Diving centre recommendations Sharm el Sheikh

[Deep]

Hi
Probably off to Sharm in summer, will be diving with my two teenagers.
We're looking at a very nice hotel that also has a dive centre with a good rep but it's pricing is stupidly high.
A boat trip with two dives would cost $1000 for the three of us! I might be able to negotiate once there but can't rely on that.
I was in Hurghada last summer and the three of us did about 8 to 10 dives including Advanced certification for all three of us and the cost was about £2k. That included a private dive master/guide throughout.

Anybody in a position to recommend a high quality dive centre in Sharm where the prices aren't taking the piss?

Cheers

[Lee_sec]

you are spoilt for choice really - my current top contenders would be (assuming you want day boats rather than liveaboard)

emperor divers https://www.emperordivers.com/day-diving-location/...

red sea dive college https://redseacollege.com/ - if you are tec / ccr be cautious when booking as they dont have tec staff atm and it depends if they can hire in the right people

circle divers (especially if you are tec divers / CCR) https://www.circledivers.com/

Not dived with in years but camel are still going too: https://www.cameldive.com/

[Deep]

Lee_sec said:

you are spoilt for choice really - my current top contenders would be (assuming you want day boats rather than liveaboard)

emperor divers https://www.emperordivers.com/day-diving-location/...

red sea dive college https://redseacollege.com/ - if you are tec / ccr be cautious when booking as they dont have tec staff atm and it depends if they can hire in the right people

circle divers (especially if you are tec divers / CCR) https://www.circledivers.com/

Not dived with in years but camel are still going too: https://www.cameldive.com/

Definitely not liveaboard and I'm just an advanced PADI, not a tec diver!
Have you dived with Emporer's yourself?

Thanks very much

[Lee_sec]

Dived with Emperor, Red Sea (twice in the last year) and circle (alongside them twice this year) and would be comfy diving with any of them as a PADI DM / TDI Rebreather diver...

Check with whoever you book if you will need a visa as the rules are changing (it used to be if you were going diving in Ras Mohammed national park you would need a visa however that is now not the case from what i've heard)

[knk]

Camel
https://www.cameldive.com/

[Deep]

Lee_sec said:

Dived with Emperor, Red Sea (twice in the last year) and circle (alongside them twice this year) and would be comfy diving with any of them as a PADI DM / TDI Rebreather diver...

Check with whoever you book if you will need a visa as the rules are changing (it used to be if you were going diving in Ras Mohammed national park you would need a visa however that is now not the case from what i've heard)

Thank you.
I'm probably not as hardcore a diver as you. Even though I've been diving for 25 years I'm purely a recreational diver and my holiday is as much a relaxing family holiday as it is about diving.
So a nice boat to relax on in between dives, as much help as possible with the kit, decent food etc is important.

I'm happy to pay more to get that little bit of extra comfort.
Given that, would you recommend any one of those centres over the others.

Really appreciate your help, thank you.

[GT03ROB]

For several years i used to dive in Hurghada 3 or 4 times a year. At the start of this I learned there as well,

I used Emperor divers all of the time. They were excellent. I did the open water as a group & then the AOW on a 1-1 basis. My wife later did her OW as 1-1. Couldn’t fault them

They always struck me as professional.

[Deep]

Thanks, Emperor it is then.
Funnily enough when you google dive centres in Sharm, Emperors only have about 37 reviews compared to other centres which have hundreds.
That's why I initially ignored Emporer.

Cheers

[Deep]

I've just had an email from them with their price list, far more reasonable and in line with what I would expect.
The hotel we'll probably stay with is just taking the piss with their prices.

Thanks!

[ScubaBiker]

I dived with Emperor in Sharm years ago (around 2000) and they were very good, well organised and very professional. I haven't dived with them since, but am doing a liveaboard with them in October this year.

Both my kids are teenagers and dive, our best diving holiday has been a family liveaboard. Last year we went from Port Ghalib down to Fury Shoal. We have one booked again in August this year, heading north from Hurghada doing a Wrecks & Reef trip. I think it works out a bit cheaper than hotel stay and day boat diving.

[Lee_sec]

Good luck with the diving

I would definitely recommend towards the end of your diving go and dive the Thistlegorm if you can - it's deteriorated a lot in the 20+ years since I first dived it but it's still an amazing dive.

[bakerstreet]

Deep said:

Definitely not liveaboard and I'm just an advanced PADI, not a tec diver!
Have you dived with Emporer's yourself?

Thanks very much

You don't need to be 'tech' diver to enjoy a a Liveaboard. I'm not even sure you understand what you are saying your self there.

Private guide not really necessary IMO.

I echo what others have said tbh.

Camel
Red Sea College
Emperor

I've used all three and no complaints at all. However, its been over 8 years since I've been in Egypt.

Dahab was probably my favorite along with the wreck biased trips with Tony Blackhurst. They were simply superb. One day, I might sling the tanks on again.

[GT03ROB]

You've got some good recommendations here. There are some real cowboy outfits in Egypt that are a hazard to themselves & everyone around them. How they don't lose more divers is a probably all luck & no judgement.

[Deep]

bakerstreet said:

You don't need to be 'tech' diver to enjoy a a Liveaboard. I'm not even sure you understand what you are saying your self there.

Private guide not really necessary IMO.

I echo what others have said tbh.

Camel
Red Sea College
Emperor

I've used all three and no complaints at all. However, its been over 8 years since I've been in Egypt.

Dahab was probably my favorite along with the wreck biased trips with Tony Blackhurst. They were simply superb. One day, I might sling the tanks on again.

Thanks but I do understand what I'm saying....lol.

I replied to someone who was giving recommendations and said that some centres were better than others for tec divers. The same poster also said that he assumed I was after day diving not liveaboard.

My reply was to confirm that I wasn't interested in a liveaboard and that as I'm not a tec diver that wasn't a criteria for choosing the right centre.

Hope that clears that up lol. I've been diving for 25 years so not a complete noob.

The private guide is purely because I have my two boys with me who only passed their PADI last summer and haven't dived since. It's a small cost so that I can relax and enjoy the dive as well rather than constantly worrying about them.

I've already contacted Emperor and will probably just go with them.

Cheers

Edited by Deep on Monday 23 January 14:05

[bakerstreet]

GT03ROB said:

You've got some good recommendations here. There are some real cowboy outfits in Egypt that are a hazard to themselves & everyone around them. How they don't lose more divers is a probably all luck & no judgement.

Diving the Thistlegorm on day boats were some of craziest things I have ever seen underwater. Super busy. People swimming mid water to hang tanks because they are clearly down to 10 bar! Wasn't just one person. Was probably 40 meters to the sand at that point. Our guide also intervened for one rather flustered looking diver too.

Divers hanging off the deck gun like its a sea saw in a children's play park.

Its also widely acknowledged that the Chamber is the most used diving chamber in the world...However there are lot of divers in Sharm and surrounding areas, so no surprise.