Tag: sudan

How to lure sharks closer?

Posted on by Livia (Volgyesi) Hertelendy

Cheese is used to lure mice. How about sharks? Sharks do not need to be lured. At least not in Sudan. The giant groupers swarming near the reefs provide a good enough reason for the presence of larger predators.

Air temperature: 28C
Water temperature: 23-24C
Wind: slight wind in the first 2-3 days, almost dead calm by the end of the week
Visibility:

Hammerhead in SudanNothing proves this better than the fact that last week Angarosh was the only site where we did not see any sharks. However a manta was there and stayed with us throughout the entire dive. Looks like this year’s manta statistics will be pretty strong as we have had sightings every week so far.

Scuba diving in SudanA cloud of barracudas hovered motionless near Shaab Rumi’s plateau out in the deep, right where they were a week ago. A silent group of about 40 barracudas, each measuring at least a metre in length, awaited us again. But they seemed to be dwarfed by the grey reef sharks cruising above the plateau. If you are diving at Shaab Rumi for the first time, a “where do I look?” kind of feeling comes over you. And if you swim out into the deep, you can even check out the hammerheads.

Schools of hump-head parrotfish showed up and a curious turtle also had a look at our group. Click on the short video of our tour where you can see all this.

)

Tip of the week:
You can travel to Sudan only with a valid visa. Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the departure date from the country. There must be at least 2 empty pages side by side for the visa. (and 2 empty pages for the 2 Egyptian visas, if travelling through Cairo). There must not be any stamps or visas from Israel in your passport, otherwise you will not be permitted to enter the county.

This is where were this week:

Dive sites in SudanOur last-minute offer:
March 24-31, 2014, M/Y Cassiopeia, Sudan-North tour
Book by March 26, 2014. We only have 7 available places. Book via e-mail!

If you wish to know more about how to dive in Sudan, click here!
In English: www.sudan-diving.com
Magyarul: www.redseaboats.hu/szudan/
По-русски: www.sudan-diving.ru

6 Must-see Dive Sites in Sudan

Posted on by Livia (Volgyesi) Hertelendy

Are you planning on diving in 2014? Here are a couple of ideas where you could… We chose a few from the most beautiful and most exciting dive sites which you must definitely see in the Sudanese Red Sea! The world has already been searched far and wide, not leaving much for the newbie discoverers but luckily there are still a few places that are waiting to be discovered.

1) Darraka – South Sudan
Darraka South Sudan
2) Angarosh – North Sudan
Angarosh North Sudan
3) Masamirit – Deep South Sudan
Masamirit Deep South Sudan
4) Shaab Rumi – North Sudan
Shaab Rumi - North Sudan
5) Dahrat Abid – Deep South Sudan
Dahrat Abid - Deep South Sudan
6) Sanganeb – North Sudan
Sanganeb - North Sudan
Discover Sudan, the diving capital! Read more about Sudan here…

You can easily locate the dive sites above with the help of this map.
Sudan scuba diving map

A rare sighting in the Sudanese Red Sea

Posted on by Livia (Volgyesi) Hertelendy

There was a rare sighting in the Port Sudan harbour last week, none other than the unusual line-up of stars. The ideal thing would be to see the line-up for yourself but for those of you who are not in the neighbourhood these days, we will tell you what you could see.

Air temperature: 25-28C
Water temperature: 23-24C
Wind: stronger in the first 2-3 days then calmer in the second part of the week
Visibility: 20m

Cassiopeia also arrived in Sudan from Egypt last Friday. She sailed out for her first, a North trip, yesterday, head to head with Andromeda.

Cruise Cassiopeia and Andromeda Red SeaWe are getting the hang of this season nicely, it is getting warmer and warmer every week and the visibility underwater is increasing. Again, it was Qita El Banna and Sanganeb that hid the biggest attractions of the past week. We dived with a manta at the former and a 20-member school of hammerheads drew a smile on our faces at the latter. And we were lucky to experience another rare attraction – whales!

Although we all expect miracles from the Sudanese Red Sea, these cannot be only megalomaniacal expectations. Not only tons of hammerheads, grey reef sharks and mantas swim in the area but the reefs with the thousand faces are almost worth a prayer! Attention photographers and divers! You can take the photo of your life in Sudan!

