| I've never been to Australia, but if my 'local' dive site was the Great Barrier Reef i don't think I'd be in a hurry to spend a small fortune to travel to the Red Sea.
Sharm is a dump, but as you would be on a liveaboard you wouldn't spend too much time there. Some of the sites were becoming dived out even when I last dived there a few years ago. There are some nice wrecks at Abu Nuhas, Ras Mo was still a fantastic site, and the Tiran reefs were still worth a visit.
My preference would be the South on liveaboards leaving from either Hurghada or Marsa Alam, sites like the Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone. Not so many wrecks, but the sites are cleaner, the reefs nicer.
The boat and the operator are also important. You really don't want to spend a week on a Red Sea liveaboard with questionable hygene, especially in the kitchen.
August will be hot, more so in the South than the North (Sharm), but manageable on the water. If the boat is reliable the air con will be available when it gets silly.
If I knew that the diving might not be spectacular (or more spectacular than I'm used to) , and I still chose to travel just to dive somewhere else, I'd probably enjoy the trip, otherwise I might come away thinking I'd wasted a lot of money.  |