Liveaboard impressions

[Efka76]

Last week me and my wife had our first liveaboard in Red Sea and I would like to share with you my impressions and conclusions that I draw after it. Before I start, let me shortly give a summary about my diving experience. Me and my wife started to dive in December 2017 when we got PADI OWD certifications in Boracay, Philippines. We also went to Koh Tao, Thailand, this February where we were busy with getting PADI AOWD certifications as well as PADI specialties (each): Wreck, Deep, Nitrox, Night, UW Naturalist. After all these trainings and few additional fun dives we had 22 dives each. I was able to use my remaining vacations in June and we decided to go to liveaboard in Red Sea in order to apply our new diving skills as well as get more experience. So, my impressions and advices on liveaboard are as follows:

1) We used Red Sea Adventurer liveaboard operated by UK company Blue O Two. I was very happy that we choose this company as boat, food and crew were really good. Also, they did everything by the book (e.g. logged each diver dive data (dive depth and time under water) in order to assess dive risk profiles (I was told that other companies in Egypt usually skip this). Also, we had very good and experienced guides (definitely you need them when you are inexperienced).

2) Gear: we brought to liveaboard our brand new gear (Scubapro regs MK 25 Evo/ A700, Scubapro Hydros Pro BCDs, new 5 mm wetsuits, Scubapro Seawing Nova 2 fins and etc). I bought new gear for me and wife as we intend to be engaged in diving and wanted to have our own good quality gear. Initially we were afraid a bit as we never divided with 5 mm full wetsuits (we had experience only with 3 mm shorties). However, during check dive our guides assisted us in determination of required weights and everything went really smoothly.

3) People aboard: there were 17 divers (excluding dive guides) from Norway, Germany, UK and Lithuania. Me and my wife were youngest from the group (I am 42 and my wife is 38). Average age was appr. 55 years. However, all these people were very experienced divers (had more than 500 dives each) and dived for many years. It was extremely useful and interesting to talk to them, learn from them, hear their stories. Also, at the end of our liveaboard we found out that one of modest guys was official Lord from UK

4) Diving during training and diving in Red Sea were absolutely different. We understood how much we need to learn: air consumption, currents, navigation, behavior in dive site, negative entry method. This liveaboard gave us very valuable practical experience. I learned negative entry into the water, did dives from Zodiac (which had to travel from boat to reefs through large waves), had experience in overcoming strong currents. I also significantly improved my air consumption.... initial dives (with 15 L tank) were appr. 35 min.... at the end of liveaboard I was able to dive up to 56 min (similar dive profile as in the beginning).

5) We saw many very interesting things: were diving with dolphins, oceanic white tip sharks, saw hammerhead sharks, turtles, many lionfishes, stonefishes, scorpionfishes, stingrays, moray eels, Napoleon wrasses and many other different fishes.

6) This liveaboard was just awesome as we got many good impressions and a lot of new practical experience. Also, we were very thankful for our guide for overlooking us, giving a lot of very good advices. We also appreciate nice and interesting conversations with other very experienced divers who were very helpful to us.

Overall, this liveaboard experience was great. Now I will start planning my next liveaboard.... maybe in Indonesia, Bali.... I also, want to go to Koh Tao once again in order to get Rescue Diver certification as well as try Tec 40 and Tec 45.

 

[Neilwood]

@Efka76 glad you had a good time. I have also dived with Blue O2 and found them to be a great company - well organised and efficient with experienced staff on the boats who are only too happy to help if you want it (but they will stay out of your way if they see you are fine without them).

 

[MargaritaMike]

Good review. Thank you.

 

[qubus]

@Efka76 thank you for your review.

I'd like to know more about your experience with the Scubapro Hydros Pro. I'm in a similar situation in that my wife and I are kinda new <50 dives and have one by one gotten various gear. Next item is the BCD and we're also considering the Hydros Pro. Main reason for we want to buy is that we plan on doing a longer vacation with many dives (dive trips), probably in the range of 60+ dives.

So how was your and your wife's experience with the Scubapro Hydros? I'm totally interested in your subjective thoughts as a similarly experienced diver, also assuming that during your training you mostly used rented jacket style BCDs.

 

[ChuckP]

As it relates to the Hydros Pro's - i had 12 dives maybe in a jacket type BC before buying the Hydros and have had 50 in the Hydros.

I hated the jacket style in all that "stuff" around me, it seemed so confining. The Hydros is just less "stuff", very comfortable - I wouldn't go back to a jacket style ever.

Jacket style floats you "normal" at the surface, Hydros is different and takes some getting used to - let air out and you float on your back easier.

As my training has progressed and you have to start carrying more with you, I'm starting to pay attention to where D rings are at and such - my opinion is out on that right now, I want to look at other divers and see how they are outfitted before I cry foul.

For flat out virtually naked warm water diving carrying nothing but a surface marker - I wouldn't choose anything else.

 

[Centrals]

LoB is really enjoyable as long as you shared the same boat with like-minded divers! Otherwise you will wish to be in somewhere else.

