Best time of the year for the Red Sea

[Illini_Fan]

I'm fairly sure I'm heading to Egypt and the Rea Sea in 2008. Is there any time of the year that is good/bad for Red Sea diving?

Ramadan is basically the month of September during 2008, does that impact any of the liveaboard diving in any fashion?

Thanks

[egyptdiver]

Originally Posted by Illini_Fan

I'm fairly sure I'm heading to Egypt and the Rea Sea in 2008. Is there any time of the year that is good/bad for Red Sea diving?

Ramadan is basically the month of September during 2008, does that impact any of the liveaboard diving in any fashion?

Thanks

Ramadan doesn't impact tourism that much however the divemaster and the captain/crew of the boat will be tierd durring the day due to their fasting. My favorite time in the Red Sea is just before summer like May or June. If you will be diving in the southern Red Sea like Marsa Alam i would sugest going in the winter more like Nov or Dec.

[Illini_Fan]

Thanks Egyptdiver -- I know the Red Sea is fairly large, but I'm looking at a liveaboard, probably out of the West Coast. Any thoughts?

I'm trying to combine a tour of Cairo, Luxor, etc... with a week of diving and geographically it seems boarding a liveaboard from one of the west coast cities would be easier.

[ScaredSilly]

I was there in Feb, cooler water but not too hot. It made the rest of the trip very nice.

My take on Ramadan (I started my trip just before it ended) is that if you are there during that time period you will find many food places closed during the day. If out on a boat not a big deal. But if in town you might find lunch hard to find except in the hotels.

That said, I found that if I got a little snack I could last until night fall and then I feasted like everyone else. And it is a hoot to experience.

[SouthernSeas]

The hammerhead sharks school in the northern red sea around July. Unfortunately, I never dived during that time of year, but I understand it's pretty awesome! Re: Ramadan, the DMs and crew will be tired during the day.

[namabiru]

Yeah, if you're on a boat, probably no big deal. If you stay in a town, though, it can be boring as hell during the day. In Doha, at least, absolutely nothing is open until the evening. Restaurants (minus the expensive hotel places), shops, etc. Supermarkets are open, though. While I'm enjoying the 6-hour workday immensely, I'm getting a little tired of Ramadan. I'd like to not literally have to hide in the closet at work to eat or drink... I'd also like to be able to go have coffee or late lunch after work.

[vanessar]

Does anyone have any specific liveaboard recommendations as I planning a Red Sea trip in 2008.

Thanks,

Vanessar

[TexasScuba53]

Originally Posted by Illini_Fan

I'm fairly sure I'm heading to Egypt and the Rea Sea in 2008. Is there any time of the year that is good/bad for Red Sea diving?

Ramadan is basically the month of September during 2008, does that impact any of the liveaboard diving in any fashion?

Thanks

See my post in response to your "So Who has Dove the Red Sea ?" post. We were there at the tail end of Ramadan this year and it was no problem as expressed in other posts. Since we headed out each day at 0800 and returned at 1700 we missed the "during the day" in town issues. The crew on the boat was not tired and our dive guides who were not Egyptian were not observing Ramadan. Coincidentally, we are planning our return for the last week of Sept first week Oct next year.

Liveaboard vs staying in town? Hands down, stay in town!!

[Illini_Fan]

Originally Posted by TexasScuba53

Liveaboard vs staying in town? Hands down, stay in town!!

Really, why? First of all which town are we talking about? Second, I had heard (but have no first hand experience) that the reefs close to shore on the west coast are taking a pounding from the ever expanding tourist trade and thus some of the better dive sites are a fairly good boat ride away - hence the liveaboard.

thanks

[TexasScuba53]

Originally Posted by Illini_Fan

Really, why? First of all which town are we talking about? Second, I had heard (but have no first hand experience) that the reefs close to shore on the west coast are taking a pounding from the ever expanding tourist trade and thus some of the better dive sites are a fairly good boat ride away - hence the liveaboard.

thanks

I'm speaking of Sharm el Sheikh and I don't know about the shore diving. I'm assuming the comment about the "reef pounding" is probably accurate since that's where most of the classes go. All of our diving was off a day boat which was at most was a 45min to 1 hr ride out to the excellent dive sites (Tiran and Ras Mohammed).