Blue O Two - Blue Fin trip report - Hurgahada

[macray]

April 25th-May 2nd 2008
Departed Hurgahda on Blue Fin operated by Blueotwo.
Billed as "Simply the best".....in reality simply the worst.

By far the worst live-aboard we have ever been on. We booked the premium cabin only to find we had the second best cabin which is about 35% smaller than the best (although the same price). Inside our cabin was the compressor for the boats refrigeration which worked all day and night. Sleep was with ear plugs only. On arrival the bathroom was disgustingly dirty and stinking. It was cleaned only after we asked twice.
Max number of possible dives for the whole week was supposed to be three per day (a surprise for any live-aboard)but it was less.....a max of 13 for the whole week. One night dive only.
Drives between dive sights in very rough water were 8 hours plus...ridiculous, especially when we arrive to find out one sight was too rough to dive at all.
Each and every dive sight is crammed with at least 6 other live-aboards. On one dive site there were at least 50 divers at the same time.
On the third day I, along with two other guests suffered food poisoning. 24 hours of sheer hell with Mummy Tummy as the locals call it. The boat was well armed with pills so they obviously are used to it.
This was supposed to be "Shark Week".the best of the best but we saw one Thresher Shark (very cool) one hammerhead (they were supposed to be schooling)and one Manta........the one night dive we did was very good, big squid and a crocodile fish being the most memorable.
Overall the boat was very disappointing, particularly since it looks so good on the web site. We found the dive crew mostly unhelpful and unfriendly. The Egyptian boat crew were hard working and pleasant although communications were poor. The highlight of the week was watching the remarkable boat skills of these guys tying up a 120 foot boat between three other boats in fifteen foot seas. (No diving that day)
Overall advice......don't go.......don't even think about it.

[El Orans]

This vessel? blue Fin (http://www.blueotwo.com/my_blue_fin.htm)

Blue O Two has been sent a link to this thread.

[macray]

Yes, exactly that vessel.

[Christian]

Sounds like weather played a big role. 13 dives in a week on a LoB is very bad. Even when no night dives are allowed, like in the egyptian marine park areas.

'Simply the best' is the name of the itinerary, once dubbed by a reporter on a UK dive magazine. Of course any itinerary can turn into disaster if you're unlucky with the ship and its crew, fellow travellers, food, weather, diving, local police etc. etc.

I've had a few diaster trips as well, but to other areas of the world (and other areas of the Red Sea). I've been on this specific itinerary a few times (not on the Blue Fin though) and it has always been good, some times spectacular. Unfortunatelly the popularity of these dive areas have caused the number of liveaboard boats in Egypt to sky rocket in the past 4-5 years. It means that at a certain point in time, there can be so many boats/divers at e.g. Brothers islands that it's no longer enjoable to dive. It's not always like that, but if you are unlucky... I think the Egyptian authorities should look into a stricter way of limiting the number of boats visiting the variuos sites at the same time.

I have never been on the Blue Fin, so all you say might very well be true, but the fact that you bring up travelling time between dive sites as 'ridiculous', makes we wonder if your overall disappoinment with the trip might cloud your over all judgement.

Someone fooled you into believing that there's actually a "shark week", who pulled that one on you? If you want to see hammerheads, summer is the best time (also much better chances for calm weather) in the Egyptian Red Sea. But there has never been large schools in Egyptian waters. You normally see small groups 2,3,4 sharks, sometimes 8-10 specimen and rarely 15-20 or more. For the larger schools you need to go to the sudanese red sea (or Galapagos or Cocos Islands).

A threasher shark, a hammerhead shark and manta ray would be considered a pretty good score from 13 dives in most parts of the world, but I understand that you can get disappointed if you expect to see large schools of hammerheads...

My advice: do carefully research the destination before going, and be prepared for the conditions and what to expect. Don't listen too much to travel agents - many of them lack in knowledge and/or are full of bs. Otherwise you might end up very disappointed.

cheers

[Eau_Girl]

Christian has made lots of good points in his post so I won't repeat them.

The one point worth repeating about doing your own research before selecting any trip.

