Dive Review of Mar Rosso in
Red Sea/Saudi Arabia

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Mar Rosso: "new pastures", Aug, 2023, by Michael Joest, Kehl, DE ( Top Contributor 49 reports with 30 Helpful votes). Report 12525 has 3 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	“Visit and enjoy the Red Sea like it was 20 years ago” the ad said and each of you like me would have for sure out of curiosity looked closer into this offer in our dive magazine. Well, it showed the first offer for a live aboard in Saudi Arabia shortly before Covid came, S A introduced the tourist visa access for Europeans in 2000. I was interested, as I dove Jordan at Tala Bay already which was nice and not that far from the border to S A where signs clearly stated warnings “ you are reaching the border …” I did some research on S A but internet couldn´t tell me much on S A diving. Only John Bantin, who it seems was already in each spot of the world, told me he was not that enthusiastic about Farasan. New things are always tempting and so I looked into that special offer. They had two different trips, one to Farasan Banks which was supposed to cruise around some offshore islands and visit steep drop offs with awesome soft and hard coral and the chance to spot pelagic like hammerheads etc. This started in autumn until May. The other was Yanbu route which went out of Jeddah cruising through many pristine coral gardens plus “seven reefs” and “five sisters”. I wanted warm water so I chose the latter and a 10 day trip to get a good impression of this area in August. By that time a second travel agent had picked up this destination and voted for more comfort on a luxurious boat. While my offer ran around 2140 € (without flights) this one charged already 1928 € for 7 days. Money concerned the Saudis are as smart as their Sudan “neighbors”. Folks are always ready and prepared to pay a bit more for new things. So naturally there is the necessary visa which you can get with a bit of work on the internet for 125 €, for permits marine park and service charge add another 405 € which is steep and you pay on board. I never found any reference to a marine park on the internet, so I doubt this money goes to nature protection. The roundtrip flight with Saudi Arabia Airlines from Frankfurt to Jeddah was 1200 which I preferred with only 6 h in the air to cheaper offers with detour for around 500 and 12 hours of travel. I asked for culture and things to do apart from diving but the travel agent was ... Subscribe to get the full story. Active subscribers continue reading here
Websites	Mar Rosso
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	worldwide more than 100 destinations, mostly South Pacific and Asia, Africa and Caribbean
Closest Airport	Jeddah	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	28-33°C / 82-91°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-40 M / 98-131 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	none
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None] ... Subscribe to get the full story. Active subscribers continue reading here

Report currently has 3 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Mar Rosso in Red Sea/Saudi Arabia

Mar Rosso: "new pastures", Aug, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Mar Rosso in
Red Sea/Saudi Arabia