Question Technical Diving Liveaboard

[harveywalker500]

Hey all, hope you're all doing well.

I am thinking of doing a liveaboard in Egypt over the easter holidays for a week. The prices are cheap at the moment, and diving in the red sea has always been a dream of mine. I have over 100 dives in my belt and I'm a certified PADI Divemaster, so I'm fairly comfortable to go on my own with a buddy I can meet on the trip.

I also got my Tec 40 and 45 certifications last summer, and I really enjoyed doing them, and I definitely want to do more technical dives (I'm planning on getting into dry suit diving again so I have more options on where to go, English water is nippy...) I was considering doing a technical liveaboard to get some experience up, the MV Legends to be precise.

One problem with this however: I'm very green when it comes to technical diving. I did my training dives and a few proper deco dives, but that's it. I'm also quite out of practice, so an S-Drill dive would be essential to get me back into it. If I do go do this liveaboard, would I be biting off more than I could chew? Would I get assigned a dive buddy or would I need to find my own?

All comments and critique are welcome!

 

[rjack321]

Hard pass on the flaming Egyptian liveaboards for me

 

[Rich1280]

There are technically oriented clubs, both BSAC and shop affiliated PADI, that tech dive regularly and would organise trips to the red sea. There's also some loose Facebook groups for UK divers who will meet up and buddy up with you. It might be worth having a look around to get some practice hours in so you'll feel more comfortable, and potentially find a buddy to take with you.

I've not done an Egyptian liveaboard, so can't comment on buddy pairs and the like there, but probably taking your own is more sensible in an earlier part of your experience so you don't get any nasty surprises. I think there's slightly more consequence for a planned deco obligation than a direct ascent to fix the problem rec dive with a buddy you don't know.

Once you get drysuited up, there's plenty of <45m diving off Portland/Weymouth with good boats and skippers if you're south, or Eyemouth if you're north. 45m ticket with some deco is a great way to do Scapa too if you haven't yet, especially for the battleships and the Bayern Turrets which I always think are super cool to see how it all works.

Rich

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

Yep, been on Legends on a tec trip a few years ago it used to be run by Lee Taylor-Watson but it was sold on, it was (probably still is) the only Red Sea tec boat with a lift on so is good, as your OC I will tell you that in Egypt the twinsets are basically 2 x Ali80,s manifolded together not steel as you’d be used to in the uk, if I’m honest I don’t think you really need to go on Legends for the level your at taking in to consideration you probably want Thistlegorm, Ghianis D, (and the wrecks of Abunuhas) which is basically what is classed as “get wrecked” itenary as would be listed on most boats, most boats do offer the same twinned ali80,s if you arrange at time of booking, once on the boat dive guides will tell you Deco and deeper than 50msw is not allowed but the realities of the deco part is really out of their control, I’d wager deco for you would be still in the playing with stage ie 5-10mins rather than hours especially with regard dive number and tec experience, what you really want is a reasonable drysuit and to get plopped in around the UK with your own gear, south coast is fantastic, Dover has crap viz but further west towards Plymouth there’s a big tec community,,, I digress (ps otter, Othree, santi are better dry suits)

Basically for you, book a get wrecked week, stipulate and pay for the ali80 twinset before you go, if you have a buddy to take do so as you don’t know who you get put with, by a bottle of rum or vody on duty free on the way out and enjoy making new friends and having a good laugh on the boat, emperor divers, scuba travel, diverse are the better uk folks to organise what will be a nice trip, you’ll need a 5mm wetsuit that time of year,,, you want any other info just PM me and I’ll help ya out

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

It depends on the itinerary. On the standard North & wrecks, your most technical dive might be swimming around Rosalie Moller at 40 meters with some deco on 50% and the limiting factor will be back gas, so that's within your level of training. You could probably ask some of their guides to do a brief refresh on a reef, some of them teach tech courses. I doubt that you would be doing more complex dives unless it's a special techie trip. Go to Scapa Flow for some proper wreck diving that would let you fully utilise Tec 45.

If I were you, I would find someone who wants to practice skills, hit your local quarry (Vobster or Stoney perhaps?) as soon as possible and spend a weekend or two on skills. You could also setup a coaching day - Rich Walker is running coaching Saturdays at Vobster and it might be a bit eye-opening.

With about a hundred dives that include a divemaster course + 2 tech courses, you probably did (no offence) very little actual diving outside of training, so now would be a good time to fix it. UK season starts in about two months and there is an amazing number of wrecks.

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

There are technically oriented clubs, both BSAC and shop affiliated PADI, that tech dive regularly and would organise trips to the red sea. There's also some loose Facebook groups for UK divers who will meet up and buddy up with you. It might be worth having a look around to get some practice hours in so you'll feel more comfortable, and potentially find a buddy to take with you.

I've not done an Egyptian liveaboard, so can't comment on buddy pairs and the like there, but probably taking your own is more sensible in an earlier part of your experience so you don't get any nasty surprises. I think there's slightly more consequence for a planned deco obligation than a direct ascent to fix the problem rec dive with a buddy you don't know.

Once you get drysuited up, there's plenty of <45m diving off Portland/Weymouth with good boats and skippers if you're south, or Eyemouth if you're north. 45m ticket with some deco is a great way to do Scapa too if you haven't yet, especially for the battleships and the Bayern Turrets which I always think are super cool to see how it all works.