 

[FinnMom]

A great reviw, but I'd happily read even more details. I'm think of using Blue 0 Two for a trip next spring. What sites did you visit? And where did you see the sharks? Which boat were you on? If you saw and even got to dive with dolphins, hammerheads and oceanic whitetips, you were really having a fantastic trip! Even in these quieter years with more critters, that far better than average luck!
Thanks for the information.

 

[Efka76]

@Efka76 thank you for your review.

I'd like to know more about your experience with the Scubapro Hydros Pro. I'm in a similar situation in that my wife and I are kinda new <50 dives and have one by one gotten various gear. Next item is the BCD and we're also considering the Hydros Pro. Main reason for we want to buy is that we plan on doing a longer vacation with many dives (dive trips), probably in the range of 60+ dives.

So how was your and your wife's experience with the Scubapro Hydros? I'm totally interested in your subjective thoughts as a similarly experienced diver, also assuming that during your training you mostly used rented jacket style BCDs.

I and my wife really liked Scubapro Hydros PRO BCDs. My biggest concern was that in some cases it was reported that BCD straps were not very strong, however, subsequently this issue was solved. Me and my wife did 16 dives each with these BCDs. Summary of my thoughts on these BCDs:

1) Very comfortable - I really like how rubber straps and rubber back are kept on my body.
2) During 1 dive my tank became loose.... maybe that was my fault that I did not properly secured it or maybe due to giant stride tank impacted with water and tank became loose. Anyway, it was not a pleasant experience as my wife had to assist me in securing tank underwater. However, that was only 1 isolated case.
3) I like DIR philosophy and was thinking about buying Halcyon BP/W, however, finally decided to buy Scubapro BCD as it is more known in my area and I could get it fixed easily if there is any trouble.
4) When comparing Hydros Pro BCD with other cheap and conventional BCDs I got impression that my trim is better with Hydros Pro BCD.
5) I have got very good price in Scubastore.com - 1 BCD cost was EUR 470 (also, was able to claim back appr. 20% VAT as I exported that good from EU). If I had to pay full MSRP I would reconsider whether additional cost is really worth it.
6) Inflator button and deflator button are next to each other and it takes tame to use them intuitively without looking at which button you are pressing. When I used rental Mares BCD (do not remember model) deflator button was on top and was easier to us it without looking.
7) In order to use Hydros Pro in full extent you have to buy additional features: e.g. lanyards for storing your DSMB. However, underwater I wanted to deploy my DSMB and had issues of detaching it from my BCD as DSMB's valve (got entangled with BCD lanyard). This was a very unpleasant and inconvenient for me and created additional stress.
8) Scubapro Mako Titanium knife easily and properly attaches to Hydros Pro BCD, however, knife (from factory) is not sharp and definitely needs sharpening. My advice to you would be buying Eezycut Trilobite tool with is far better and 3 times cheaper (I bought it for my wife).
9) I choose Hydros Pro as I hoped to dive with less weight as this BCD is neutrally buoyant. With Hydros Pro and 5 mm full (new) wetsuit I used 12 kg weight. Previously I used 8 kg weight with conventional Mares BCD and 3 mm shorty. Accordingly, I can not compare whether I was able to "shave" some weight or not by using Hydros Pro.
10) My wife was very satisfied with Hydros Pro (she said some comments about nice design as she is a designer and pays attention to aesthetics quite a lot).

Overall, it is nice and quality product produced by reputable scuba manufacturer. I think that Hydros Pro is worth that money that I paid for. As always, product is not 100% ideal but it like it and will be using in the future. Of course, this is my very subjective opinion which is based on my limited experience in diving (overall and with this BCD).

 

[Efka76]

LoB is really enjoyable as long as you shared the same boat with like-minded divers! Otherwise you will wish to be in somewhere else.

yes, people around you are very important in LOB. If there are people with whom you can not properly communicate, then there is a big issue.

 

[Efka76]

A great reviw, but I'd happily read even more details. I'm think of using Blue 0 Two for a trip next spring. What sites did you visit? And where did you see the sharks? Which boat were you on? If you saw and even got to dive with dolphins, hammerheads and oceanic whitetips, you were really having a fantastic trip! Even in these quieter years with more critters, that far better than average luck!
Thanks for the information.

Our liveaboard was on Red Sea Adventurer. I liked Blue O Two operator due to few reasons:

1) Appropriate attention was given for safety.
2) Nitrox quality was OK (usually 29-31%). I heard that in other liveaboards nitrox equipment is not so good and nitrox had only 24-27% of oxygen (this information I hear from friend who had few liveaboards before).
3) Crew was nice, food was good, dive guides were knowledgeable.

We were diving in Gotta Abu Ramada, Big Brother, Little Brother and Elphinstone. If I recall correctly we saw dolphins and sharks near Little Brother. Yes, it was wonderful experience. Even our dive guides were happy as kids because not every day you can have such wonderful dive. Overall in places where we dived, corals were really healthy. However, I expected to see a bit more quantity of fishes. When I was diving in Philippines I saw big schools of fishes but in Red Sea I saw stand-alone fishes. Especially liked big Napoleon fishes, scorpionfishes, stonefishes, lionfishes and turtles.

Overall, me and my wife were very happy with this liveaboard (despite the fact that my brand new GoPro Hero 6 was lost and lays in 100 m depth), we got very good impressions and more experience.