alexmaclennan
20-09-06, 05:58
One from the logbook if anyone is interested.
Went with Regal divers to Nuweiba with my wife in July 2004. Nuweiba is 160 km north of Sharm. We were both newbie divers so were looking for somewhere with easy shorediving. This is it. Emperor Divers dive shop is on site at the all inclusive Hilton Coral Dreams. Generally, after breakfast we were at ED for 9am to get gear. Depending on the site drivers would take jeeps for 5 to 60 mins. Often very bumpy roads/Landrover tracks. Do two dives with packed lunch inbetween or return to the hotel for lunch. Usually back at hotel by 3pm. Vis uniformly >20m and temp in July Air 30 degrees plus, water 26 degrees. No thermocline. No difficult entrances/exits – usually simply on sand. No waves/surge.
I concentrated more on the fish life than the coral but was impressed by the underwater topography and the variety and colour of the corals. I can't remember much detail about the sites. This is from my logbook.
1. El Magana, 22m, big batfish, clownfish, parrotfish & pipefish
2. E Magana, 20m, Pyjama slugs, boxfish & 4 foot feathertail ray
3. Outside Hilton, 20m, 5mins drive from hotel. Chocolate dippers, yellow tangs, damselfish, pairs of bannerfish, cornetfish, cuttlefish and pufferfish
4. MFO Pipeline, 20m A huge pipe that was the intake for a desalination plant. Golden cardinalfish, stonefish, purple grouper, lots of lionfish ,shoals of basslets, network pipefish, lots of goatfish, silver sweetlips
5. Hebeq, 22m, Pufferfish, octopus, Humbugs
6. Hebeq, 22m, Longnose hawkfish, big blue parrotfish
7. Ras El Shetan, 24m, Lovely coral garden
8. Ras El Shetan, 20m Big trevally circling around us, tubeworms and nudibranches
9. Abou Lou Lou house reef as night dive, 15m, lots of pufferfish, lionfish, undulant and yellowmouth morays, blue wreasse and groupers asleep, porcupinefish, and stargazers on the sandy bottom (I did not see them)
10. Mazeriq, 22m, Huge 5m brain coral at end of coral garden, lovely coral garden with trenches and spires. Emperor angelfish
11. Abou Lou Lou house reef, 18m, tiny seahorse in seagrass, porcupinefish, juvenile emperor angelfish, glassfish, pipefish
12. Ras Mamlach, 27m, Wall dive and coal garden, lots of trevally, unicornfish, big leopard ray, stonefish, splendid wrasse
13. Ras Mamlach, 24m, Flying over a steep wall with fan and tabletop corals below.
There are hammocks slung between palms on the beach to lie out on. There is a small pier on the beach and lionfish cruise up and down the supports. About 100 m to the left of the pier is the Abou Lou Lou house reef. There is a small reef knee deep in the water with morays and lionfish. Excellent snorkelling.
ED was a well run outfit by And & Steffi Graf. Tanks were 12l and fills 200 bar. They do both nitrox and air. Usual teaching courses. Chris Boardman had a write up of the dive shop in one of the mags/rags as this was where he took his kids to learn to dive.
The bad bits. Food is so-so as you would expect for an all inclusive place. I had one day of the runs ?food poisoning. Susan was fine throughout. There did not seem to be much else to Nuweiba and certainly not much around hotel. I think Nuweiba is mostly a port with ferries to Jordan and is a Bedouin settlement.
...but a good place for a first red sea experience for beginners
alex
Went with Regal divers to Nuweiba with my wife in July 2004. Nuweiba is 160 km north of Sharm. We were both newbie divers so were looking for somewhere with easy shorediving. This is it. Emperor Divers dive shop is on site at the all inclusive Hilton Coral Dreams. Generally, after breakfast we were at ED for 9am to get gear. Depending on the site drivers would take jeeps for 5 to 60 mins. Often very bumpy roads/Landrover tracks. Do two dives with packed lunch inbetween or return to the hotel for lunch. Usually back at hotel by 3pm. Vis uniformly >20m and temp in July Air 30 degrees plus, water 26 degrees. No thermocline. No difficult entrances/exits – usually simply on sand. No waves/surge.
I concentrated more on the fish life than the coral but was impressed by the underwater topography and the variety and colour of the corals. I can't remember much detail about the sites. This is from my logbook.
1. El Magana, 22m, big batfish, clownfish, parrotfish & pipefish
2. E Magana, 20m, Pyjama slugs, boxfish & 4 foot feathertail ray
3. Outside Hilton, 20m, 5mins drive from hotel. Chocolate dippers, yellow tangs, damselfish, pairs of bannerfish, cornetfish, cuttlefish and pufferfish
4. MFO Pipeline, 20m A huge pipe that was the intake for a desalination plant. Golden cardinalfish, stonefish, purple grouper, lots of lionfish ,shoals of basslets, network pipefish, lots of goatfish, silver sweetlips
5. Hebeq, 22m, Pufferfish, octopus, Humbugs
6. Hebeq, 22m, Longnose hawkfish, big blue parrotfish
7. Ras El Shetan, 24m, Lovely coral garden
8. Ras El Shetan, 20m Big trevally circling around us, tubeworms and nudibranches
9. Abou Lou Lou house reef as night dive, 15m, lots of pufferfish, lionfish, undulant and yellowmouth morays, blue wreasse and groupers asleep, porcupinefish, and stargazers on the sandy bottom (I did not see them)
10. Mazeriq, 22m, Huge 5m brain coral at end of coral garden, lovely coral garden with trenches and spires. Emperor angelfish
11. Abou Lou Lou house reef, 18m, tiny seahorse in seagrass, porcupinefish, juvenile emperor angelfish, glassfish, pipefish
12. Ras Mamlach, 27m, Wall dive and coal garden, lots of trevally, unicornfish, big leopard ray, stonefish, splendid wrasse
13. Ras Mamlach, 24m, Flying over a steep wall with fan and tabletop corals below.
There are hammocks slung between palms on the beach to lie out on. There is a small pier on the beach and lionfish cruise up and down the supports. About 100 m to the left of the pier is the Abou Lou Lou house reef. There is a small reef knee deep in the water with morays and lionfish. Excellent snorkelling.
ED was a well run outfit by And & Steffi Graf. Tanks were 12l and fills 200 bar. They do both nitrox and air. Usual teaching courses. Chris Boardman had a write up of the dive shop in one of the mags/rags as this was where he took his kids to learn to dive.
The bad bits. Food is so-so as you would expect for an all inclusive place. I had one day of the runs ?food poisoning. Susan was fine throughout. There did not seem to be much else to Nuweiba and certainly not much around hotel. I think Nuweiba is mostly a port with ferries to Jordan and is a Bedouin settlement.
...but a good place for a first red sea experience for beginners
alex