Recommendation for non-luxury safe liveaboard, rental gear (1w)

[gwklein]

I have been on Red Sea LoBs in Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia which included hammerhead dives. The dives were conducted the same off all the LoBs due to the normal behaviour of hammerheads in the Red Sea. The dive begins by heading out to deep, blue water approaching or exceeding the recreational dive limits. You hang still in the blue water and wait for the hammerheads to get curious and come up from the even deeper water. Sightings of hammerheads up close were not that common (sightings of them in the deep were common). Divers on air had a very short time at depth. Divers on nitrox (27-29%) would have to set their ppo2 to 1.6 to get to an appropriate depth but would get significantly more wait time for the hammerheads to come up.

The boats I used were in the Blue O Two, Explorer, and Aggressor fleets. I did use an independent boat in Saudi Arabia. The guest were primarily British, German, other German speakers, and Scandinavian. There were few Americans. Russians were prohibited on at least two of the boats unless they specifically agreed in advance to follow certain diving rules.

Better places to see hammerheads up close are Cocos Island, Galapagos, and Malpelo. None of them easy to get to and all more expensive than the Red Sea.

PADI, SSI, SDI, and TDI do not require actual dives for certification. The book portion of the class can be done on-line but you still must go in person to learn to analyze a tank and understand your computer settings.

 

[Asanoth]

Maybe it was advanced Nitrox. So in this case, the best way, I guess, would be to do the course as a part of a LoB without any further hinderances: I guess nearly all LoBs would offer that and it would probably be cheaper than do it here (min 200 €, my IANTD OWD instructor offers 330 €, but includes 4 dives).

Could I please ask for those itinerary recommendations? As I said, Brothers+North seem way to wrecky to me. The described hammerhead dive would be something I can do twice or thrice (especially if there actually are hammerheads), and even appreciate the experience, since we never did deep blue only dive, except for Kled Kaew, which does not count I guess, but I would definitely prefer more (bio)diversity and one or two wreck dives (there are wrecks at, e.g., Brothers), seem sufficient.

Also, that high-end thing - what does it mean price wise and is it really necessary considered what I wrote in post 6?

1. I did not say no Russians, I said "Russian-filled", I simply do not want to have a vacation with a detached office of a propaganda bureau (not that all Russians are like that, but lets keep the risks down). I do not also need all rental gear in a very good nick, I simply do not want to drown - worn down wetsuit does not matter, while the air gear should, of course, be in a safety consciouss condition. I would like to fit below 1000 € pp including gear rental. Red Sea Explorer, for example, charges gear by day, which makes it quite expensive. Of course, price per dive is what is important to me in the end, between 800 € 24 dives and 1000 € 30 dives I will choose 30 dives. But that is, honestly, the only "extra" I am willing to put extra significant money on.

 

[gwklein]

To get an idea about the cost of LoBs in Egypt and what they ships provide, you might do a search on Liveaboards.com for Egypt during the period in which you are interested in going. They have over 75 boats listed on their site and prices range from US$75 a night to well over US$250 a night. This should give you a better idea on how to refine your questions you that people are better able to respond.

 

[Asanoth]

I did look at that and found many well scored trips for 800-900 €. I would consider "high-end" to be at somewhere 1500 € + for a week. That is why I am asking what actually did the posters mean by this term. Maybe it is even bellow 800 €, but recommended RS Agressors or others are more towards 2000ish €, which is above my budget - for this price maybe I'd better do a LB in Komodo including flights .

 

[Asanoth]

I did some reading, especially here on the forum, and it does seem that BDE or some variation of it is the best choice for us.

What would deter me a bit are the crowds, but I doubt I would get great sites in a good season for a good price without crowds... Especially if our interest on this trip are also/mostly pelagics.
Of course, I am still open to other options, but most posts here do not evaluate deeper south as well as BDE.


What I struggle with is when to go. I read July - August is best for hammerheads, then I read they are deep as the water is too warm, so maybe it is better to go some other months, OWTs are up in autumn, but then there are no hammerheads, mantas are rather rare, but less so in summer, threshers... fall or winter?

Then of course there is this infamous table, but I got the impression it is rather sales oriented, especially at Mar - May months: https://scubaboard.com/community/attachments/screen-shot-2022-01-10-at-3-16-11-pm-png.699891/

Anyway, I would say, my priority would be diversity in general and I also like small non-fish stuff. My wife, however, said "I want to go there for sharks", so lets go along with that . There is also that "lets see the pyramids as well" idea, but that is not the priority as we can get easily and sometimes inexpensively to Egypt other time.

Regarding our timeframe, we are only blocked out last two weeks of May (which could be dealt with, but I doubt those two weeks are absolutely unmissable compared to, say, first week of June) and I wanted to go for a non-diving vacation sometimes in Autumn, possibly October, but that is still unclear and can easily change depending on destination.