Diving reef in SudanTip of the week:

Attention! Your passport must
– be valid for at least 6 months after the departure date from Sudan
– not contain stamps or visas from Israel
– have 2 empty pages side by side for the Sudanese visa

This is where we were this week:
Shaab Suedi – Gota Shambaia; Angarosh – Angarosh – Merlo – Gota Shambaia; Qita el Banna – Qita el Banna – Shaab Suedi (Blue Belt) – Shaab Suedi; Shaab Rumi – Shaab Rumi – Precontinent II – Precontinent II; Shaab Rumi – Sanganeb – Sanganeb – Umbria; Umbria – Umbria

Cousteau's Precontinent in the Sudanese Red SeaOur LAST-MINUTE offer:

March 31-April 7, 2014 *** Andromeda *** Sudan-North tour
Book by March 26, 2014
Only 7 available places left
Book via e-mail!

A new week, good hopes, we will be back next week to tell you what we have seen.
If you would like to know more about diving in Sudan, click here!
English: www.sudan-diving.com
In Hungarian: www.redseaboats.hu/szudan/
По-русски: www.sudan-diving.ru

Nemo, hammerhead and manta in Sudan!

Posted on by Livia (Volgyesi) Hertelendy

If it’s the beginning of February, then it must be our tried and true routine again! What else than a Sudan safari? We are over our first tour and of course, there was much to see, from Nemo to hammerheads with a manta for excitement.

Air temperature: 20-28C
Water temperature: 23-24C
Wind: calm in the first part of the week, stronger on the last day
Visibility: 10-15m

We are sailing in the North in the first couple of months of the season, a favourite of ours as it covers some of the greatest sites like Shaam Rumi, the wreck of Umbria, Angarosh and Cousteau’s Precontinent II.

Liveaboard in SudanWe cheered after every dive because we found all inhabitants where they always are. The reefs amazed us with the same vibrating colour cavalcade pulsing with life as every time before. The world is rich in gems that you just must see and one of them is – without being biased – the Sudanese Red Sea.

We dived with sharks at the “sharky” sites, with grey reef and hammerhead sharks, of course. At times 2-3 hammerheads were circling around us and there were times when 10-15 of them popped in for a visit. We dived with a gigantic school of barracudas at Sanganeb and we spotted a manta at Quita el Banna, 1-2m from us!

This group was experienced and well prepared. We thank you for choosing us!

Scuba divers on AndromedaTip of the week:

Important notice to all who are flying to Port Sudan via Dubai!

All guests who are not flying to Dubai with Emirates Airlines, must go to the transfer desk in Dubai as they arrive where they must request their luggage to be transferred onto the FlyDubai flight to Port Sudan. The transfer fee will be about USD50.

You do not need to collect your luggage, only request it to be transferred.

The checked-in luggage will not be transferred automatically, it will have to be requested in Dubai. (The luggage of guests flying with Emirates Airlines will be checked all the way through Port Sudan.)

If the luggage is not checked for the Port Sudan flight, it will not arrive in time or at all in Port Sudan.

Guests must go through the same procedure when returning from Port Sudan and ask their luggage to be transferred onto their homebound flight. There will be no charge on the way back.

Please make sure to label all luggage well (name, phone number, address, destination, etc.).

Sunrise in SudanThis is where we were this week:

Shaab Suedi – Gota Shambaia; Angarosh – Angarosh – Merlo – Gota Shambaia; Qita el Banna – Qita el Banna – Shaab Suedi – Shaab Suedi; Shaab Rumi – Shaab Rumi – Precontinent II – Precontinent II; Shaab Rumi – Sanganeb – Sanganeb – Umbria; Umbria – Umbria

Our LAST-MINUTE offer:

March 3-10, 2014 *** Andromeda *** Sudan-North tour
Book by February 28, 2014
Only 5 available places left
Book via e-mail!

A new week, new hopes. We will be back next week again and let you know what we will have seen.

If you would like to have more information about scuba diving in the Sudanese Red Sea on a Liveaboard:
In English: www.sudan-diving.com
www.cassiopeiasafari.com/sudan
Oroszul: www.sudan-diving.ru