Rich

+1 for the advice there,,, scapa is a must once your drysuited up, I go at least once a year and it is perfect for someone just starting their Tec lives.

 

[harveywalker500]

Thanks for all of your opinions guys! They're massively helpful.

I think I'm just going to go as a recreational diver until I have more experience in technical diving. I'm as new as they get when it comes to technical diving, and although it would be amazing to go and see the wrecks there, it would be irresponsible and very silly of me to go when I'm so green.

Scapa Flow is another major one I want to go to, but I need to get my dry suit dives up (I think PADI says 20 dry suit dives in recreational gear before attempting to go into tec IIRC), otherwise I'd end up looking like a smurf when undertaking them.

Also, Tec 50 would be nice for the extra deco tank I could get. From playing around with MultiDeco, one becomes limited quite quickly, and having 50% and 100% O2 would make things easier.

With about a hundred dives that include a divemaster course + 2 tech courses, you probably did (no offence) very little actual diving outside of training, so now would be a good time to fix it. UK season starts in about two months and there is an amazing number of wrecks.

You're probably right to be fair! I do need to get my dives up, but my club in the UK unfortunately closed down, so I haven't been on a lot of diving trips in the UK, mostly I've done it on holiday with varying clubs.

Again, thank you all for your opinions. They are massively helpful!

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

I think I'm just going to go as a recreational diver until I have more experience in technical diving. I'm as new as they get when it comes to technical diving, and although it would be amazing to go and see the wrecks there, it would be irresponsible and very silly of me to go when I'm so green.

I doubt that any one of us wanted to discourage you from tech-light diving in Egypt. By all means do go, I think it's an awesome way to get a bit of experience, easy diving perfectly appropriate for your level and there is nothing wrong with doing it in a twinset. Just don't expect it to be big diving, I suspect half of the trip will be reefs (booooring ) and you won't utilise a stage a lot, even on MV Legends, unless it's a closed tech trip. Still a great way to do a bit of diving - I would definitely go if you have the time & money.

Scapa Flow is another major one I want to go to, but I need to get my dry suit dives up (I think PADI says 20 dry suit dives in recreational gear before attempting to go into tec IIRC), otherwise I'd end up looking like a smurf when undertaking them.

I think 20 shallower dives is about right in terms of comfort. Nobody says you can't do them in a twinset . It's useful to dive a drysuit shallow and to practice ascents - hit stops on time.

Also, Tec 50 would be nice for the extra deco tank I could get. From playing around with MultiDeco, one becomes limited quite quickly, and having 50% and 100% O2 would make things easier.

Personally, I would probably not dive 2 deco cylinders without a drysuit and without maxing out experience on single deco gas dives. It's potentially a lot of task loading and a long way home. At this level, oxygen toxicity is #1 problem that is likely to kill you, so carrying just 50% is a bit safer - and gives you next available gas at 21 meters if needed.

You can run some pretty cool UK dives with just one deco gas - e.g. 70-75 minutes runtimes on wrecks like Aeolian Sky (32ish meters max) or Alaunia (35ish meters max), where you get perhaps 45-50 minutes bottom time, 20 minutes of accelerated deco - and still have gas left for a second shallow drift dive. Both wrecks are absolutely brilliant on a good day and nightmarish on a bad day, so great experience. Further west - Plymouth is great too.

PM me if you want some specific tips for good dives or locations.

You're probably right to be fair! I do need to get my dives up, but my club in the UK unfortunately closed down, so I haven't been on a lot of diving trips in the UK, mostly I've done it on holiday with varying clubs.

UK diving is very independent - most active divers just book a seat on a boat with a skipper and that's it. You could dive with a club (BSAC or commercial) but it can be a hit or miss depending on your location. Many of the formal clubs don't run deeper trips as they are challenging to fill - and some of the informal tech groups are "invite only". There is definitely a learning curve before you become independent.

Remember that you can always spam Facebook groups to look for buddies and go dive a quarry.

 

[divezonescuba]

We typically do a two+ week trip to Egypt. During the first week on the Sharm liveaboard, everyone who is tec diving the second week uses either sidemount, backmount manifolded or independent doubles. By the time we get to Dahab everyone is dialed in. We then do the tec training and dives at the Dahab sites the second week.

We found it difficult to find a tec boat that leaves from Sharm. They have to have a tec instructor on board. There are a few in Hurghada / Port Ghalib, but it is difficult to get from either of those places to Sharm without having to go back thru Cairo.

Either way, if you go by yourself, it gets very expensive having to have a local guide / instructor for every tec dive. Its better to go with a group that has at least one tec instructor recognized by the local diveshop so you don't need to pay for that.

Due to all the going ons in that area, we will possibly pass on the liveaboard this year and go only to Dahab. That means that we would be doing our prep activities off of the hotel area before doing the deeper dives.

 

[Imla]

As background info: the MV Legends is run by ScubaSeekers, owned by amongst others Sameh Sokar. A through and through very decent, very safetyminded and extremely competent technical diver, and a GUE CCR2 instructor.
You should be in very safe hands there. Give them a ring and ask whatever questions you should have to them directly. I am quite sure they can accomodate you.