Hamata

Many thanks to you for all

"Many thanks to you for all your help in getting us on the trip, we got there in the end and had a great time. We didn’t get to The Brothers due to bad weather but did the old favourite northern wrecks and a few new reefs. The boat, crew and guides were excellent and would recommend both the Vita Explorer and Regaldive."

Tony I

First Liveaboard | Exceeded My Expectations & Hopes!

"This was my first liveaboard, so I was a little unsure as to what to expect, however, it exceeded my expectations and hopes in every way

Transfers and ground arrangements were very straightforward and easy. I was met at the airport with warmth and courtesy, and on board by the Xplorer crew and guides.

Accommodation was very clean and reasonably comfortable. Food: what a fantastic chef and brilliant service from the crew. Every one of the three meals a day was great! The cabins were cleaned and serviced early every morning during our first dive, everything on board reflected efficiency.

Every dive was well-planned, with good informative briefings beforehand. The dives offered a good mix of wrecks and reefs. Very interesting! The dive guides Ahmed (Sambo) and Hamada were particularly attentive and efficient.

Every one of the crew and staff were courteous, professional and helpful. They went out of their way to ensure that everyone enjoyed their diving and holiday.

My favourite memory was diving the Thistlegorm: mindblowing!"

Nick Robinson - UK

A Super Holiday - Thank You

"I would like to draw attention to the perfect quality of the Vita Xplorer liveaboard: I know it's not yet too well know in UK, but it is a super boat, especially for the quality of staff, efficiency and friendliness. The diving instructor was super, perhaps the best I have found in a liveaboard, for his competency, kindness, attentiveness and wit/humour. The cabin was rather comfortable too, and the overall atmosphere was lovely. It has a very competent and efficient crew, without being in your face.

I had a super holiday thank-you. When I booked not much information about this boat was given, but I'd strongly recommend it. The quality of overall service and comfort was far superior to the two BlueOTwo boats I used in the Red Sea before.

So definitely a great holiday, nice to go back to the Red Sea!"

Laura La Grutta - UK

A good time was had by all!

"Our trip to Wadi Lahami azur was very enjoyable. The transfer and help from the Regaldive rep at the airport was excellent. They had even got our visas for us in advance which cut down our airport time considerably. The transport - a nice air conditioned mini bus was waiting for us and we arrived at the hotel in time for dinner.

The check in was seamless and we were given beautiful rooms with a sea view. The staff were helpful even getting us tonic for our gin! Two bottles of tonic were put in our room fridge every day after we mentioned it to the staff at reception. They had to send to Hurgada for it!
The food was as food is in Egypt good salads, breakfasts and lunches. Dinner is always fine with a good few choices so adequate but uninspired. The dining area was lovely and again the staff charming.

The dive centre was well run as I would expect from Orca. Good equipment which was immediately repaired when one of us sprung a small leak. The facilities there are good and the house reef easily accessible though I am not sure how easy the access will be in the rougher weather of the winter months. However, the boat diving was excellent. The port of Hamata is not far away but the port itself is laden with rubbish plastic around the edges not something we saw anywhere else. The two sea eagles that sat on the lamp posts every morning as we arrived were an added bonus as were the kingfishers in the port as we walked back to the bus at the end of the day. They were feasting on a large shoal of small fish that had been pushed in to the shallows by half a dozen large squid! We had some lovely dives and one very hairy one at Shaab mak sur but we all got back safely. The boat crews were excellent, very helpful and in particular helped “Auntie” back in the boat by taking my weights and jacket before I climbed the steps back in to the boat.

Highlight of the holiday was a very close encounter with a turtle on the house reef and large anemone field which is also just off the house reef. We were given direction to find it – they don’t tell everyone! About 12 huge anemones with resident Nemos a wonderful sight. Dolphins at dolphin house were lovely to see and a small white tip again in the lagoon side of the house reef. The sea eagle fishing the hotel lagoon was also a sight to behold and sharing the swimming pool with 3 seagulls and a duck another first for me.