So, when would you advise me to go? I think we can put the specific boats/companies recommendations aside for a bit. Thank you.

 

[scubajasonr]

I have dived the BDE route a few times in October, I have also dived 'Brother & North' in October. Since the Brothers has been closed to over night stays it is noticeable how many more boats are at Daedalus, most will spend two days here, whereas previously boats would spend one day here after two days at the Brothers. October is generally considered peak season so it can get very busy in the water, although I only remember one dive on my trip in 2022 where we were in the water with lots and lots of other divers. If the boats all planned the dives together it would be much better, but all the boats seem to put the divers in the water at the same time... Hammerheads were seen on maybe half the dives, but were generally below us (maybe at 50m), we also had visits from a large manta. Normally dive 1 (and maybe dive 2) start in the blue, with the dive ending back on the reef, although the currents can mean it is difficult to get back to the reef. The final dive of the day is normally on the reef wall. The coral and marine life around Daedalus is stunning, and I would often prefer to be closer to the wall be than just hanging out in the blue. On my last trip there were no Oceanic Whitetips at Brothers or Daedalus, although there were a couple of these at Elphinstone.

I am going back this year in August, so it will be interesting to see how this compares to October.

As for boats I have been with a few different operators. From my experience spending more on the boat doesn't mean you will get better service and food. I think my favourite have been trips with Deep Blue Cruises who have a couple of old small boats, but have very experienced crew, guides and great chefs. I have also been on a much newer 'posher' boat that was very disappointing. The downside with Deep Blue Cruises is that they mainly target the German market so they have few guests who speak English, although guides and crew do. Maybe have a look at Emperor who have a range of routes and work with a wide range of nationalities.

 

[bottomrunner]

Hello all. I would suggest that you rent your equipment from your local dive shop and take it with you. In between dives keep your regs in a pail of fresh water with port keeper in place to keep water from getting inside of your regs. Nitrox is a luxury that is not required. just don't push your dives to their limits. you will get 30 minutes at 80 feet (24 meters) or 8 minutes at 140 feet (42 meters), before decompression. also, take a few extra minutes at your safety stop.
I ran a charter business and there were many days that I did 7 dives a day.
Just do not push your limits and take proper surface intervals.

Hope this helps.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

In between dives keep your regs in a pail of fresh water

Never heard of that, never saw that. Usually the routine on LOBs or full day tours is that you put your regs to the next dive's tank. I doubt that every boat has a spare pail for that... and i doubt that this makes sense.
Nitrox is only "luxury" if you have to pay extra, something less and less common.
AFAIK depth limit is 40 m in Egypt and deco dives are not allowed anyway.
Just my 2 cents..

 

[Parlem]

Every Red Sea liveaboard I've been on assigned a specific tank to every diver. You assembled your gear on Day 1 and never took it apart till the last dive. Tanks were filled in place by means of long hoses after every dive. You were just required to remove your regulator's first stage to indicate that the tank needing filling, that's all. I'm not sure Bottomrunner's suggested routine would work, to be honest.

As for Nitrox being a luxury that's not required, I would simply not consider diving air on liveaboard where you are expected to dive deep (BDE, for instance). EAN28 or 29 works great and extends your bottom time considerably at the depth limit for recreational diving.

Just my two cents.

 

[ColinT3]

In my experience there tend to be 'Russian boats' and that's where the Russians tend to go. They seem to be looser in their adherence to rules (drinking alcohol before diving, handling sealife/coral etc).

My last trip in March was on 'Ocean Lovers' (great boat and crew, and highly recommended), we had English, French, German, Austrian and Swiss onboard. It was a great bunch of divers and a great crew.

I've never heard of or known of thefts from cabins, the crews on the boats I've been on have always been fantastic and entirely honest.

You'll get night dives as long as you are not at Brothers etc, or in the National Parks. I think we had 3 on my last trip.

In terms of a route I'd say a 'northern wrecks and reefs/the brothers' would be a great compromise. You'll do The Brothers and hopefully see some big stuff, you'll do some great reefs/walls at Ras Mohamed and Tiran, as well as some wrecks including the Thistlegorm (bucket list dive).

Dives are always the standard '60 mins/or 50 bar remaining'.

I have my own gear, but people using rented gear on my last trip were all happy, and from what I saw of the gear it was all in great condition, it wasn't owned by the boat but came from a central supplier, so likely to supply many other boats too.

Tanks are filled after diving at your station on all liveaboard I've been on, you simply unscrew you first stage and the crew will fill your tank from a whip. You then analyse your tank, fill in the Nitrox form and fit your first stage ready to go.

I second everyone recommending Nitrox, in my opinion it's a must when on a liveaboard and doing 4 dives a day. Its a dry course (PADI), no dives required, you're simply learning the theory, MOD's etc and how to analyse your tanks prior to diving.