tiacalypso
Registered
If you hit me up ahead of your booking, I might be able to connect you with a friend who offers private LOB guiding in the Red Sea.Hi,
Thanks for all the help. We did the LOB in June with Discovery divers and their boat Discovery 2.
Overall, it was well worth it, considering we are coming from Europe. We saw a few hammerheads, 2-3 mantas, a grey reef shark, a very active night dive (probably one of the very good ones I ever had), a playful remora and some more. We also saw a longimanus but just after the dive from the boat
The boat was overall quite good considering the price. Gear was decent, food was really good, crew was very nice and friendly. We were two groups with 9-10 people each, which is crowded for my taste. In the end, divers in our group was fine, the divemaster as well was experienced and chill. Had some great time (but it would have been a different story if I ended up in the other group due to some inexperienced divers and IMO inexperienced divemaster. He was too strict in minor issues like being 1-2 meters below him, but lost 2 divers in a wreck. I am told he is not usually in that boat and was a replacement but anyway). I think a big group is always a risk regardless of the boat and that seems to be the norm in Egypt LOBs (based on many quotes we got). Before LOB, we considered to have a personal divemaster to ourselves but did not. Next time, we will probably go that way (around 500 eur a week total, and it probably is worth it).
The divesites were not really crowded, maybe because it was june. We also paid attention to boat schedules in liveaboard.com and they all had a scheduled BDE trip one week before our dates. That's why we opted for that week actually, might have played a role.
This was our first liveaboard in Red Sea. Being located in Europe and due to value for money, we plan to do LOB every year in Red Sea, and I would choose the same company but ask about the divemasters specifically.
And I‘m glad you had a good time!
