Are we really this boring? Recommendations about diving/snorkeling vacation
 

One week online with the new forum software and not a single non-CFD post in this new Lounge forum. I have to admit that my wife does have some merit in her complaints that we are just a bunch of nerds who always sit in front of the computer running CFD simulations, writing CFD codes or talking about CFD with other CFD nerds ;)

To get the discussions going in this lounge forum...

One of my main interests, and incidently also an interest of my wife, is to dive or snorkel on coral reefs. We have spent holidays snorkeling on the great barrier reef in Australia, in the Maldives and in Thailand. We now have a 4-year old son though so the possibility of going on diving/snorkeling holidays has been a bit limited over the last few years.

Has anyone got any recommendations on good places to go on vacation if you want to combine snorkeling around coral reefs and keeping a 4-year old boy happy and busy? I have been thinking about going to Egypt, but I'm not sure how that will work out with a 4-year old very wild boy who needs stimulation 110% of the time.

Haven't been in Sinai for ages, but AFAIK, there should be possibilities for young children as well, at least in the more touristic sites. The reefs are magnificent and unique. If you compromise a bit on the reefs, I can assure you that in Eilat there are plenty of things you can do with your child (e.g., swimming with dolphins, underwater observatory, ClubMed style activities for children, etc). Enjoy your vacation!

Red Sea Region
 

Thanks for your advice. I have been thinking about that region. I've never dived in the Red Sea. I'm kind of looking for a ClubMed style of hotel with lots of Children activities, but with a fantastic house reef just outside of the beach where we could go freedive and snorkel the whole family without having to go on long boat-trips. I know that it is probably a bit tricky to find that. Good diving and snorkeling spots tend to get over-commercialised if there are ClubMed hotels near by. It should also be relatively safe to be there. You don't want to take any risks with your children.

My son in theory would love to swim with dolphines, but in practise I don't think he'll have the nerve to do so. When he caught his first fish two years ago he in full seriousness called it a "very large and dangerous shark" and it was a tiny little Swedish fish called Aborre, which was no bigger than a finger. :)

We haven't planned any vacation yet, I'm just thinking about the possibility that now sooooooon my son is old enough for us to go together on a snorkeling vacation :cool:. He loves fishes and we often go to the large aquarium near by to see various tropical fishes, sharks and other marine life.

Any advice as to which city or vacation region around the Red Sea that has the best combination of both good snorkeling and house reefs near by, combined with hotels with a lot of children activities?

Hi Jonas,

I totally agree with your considerations of safety and adequacy for a young child (the amusing shark story rings a bell). Eilat (Israel) has a ClubMed, but as I had already written, the reef is less impressive than those of Sinai (Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab to name a few). Googling for club med "red sea" revealed there is one in El Gouna, Eygpt. Not sure where exactly it is, but it seems to be on the bank opposite Sinai (and Sharm).

Sorry I cannot help beyond this point, but trust you'll resolve the remaining issues (after all it is not much more difficult than the CFD issues you have for breakfast).

Wishing you a nice red sea vacation!

thanks
 

Thanks for your advice Rami. I appreciate it. If life was like CFD it would be no problem to stay on top of it. Unfortunately my ability to solve the Navier-Stokes equations doesn't seem to make either my wife or my son very happy :rolleyes: A vacation with fantastic snorkeling might do some good there though :cool:.

We are not nerds. We just forget the needs of expressing ourselves.

nerds? perhaps! but diving is quite boring because it's soo sloww and dull but anybody can do it so it's good for networking and relaxing. Have u been to Bali? Many swedes and europeans go there and it's more stable and peaceful than thailand. I think some of the CFD conference should be held in Bali as well, that way we can go for both work and leisure purposes, using company money! :D

Yea I agree with you, diving with tubes is a bit boring and requires you to always stay calm to preserve oxygene. I have almost stopped diving with tubes. It is more fun to free-dive without tubes. After some practise it is not problem to get down to 15-20 meters depth, and much deeper than that you don't want to go anyway, since colors start to become dull and light weak down there.

When you free-dive you don't have to carry around all the equipment and there are no dive-tables to always keep track of. Besides, I can free-dive while I snorkel with the rest of my family.

After a traffic accident I was involved in a few years ago my doctors have adviced me not to go for deep free-dives though, so I try to keep above 10m, but when you see that beatiful Napoleon fish down there it takes some character not to continue down.

I have never been in Bali. Is the diving/snorkeling there good? I was a bit dissapointed with the snorkeling in Thailand. We went to a small island on the west-coast a bit south of Koh-Lanta called Koh Ngai, where diving was supposed to be good. But it wasn't that great. Small fishes and not that good visibility. People tell me that further up north on the Similian island diving is supposed to be better though.

The best diving I have ever experienced was on the Maldives. It is a bit expensive though. We spent our honey moon on a small island called Komandoo. That is the best vacation I have ever had. There was a very nice house-reef just outside of the small island and I think we free-dived at least 3 hours every day there. That island doesn't accept children though :(, so it is out of the question now that we have a 4-year old son.