I was on Blue Fin in November 2007. It was the Brothers Elphinstone itinerary. I had a good time. It was my first Red Sea trip and my expectations were not that high. i knew the diving could be good, but I also knew about the crowds on some of the dive sites. In the UK divers joke that the popular dive sites look like the M25 in rush hour. (FYI,that's the ring motorway around London). On our first day at Brothers we woke up to 7 other liveaboards on Little Brother. Big Brother had another half dozen. There were a couple of dives that were chaos due to the number of divers in the water at one time and due to the changing currents. On the last day when there was only one other liveaboard it was much nicer.

The other Red Sea horror stories I have heard from UK based divers are about the entire boat getting food poisoning, running out of food, air conditioners breaking down, diesel fumes throughout the boats, etc.

On our charter the Blue Fin was half full. That meant plenty of room on the dive deck. It would have been crowded had the boat been full. The Egyptian crew were great but most of them had limited English and I speak no Arabic. The dive guides were fine but were not the 'customer service focused' types.

Our chef was very good -- some of the best liveaboard food I have had. However, I find some of the Caribbean liveaboards have food that is too fancy/heavy for what I want when diving. No one got sick and they accommodated special requests and needs with no problem.

I knew going in that it was 3 dives per day on most days. It does sound like you had bad luck with the weather. The one issue many of us had was getting in and out of the water. The dive platform sits higher out of the water than other boats I have been on. The ladder is one you can climb with fins, but instead of the steps being even, they were staggered and it was a big step from one to the next. When we had to use the Zodiacs it wasn't easy to step into them fully geared up due to the long distance between the deck and the inflatable. We had unusually calm seas it could get much worse. Due to the language gap, it was hard to tell the crew why we were uneasy with getting in/out of the zodiacs.

On the plus side it's an easy (and relatively cheap) trip from London and Blue O Two have a good reputation as an operator in the Red Sea. Tony Backhurst is the other big UK based operator. It seems that most of the Red Sea liveaboards cater to a specific nationality.

[edpdiver]

I appreciate the report. I think that some of the problems that Macray experienced have not been reported, or at least not frequently, so the report serves a useful purpose. For example, the problems with the compressor noise, the bathroom cleaning, and the food poisoning are not issues that would be easy to uncover doing typical research.

In fact, I just did a quick search on the Blue Fin on Scubaboard, as well as on Undercurrent, and there were just a couple of very sketchy comments. There was nothing good or bad to infer from the information on the boards. I think that Macray's experience is unfortunately some of the "research" that the rest of us will benefit from. I agree with the other posters about doing extensive research on dive trips. I find it hard to get all of the information that I would like to have sometimes, and I would recommend another option, namely, to use good dive travel agents. It is important to use a travel agency that has first hand experience with the resorts or liveaboards that they are recommending.

Anyway, I am sorry to hear about your negative experience.

[MarkUK]

Hmmm...

Sorry you didn't have a good time, but it does sound like you maybe hadn't done your homework.

The Simply the Best itinerary takes in the Brothers, Daedalous and Elphinstone, which are – apart from Elphinstone – offshore reefs which do require long periods of travelling, so if you were doing this trip, you should have been aware of this.

Also, night dives are not allowed in the marine park, so on a Simply the Best itinerary you only get three dives a day, that is the norm. I know you said you didn't even get this on occasion, but this itinerary can be subject to bad weather because of the locations of the reefs.

Egypt liveaboard diving is popular – I don't know quite how you expect boats to find reefs with nobody on!

I've had schools of 10-15 hammerheads off Daedalous, but this was a surprise, one or two is the norm. Getting a thresher and a manta were big bonuses. As Christian said, you want sharks in the Red Sea, go to Sudan, but don't expect Egypt to deliver masses these days. Maybe 15-20 years ago, but not now.

The problems on the boat I can't comment on, but the other stuff, it sounds like you went into it a little blind/naive/unsuspecting.

