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

[iliketopetsharks]

FThank you for the info. I am now reviewing their website and seriously considering their boat.

Are food, service, cleanliness, comfort, and safety all good? Are there any possible complaints or shortcomings with the entire operation, please?

Food and cleanliness is excellent.
Water, softdrinks, juices, coffee, tea and snack (sweet and savory) are available all the time with no surcharge. Alcohol is not available, at least when i was there.
Full CCR and Trimix support, two zodiacs with robust and stable ladders and the boat has s lift. Step on it half submerged and you'll be lifted level to the lower level of the dive deck.
I found it to be very comfortable, altough if you have one of the two cabins that neighbor the engine room, the generators will sing you a lullaby since they run basically 24/7. It didn't bother me and i slept like a rock.
Safety is good, the emergency and dive briefings were very thorough. Life vests and fire extinguishers in every cabin, luggage or gear laying around on the floor is not accepted.

Potential shortcomings:
It's not the biggest boat, so stow your stuff smart and don't run around on the dive deck like a headless chicken
It's also not that cheap. A 7 night trip is around 1000-1200€, that's without cylinders (Al80 twinset 70€/week), Nitrox flatrate (150€) and some other small stuff.
But again, no limits regarding time and depth and an awesome crew, well worth it imo.

 

[Strombo]

Blue Planet Liveaboards, which operates four boats: Blue, Blue Pearl, Blue Storm, and Blue Seas. Very good vessels with excellent service, top-notch food, and thoughtful safety features—each diver was even provided with an ENOS device. The overall experience on Blue was truly outstanding.

I'm researching them right now for an Sept/Oct trip. Any idea if all of the fleet provides ENOS?

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

[...] no limits regarding time and depth [...]

Really?

 

[iliketopetsharks]

Really?

Really. You just tell the crew your approximate runtime and have at it.
You can also rent DPVs

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

@gamon @iliketopetsharks
I thought you are limited to 40 m… may have changed…

 

[LFMarm]

Food and cleanliness is excellent.
Water, softdrinks, juices, coffee, tea and snack (sweet and savory) are available all the time with no surcharge. Alcohol is not available, at least when i was there.
Full CCR and Trimix support, two zodiacs with robust and stable ladders and the boat has s lift. Step on it half submerged and you'll be lifted level to the lower level of the dive deck.
I found it to be very comfortable, altough if you have one of the two cabins that neighbor the engine room, the generators will sing you a lullaby since they run basically 24/7. It didn't bother me and i slept like a rock.
Safety is good, the emergency and dive briefings were very thorough. Life vests and fire extinguishers in every cabin, luggage or gear laying around on the floor is not accepted.

Potential shortcomings:
It's not the biggest boat, so stow your stuff smart and don't run around on the dive deck like a headless chicken
It's also not that cheap. A 7 night trip is around 1000-1200€, that's without cylinders (Al80 twinset 70€/week), Nitrox flatrate (150€) and some other small stuff.
But again, no limits regarding time and depth and an awesome crew, well worth it imo.

Thanks for the recommendation. I didn’t know about this boat and it seems quite nice.

 

[LFMarm]

@gamon @iliketopetsharks
I thought you are limited to 40 m… may have changed…

In Egypt there are no limitations on depth but live aboard or dive center operator can decide their own. In all my LB trips, we were limited to recreational profiles but MV Legends is clearly targeted to tech diving.

 

[LFMarm]

You can also rent DPVs

I thought DPVs were not allowed in Egypt but maybe it only applies to the Sinai pensinsula.

 

[iliketopetsharks]

I thought DPVs were not allowed in Egypt but maybe it only applies to the Sinai pensinsula.

FPV drones and such are not allowed. DPV are not restricted, ScubaSeekers in Dahab (southern Sinai) offers DPV courses.

 

[iliketopetsharks]

@gamon @iliketopetsharks
I thought you are limited to 40 m… may have changed…

As stated before, this is dependant on the operator, not a state law.