BDE liveaboard October or November

[finn3]

Hello,

I'm still thinking about how to spend my remaining 2 weeks of vacation in October or November. I live in Germany, so Egypt and the BDE tour is the easiest, Maldives would be possible too.

I heard very mixed things about the BDE tour in this time. Some people say most corals are dead in the area now and it's not really worth it..
About daedalus in general I also hear that you go there mostly for the hammerhaeds (which I saw a lot in galapagos already). I like to see them also but it sounds like you have to go down to 40m to maybe see 3 of them for a second and then the rest of the dive will be boring mostly?
I have never been at 40m, only around 30m and repeatedly going to 40 seems dangerous and not very fun to me (no light and colors, air consumption, short deco times).
So is that the usual experience in daedalus?

I would love to see some threshers, longimanus, Grey reef sharks and possibly hammerhaeds. But the dives should be also fun otherwise and not too stressful.
Would like to hear some advice from people who did these tours! I did around 100 dives so far and also some with currents (raja ampat, komodo, galapagos, nusa penida, sipadan). So going with some current for me is fine, if it's not too heavy.

 

[stepfen]

Have you done the wrecks (Abu Nuhas area, Thistlegorm etc)? If not, you should definitely consider them. Conditions might vary of course. Most of them are easy to medium difficulty dives, but the wrecks are so impressive that I would say satisfaction is guaranteed. Also, keeping in mind they are deteriorating fast (especially Thistlegorm), I'd suggest the sooner you see them, the better.

Finally, there is the southern route (St John's, Zabargard, Rocky island etc). Last time I was there (just before Covid) the corals were very healthy forming amazing landscapes in pool like visibility, but unfortunately not much medium to large sized fish life, other than several longimanus and some dolphins.

 

[finn3]

The corals of the southern route is said to specifically have suffered a lot in the last 2 years, apparently a big part of them are dead now..
Yes I also heard of the wrecks.. I'm not a big fan of wrecks in general, that's why I didn't think much about it.
But if you can see longimanus and dolphins there also it could be nice actually.
So the Bde tour is very advanced? And especially the daedalus reef, how is it? How deep do they usually go?
Thanks again!

 

[stepfen]

Yes I also heard of the wrecks.. I'm not a big fan of wrecks in general, that's why I didn't think much about it.

I'm not a wreck only diver either. But if you haven't dived any decent sized wreck so far, give them a try. They are incredible!! Some northern routes are actually mixed (wrecks and reefs) so maybe you can combine both. In that case I would avoid Ras Mohamed as I was not particularly impressed by it.

So the Bde tour is very advanced? And especially the daedalus reef, how is it? How deep do they usually go?
Thanks again!

Sorry, I haven't done any of them, so I can't comment.

 

[RoKu]

I´ve been on BDE in July 2024 and 2025. The corals particullary in the south of red sea have suffered due to the high water temps in the last two summers. However, the oceanic reefs are in a better condtion than reefs at the shore and still amazing.

Source: Quelle: https://hepca.org/files/resources/f0630-HEPCA Report - bleach watch 2024 updated.pdf

In regards of 40m: You`ll use nitrox like 99% of all other divers and therefore have limited MOD ;-) And they probably won`t let you go down even on air without a deep cert.

Have fun & don`t take the cheapest vessel ;-)

 

[finn3]

I´ve been on BDE in July 2024 and 2025. The corals particullary in the south of red sea have suffered due to the high water temps in the last two summers. However, the oceanic reefs are in a better condtion than reefs at the shore and still amazing.

View attachment 918426
Source: Quelle: https://hepca.org/files/resources/f0630-HEPCA Report - bleach watch 2024 updated.pdf

In regards of 40m: You`ll use nitrox like 99% of all other divers and therefore have limited MOD ;-) And they probably won`t let you go down even on air without a deep cert.

Have fun & don`t take the cheapest vessel ;-)

Thanks, yes of course I would use nitrox, but 40m still sounds a lot. Did you go there always on the dives?
Did you find these dives to be difficult?
And yes I definitely would choose a better liveaboard there, that looks safer, after all the bad reports of sunken boats there.. Which does seem worrying.

 

[RoKu]

Do you have deep and nitrox certitfication?

 

[finn3]

Do you have deep and nitrox certitfication?

Nitrox yes, special deep no, just the normal one from AOWD, which should be for 30m? I didn't know there was another one.
But how does it work in the dive group? Some go down to 40 and the others stay at 30?

 

[RoKu]

Think about what you`ve learned in your Nitrox course about MOD and it will answer your questions ;-)
You can expect to get Nitrox in a range between 30 ... 33 %. That means MOD is therefore limited. But anyhow, they mostlikely won`t allow to go below 30 meters without deep (40m) cert.

When the guides define the buddies and groups, they will take care of experience and limitations of guests and try to build homogenous groups diving at the same max depth.