red sea diving vs. carribean

[hiramshaish]

is the flight all the way there worth the difference in diving experience? i've already dived in the carribean 3 times.

 

[ackee]

Except for a few places like Bonaire, Dominica, and St Vincent, the Caribbean has seen better days. Much better days. So have the Red Sea dive centers, though not to the same extent as the tourist's Caribbean. If you want really high quality scuba, I can absolutely recommend Fiji and some of the Tonga sites. Expensive to get there, long, long flights, expensive accomodations in most places, but if you want to travel and see spectacular things not available in the Caribbean, I'd suggest Fiji or Tonga over the Red Sea absolutely for sure.

There are some very nice places much closer and cheaper, though not nearly as spectacular. The islands I mentioned, for example. Drift diving the outer reefs off Fort Lauderdale can be really wonderful. Some of the sites well offshore in North Carolina have their own special beauty, especially this time of year.

 

[casademurphy]

I just went to Fiji and, I have to say it's the best diving I've ever done! If you haven't been there, I would highly recommend!!

 

[streetjudge79]

Well, do you prefer black and white television or Hi Def Color LCD television? That's the difference.

 

[hiramshaish]

so sinai is the Hi Def??

I am mainly interested in SPS and abundance of life.

 

[Rossini]

There's only 2 or 3 species of acropora in the carribean and terribly most of them have been destroyed and killed off. The red sea has many species of acropora and coral, some have been degraded, but some in the remote areas are still near on pristine.

Even better go to somewhere in the coral triangle like Indonesia, the most coral and fish species there than anywhere in the world. Such a great shame that most of the big species have been fished out in that area though.

 

[TWallace]

I haven't been to the Red Sea or Fiji, but I've been to the Caribbean and Malaysia (Tioman Island specifically). The amount and diversity of both fish and coral in Malaysia was way, way better than Playa del Carmen and Cozumel. I only snorkeled though, no diving. Corals were also much more colorful in Malaysia, lots of pinks and greens. Caribbean also doesn't have any tridacnid clams, clownfish or their hosting anemones, while western Pacific and Indian Ocean sites do.

One odd thing about Malaysia was that I didn't see any tangs, triggers or anthias, and I was there 12 days snorkeling every day. Maybe the anthias were in deeper water, but surely tangs should have been seen in shallow water. While in Mexico, I saw lots of Atlantic Blue Tangs and a couple of Queen Triggers on Cozumel (no anthias but I'm not sure there are Caribbean anthias).

 

[ReefingBuddha]

I've had the chance to dive both Fiji and the Red Sea and both are incomparable to the Caribbean. Either of those two locations are fantastic with Fiji being less "overdived" then the Sinai Peninsula.

 

[MC Genghis]

I have grown up diving the Caribbean and have dove in egypt on one occasion. The dives are completely different. In the caribbean it is packed with deep reefs with nooks and crannies and coral atols. You will see large angel and parrot fish and things that you expect to see in your tank. Diving in the Red Sea was a whole other world. The fish were extremely diversified and vibrant. The reef was more shallow yet more expansive. The reef did not have a difinitive start and end as it does in the carib. You can dive real close to the shore in 30 feet of water and have a great dive (which can be done here also) but it is more dense. You will see turtles and lion fish everywhere. I really enjoyed the dive in egypt and wish I had a chance to go closer to saudi or even just more south. I heard that the diving there had been destroyed from bombing but this was not evident to me. One thing that was a shock to me was their rules. In Israel you can not dive unless you have your log book, license, and a signed dive within 6 months (i think) of the date. I was on vacation and had none of these. Because of this I went to Egypt where they have the same rules but no enforcement. I would be sure to take a dive before going to be safe. I have been diving for 10+ years and they still waned to require me to take a 'refresher' course. I hope this helps.

It is def a world worth seeing, vast reef everywhere. I just dont know if its worth traveling across the globe for.

 

[AquaAgua]

Now I really want to go to the REd Sea. Seeing a whole bunch of pics on another thread was awe inspiring. Hearing the description of the differences cinched it.
I haven't had a "signed" dive in forever, I don't even think they signed my dive log when I did the Rescue Class.