Hi

I spent a few days in the Sharm-al-Sheikh area last year, and would definitely recommend it as being child friendly. If memory serves me correctly, the Sofitel hotel in Naama Bay has access to some nice reefs. I am sure you will be able to find something to your liking in this area.

Regards,
Imraan

diving/snorkeling vacation
 

hey, have you tried Palawan in the Philippines? or Romblon, again in the Philippines? it's totally mindblowing!

Im currently in Japan doing an CFD related internship! (im only 20:p) And being from Canada, I have heard alot of great things about snorkling/diving in Okinawa Japan.

Theres a large chunk of the year when you can dive with Mantas Rays I believe! I'll be going there real soon! I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!

Whats the name of this book???

A bit late with this recommendation
 

Probably a bit late with this recommendation but the west coast of Canada has some great cold water dives spots.

Specifically:

- Victoria (on Vancouver Island)
- Saanich Inlet
- Hornby Island

Probably one of the few places in the world where one can dive, ski, and surf on the same day!

Diving Sites in Cebu, Philippines
 

This is also probably another late recommendation, but just in case you haven't gone down yet to actually taking time off from CFD, you might want to consider immersing yourself in the warm waters of several diving spots in Cebu (in addition to Palawan and Romblon---both in the Philippines---as recommended earlier by kaylaleeds319). There are several beautiful spots for diving in Cebu:

1. Santander, Cebu (south of Cebu; two sites here: Wall of Death and Liloan and Looc)
2. Sumilon Island, Cebu (also south of Cebu; this is a marine sanctuary)
3. Moalboal, Cebu (southwest Cebu; two sites: Pescador Island and Sunken Island)
4. Malapascua Island, Cebu (north of Cebu; there are shipwrecks here)

not diving, but head down to NZL south island and go swimming with the fur seals at Kaikoura.

That sounds very cool. Are they friendly with swimmers? The problem is that NZL is right on the other side of the globe. I live in Sweden, Europe. So going to NZL requires a >30h plane trip ....

I had the opportunity to swim with seals a long time ago when I was in Australia. However, I decided not to go along. Swimming with seals is about the best thing you can do to attract the attention from great whites. We have seals up here in Sweden also, but they rarely come close to swimmers.

The New Zealand kind (Fur Seals) are friendly with swimmers, opposed to the European kind (Harbour Seals). Actually, they're quite nosey. I took the opportunity when I was down there a few years ago. There are guided tours from Kaikoura, which I can highly recommend, as the guides know (at least are supposed to) where the sharks are and know where to swim without getting in conflict. Ashore one is supposed to stay away quite some distance and never ever get between the seals and the water.

First Post should be interesting, right?
 

Hi,
Although this post is a few years out of date, I wanted to put up something relevant and interesting.

I recently spent a year in the wilderness in the Philippines with my 3.5 year old son and my wife. While we were there, we found a little spot of paradise that sounds exactly what you are after.

It is a tiny (3km long) island surrounded by coral, powered by solar with plenty of exploring for an adventurous youngster.
The photos are here: http://julzandroxy.com/2012/09/29/pandan-island-photos/

It was by far the most amazing experience we all had.
The fish and coral starts 4m from the shore, we never even bothered getting tanks. Plus there were kyaks to take the little one out on.

The highlight would be the giant sea turtles which were everywhere just off the shore. It goes down as my most David Attenborough moment to date.

If anyone wants details, just shoot me a message.
Cheers,
Julz

Hi Julz,

I looked on your pictures. :D. It looks like a fantastic adventure. I also found some images and videos from the resort homepage (see http://www.pandan.com/images-pandan and http://www.pandan.com/diving/videos). How long did you stay on this island? Did your kid like it there? Was the food in the resort good for him also?

There were two things that made me think. First, I saw that they recommended visitors to bring Malaria medicine. Did you do this and did you give your son this also? I have intentionally avoided areas with big Malaria risks. It feels a bit too much to give a small kid preventive Maria medicine just to go on a vacation. The other thing which made me think was that in several of the videos you could see sea-snakes. Did you see a lot of sea-snakes when snorkeling? Perhaps it is just my inexperience that shows, but I have not done a lot of snorkeling with sea-snakes around and it feels a bit scary to snorkel with your wife and son around snakes that are the most poisonous snakes in the world.

My son is now 8 years old and he is already a fairly experienced snorkeler. Soon he will start following me down on deeper freedives also. Two years ago we spent two weeks on a Maldivian island. Snorkeling on the house-reef there was fantastic. You can see a few videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ErikMLarsson/videos. Visiting Pandan island would be different though, much more "David Attenborough" as you put it, or even "Robinson Crusoe" :). I saw on the price-list that they offered WiFi connection. Did you try that? Can you charge your laptop on the island? I'd love to go there and sit in the sun-set with my laptop in my knee and administer CFD Online :cool: