Help Choosing Between Two Red Sea Liveaboards

[kommisarrex]

I am considering two liveaboard options for the last week of June, but am having trouble making up my mind which one. This will be my first liveaboard and I’m going by myself (a rare week away from the family). I’m in the 100-150 dives range, AOW, almost all warm water diving (mostly Philippines). I enjoy taking bad pictures with my gopro, but I’m not a crazy photo nut. Mostly interested in seeing unique things you can’t find elsewhere, variety, and taking advantage of being on a liveaboard vs. resort based. Also don’t like huge crowds of folks on dive sites as it seems to take away from some of the exploratory excitement of it. Also, I’m an American, so would like to be with others who speak English.

Anyway, for either trip, I will fly into Hurghada on June 24. There are two boats, each with a different route. When it’s all said and done the prices are close enough to where I don’t think it makes much of a difference.

Blue Force 3 - Red Sea Blue Force 3 – 40 meters, 12 cabins, 3 decks.

Brothers, Daedulus, and Elphinstone. Embark/Disembark Hurghada, so no extra travel time. Some youtube videos show an alarming number of dive boats all moored at the same time on some of these spots, but maybe that’s just the red sea.


MY Galaxy - MY Galaxy 720 Liveaboard - 42 meters, 13 cabins, 3 decks

Deep South Route – Abu Dabbab, Elphinstone, St. John, and Fury Shoals. Embark/Disembark at Port Ghaleb, so added transit time. Supposedly will have someone on board (Kate Jonker) offering photo workshops, but, like I said, I just use my gopro for stills, so not sure if there’s much added value. Maybe less visited sites here?

Also happy to get suggestions for other boats departing that day.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @kommisarrex

Sorry I can't help you with the choice of a boat, I did 2 weeks on the Red Sea Aggressor last April/May and did both their southern and northern route. Review is in the Red Sea subforum.

Both of my routes included Daedulus, my favorite site altogether with many large schools of hammerheads. The first stop at Daedalus had about 8-10 boats moored near the lighthouse. This seems like a lot, but all the diving is done from the RIBs and is located away from the mooring site and is spaced out between the various operators. I only remember seeing another group on one dive. The second visit to Daedalus only had 3-4 boats. Interestingly, our crew told us that it was far, far more crowded back in the old days before the revolution in 2011. Dive tourism, including liveaboards, has been hurt very badly and has not had the opportunity to recover. We saw all the large stuff, hammerheads, threshers, mantas at Brothers and Daedalus, a few sharks at Elphinstone. If you want the big stuff, this is the route for you.

The southern route is quite complimentary to the north, I'm extremely glad I was able to dive both. There are some fantastic fields of coral at Abu Dabbab. The diving is easier and more leisurely. The afternoon snorkel with the dolphins was a real highlight.

So you already know that leaving from Port Ghalib will tack on 3 hours of travel from and to Hurghada. This would not likely affect your boarding on the 24th but might affect your departure, depending on the schedule. I was living in Switzerland last year and took a direct flight from Zurich to Hurghada and back. If I were to do this from the US, I might consider flying to Cairo and taking a flight to Marsa Alam to avoid all the land travel. Egyptair may not fly this route 7 days a week, I don't recall. Contact me if I can answer other questions. Are you going to have a chance to see any of Egypt on your visit?

Best of luck and good diving, Craig

 

[Tom roberts]

Hi buddy. I have just seen your post on here and I feel like we fit the bill. We have chartered a boat and looking for cool people to jump aboard. We have had a few people drop out so we have some spots to fill. So far we have a wicked group of divers. Anyway, the date of departure is the 24th June from hurghada. This is the route South BDE : BROTHERS, DAEDALUS & ELPHINSTONE - Red Sea Jol and this is the boat Lemme know if you want some more info.. Tombobs11@gmail.com I am from the UK but we have people coming in from all over the world. Everyone speaks English. Hope you are well mate!

 

[PADI Travel]

Hi kommisarrex,

When looking at your original post, it seems that you are concerned about busy dive sites. If that is the case, I would definitely choose the Deep South Route or another “rare” route. Bothers, Daedulus and Elphinstone is one of the busiest routes in the Red Sea.

With that said, you may find this article about Liveaboard Diving in the Red Sea to be of some help when choosing a route.

In addition to the MY Galaxy, these boats with departures on June 24 or 25 may also be of interest to you:

1. MY Andromeda
2. Snefro Love
3. MY Independence 1
4. MY Samira
5. Snefro Pearl
6. MY Contessa Mia

I hope you have an excellent trip to the Red Sea. Let us know if you have any other questions!

 

[ronscuba]

Does anyone know what days of the week flights arrive/depart Marsa Alam ?

Coming from USA, but will connect through Cairo ?

 

[scubadada]

Does anyone know what days of the week flights arrive/depart Marsa Alam ?

Coming from USA, but will connect through Cairo ?

Take a look at the EgyptAir website. If I was to return and leave out of Port Ghalib, I would try to to fly to Marsa Alam rather than doing the land trek from Hurghada

 

[electric_diver]

Does anyone know what days of the week flights arrive/depart Marsa Alam ?
Coming from USA, but will connect through Cairo ?

Try looking at flights from major European hubs to Marsa Alam. We met some Dutch divers who had gotten a direct flight from Amsterdam to Marsa Alam. The Red Sea is to Europe what the Carribean is to North Americans. There are lots of holiday airlines doing charter flights.
It seems that SmartWings does a direct flight from Prague to Marsa Alam. TUI flys from Brussels to Marsa Alam.

When I went I took Swiss air to Zurich and then their affiliated holiday charter airline Edeilweiss from Zurich to Hurgurda.

I really didn't want to get on a 3rd world airline so I avoided Turkish air and Egypt air.

 

[scubadada]

...When I went I took Swiss air to Zurich and then their affiliated holiday charter airline Edeilweiss from Zurich to Hurgurda.

I really didn't want to get on a 3rd world airline so I avoided Turkish air and Egypt air.

I flew Edelweiss from Zurich to Hurghada about a year ago, it was a very good flight. Then had to take 3 hour trip to Port Ghalib and back to Hurghada for return.

If I go again, I would try to fly to Marsa Alam. Personally, I have nothing but good things to say about EgyptAir and Turkish Airlines, have flown both several times. Both are Star Alliance members. EgyptAir flies to and from Marsa Alam only on Sunday and Thursday