A good time was had by all!"

Marney Hall - UK

The Diving is Spectacular - an Amazing Experience

"This year it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we booked to go back to Egypt due to the general fear of security at airports and possibility of terrorist attacks. I have to say that the security at the airport (Marsa Alaam) was second to none. The drive south was totally safe and we felt safe throughout our two weeks' stay at the Wahadi Lahami Azur.

The hotel was virtually empty and we were certainly the only two Brits and the saddest thing was to see how few people are now going to Egypt for their diving holidays. I would like to recommend to Regaldive to promote trips to Hamata. The diving is spectacular, the Orca staff, the hotel staff and the boat crews cannot do enough to make your diving an amazing experience.

We were even invited out into the desert for a 'bbq' with some of the Orca staff and the boat crew to celebrate a local festivity. We were 6 Europeans amongst ten or so local Egyptians and so honoured to be invited. We watched the sunset and cooked bread in the sand, two meat dishes on hot cinders and shared with them their celebration as the stars came out. All way out in the desert and as safe as could be with wonderful people. As for the diving, I cannot describe the beauty especially one that we named "the stairway to heaven" on a reef called Shaab Hamam. The dolphins, the sharks, the turtles etc. etc. etc.."

Gretta Robertson - UK

We had a Great Time!

"The house reef is as good, if not better, than any I have seen in the Red Sea (I've seen 7 others). It's the only house reef where I've snorkelled with a White Tip Reef sharks, on two separate occasions, and the fact that you can dive it as well is a rare bonus. The other great thing is the tidal lagoon, it was perfect for my wife who is not a strong swimmer, but a keen snorkeller, allowing her to snorkel safely even when the high winds and waves prevented her using the house reef, another great bonus which is undersold.

Orca Divers are not a PADI Centre, but performed well, the lead guide, an Egyptian, was exceptional. We never had a dive group of more than 6. It may not be run quite to PADI standards, but if offered 90 minute house reef dives and 75 minute boat dives, most of us would be prepared to compromise!

The dive boat was a good one. Boat crew were as ever helpful and I found myself adopted by the cabin boy. Boat food was good. My only issue was having to climb up the rear ladder into the boat with a steel tank on is a real chore. Hamata port is a real dump, but the presence of ospreys made it interesting!

The Fury Shoal reefs, accessed by boat, are out of this world. A number of them we had visited before on your 'Deep South' liveaboard and if anything they were better. The hard coral formations are fantastic and with the caves a truly fantastic location..

My wife and I love Egypt and have visited on 10 other occasions. It saddens us to see the people driven so low. That is why I'm disinclined to say much about the hotel. It's basic, but the staff are really great & trying so hard. So what if the tonic ran out after a couple of days, the beer didn't.

The a/c in my sons room packed up twice but they were upgraded to a room where it worked! They clearly have cut costs on maintenance, so the grounds are in need of much work. Whilst we could overlook broken pavings and the like, I would not think it suitable for children.

The hotel has an Bedouin tent for coffee and shishaand the old chap who makes the coffee is a local, must be close to 100 years old and was a delightful guy, despite not having a word of English.

We will definitely return to Hamata, but, if given the choice, would probably opt for a higher grade hotel when the time comes."

Michael Thurlow - UK

We Had the Most Amazing Time!!

"Thank you - we had the most amazing time!!

Dived Shaab Zabargad, Shaab Satara, all sorts of other shaabs. And the island Siyul. Our dive instructor Hussein was lovely. Food was great. Too windy to dive one day and Matt had ear problems another, but we got three days of diving in at least. We also snorkelled with dolphins which was just incredible.

I will be writing a glowing review for Wadi Lahmi on Trip Advisor - they all work so hard there and it would be nice to see them get more custom."

Ingrid O'Reilly - UK

One of the most Heavenly Places I Have Ever Visited.

