Liveaboard Saudi Arabia MY Almonda

[Searcaigh]

A local dive shop here in Dubai ran a Saudi trip last month from Yanbu on one of the two boats that operate out of Yanbu.

I don't know the name of the boat they used, but it was crewed by Egyptians, and I was told that it wasn't in a good state of repair!

The other boat operating is apparently Italian run.

Of the 26 divers on this LOB there were some locals that were not part of the Dubai team. They were consistently diving to 40m and beyond on air using AL80s and several of them were using 100% O2 on the boat post dive.

Personally I wouldn't want to be on a Saudi run boat that has an incident involving a Saudi National diver, the process would be rather unpredictable.

 

[NothingClever]

Standards in procedures, compliance and accountability?

Hah!

That silly stuff is for the Western management class to mess about with and for the Asian service class to follow.

I can’t be bothered with that nonsense while I’m basking in my petro-wealth.

 

[Etmutt]

the boat that operates from yanbu is the “white shadow”. it has a poor reputation locally.

“diving to 40 and beyond with a al80” does not shock me, even padi authorise diving to 40 with an al80. i find it hard from report to clarify what is something that would acceptable in my view to a blatant safety breach.

 

[Searcaigh]

I don't know the name of the boat they used, but it was crewed by Egyptians, and I was told that it wasn't in a good state of repair!

The owner of the dive shop confirmed it was the Almonda

 

[Etmutt]

interesting, as far as I know : the almonda is a relatively new boat, operated by an egyptian crew, under italian management (mare rosso).
it does have a fairly good reputation here and is considered a “better option”

 

[Searcaigh]

From a WhatsApp conversation with one of the owners of Dive Campus in Dubai

Air conditioning is not the best its a old boat. Stairs is good, Dive Guides (Ahmed/Maged) are amazing, ⁠Dive Platform is perfect, Zodiacs where amazing and had stairs better than Egypt.

Transfers like I said they are not best operationally, so I booked my own for my guests comfort

We bridged the gap of logistic issue and operational stuff. But boat is not a luxury boat so expectations were set before hand

I'm still not rushing over there to try a Saudi LOB soon.

 

[Etmutt]

yep egypt is better diving and better value for money

 

[Christian]

For top class—MV Royal Evolution will be doing 10 day safaris from Jeddah to the South Farasan Archipelago starting this fall/winter. Normally she do 14-day trips Egypt-Sudan in winter-spring, but with recent unrest in Sudan, Saudi it is.

 

[a_lamonta]

I'm booked for 2 weeks on the Almonda for Farasan banks this november. I've been to egypt 16 times, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Saudi's all about.
For those who've been, what's it like in terms of dress code and limitations getting to the airport, to and from the boat, on the boat etc?
I'm female, travelling alone and alone on the boat the first week, with a female dive buddy joining me the second week.

 

[Searcaigh]

For those who've been, what's it like in terms of dress code and limitations getting to the airport, to and from the boat, on the boat etc?
I'm female, travelling alone and alone on the boat the first week, with a female dive buddy joining me the second week.

I lived and worked in Saudi from the 1986-97, and have been living in the UAE since then. My daughter travels to Saudi for work every other month working at KAUST on marine projects.

Dress code, be respectful, long sleeves, dresses / trousers in public places. On the boat you'll be fine, although I would suggest you are aware that some Saudi nationals who may also be guests might be a bit more religious than you are used to.