Jason! If you´re a hard-core diver like me, and really serious about your dive sites, I advise you to skip Sharm (too touristy), Dahab is ok(my son and I dived with Bedouin Divers)Hurghada and Marsa Alam... too much trash in the water. Head down to Hamata and dive the Fury Shoals. The diving is pristine and phenomenal. We stayed at Zabargad Dive Resort and dived with Orca Divers, who were extremely professional. You can dive off their jetty, or take the boat out to the Fury Shoals... they are really amazing... I can´t use enough superlatives to describe the diving there. My son said, ´´There wasn´t one ordinary dive!´´ and he learned to dive in Malaysia, and has dived Bali, Phuket and the Similan Islands with me. You can get there by bus, as we did (took the bus from Dahab to Hurghada, and switched to the southern bus to Hamata... the bus dropped us off on the highway right at the driveway to the resort). I wanted to introduce my son to Red Sea diving; the first day, not 10 minutes out of the marina, the crew spotted a whale shark... everyone jumped into wetsuits and snorkelling gear and were in the water in about 3 minutes... and then, the last day was the crowning jewel... we went out to Sha´ab Sataya and snorkelled for over an hour with dozens of dolphins...I stopped counting at 40... before heading to our first dive site. In the afternoon, we dived Sha´ab Matawa, literally ´´the playground´´ in Arabic... which was a maze of coral heads, canyons, crevices... it really was ... (read more)

Jason! If you´re a hard-core diver like me, and really serious about your dive sites, I advise you to skip Sharm (too touristy), Dahab is ok(my son and I dived with Bedouin Divers)Hurghada and Marsa Alam... too much trash in the water. Head down to Hamata and dive the Fury Shoals. The diving is pristine and phenomenal. We stayed at Zabargad Dive Resort and dived with Orca Divers, who were extremely professional. You can dive off their jetty, or take the boat out to the Fury Shoals... they are really amazing... I can´t use enough superlatives to describe the diving there. My son said, ´´There wasn´t one ordinary dive!´´ and he learned to dive in Malaysia, and has dived Bali, Phuket and the Similan Islands with me. You can get there by bus, as we did (took the bus from Dahab to Hurghada, and switched to the southern bus to Hamata... the bus dropped us off on the highway right at the driveway to the resort). I wanted to introduce my son to Red Sea diving; the first day, not 10 minutes out of the marina, the crew spotted a whale shark... everyone jumped into wetsuits and snorkelling gear and were in the water in about 3 minutes... and then, the last day was the crowning jewel... we went out to Sha´ab Sataya and snorkelled for over an hour with dozens of dolphins...I stopped counting at 40... before heading to our first dive site. In the afternoon, we dived Sha´ab Matawa, literally ´´the playground´´ in Arabic... which was a maze of coral heads, canyons, crevices... it really was a playground. And the best part... not one shred of trash in the whole 5 days of diving. We were there in March, and the heavy storms had taken out the jetty, so we were ´´forced´´ to dive from the boat... but the hotel and dive centre boast over 5km of coastline to dive/snorkel off. If you book this resort, go through the dive centre for the booking--you´ll get a better rate. If you´ve got access to YouTube, you can enter ´´Sha´ab Sataya dolphins´´ into the search engine... there´s one good 3 minute clip on the experience... I go back to it to relive the memories. Oh yeh, the resort is in the middle of nowhere... it´d be like having a resort north of the cement plant in Yanbu. There´s only a small village for locals who work the marina/fishers, but the resort is all inclusive, including spa, bar, boutique, etc. Resort rates include 2 buffet meals/day. The dive gear rental rates were low enough to convince us not to travel with our entire kit... just took mask, fins, snorkels and regulators. All in all... well worth your precious time off from Saudi. The resort also does a brisk business in Italian tour groups... who aren´t there for the diving. (read less)