Roberto83
Registered
Hello 
In light of all the negative news surrounding liveaboards in the Red Sea, I'm happy to be able to report on a more positive note.
May 2023 we went on our very fist liveaboard trip on the Amelie for 6 days of diving. Our reason to choose for this boat was the low price, the good reviews it has on the liveboard.com website, and the fact it seemed to go for a somewhat easier route than most of the other boats. No Brothers, Daedalus or Elphinstone where the diving can sometimes be more challenging due to current. As this would be our first liveaboard experience and we are not super experienced divers yet (we had 30 dives when we started and dove in Egypt before and also in Indonesia), this seemed more appropriate for us. And, most of the reviews spoke of dolphins, which we would really love to encounter. And boy were we treated in that aspect!
Pickup at our hotel was smooth and on time, and after a 30 minutes’ drive we arrived at the harbour. We were on the boat around 14:00 o clock, and would start the journey the day after around 10:00. Seemed a bit excessive to be on the boat that early, but we entertained our self well with the paperwork, getting to know the crew, unpacking, exploring the boat and relaxing on the deck.
The boat
The Amelie is a decent boat if you are not looking or are accustomed to a lot of luxury. There are 2 shared toilets/bathrooms which could potentially lead to some waiting when fully booked, but as we were with only 4 passengers in total, this was no issue. The max amount of passengers is 12. The size of the deck where all the gear is stalled is decently sized. The food was pretty good en plentiful, en drinks available all day. The crew was nice and friendly and helped a lot with getting geared up and down. The rental gear was in good shape, and our nitrox percentage varied between around 26 and 29%.
The diving
We found the diving to be really great! Granted, we might not have the most experience elsewhere, but for us the diving was really nice and overall more beautiful than we had experienced in Marsa Alam, Egypt in March 2020. They were all easy dives with low to no current, and with all the dives we had the seabottom underneath us, no open sea. The dive sites we visited and what were remarkable sightings besides the regular Red Sea sightings which I made note of where;
Day 1:
1: Gotha Abo Galawa (checkdive)
2: Sakhwa
Day 2:
1: Marsa Abo Galawa (Baby boxfish, pipefish, eel garden, scorpion fish, sand moray)
2: Posidon Garden (Feathertail Ray)
3: Shaab El Erg
Day 3
1: Shaab El Erg (large pod of dolphins, see video below)
2: Ummi Gammar (Napoleon fish)
3: Small Giftun
4: Small Giftun night dive (spanish dancer, octopus, nudibranch, jellyfish)
Day 4
1: Police Station
2: Abo Ramada South (Napoleon fish)
3: Gotha Abu Ramada West (Electric ray)
4: Gotha Abu Ramada West night dive (Lobster, nudibranchs)
Dag 5
1: Gotha Abu Ramada East (Titan triggerfish, Barracuda)
2: Shaab Sabina (Stellate pufferfish, Brown marbled grouper)
3: Banana Reef (Redtooth triggerfish, nudibranch, crocodile fish)
4: Torfu night dive (Round ribbontail ray, sea star, christmass tree worm, calamari’s, helmet crab)
Dag 6
1: Torfu (2 Eagle Rays, boxfishes)
2: Balena (wreck) (nudibranch, shrimpfish)
Overall I can certainly recommend the Amelie liveaboard. As it is one of the cheaper liveaboards in the Red Sea, it offers great value for money. As I said, don’t expect glitter and glamour but the boat was in great shape and kept really clean, and the diving was great and easy. It’s a great trip for beginners, as you can even come on the trip without any scuba training, and do your open water with them. One of the other guests did this, and seemed content with the way they handled his training. I believe this to be the only liveaboard in the Red Sea where you don’t have to have made any dives prior to taking part of the trip.
As I was already into videography before even starting diving, I started bringing my camera with me underwater as soon as I got my OW. First just a gopro, on our first dive holiday to Marsa Alam my Sony A6500 in a Fantasea housing, and for this trip I sold all that and bought the Nauticam housing for my Sony A7SIII. Later on when I started reading more about diving I discovered that it might have been wise to not bring a camera right away, but as I started this way already I’m kind off used to it by now.
The Sony A7SIII is (obviously) a nice step-up from the A6500, and also the Nauticam is a whole different animal than the Fantasea housing. I am still getting used to it and there are a lot more controls to figure out, but being able to manually white balance is great and being able to bump up the iso without noise left me almost having no need for additional lights during day dives. Underneath the video I made of this trip:
Greetings!
