Scuba Experience in Sharm - Some help please

[Paul Oliver]

OK a mate of mine at work asked me a question about diving in Egypt, and as i have never dived there i could not answer very well nothing new there then

He is going on a family Holiday to Sharm and up to 4 adults may want to do a days diving to see what its like

None of them have dived before, although i am looking at putting on a pool try-dive for them before they go, i think PADI centres run a Scuba Experience thingy that would cover this, so questions:-

1. Is it possible to do a 1 day dive in the sea, beginners package?

2. Whats it called?

3. What kind of price per person?

4. Would a discount for 4 doing it be a reasonable expectation?

5. Any recommended centres in Sharm for him to go see?

6. Any centres he needs to avoid?

Thanks in advance for the help

I'm going to send him a link to this thread as no doubt there will be lots of quality answers

[Captain Deco]

Stop trying to make out you have friends when we all know that you don't!!

Anyway, I think that Aide might have some answers to your q's as I think he did that sort of 1 day diving through a centre in Nov '07.

[Mike Ward]

Should be no problem at all organising something like that - I think PADI call it Discover Scuba Diving or something similar, and it allows for an 'open' water dive to 12m. The sites used will be sheltered bay, shore entry, standing depth and then maybe a bit deeper, you'll know the sort of thing.

Price will depend on the centre - if your friends can get to Naama Bay they can call in at, ooh, a dozen different places within a ten minute stroll to compare price and what they get for it. They'll probably end up paying between £30 and £50 sterling each, and a discount is always worth asking for in my experience...

[puddlediver]

I've used Red Sea College and Emperor Divers, both are good outfits.

Lyv

[Simon A]

I've used camel who are also very good for that kind of thing.
HTH
Simon A

[Glyn]

I would try Oonas dive club if diving from the shore as I think they have the best house reef in the bay, very small and very friendly outfit. If you book online it will be 45 euro for the first dive 18 euros for the second, 59 and 23 euros from the boat.

Red Sea Diving Holiday Hotel, Oonas Dive Club, Sharm El Sheikh.

[ScubaNat]

Originally Posted by Paul Oliver

OK a mate of mine at work asked me a question about diving in Egypt, and as i have never dived there i could not answer very well nothing new there then

He is going on a family Holiday to Sharm and up to 4 adults may want to do a days diving to see what its like

None of them have dived before, although i am looking at putting on a pool try-dive for them before they go, i think PADI centres run a Scuba Experience thingy that would cover this, so questions:-

1. Is it possible to do a 1 day dive in the sea, beginners package?

2. Whats it called?

3. What kind of price per person?

4. Would a discount for 4 doing it be a reasonable expectation?

5. Any recommended centres in Sharm for him to go see?

6. Any centres he needs to avoid?

Thanks in advance for the help

I'm going to send him a link to this thread as no doubt there will be lots of quality answers

1. Yes
2. Discover Scuba Diving / DSD - allows for a supervised splash at shallow depths for about 2 hours, and you'll get the chance to do a few skills to see how you react and if you want to go on to do Open Water
3. It's around the £40 mark here in London, so over there expect to pay about €60
4. Would depend entirely on the centre and how good your relationship is with them. Because DSDs are quite cheap and relatively low-profit for dive centres, they might be reticent to offer a discount, but some places might have a special offer. Check out explorers.com for any offers on
5. Definitely check out Ocean College, and the dive centre at the Cleopatra Tsokkos Hotel in Om El Sid will definitely offer you a discount if you mention me because one of my friends manages the centre! Otherwise Oonas, Camel and Emperor are all excellent, but slightly pricier
6. Beware of some of the smaller ones housed within cheap hotels (ironic, considering what I've put above I know!), and any that run just by locals or those run just for Italians, Germans or Russians - not because the standard is poor, but because they have different standards than British instructors, and might not be able to translate things properly

Get him to PM me if he has any questions

Nat

[Sixsquid]

Highly recommend Red Sea Diving College in Sharm, although I haven't been there since Dec 04 !

Where does the time go !

[scubagit]

Another recommendation for Red Sea College. We have been a couple of times now. last time we wanted to bring a couple of non divers for a dip and they supplied equipment etc at no charge!! Of course there was 19 of us booked in for the week but anyhow.
Snowey (Irish Lad) was manager there until recently but has left. I doubt if they have deteriorated too much since his departure