I am thinking about doing a PADI course this august. Anyone know of a good centre near my hotel. Any other advice would also be most welcome. As you will guess I am a complete beginner!

There are quite a few good centers Peter. But until you tell us which hotel you're going to.......

That was my first thought too, Everest...
Then I realised the post was sub-headed - Coral Sea Resort, Naama Bay

Anybody been there?

Alanwall and Everest - thanks for the reply. My hotel is the Coral Sea Resort. It is a new complex at Naama Bay which has only been open for a few days. Someone said that it would be better and cheaper to book the 5 day course in advance as we are going with First Choice. Any help would be greatly appreciated as we have not been to the Red Sea (or even Egypt) before.

See the link below.. It has 80 + pages all about the CSR. The dive school that will be working in CSR is on the pages somewhere. I knew who it was but have forgotten since.

click here http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=372670

Cheers

Rob

Edit; - Just remembered its Aquarius. They have dive centres in most resorts in Egypt. I'm told they are very good. I don't have any experience of them personally. I fly on Thursday 7th (3 days) and staying at the CSR so I will find out !!!

Edit 2:- Sorry PB I have just seen you already have entries on the above forum and are aware of its existence !!!

Hi
Im going to Egypt in July and want to go diving. I don't have my qualification as yet but am wondering if i should get qualified before i go?
I was also wondering if anyone would know how much the cert costs in Sharm and how long it takes?
Thanks
K

Various options here.
A PADI Open Water course is probably then one you want. This usually takes four days, with a total of eight dives. Four in 'confined' water, a pool or calm shallow sea and four in 'open' water. This costs about Eur300-350. For example these are Emperor divers prices.

You could learn beforehand. It will cost more here in the UK though. Some people do what is known as a referral course. You do most of the theory and the confined water dives somewhere here, then just the open water work on holiday. Again this will be more expensive overall.

Differet people will recommend different approaches. Overall though the course is not too taxing. Particularly if the dive centre you learn with is based in the hotel where you are staying. My advice would be to get the PADI 'Go Dive' manual and read it thoroughly before you go then do the whole course on holiday. Even the confined water dives are more fun in warm water on holiday - probably in the sea with a few fish swimming by - than in a pool near home.

I hear what Alan is saying about different opinions about the referal course but do you want to spend two days of your holiday in a class room? Ok it can be fun but its much more fun to be diving. I do strongly recommend that you do the first half in the UK and then the open waterv dives in Egypt. You never know you may not get on with it in the pool and decide not to carry on it does happen! Just checked Emperor Diver web site. OW is 293 euro and referal is 167 euro both pre booked on the web. Not pre-booked 325 and 185 euro.

There is a small additional 'certification charge' if (ie when) you qualify - suppose it's for the admin costs - Eur35.

Also the cost if booked in resort is subject to local sales tax, another 10%. So it is cheaper to book in advance whatever course you do.

Hi everyone just thought i would share my view with you we did our OW refferal with Aquarius at the coral sea resort in nov/dec05 we are going back to do our advanced in 2 weeks being new divers we felt quite proud of ourselves when the excellent standard of diving knowlege was praised i think doing the refferal method was great as i had to practice mask clearing at every pool sesion at home as i had a bit of a problem then when it came to the instructor taking us to do skills in the ow i felt confident as i had had weeks of practice at home

Hi all - off to Sharm end March - staying at hilton sharks bay and time to start thinking about who,s the best operation to dive with. Not for me - im the divers widow . But hubby and 2 eldest sons have their open water cerificate and im to be left around the pool sunbathing while they go off for 3/4 days. I know the HSB have a diving operation on site but have a feeling they would be better going elsewhere.

lyn

Hi Lynwestie
I, like you are a dives widow. me and hubby are staying in Crowne Plaza hotel and the dive shop there is Divers International. My hubby has emailed them to book in advance this year because they offer a 15% discount if booked in advance online and they waiver the 10% local tax surcharge so its quite a saving. Our hotel its not that far from sharks bay its on the Garden Reefs and they do shore dives so might be an option for your family of divers also. Have a look at their website you might find a bargain. http://www.diversintl.com
Happy Holidays only 7 weeks to go before we are out there

many thanks elaine will take a look at them

lyn

Hi, anyone used the dive centre at this hotel? We have friends going for 2 weeks at the end of April and 2 of them would like to do their OW padi course. Any comments from divers? any other dive centre neraby to be recommended?
Thanks

We are book to go out there on the 8th June for a bit of RnR and diving, I have contacted the The Three Corners headoffice and they have forward the mail to a company called Azure Diving. Now i have never heard of them and i cant find anything on the internet, so being a safe diver I would like to find out some more before hand.

As anyone come across them in there travels to Sharm.

Ron

if traveling with first choice you can get an extra 10kg if you have your diving license. you need to contact them before your holiday and they will send you a letter to take with you

We are going to Sharm in 58 days
We have never dived before just the usual snorkel that you might do in the med.
if you book a beginners course what does that entail?
Are you provided with all the equipment?
Do you need wet suits??? I am, shall i say on the wrong side of size 16, and have never attemped to get into a wet suit before!!!

When you say a beginners course, are you on about the Open Water Course or just a basic 'try dive'? Whichever one you mean, all equipment is normally provided. In the Red Sea, the water is so warm that I only use a 3mm shortie. Some people like to use a 3 or 5mm full suit, especially when doing repetitive dives (more than 1 a day)

i'm not which sort of diving i will feel comfortable with as i have never done it before but i would like to try an open water one. Are the wet suits stretchy cause as i mentioned before i am a larger lady!!!Ialso have a son who wants to do the diving but he suffers with mild asthma so i'm not sure if he would be able to.