"Thank you for arranging my holiday. I had a lovely time staying at Wadi Lahami Azur Resort. Hamata was wonderful and one of the most ‘heavenly’ places I have ever visited. Flights & transfers were very smooth and Ramadan the Rep was very attentive at the airport out and back. He also telephoned during my stay to check all was OK which was reassuring. Orca Divers were very efficient, their day boats are lovely and the diving was good. Loved the Wahdi Azur Resort – no need for a gym – lovely pools for swimming and you can run round the edge of the property! Great food, big rooms cleaned immaculately every day. It was a REALLY good holiday and I’d go back tomorrow if I could! Thank you very much for putting it together for me!"

Serena Brotherton - UK

Holiday at Zabargad Berenice Resort: Hamata 4 – 18 June 2014

"A mid-year holiday for my wife on her birthday and myself – wife to relax under a sun umbrella with a pile of books and me to relax(?) and go diving...

Hamata is about as far south as one can reasonably go on this coast, with the attraction of direct house reef access and Fury Shoals accessible by day boat, available with Emperor Divers on site.
The 2 hour drive from Marsa Airport (strictly Port Ghalib airport, Marsa is actually quite a way south) was a bit of a surprise but OK in an air-con vehicle. It certainly gives an eye-opener into the collapse (speculation?) of the tourist infrastructure along here, with many, many partly-built hotels and apartment complexes, grey and decaying back into the desert.

The Zabargad Resort Hotel is isolated south of Hamata town so there’s nowhere to go outside and you provide your own entertainment. The tourism downturn is evident here, with occupancy around 10%, virtually all of the guests divers. Even this resort has an unfinished section and the financial downturn can be seen in a dearth of maintenance and facilities closed/unused; with salt air, sand and strong winds the fabric is slowly succumbing to the desert. We felt very sad that the current situation has brought this to pass in such a peaceful location.

Having said all this, the rooms are simple but clean and well-kept, air-conditioned (very welcome in 40 degree heat) and all the staff very friendly; they couldn’t do more to help and make you welcome. Our room boy was a master at creating origami animals and birds from a few towels!
The restaurant provides a good selection of different foods, tending to being local-based but tries very hard so we didn’t go hungry. The Pirates Bar, which includes Emperor Dive Centre and School, catches a refreshingly cool breeze most of the time so divers and non-divers alike can meet and camp out here and watch the divers on the jetty, with drink right to hand. Nabil, who runs the bar, is a lovely, obliging chap.

Emperor took over in 2013 and the resident dive crew, Alex and Frency, are just as helpful and work extremely hard sorting out shore and boat dives, the latter difficult at times due to lack of numbers and weather (wind strong at times but at least it kept us cooler, even if too rough for snorkelling). They both guide on the shore and boat, with extra guide(s) from Marsa as needed. Boats leave from the nearby Marina, with a minibus taking divers from the Dive Centre (a truck brings the gear along).

Boats tend to work on Egyptian time but they get there and again the crew are ever helpful. The food on board is excellent (the hotel does packed breakfast/lunch but the pancakes with honey on board are to die for!). The offshore dive sites are plentiful and varied with some fantastic coral and masses of the smaller fishes to see and a chance of the big stuff. As always of course, weather and tides dictate what is likely to turn up – we were lucky to get a manta (briefly) on one dive but sharks (apart from one white tip) were absent due to lack of current. But a night dive on the house reef produced a most beautiful fluorescent pink/red Spanish Dancer (my first, thanks Frency).

A last snorkel in flat calm water early one morning, with current running, produced swarms of colourful fish of all sizes over the corals and saw a sizeable white tip coming for a head-on collision, which turned into a slow couple of close passes to check this strange thing out! Beautiful! And as if this wasn’t enough, (didn’t I mention the four resident Ospreys with a nest on a bar roof?) when climbing up the ladder onto the jetty all four were sitting around on the railings (bit like vultures!) and one stayed put while I eyeballed it from about an arms-length away – for a bird-watcher it doesn’t get better than this! Not even seeing one catch a large parrot fish and two of them actually swimming in the sea and flapping slowly ashore like drowned ducks! Unbelievable!

