Hello,
I finally picked up a boat to go on a liveaboard in Egypt, I even picked the route, date and found air tickets... And then I read the news.
The boat I picked was MV Tillis, operated by Dive Pro Liveaboards. Tillis has good reviews on all sites I found, even here they seem to be praised (considering they are a low cost operator).
However, they just had a fire on a another boat, killing one poor diveress, and I believe they had another one last year. It seems the fire started in the kitchen and everything after it broke out was very poorly managed by the company and officials both.
I do not know what to make of it, it would be simple to see Dive Pro Liveaboards as "avoid at all costs", but I do not understand the factors to make a proper judgement. Many people here praise Agressors - and RS Agressor also burnt down, if I am not mistaken. Dive Pro Liveaboards do maybe a 100 LBs in a year, so I would like not to rush to conclusion (since I found choice I liked) by, say, a (terrible, but still) kitchen accident which could just as well happen anywhere (think Malaysia Airlines...).
I know that well situated western Europeans and Americans will tell me to get a liveaboard for 200 USD/night, but I cannot do that. My options are go with Tillis, or bite the bullet and go with a Russian owned boat (not really keen on sending money to Russians nowadays), or not go to Egypt at all.
I also have a side alternative of going with a local tour from here, but that is in November, which I do not prefer, I would prefer international group, and the itinerary is Dedalus and Elphinstone only, also it might be a tad complicated with gear... so alltogether not so attractive to me...
I am starting a new topic in a hope to get more answers, as my other topics are fairly stale.
Could you please help me with my decision?
Side note: My wife has 40 dives and on the itinerary I picked, the expected minimum is 50. Upon questions, Dive Pro said she can come, no problem. What is the point of 50 limit, must I ask...
I finally picked up a boat to go on a liveaboard in Egypt, I even picked the route, date and found air tickets... And then I read the news.
The boat I picked was MV Tillis, operated by Dive Pro Liveaboards. Tillis has good reviews on all sites I found, even here they seem to be praised (considering they are a low cost operator).
However, they just had a fire on a another boat, killing one poor diveress, and I believe they had another one last year. It seems the fire started in the kitchen and everything after it broke out was very poorly managed by the company and officials both.
I do not know what to make of it, it would be simple to see Dive Pro Liveaboards as "avoid at all costs", but I do not understand the factors to make a proper judgement. Many people here praise Agressors - and RS Agressor also burnt down, if I am not mistaken. Dive Pro Liveaboards do maybe a 100 LBs in a year, so I would like not to rush to conclusion (since I found choice I liked) by, say, a (terrible, but still) kitchen accident which could just as well happen anywhere (think Malaysia Airlines...).
I know that well situated western Europeans and Americans will tell me to get a liveaboard for 200 USD/night, but I cannot do that. My options are go with Tillis, or bite the bullet and go with a Russian owned boat (not really keen on sending money to Russians nowadays), or not go to Egypt at all.
I also have a side alternative of going with a local tour from here, but that is in November, which I do not prefer, I would prefer international group, and the itinerary is Dedalus and Elphinstone only, also it might be a tad complicated with gear... so alltogether not so attractive to me...
I am starting a new topic in a hope to get more answers, as my other topics are fairly stale.
Could you please help me with my decision?
Side note: My wife has 40 dives and on the itinerary I picked, the expected minimum is 50. Upon questions, Dive Pro said she can come, no problem. What is the point of 50 limit, must I ask...