iberotel lamaya - marsa alam

[pieater]

I've just booked a week at the end of March. Any body got any comments? I'm thinking of getting SWMBO a OW package for when we are there. Any pointers appreciated.


Martin

[Damo]

I stayed at the Lamaya in early December and can honestly say it was one of the best hotels I've ever visited. As Marsa Alam is an up and coming resort for tourists they are really making an effort to push the area.

The hotel is beautiful, set in a bay amongst 3 other hotels, with nothing else for a couple of miles, so different to Sharm. I picked Marsa Alam as I wanted a relaxing holiday as well as being able to squeeze in a few dives, and not upset the non diving missus, which has happened in the past. The Lamaya ticked all the boxes especially as it got great reviews on tripadvisor and Thompson.

I've never gone to a welcome meeting and been greeted by the Hotel Manager who in turn introduced all his staff to the guests. All through the holiday we were asked by the various departmental managers if we were happy with the level of cleanliness food/drink quality and overall service.

As far as the diving was concerned I decided to go with Coraya Divers, who are located within the resort. I chose them over Emperor purely for the convenience and to avoid spending a whole day away from my partner. That's my only problem with diving from day boats in the Red Sea, they really drag the day out, serving lunch etc.

They have a house reef, where you are required to do a check dive/orientation. You can then dive as often as you like, you just need to pick up a card for the cylinder and your off. They also offer a zodiac which will drop you off on the opposite reef or take you just out of the bay at no extra cost, and available all day as required. I did a dive on the North house reef as the weather was too rough to venture further. It turned out to be the best dive I did, saw what I can only describe as either a baby whale shark or perhaps a leopard shark (it had a spotted pattern and a big floppy tail)... also saw some nice red anemone , which I've only seen once before. They offer half day speed boat trips which go further down the coast to 3 or 4 different sites. If you don't like boats, there's trips by bus to shore dive locations. I did a dive at Abu Dabab where the illusive Dugong hangs out in the sea grass. I searched high and low but he wasn't coming out to play that day, saw tons of huge turtles though!!!

Finally you can take a day boat which leaves Port Ghalib and they visit Elphinstone and Dolphin House Reef. It was a shame not to have made it to Elphinsone, but I'm booked on Blue Horizon for a week next month so will get to do it then!!! One good thing to mention is that Nitrox is free for certified divers if you want a larger cylinder there's no extra cost.

Hope this helps pm me if you want any further information. Have a good trip!!!