So, go there and support Emperor’s crew and the Resort and ENJOY, before either the desert gets it or the economy picks up and the tourists swamp the place."

Barry Baily - UK

Zabargad Berenice Resort - Splendid!

"I had a splendid week in Hamata, staying at the Zabargad Berenice Resort, diving with Emperor Divers. The hotel is a good size, with plenty of facilities: clearly designed to cater for large numbers as it becomes more popular, with a good eye for detail and sympathetic to the environment.

Our room was comfortable and spacious. It could be improved with a kettle and tea-making facilities. Hopefully this situation will be remedied on my next visit!

The food in the restaurant was varied and always plenty of choice, buffet style. There are a number of bars, although two were closed as we visited slightly out of season, but they looked excellent with stunning views over the Red Sea. Of the two that were open, both were fully stocked, plenty of nibbles, and warm and friendly staff. The first – Bob’s Bar – is located in the main hotel area, near the pool. The other one is attached to the Emperor Dive Centre and provides lovely views down towards the house reef and jetty. There is also a small shop onsite selling nibbles, cigarettes, souvenirs and personal hygiene products, etc.

The dive centre is professionally run by Alex and Francesca: a wonderful couple who will go out of their way to accommodate their dive guests. They are professional, helpful, kind and generous with their time and knowledge: a credit to the Emperor Divers brand. The house reef is the best one I have dived in the Red Sea; full of life both north and south of the entry point, and especially around the sunken foundations of the jetty, where you will find a huge Napoleon wrasse, plenty of grouper, Moray eels, down to nudibranchs and tiny shrimp. The coral is in excellent condition too.

One of the main attractions of Hamata is the low numbers of tourists and divers who make the journey to this destination – meaning that not only the house reef, but the dive sites further afield are relatively unspoiled. This was reinforced on several dive trips we did by boat to Fury Shoals – the wealth of marine life is stunning. One of the best sites was Sha’ab Maksur, which is a similar reef to Elphinstone, both in terms of shape and abundance of marine life. An amazing dive and worth the ticket to Hamata alone.

Due to the small numbers of dive guests, there were several days when there were only two of us on the boat, plus dive guide and crew, giving us a highly personal experience!

The temperature at the end of Feb/early March was 23-24 in the water, and plenty hot enough out of the water, which makes Hamata the perfect destination for divers looking for a cheeky week break to escape the UK winter.

I would definitely go again, quite possibly next Spring, all things being equal. Thanks to Helena at Regaldive who provided all the information we needed when discussing options, and arranged the details once we had confirmed. I have no hesitation in recommending Regal to dive friends, and will certainly use them again in the future."

Nigel Cass - UK

Lahami Bay Beach Resort

"Booked via Regaldive on a deal from LIDS.
Thomas Cook LGW - Hurghada, 20kg + 5kg with cert card.

Just four in the bus to South of Marsa Alam and then just the two of us to Hamata approx another 2.5 hours including stops. Take water on the bus, it is not provided and first stop is at El Quseir! Lahami Bay Beach Resort Hotel was very comfortable, we were given upgrades to beach view rooms on arrival as the Hotel was "very busy". Not sure how or who with, as the place was very spacious and uncrowded. We arrived late and they had kept an excellent meal for us. The quality of the food was awesome all week, huge buffet in the main restaurant with a Pizzeria on site, snacks available nearly all the time. Stella was free, but Sakara was 4 Euro a bottle! We were the only English in the village, the Hotel seems mostly to be used by Italians and Germans, all prices in Euros and converted to Egyptian pounds on leaving.

To the diving... next day to the Barakuda dive shop, very well laid out. Slick sign in; evidence by log book, sight of insurance and dive computer. Shown round setup; paintings on the walls of the reefs with buoy locations, wet rooms, excellent wash tanks etc. We were issued crates, hangers and SMBs followed by an orientation on the beach entrance to the house reef and off we went.

