Do I Need A Wetsuit To Dive In Red Sea?

If you’ve never dived in the Red Sea and if you’re booked to go diving there you may be wondering; do you need a wetsuit to dive in the Red Sea.

You do need a wetsuit to dive in the Red Sea, especially when diving in deeper waters and if you dive from a Red Sea liveaboard. You may experience cooler thermoclines in the Red Sea and depending on the time of year you dive and the depth, you will probably need a 1-5mm wetsuit.

If you don’t feel the cold, and if you dive when it’s extremely hot in the summer months in the Red Sea when water temperatures are higher, you may not need a wetsuit to dive. But if you don’t use a wetsuit, I suggest you at least use a rash vest to stop the chaffing from your buoyancy control device.

Every time I’ve dive in the Red Sea I’ve always dived in a wetsuit. I used a wetsuit whether I dived off the coast from day boats and each time I dived from a Red Sea liveaboard.

Above I mention cooler thermoclines in the Red Sea, and I’m sorry I can’t remember where it was I dived and at what depth I was diving, but I certainly remember going through a colder band of water once, and I was glad for my wetsuit. But Red Sea thermoclines aside, I’ve always dived the Red Sea using a 3mm wetsuit.

The best way to dive anywhere in the world is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on liveaboards using the following window:

What thickness wetsuit for Red Sea?

The best thickness wetsuit for the Red Sea is a 3mm wetsuit, but if you are a warm-blooded person you may be better off using a 1-2mm wetsuit. In the winter months between December and April, and possibly into May the waters cool down, and you may want to opt for a slightly thicker 4-5mm wetsuit instead.

Best wetsuit for red sea

I have included a few tables of areas in the Red Sea and the best wetsuit for the Red Sea in that area. The recommended thickness for a wetsuit in the Red Sea for each of these tables was taken from this wetsuit temperature guide scuba diving.

The following Red Sea wetsuit guide is for Sharm el-Sheikh:

Sharm el-Sheikh wetsuit guide

Month	Minimum Water Temperature	Maximum water Temperature	Wetsuit guide for diving Sharm el-Sheikh
January	21.9°C (72.8°F)	25.3°C (76.2°F)	3-5mm
February	22.0°C (72.2°F)	23.4°C (73.6°F)	3-5mm
March	22.1°C (72.4°F)	23.7°C (74.4°F)	3-5mm
April	22.5°C (73.2°F)	24.4°C (75.1°F)	3-5mm
May	23.5°C (75.4°F)	26.4°C (78.3°F)	3-4mm
June	25.4°C (78.8°F)	28.0°C (81.4°F)	2-4mm
July	27.0°C (82.0°F)	30.4°C (85.4°F)	1-2mm
August	28.1°C (83.5°F)	30.6°C (86.0°F)	1-2mm
September	27.1°C (81.7°F)	29.5°C (84.1°F)	1-2mm
October	26.35°C (80.8°F)	29.3°C (83.6°F)	1-2mm
November	23.6°C (76.4°F)	28.5°C (81.3°F)	2-3mm
December	22.9°C (74.7°F)	26.5°C (78.3°F)	3-4mm

This wetsuit temperature guide for Sharm el-Sheikh in the Red Sea is just a guide. The Red Sea temperatures were taken from https://www.seatemperature.org

The following Red Sea wetsuit guide is for Hurghada:

Hurghada wetsuit guide

Month	Minimum Water Temperature	Maximum water Temperature	Wetsuit guide for diving Hurghada
January	21.4°C (71.8°F)	24.7°C (75.1°F)	3-5mm
February	21.3°C (71.1°F)	23.2°C (73.0°F)	3-5mm
March	21.4°C (71.2°F)	23.3°C (73.1F)	3-5mm
April	22.0°C (72.3°F)	23.8°C (74.1°F)	3-5mm
May	23.1°C (74.6°F)	25.8°C (77.3°F)	3-5mm
June	25.0°C (77.9°F)	27.3°C (80.2°F)	2-4mm
July	26.5°C (81.0°F)	29.8°C (84.3°F)	2-3mm
August	27.5°C (82.4°F)	29.8°C (84.7°F)	1-2mm
September	26.6°C (80.7F)	28.7°C (82.8°F)	1-2mm
October	25.9°C (79.7°F)	28.5°C (82.3°F)	1-2mm
November	23.61C (75.4°F)	27.8°C (80.1°F)	2-3mm
December	22.4°C (73.8°F)	26.0°C (77.4°F)	3-5mm

This wetsuit temperature guide for Hurghada in the Red Sea is just a guide. The Red Sea temperatures were taken from https://www.seatemperature.org

The following Red Sea wetsuit guide is for Naama Bay:

Naama Bay wetsuit guide

Month	Minimum Water Temperature	Maximum water Temperature	Wetsuit guide for diving Naama Bay
January	21.9°C (70.42°F)	25.44°C (77.79°F)	3-5mm
February	21.46°C (70.63°F)	24.05°C (75.29°F)	3-5mm
March	21.2°C (70.16°F)	24.54°C (76.17F)	3-5mm
April	21.25°C (70.25°F)	26.59°C (79.86°F)	2-5mm
May	23.08°C (73.54°F)	28.08°C (82.54°F)	2-3mm
June	24.89°C (76.8°F)	29.62°C (85.32°F)	2-3mm
July	26.41°C (79.54°F)	30.58°C (87.04°F)	2-3mm
August	27.82°C (82.08°F)	31.59°C (88.86°F)	1-2mm
September	26.98°C (80.56F)	31.51°C (88.72°F)	1-2mm
October	26.36°C (79.45°F)	30.5°C (86.9°F)	2-3mm
November	23.98C (75.16°F)	30.0°C (86.0°F)	2-5mm
December	22.77°C (72.99°F)	27.74°C (81.93°F)	3-5mm

This wetsuit temperature guide for Naama Bay in the Red Sea is just a guide. The Red Sea temperatures were taken from https://seatemperatures.net/

The following Red Sea wetsuit guide is for popular Red Sea liveaboard dive site Elphinstone Reef:

Elphinstone Reef wetsuit guide

Month	Minimum Water Temperature	Maximum water Temperature	Wetsuit guide for diving Elphinstone Reef
January	21.45°C (70.61°F)	24.71°C (76.48°F)	3-5mm
February	21.54°C (70.77°F)	24.64°C (76.35°F)	3-5mm
March	21.0°C (69.8°F)	24.71°C (76.48F)	3-5mm
April	21.73°C (71.11°F)	26.38°C (79.48°F)	2-5mm
May	23.12°C (73.62°F)	28.16°C (82.69°F)	2-5mm
June	24.88°C (76.78°F)	29.78°C (85.6°F)	2-3mm
July	26.99°C (80.58°F)	30.66°C (87.19°F)	2-3mm
August	27.98°C (82.36°F)	31.52°C (88.74°F)	1-2mm
September	27.23°C (81.01F)	30.93°C (87.67°F)	1-2mm
October	25.5°C (77.9°F)	29.76°C (85.57°F)	2-3mm
November	24.19C (75.54°F)	28.68°C (83.62°F)	3-5mm
December	22.62°C (72.72°F)	27.06°C (80.71°F)	3-5mm

This wetsuit temperature guide for Elphinstone Reef in the Red Sea is just a guide. The Red Sea temperatures were taken from https://seatemperatures.net/

I hope you enjoyed this article about do I need a wetsuit to dive in Red Sea

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