Mark

[scubadiveninja]

Hi,
I am sorry your trip was a disappointment but as a guide working in Egypt I feel you are a little harsh and have rather un-realistic expectations. I do not work for this company, but feel obliged to defend them on matters which they have no control.
Firstly, too rough...unless your liveaboard is run by Jesus and his dad there is really not a lot even the best guide can do...same for currents, as people will often complain about these.
Secondly, I have worked in the Red Sea for 3.5 years and only seen 1 thresher...also done a LA on this very route so I think you were lucky.
Thirdly, dive sites are spread out in this area but the travelling is done at night so does not interfere with dives, but night dives are not permitted in the National Parks, of which a lot of these sites are based. I believe that this is fully explained on the web sites of all operators of this route.
Fourthly, I am not sure how the company bears a responsibility for the lack of Sharks??? There is never a garuntee and I have been on several hammerhead trips (where I am paying as a guest) and seen a stunning array of plankton. This is the nature of the sea and it inhabitants.
Lastly the sites are popular, that is why the prices are lower in this area...if you want isolation, go to Coco's islands and pay $4000 for a week.
I am sorry about the crap crew, compressor and even the poor food, this is not good and worth complaining about, but if you complain about the above you just sound like you are after compo.
On a final note how much more would you have criticised the guide for having no stomach settling tablets...I have plenty of these with me at all times but it does not mean I am expecting people to be ill. More often than not the reason for this is mineral defficiency from sweating all minerals out...not replacing them with extra salt.
Sorry if I sound like I am ranting but lets not criticise people for things they can not control.
Ninja

[Jai Bar]

I can understand Macray's disappointment.

Although only Neptune (and not Jesus Christ as was mentioned ;) ) can guarantee calm seas, it is the combination of all together that makes a LoB a true disappointment. If the crew were friendly, the food reasonable, the cabin with A/C and without the compressor etc. etc. then the rough seas, the crowded dive sites etc could be more tolerable. As it was, I am not surprised that the tolerance threshold crashed down...

Some operators tend to forget that people pay a "modest" amount of their best $$$ in order to get for a vacation in a Liveaboard- and they expect at least what was promised- an unforgettable diving vacation. Bad food, bad attitude from the crew, sleeping with noise and stinking toilets are unacceptable in most people's standards. Some guides also tend to forget that their job is not only to make the briefing before dives and show the way- but also to represent the group of diver's interest in front of the boat's crew.

It is the guide's responsibility to explain the group what is going to happen during the LoB, how many dives to expect every day, how the boat will travel from site to site etc. etc. That way there are no surprises about the expected number of dives (which is *always* an important issue for most divers taking a LoB). Also to explain that the seas can be rough and what contingency plans may exist in case of bad seas, alternative dive sites and so on.

From my experience, even is long trips that include all-night sailing between dive sites it is possible to add some "space" for a night dive once in a while. It is only whether the Skipper wants to make his crew work harder- I can understand if he wants his crew to rest as much as possible, taking the easiest route etc- but it is the dive guides responsibility to represent the diver's interest to make some nice dives- including night dives. I am quite sure that if the dive guides insist on making night dives- the skipper will find the way to some reasonable site and allow it.

As for the rough seas- Next time don't forget to bring gifts for Neptune!

[Eau_Girl]

From my experience, even is long trips that include all-night sailing between dive sites it is possible to add some "space" for a night dive once in a while. It is only whether the Skipper wants to make his crew work harder- I can understand if he wants his crew to rest as much as possible, taking the easiest route etc- but it is the dive guides responsibility to represent the diver's interest to make some nice dives- including night dives. I am quite sure that if the dive guides insist on making night dives- the skipper will find the way to some reasonable site and allow it.



This itinerary is mainly in the marine park where night dives are prohibited. It is not a question of the skipper and the crew not making the time or effort to 'find' a night dive sight. It is not allowed by the Egyptian government.

When I was on BlueFin in Nov 07, the skipper and boat crew worked very hard and did anything they could to help us. As I said in a previous post, my Arabic is non-existent and they didn't speak much English. However, smiles and a few broken phrases from each side got us through.

[Belushi]

Bloody hell!!
A thresher, a hammerhead AND a Manta??

