actually, I am curious about how you rate the Coral Sea, Galapagos, Maldives, Indonesia, the Solomons, Fiji, PNG or even the Philippines. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. Based on two live-aboard trips to the Coral Sea, first all the way out to Marion Reef and a second trip further North to the Ribbons -- I would rate Australia/Coral Sea as an "8"...Palau could easily be an "8" with those spectacular verticl drop-offs (some undercut) in 3 feet of water with big corals hanging off them dropping into far off depths. Ditto, the Galapagos gets an "8" as well as PNG. I think the Maldives (on a good day where the coral hasn't been bleached out) deserves an "8" because of the way you can almost be one-on-one with colorful reef fish (you can't do that anywhere else that I know of). I think the Philippines should get a "9" if there's anything left that resembles what it used to be. I would give the Solomon's a "7" and Fiji, a "6". Those hanging gardens in Sepidan should get a "7" although the time I was there the viz wasn't so good. There are probably a few spots in Indonesia that still could be rated very highly based on what I saw near Manado--haven't yet gotten to Wakatobi. > Daniel Kessler <dkessler@pop.cybernex.net> pounded away at his > keyboard resulting in: [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups > ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- >I dived it back in 1979...it was Sharm as my base and dived around that >area. > It was very spectacular diving and having dived all over the world -- I > give the > Red Sea -- on a scale of one to ten...it gets a 10. The "southern area" of the Red Sea is not in Egypt. > No other place gets a 10 from me....not the Coral Sea, Palau, Galapagos, > the [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > rate > above a "5" in my estimation. You would be disappointed today. Sharm is not nearly what it was 20 years ago, and as you head south the "belly" of Egypt's Red Sea suffered a massive Crown of Thorns infestation and in July of 2001 (my last visit) most of the sites off and just South of Hurghada were mostly rubble as a result. Panarama and Abu Hashish were still beautiful, but along with them came a pile of worthless sites. As we headed south to Brothers and on to the Sudanese border things got substantially better (though Brothers was loaded with boats and equally loaded with divers). Waiting for soft coral shots that didn't have bubbles in them was a long term affair because there were just so many divers in the water. I thought everything between Elphinstone and Rocky Island was worldclass diving, though like every other place you were at the mercy of Mother Nature. Bottom line for me is this: From Brothers on South to the border is the only Eqyptian Red Sea diving I would go back for, and I am planning to do so. As far as comparisons go I believe PNG (almost all of it) is exceedingly better than Eqyptian Red Sea, as I do Galapagos on good days, a great part of Indonesia. So to the OP, if your comment about the "southern area" meant southern Egypt, you should have a wonderful time diving the Red Sea. > *From:* "Dp Pepper" <jspiers@sympatico.ca> > *Date:* Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:43:13 -0400 [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > for any information about the area. > Thanks Done Sharm and Dahab on 6 or 7 different trips, but no liveaboard experience in the Red Sea......but.... From the Uk you can now get regular flights down to Marsa Alam which i think is considered "southern".. I have had conversations with people that have done the "south", they mean Sudan when they say south though, Sudan is or was a little dangerous i think, but they say the diving down there was stunning, fantastic..... Personly i would not take a "Northern" Red Sea liveaboard, the day boats do most of what they do and the quality of hotels for your money is terrific, or more bang for your buck........ Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK Take out the "goes diving" bit.... Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk >> *From:* "Dp Pepper" <jspiers@sympatico.ca> >> *Date:* Wed, 27 Jul 2005 20:43:13 -0400 [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >do most of what they do and the quality of hotels for your money is >terrific, or more bang for your buck........ I dont think you should discourage Northern Liveaboards on this basis. Day boats take hours to get to Thistlegorm and Dunraven, and dont go to Abu Nuhas, or Bluff Point. In addition, there is nothing like being able to wake up and dive, without the hours of hassle getting to the dive centre, then to the boat, then to the site, even if it is only Tiran or Ras Mohammed. (Only???)  SignatureRichard Faulkner > I dont think you should discourage Northern Liveaboards on this basis. I did qualify this with "personally"........but i would go on to say that from the itineraries i have looked at for northern red sea liveaboards i would not pay the extra money they want just to be at 2 or possibly 3 locations earlier than day boats. > Day boats take hours to get to Thistlegorm and Dunraven, and dont go to > Abu Nuhas, or Bluff Point. I have done Thislegorm about 5 times, and a very good wreck dive it is too, and can remember doing my safety stop in very clear water and looking down on the whole ship thinking what a great dive, trying to remember the whole dive for future reminiscences. Your right of course it does take 4 hours plus from Sharm to Thislegorm and a 04:30am start is not ideal, Dunraven however is ok from Sharm by day boat, doing the Alternatives (pinnacles) and then Dunraven makes for a good day out on the boat. Personally i love the day boats from Sharm, the best dive boats i have been on, big, sun deck, cooking for lunch, tea coffee, toilet etc i like it because it is very relaxing...........although the day dive boats i have been on in the Key's were big they didn't have sun deck or cooking facilities as i recall. > In addition, there is nothing like being able to wake up and dive, > without the hours of hassle getting to the dive centre, then to the > boat, then to the site, even if it is only Tiran or Ras Mohammed. > (Only???) Yes, "only"......some of the drifts i have been on at Woodhouse (Tiran) Jackson etc have been so fast they have fooled the boats......yes, surfacing to find no boat on more than one occasion, and Jolanda at Ras Mo is my all time favourite dive site......coming up from the wreckage and around the pinnacle is simply beautiful........ So i would not discourage northern liveaboards, but i would say look at where they plan to dive and weigh up what you get over the day boats. Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK Take out the "goes diving" bit.... Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk |
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