Red sea in April

[fabrice]

Hello,

I'm planning a family trip to the red sea in april, so I have afew questions :
- What will be the sea temperature ?
- Can someone recommend a place/hotel where it is possible to snorkel (for my kids & wife) and find deeper water (25m will be enough) ?

I'm not looking for a place to train along a rope, I just want to do recreational diving looking at fishes and taking some pictures

Any suggestion welcome !

[BennyB]

Hi Fabrice,

I imagine April would be a nice time to go to the Red Sea, warming up from the winter but not too hot. The sea temp would be in the low 20's I think.

The Freedive World Championships were held in Makadi Bay, about 20km south of Hurghada. This bay would be great for a family holiday. There are tons of resorts all around the bay, but where we stayed had the best reef (Fort Arabesque) and the resort had a nicer feel to it than the rest (much less of the big travel company/group holiday feel).

The beach has nice reef and plenty to see between 2m and 5m. The reef starts about 10m offshore and it gradually gets deeper to about 15m about 100m offshore, then it drops to about 40m, then deeper further out. So it's perfect for shallow or deep people.

At the time we went, the resort were charging about 35 euro per person, but i'm sure this is seasonal and would change around.

I have some photos from the competiton and the local area online, you can have a look at these and see the bay for yourself.

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Cheerio,
Ben

[Marwan]

hi fabrice,
you requirements for the sea (clear water, 25m, for photgraohy, snoreling etc) is attainable all over the red sea coast in Egypt, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh and Dahab.
For family destinations they're all good too, maybe hurghada/makadi bay would be a better choice, since its full of nice resorts.
Since you're in france you could also check out the club med, they have a nice resort in El gouna 20km south of hurghada also a great destination...
hope you have fun
cheers

[fabrice]

Thanks Benny & Marwan,

I know there are lots of possibilities, that's why it's hard to choose

My main concern is to be sure that there is a nice house reef - not having the hassle to take a boat at fixed time etc. Schedule needs sometimes to be flexible wit the children !

[dolphindiver]

I went to Shagra Eco Village in November and it was so good I am going back again in April. The house reefs are great if you just want to swim or snorkel. There is access to another house reef in the next village where there is a dugong and loads of turtles. Also snorkelling or just swimming at the Dolphin House reef - a huge u shaped reef where most of the time there are dolphin swimming around. The house reefs tend to be accessed either over sand or coral either way wonderful place and the dive centre guys are fabulous you can get any kit you need out there if you don't want to carry your own on the plane.

I can't speak highly enough of it - although some people may find it a bit basic - there is not a lot to do there but swim, snorkel, dive, eat, sleep, talk. But I love it.

Welcome to Red Sea Diving Safari

P.S. the reefs go off to 35m about 750m out from the shore and there is some deeper diving with sharks etc. at Elphinstone reef if excitement is what you seek.