I would have forgiven them almost anything for that little trio and I live here in Egypt!!

The boat issue is with the agent. Taking photos of the cabin, the conditions of the structure of the boat would have helped you get a sympathetic ear.

Although I appreciate you paid a lot of money, the weather, the number of boats and the lack of night diving are things that the crew have no control over.

The skipper is very limited as to the permissions he gets. It used to be that you could only dive the Brothers from Hurghada (6 hour boat trip) and the South from El Quesir, when the Brothers is spitting distance from El Quesir.

You have been unfortunate, but I think that you were not ready enough for the trip.

[Scared Silly]

After having read the OP comments and taking what I will admit to be a quick look at the live-a-board website I think comments about not doing proper research are a bit harsh. Especially because most of those comments are coming from people with far more knowledge about Red Sea diving than the OP.

For instance, many times folks just do not know what to expect and therefore are not sure of what questions to ask. Case in point the night dives. Although I have done some diving in the Red Sea I did not know that there was no night diving in the parks and there is nothing about that on the website that I can find. Similarly regarding the travel time between sites. About the crowded conditions on some sites no operator is going to mentioned that. You learn about that after visiting.

Dive services want to hype their operations and build things to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but in the they also need to make sure there some reality in it so that customers have a realistic expectation.

Here is an example - "A checkdive / orientation dive is requested by STINAPA, the Bonairian foundation that takes care of all the natural environments on and around the island. After signing in we'll give you a short briefing about dving on Bonaire, your first dive will be on our housereef, which is not the most beautiful site on Bonaire but defenitely no punishment either!"


I will have to say that if I got a room that had the compressor for the frig in it my first comment would I hope you have lots of ice cause that bloody damn thing aint going to running at night or while I am in my room.

[macray]

Scared silly,
Thanks for your comments.

i must say .......some of the replies here that suggest doing more research before our trip are wrong. we researcged extensively........and found almost no negative comments about the vessel or the company.

Little wonder........we have since tried t post on their web site and we have also tried to communicate with the company. In all instances the company Blueotwo has resisted any notion that our complaints were valid. They completely denied that any food poisoning took place and they suggested that was the case because not everyone on the boat became ill.

As to the balance of the views here that all is well .......................dream on.

Bury your head....but not the truth.

[Scubadad1]

I'm sorry your experience wasn't good. Most of the liveaboards in the Red Sea are good but we learn to accept some minor problems.

Don't let this put you off. Just get onto this forum in future and ask for recommendations - I for one would be happy to help as I'm sure many others will.

Despite the restrictions on night dives in the marine park we have always had plenty of diving and usually there is the offer of a night dive when you leave the park.

Hope you have better luck next time.

[MarkUK]

Scared silly,
Thanks for your comments.

i must say .......some of the replies here that suggest doing more research before our trip are wrong. we researcged extensively........and found almost no negative comments about the vessel or the company.

Little wonder........we have since tried t post on their web site and we have also tried to communicate with the company. In all instances the company Blueotwo has resisted any notion that our complaints were valid. They completely denied that any food poisoning took place and they suggested that was the case because not everyone on the boat became ill.

As to the balance of the views here that all is well .......................dream on.

Bury your head....but not the truth.

I wasn't implying you hadn't researched the vessel in question, I meant you'd gone into the trip without the appropriate information/knowledge and hadn't looked into that particular itinerary. If you had, you'd know that the marine park trip involves long sailing times, and that no night dives are permitted in the offshore marine parks, so generally if you get one, or maybe two night dives, on an itinerary (when the boat is outside the marine parks), you should consider yourself lucky. If you went to the Egyptian Red Sea to see masses of sharks, again, if you see a handful of hammerheads, you are doing well, and to get a thresher and a manta as well is not bad going. If you wanted four dives a day guaranteed, then a northern wreck safari would have been a better bet, but then you could have waved goodbye to any potential shark sightings.

Any problems with the boat, crew, etc, then you have a right to be upset, and I never said you didn't, but before you contemplate any other liveaboards, it might be a good idea to check out the suggested itineraries independently to see if they will fit in with what you are wanting.

Mark