Diving from the shore onto the house reef is sorted by leaving your crate on the loading dock, this is then taken to the beach shack for you, take a tank from the bins at the shack, Nitrox and analyser are available at 3 Euro per tank if qualified, sign the in/out register, buddy check and off you go. Shore cover was at the beach dive shack and another from the roof lookout of the Mangrove bar. We did two self guided shore dives, one left and one right from the beach entry, and moved to boat dives on the house reefs at 10 Euro per each extra.

Boat Dive pick up is twice a day from the shop with a 10 min drive to the jetty, small day boat fitted for stowing tanks and crates, never had more than seven of us + guide on board and once just two of us!!! Never a hurry and we could not have asked for more. Boat carried lead, Oxygen, spares kit and relied on mobile phones for comms. We got a mask flood and clear, plus reg release and recover as a check on first boat dive.

The seven dive sites that are accessed by boat are mostly collections of pinnacles with one per site being buoyed and used as the tie in point. Most divers appear to be doing just one or two per holiday, we dived daily and got to call the dive sites when we wanted to return to one in particular.Briefings are very clear and mostly given twice, max depth on house reef is approx 20m if you take a shovel, but 16-17m was normal, with most life being in the top 10m so max times were in the 75 min mark. The order was back on the boat with at least 40 bar. If you wanted a guide you could join the crowd, or, just drop in after the briefing and "see you later" against an agreed max run time. Very relaxed and very enjoyable, no stress, plenty of time to linger if you want.

The night dive was just four of us and was very enjoyable - shrimps, crinoid feather stars etc. When one diver had done his air and was guided back to the boat, the last three of worked our way very slowly back at 5-3m checking out the life on the reef. A very, very enjoyable experience. Total 10 dives, and the trip was very relaxed, enjoyable and just what we needed. Day air temp 38C, water temp 24-25C at 10m. Lemon shark and white tip reef shark were seen on the reef, worryingly there seemed to be a lot of die back in the barrel sponges."

Don - UK

An excellent week at Lahami Bay

"Malcolm and I had an excellent week at Lahami Bay, thanks to your meticulous organisation.

Malcolm did 12 dives and I did 11, despite artificial hip joint.

The resort and dive operation were first class. Barakuda have their own private marina only 5 mins in minibus, and the boat was ideally suited for the purpose. The guides and crew were helpful and patient - even when we made mistakes, like when I dropped a (admittedly faulty) weight belt. They wouldn't even let me pay for the lost weights.

One highlight was snorkelling amongst about 30 dolphins, including babies, during one surface interval. As well as the other sea life, the hard-coral formations were the most impressive and dramatic that we have ever seen. We were the only British people at the resort; the majority were Germans, so I had lots of practice speaking this language (I used to work as a translator). Even the 2-hour transfer near the coast across the desert was an experience. At one point we were following behind an open truck of young camels!

Only niggle: the food was so good, I gained 2 lbs.! Thank you all. "

Anna - UK

Lahami Bay - highly recommended!

"We travelled to Marsa Alam and from the moment we stepped into the airport building we were made to feel special...

We were met by Ramadan Gomaa, a Regaldive rep who was excellent at his job. We stayed at Lahami Bay Resort in Hamata, a 5* hotel. The manageress is excellent, Ursula Wolf - she made us feel very special indeed. The hotel was beautiful, food the best we’d had in Egypt. First class service from all staff and very friendly.

Diving was fantastic, again exceptional service and the dive staff are now friends for life.

I’d go as far to say this is the best holiday we have ever had and we highly recommend Regaldive and Lahami Bay.

David"

Zabargad Dive Resort - Excellent Trip!

"Michaela,

Excellent trip, as usual.

All the arrangements worked perfectly.

Great diving. Very friendly dive centre team. The resort was very quiet, which meant some facilities were not available, but it also meant that the dive boats were uncluttered.

John Woulds"