Israel is not a very known diving country. We happened to visit the far south this winter, when I wanted a break from the cold European winter and had a serious desire for some sea and sun.
We searched online for a good diving company, when we stumbled upon Lucky divers. They are located on Coral beach, which can be easily reached by public bus from Eilat (15 min).
We were greeted by friendly staff, we did all the paper work, when we were good to go. The facilities were ok, the equipment looked good, but somehow we had a funny feeling about our dive master. He was quite uninterested and looked a bit bored. I had a feeling, he was a little arrogant.
We had to do a refresh dive first, as we didn’t dive for more than 6 months. This refresh dive turned into a whole hour of PADI exercises. We didn’t see almost any corals and fish, as we were on the ground doing this and that the entire time.
I thought “OK, they have strict rules and he has to do this refresher like this.” But also the second dive was a disappointment. We swam a little bit offshore, saw some fish and coral formations, when we already turned around and went back.
As I see diving as my ultimate mental therapy, I was still happy to be in “my world”, but I still expected more of the underwater world in Eilat and of the dive instructor.
What you need to know before you go diving in Israel
- Insurance
You have to have a diving insurance. If you don’t have it, you can purchase it online. It costs 99 N.I.S. (24€) for 5 days (this is the minimum you can buy). If you are not a diver and want to do just the introduction dive, the insurance is 20 N.I.S. (5€).
- Refresher dive
If you haven’t gone divin for more than 6 months, you will have to do a refresh dive. It might look like ours, where you JUST do exercises underwater.
- Price
Compared to the neighboring Egypt it is quite expensive. A normal shore dive with rented equipment was 150 N.I.S (36€), the same price was the refresh dive.
As we’ve already seen the underwater world of the Great barrier reef, the Philippines, Maldives, Egypt, Galapagos, Bahamas etc., I would definitely spend my time (and money) elsewhere in Israel.
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