Is Egypt Getting an Unfair Reputation When It Comes to Liveaboards?

[Mobulai]

However, if a senior member of the Saudi family goes out on one of their yachts, those same sleepy-eyed security forces will spring to life and shut down the entire coast to all non-royal traffic with the efficiency of German police or train station masters.

Oh the temptation is hard to reply to this amd now I have to provide even more identifiers of me on a public page (cue tinfoil hat but I don’t care, OSINT matters)

Germans — have to get this thorn out of my throat, aren’t efficient, that’s old propaganda that just stuck— I live among them and they are far from it (german trains have an average delays of 45m min, with the median at 100m; 95% of all transport modes have 5-10 min delays on all instances; cue Germany dwelling members mentally complaining about DB am I right)
Germans tendency to stick to the rules (commendable in most cases, esp when it comes to safety) can cause the worst bureaucratic messes about the tiniest non-issues, really annoying and extremely inefficient in lots of cases actually (nope not a DOGE fan either)
Egyptians are the polar opposite, everything is noncompliance by default, and sticking to the rules is the exception/rare case (you can see why I’m losing my mind stuck between 2 extremes)

I was actually born in Saudi (the plot thickens ), and my last visit was 2 years ago (to bury my dad)… but I didn’t have a direct insider line to Naval/coastguard info (nor on the Egyptian side)
I’ll skip commenting on how efficient security detail/motorcades are (both in KSA and EG), I don’t wanna be black-sited

And probably what you say is the closest to truth, my perception of saudi coastguard is the opposite of egypts as (more resources, unknown readiness, unknown capability)

But I’m also basing on a trend best observed (to me) here in Germany, most LDSs/Dive clubs that used to offer a yearly LoB in the redsea in Egypt switched to Saudi operators, and the rise of diving in general in KSA give me some perceived faith in that the Saudis would want to keep the touristic hype/trend to go upwards

The saudi of today isn’t the same as the one of 5-10years ago, I was shocked in 2023 after not visiting since 2018 at the state of things — money and a true will to “change” things can bring in lots of unfathomable improvements

But maybe I should have no faith in either to save me, so (getting back on topic) maybe a shady Egyptian LoB is even less advisable, but I do know that fancy ones are coming up on the Saudi side to fill in the gap

I still look forward to @BoltSnap s list of trusted ones, but I’m in no rush, I wanna focus for now on working on my rebreather and “tech” skills (so the diving money is going elsewhere)

(No hate/prejudice against germans, saudis or egyptians (or anyone for that matter) btw… just stating my observations)

Oh one last thing, thanks for your kind words, one day I hope to have a positive impact on the Egyptian dive industry, I luckily have a community of friends/instructors that are working in it that are like minded and I’m very proud of them; the younger generation is really trying and taking strides at raising the standards
I myself try to get into the industry from a technological aspect (I really wanna develop rebreathers — again if anyone is “hiring” I’m open to it) and hope to eventually transfer lots of that/ base it in Egypt

 

[Mod63]

But I’m also basing on a trend best observed (to me) here in Germany, most LDSs/Dive clubs that used to offer a yearly LoB in the redsea in Egypt switched to Saudi operators, and the rise of diving in general in KSA give me some perceived faith in that the Saudis would want to keep the touristic hype/trend to go upwards

Somehow I do not see that. Plenty of trips to Egypt, only a few to KSA.

 

[Searcaigh]

The saudi of today isn’t the same as the one of 5-10years ago, I was shocked in 2023 after not visiting since 2018 at the state of things

You should have been diving there around the mid-80s to late 90s

It was rare to even get on a boat to dive and the paperwork was ridiculous!

 

[Mobulai]

You should have been diving there around the mid-80s to late 90s

It was rare to even get on a boat to dive and the paperwork was ridiculous!

I wish, a friend of mine mentioned having to walk 500m on reef just to find a drop off — ugh I hate him (envy speak)

Somehow I do not see that. Plenty of trips to Egypt, only a few to KSA.

My statement is by no means a proper statistic, just what I saw around
My local club here in Munich did the switch 2 years ago (right when I found them, but I compared against the years before), a few others shops/LDSs that I met at BOOT as well mentioned the same

At least there’s a trend of replacement happening from Hurghada to Jeddah

 

[Searcaigh]

I wish, a friend of mine mentioned having to walk 500m on reef just to find a drop off — ugh I hate him (envy speak)

You could get longer walk / swim outs south of Jeddah.

There was some spectacular diving around the Shoiba de-sal plant. I would dearly love to go back and do some diving there before I finally leave this region.

 

[BoltSnap]

before I finally leave this region.

You leave? Why? Where would you go?

 

[Searcaigh]

Why?

Too fekken expensive

Where would you go?

SE Asia

 

[BoltSnap]

Too fekken expensive

That I understand.

SE Asia

Please let me know where when time comes. I want to go to Indonesia and Philippines for few months away from the shiiit here. Going back to the US for an extended stay is no fun these days.

 

[Triple C]

Just booked Red Sea Aggressor V far south for September. I've found it hard to figure out where to pick to dive from land, or which LAB operator to choose, so I decided on Aggressor. I have heard many good things about their operations from lots of fellow divers, and assumed they would be a reliable R Sea operation.

Comments here have me wondering? In any case, I booked a solo cabin on the highest deck, so I can get out if there's a fire or foundering. Weather is calm in September.

Interested in others' thoughts on Red Sea Aggressor V?

 

[Parlem]

Just booked Red Sea Aggressor V far south for September. I've found it hard to figure out where to pick to dive from land, or which LAB operator to choose, so I decided on Aggressor. I have heard many good things about their operations from lots of fellow divers, and assumed they would be a reliable R Sea operation.

Comments here have me wondering? In any case, I booked a solo cabin on the highest deck, so I can get out if there's a fire or foundering. Weather is calm in September.

Interested in others' thoughts on Red Sea Aggressor V?

In April this year I met several RSA V passengers who'd just completed the Deep South route which I imagine you'll be doing. I'd just finished my own trip on another RSA boat and we were all waiting for airport transfers and killing time in a café. They all said they'd had a great time BUT they'd been put on a different boat as the RSA V was not available. I can't recall why, but it seemed like a plausible reason at the time. It seems the crew was the RSA V's but the boat wasn't. They did point out that the replacement boat was of a similar standard.
I emphasise that was back in April, so I'm sure whatever the issue, it's been taken care of.

Sorry I can't offer anything more substantial. I hope you have a great trip. Will you please report on the state of hard corals in the deep south? South and St John's was a disappointment in that department.