Roberto
In light of all the negative news surrounding liveaboards in the Red Sea, I'm happy to be able to report on a more positive note.
May 2023 we went on our very fist liveaboard trip on the Amelie for 6 days of diving. Our reason to choose for this boat was the low price, the good reviews it has on the liveboard.com website, and the fact it seemed to go for a somewhat easier route than most of the other boats. No Brothers, Daedalus or Elphinstone where the diving can sometimes be more challenging due to current. As this would be our first liveaboard experience and we are not super experienced divers yet (we had 30 dives when we started and dove in Egypt before and also in Indonesia), this seemed more appropriate for us. And, most of the reviews spoke of dolphins, which we would really love to encounter. And boy were we treated in that aspect!
Pickup at our hotel was smooth and on time, and after a 30 minutes’ drive we arrived at the harbour. We were on the boat around 14:00 o clock, and would start the journey the day after around 10:00. Seemed a bit excessive to be on the boat that early, but we entertained our self well with the paperwork, getting to know the crew, unpacking, exploring the boat and relaxing on the deck.
The boat
The Amelie is a decent boat if you are not looking or are accustomed to a lot of luxury. There are 2 shared toilets/bathrooms which could potentially lead to some waiting when fully booked, but as we were with only 4 passengers in total, this was no issue. The max amount of passengers is 12. The size of the deck where all the gear is stalled is decently sized. The food was pretty good en plentiful, en drinks available all day. The crew was nice and friendly and helped a lot with getting geared up and down. The rental gear was in good shape, and our nitrox percentage varied between around 26 and 29%.
The diving
We found the diving to be really great! Granted, we might not have the most experience elsewhere, but for us the diving was really nice and overall more beautiful than we had experienced in Marsa Alam, Egypt in March 2020. They were all easy dives with low to no current, and with all the dives we had the seabottom underneath us, no open sea. The dive sites we visited and what were remarkable sightings besides the regular Red Sea sightings which I made note of where;
Day 1:
1: Gotha Abo Galawa (checkdive)
2: Sakhwa
Day 2:
1: Marsa Abo Galawa (Baby boxfish, pipefish, eel garden, scorpion fish, sand moray)
2: Posidon Garden (Feathertail Ray)
3: Shaab El Erg
Day 3
1: Shaab El Erg (large pod of dolphins, see video below)
2: Ummi Gammar (Napoleon fish)
3: Small Giftun
4: Small Giftun night dive (spanish dancer, octopus, nudibranch, jellyfish)
Day 4
1: Police Station
2: Abo Ramada South (Napoleon fish)
3: Gotha Abu Ramada West (Electric ray)
4: Gotha Abu Ramada West night dive (Lobster, nudibranchs)
Dag 5
1: Gotha Abu Ramada East (Titan triggerfish, Barracuda)
2: Shaab Sabina (Stellate pufferfish, Brown marbled grouper)
3: Banana Reef (Redtooth triggerfish, nudibranch, crocodile fish)
4: Torfu night dive (Round ribbontail ray, sea star, christmass tree worm, calamari’s, helmet crab)
Dag 6
1: Torfu (2 Eagle Rays, boxfishes)
2: Balena (wreck) (nudibranch, shrimpfish)
Overall I can certainly recommend the Amelie liveaboard. As it is one of the cheaper liveaboards in the Red Sea, it offers great value for money. As I said, don’t expect glitter and glamour but the boat was in great shape and kept really clean, and the diving was great and easy. It’s a great trip for beginners, as you can even come on the trip without any scuba training, and do your open water with them. One of the other guests did this, and seemed content with the way they handled his training. I believe this to be the only liveaboard in the Red Sea where you don’t have to have made any dives prior to taking part of the trip.
As I was already into videography before even starting diving, I started bringing my camera with me underwater as soon as I got my OW. First just a gopro, on our first dive holiday to Marsa Alam my Sony A6500 in a Fantasea housing, and for this trip I sold all that and bought the Nauticam housing for my Sony A7SIII. Later on when I started reading more about diving I discovered that it might have been wise to not bring a camera right away, but as I started this way already I’m kind off used to it by now.
The Sony A7SIII is (obviously) a nice step-up from the A6500, and also the Nauticam is a whole different animal than the Fantasea housing. I am still getting used to it and there are a lot more controls to figure out, but being able to manually white balance is great and being able to bump up the iso without noise left me almost having no need for additional lights during day dives. Underneath the video I made of this trip:
Greetings!
Roberto
