Liveaboard / Hotel Stay

[ryancor]

Having recently returned from Hurghada I have decided the Red Sea is one of the best places to dive in the world! The only minus I found was that whenever we pulled up to a dive site five or six other boats were also there full of divers and at times I saw more divers than fish! For this reason I have been looking at liveaboards.

They seem to go a lot further out and I hope will be the only boat at most dive sites. As I have never been on a liveaboard before I am considering splitting my week having half at Sharm El Sheikh and the other on a liveaboard.

I would appreciate your views about liveaboards. Do the benefits outweigh thoughts of a hotel based holiday? Are there any special requirements I need to consider and what’s it like being on a small boat with fifteen strangers!!?

 

[neilstewart]

is that 3 days liveaboard? No-one can tell you whether liveaboard is right for you, it just depends on how much you value geting on dry land every night and those home comforts of a hotel room. It is usually possible to find a quiet place for an hour or two's privacy. Personally I would go the whole hog and do the week liveaboard dive sites are much better than those reached by day boats, diving is earlier in the morning so fewer divers about and more chance to sea a shark or two altohugh you are still unlikely to get sites completely to your boat. I have been on two liveaboards travelling solo to the Red Sea. Just be yourself and make a few friends, you'll probably all end up on a night out back in harbour. Popular people always have a few sweets around and I find that a couple of large bars of chocolate are usually appreciated by guests and crew, even in that weather it does taste good, just stick where you keep the beers cold. Better still get on a boat that has fridges in the rooms. For your first liveaboard I would go for the best boat you can afford.

 

[Mitzi]

I did a 6 day livaboard in December from Sharm. We were up every morning at 6.00 a.m. and in the water by 7.00 a.m. We had the option of 4 dives a day (including night dives), the food was excellent, everyone on the boat got on really well (a couple of people were just too posh for me but we got on OK) and we were even guests at a wedding on the boat. When we dived the Thistlegorm I had never seen so many boats in one place with so many divers getting in the water. Strangely enough once we were down there only our group was to be seen. Every where else wasn't as busy and the most boats I saw at one dive site after the Thistlegorm was 4. There is no loading of tanks, you just get up have your briefing, get kitted up and splash you under. When you come up there is always a smiling face to greet you, take your kit from you, hang it up and off you go to get changed. The best buzz of all apart from the diving is when a pod of Dolphins swim along with the boat. Take sea sickness tablets with you, painkillers, plasters, antihistamine (firecoral) and get your beer on land or spirits at the airport before you board. Christ I am rambling on now. As you can guess, I had a fantastic time and make some great friends whom all keep in contact with me. Have fun. :dazzler1:

 

[Diversauras]

I think you have to pick your liveaboard trips wisely. I did one in the North Red Sea a few years back and except for the Thistlegorm and the Sharm sites we never say another boat unless you count the bedouin selling fish and fags. Last year I did a Cocos Island liveaboard with my son, and since there are only three boats that work the area we saw no divers other than those on our boat.
As for whether they benefits out weigh, my answer is a resounding "Of course" When I think of a diving holiday I think of diving, if you intend to meet new people each evening, then it is might not the right choice for you.

 

[grazie42]

I´ve done two live-aboards in the red sea within the last 6 months and that alone propably says where I stand on this issue...on my last one (got back saturday) we had 20+ dives in a week. There´s no way you´ll have that on dayboats. Live-aboards also let you dive sites that aren´t accessable with daytrips and they´ll let you dive the popular ones (like Thistlegorm) in relative peace as they can plan and get you started to avoid the dayboat-rushhour. I´ve also found the guides to be a lot more helpful and flexible on live-aboards then on dayboats and this has been the experience of the other people on the boats I´ve been as well.

To me, if you´re looking for a diving holiday then live-aboard is the way to go.
If you´re not, an all-inclusive with a nice pool and a few reefdives, might be the right place for you.