Let me say up front that
if you have found this page by searching for diving holidays in the Red Sea,
look no further. We had the most fantastic holiday with Aquarius Red Sea
Diving Club. See the
underwater
photography
Experienced
divers might want to skip the next bit and go straight to
Cheap Diving
Holidays
Because of health issues, I was very
wary of taking a course on holiday. I'd come close a few times but the
idea of 6 or 8 people all being trained at once, plus a potential language
barrier, really bothered me. What would happen if the instructor was
dealing with some-one else in difficulty when I had a problem?
When I made contact with Chris who
runs Aquarius Red Sea Diving, for
the first time it began to seem a reality. First they have a lot of
English staff so if you have any concerns of language barriers, you can forget
that straight away. Next I would say that I actually felt there was a real
effort to understand that I may have problems rather than just getting a
standard email back with the prices.
We chose a quiet time
and the course was tailored to my needs. Although I didn't expect to do
very much when we booked, I felt so confident in their hands, I went on to
finish my
PADI Scuba Diver Certificate.
Karen Curtis was our
instructor and we couldn't have felt in better hands. (see
Karen's underwater
photography).
If you have health or panic concerns, you will need to get permission from your
GP to dive, and of course, you should have basic swimming skills and water
confidence but often people need reassurance before they get this far. Do
email Aquarius if you feel unsure. If
you don't have basic skills you might like to consider a
residential swimming course in the UK
first.
One of the things that
worried me most was the tendency of most holiday dive centres to tout
for business with a 5 minute swim in the resort pool and follow up bookings with
VERY short pool sessions and then straight into the sea. WOW - if that
isn't enough to frighten of any timid divers I don't know what is. And
that's a great shame because just like learning to swim, we all need to go at
our own pace.
Would
you really want to miss something like this Hawksbill Turtle (courtesy of
Karen Curtis) just because your
first experience was a bad one? OK so I'm not saying there aren't plenty
of good centres out there - just make a point of seeing if they will talk to you
before you get there. If they can't be bothered making any effort to get
your business, what do you think they will be like once they have your money?
More
underwater photography
If you don't feel ready
for a course you can always try the PADI Discover Scuba
which looks great fun. It much depends on your outlook though. It
was quite hard work doing the Scuba Diver
course - we did the theory up to the full Open Water stage and returned in
November to complete our
open water
certification. Next year we ill think about the advanced dives.
Cheap Diving
Holidays
Watch this spot -
we'll be adding more ways to dive on a budget in the red sea.
In the meantime, I would
suggest that the Coral Sea Resort,
which is where Aquarius Red Sea Diving are based (see below), is a VERY
economical way of doing things, especially out of season. Go just before
or after the kids school holidays and you can get 2 weeks all inclusive for as
little as £500 each (we went with First Choice). Book your diving direct
via email and get 10% discount on all your dives or PADI Courses.
