I thought all the Red Sea was good..!

Some opinions here from the Divernet web-forum.

cheers Alan.

We have many many dives logged from El Gouna and can recommend the diving.

The town itself is about 25mins drive north of Hurghada, and as such, only the most southerly of it's usual dive sites overlap with the northernmost of the Hurghada ones - so these usually have several boats moored up. For the majority of our diving , with the Gouna boats tending to head north, there has been just one other (and often no other) boats present - so it's nice and quiet.

As far as I'm aware all diving out of Gouna is hardboat, two-tanks with the boat leaving the marina at 9 ish - back 4-5pm depending on how far north they have gone. We have always had a great buffet lunch on board (amazing what they can knock up in those tiny galleys) for £2.50 - optional extra. Subject to numbers, most weeks there will be an extra night dive too.

The wreck diving is excellent in Gouna - due to the proximity to Abu Nuhas. Although it is also far closer to the Thistlegorm than Sharm, at the moment it is not permitted for dayboats from Gouna or Hurghada to cross the straits to dive it - not sure when that particular ruling will get changed. If you're not familiar with the Red Sea Wrecks, I'd recommend John McIntyre's "Red Sea Wreck Heaven" DVD for an excellent taster.

Reefs around Gouna are in good condition - largely due to the lower number of divers!! - fish life is healthy and varied, coral on some sites is fantastic - have seen turtles,dolphins,sharks & there are supposedly mantas from time to time, but not when we've been there of course!. Macrolife also excellent. Plenty of morays,lionfish and clownfish,napoleons,parrotfish,crocodilefish redsea walkmen, even seamoths if you are sharp-eyed enough! Had an interesting encounter with a stroppy red-tooth triggerfish this summer too!

Water temp we have seen vary from 18degrees in Feb to 28 this August. We're warm in 3mm in the summer - the kids wear 3mm shorties over 3mm longs in the winter and cope admirably (and one in particular is a skinny runt who feels the cold!). The area (the entire coastline from what I gather) tends to be windy with a prevailing northerly wind from the mountains which makes the air temp on the boat decidedly chilly in the winter (dreams of drysuits!!) - can be a bit choppy on the boats too.

At least half a dozen dive operators to choose from in Gouna. We are more than comfortable with Divetribe http://www.divetribe.com/home.asp who are based at the Movenpick but offer complimentary pickups for the Marina from all over Gouna

Anything else I can help with - please shout up

many thanks.
just what I was hoping to hear. i am new to diving but the rest of the clan have got plenty of dives logged. we are looking to try somewhere else in future but stay in the red Sea. we have been looking at Marsa Alam but thought we would give El Gouna a look. I like the idea of it being quiet for the time being so will explore a bit more.

Have also dived in Marsa Alam, which lacks the wrecks , but has great shore diving - so much easier to manage if you have non-divers in the party.
Highly recommend both