pughio83
Contributor
So this was my first egyptian live aboard trip, starting at Manchester and flying to Hurghada with Thomas cook outbound. Word of warning with Thomas cook - small cramped planes with no leg room at all - worst i have ever experienced. Blue O two picked us up without hitches, bags all through despite some off loading of our meagre 5kg hand luggage into our main cases at Manc airport...no complaints as they allowed a 30kg dive bag through with a 20kg limit!
Quick transfer to our Movenpick Resort for the week before our liveaboard. I will be sending blue o two a letter regarding this hotel which they picked for us as it was shockingly awful and i really would send people there. Its a russian hotel practically with the worse food and service i have ever seen. Anyways you can read my experience of this hotel on tripadvisor if you want.
After the week we were collected from out hotel on time, having previously been advised on pick up times etc. There was a 3.5hour van ride to port ghalib from the hotel which was a bit uncomfortable but they had provided a snack box for the journey and gave us plenty if info about the trip. We arrived on time, and we settled onto the boat before dinner.
The boat was nice, clean, and had plenty or nice little perks. Daily wake up calls with hot drinks brought to your door, eggs cooked how you want for breakfast, towels and robes post diving, and snacks after afternoon dives were nice touches. The boat had a nice exposed sun top deck, jacuzzi, covering mid deck and inside lounge, with wifi for some days when signal was available. Help yourself bar to drinks incl soft and hot, plus chic bar snacks on tap. The food was excellent generally, minimal sickness casualties and generally the staff were very accommodating. We had a master suite with double bed and bathroom, flat screen tv with dvd hard drive. Hot water most of the time. slightly noisy at night from engine but on the whole no issues.
We did 3 dives a day with 2 days having night dives. No night diving at daedalus, elphinstone or brothers. The diving was well organised and timed, fairly unclustered for the 20 odd gustes on board. There were guides if you need, either to totally look after you or to be used as visual references especially for the blue water dives. The weather for this time of year was amazing, baking sun, mill pond waters, no waves...perfect. We looked after our own gear in terms of setup, sorting out air and nitrox fills to alter mixes depending on the dive types you are doing, but the staff were helpful with de-gearing post dive. Dives were sometimes off back of boat, sometimes by zodiac.
Day 1 was 3 dives at Marsa Shuna and Malaak - basic reef dives, viz 20m, blue spotted stingrays and some corals, mainly check dives. Night dive had a pharoah cuttlefish and pygmy cuttlefish, and a head shield slug. Overall not that interesting. water temps 26C
Daedalus was excellent, with hammerheads seen by various people on all 3 dives, usally in numbers of 1-4, for me i saw a 2 hammers close up (one at least 3m long) on 3rd dive, a thresher deep down and a few grey reefs on all 3. Minimal currents, viz around 40-60m - fantastic! water temps 25C. Manta seen at 45m by others on boat.
Elphinestone was disappointing again. I had been before a saw very little and was much the same. No sharks at all, few dogtooth tuna, reef top pretty and nice corals, but for 3 dives without OWTs it was a bit boring. water temps 25-26C.
Little brother island was excellent. Threshers deep down, hammerheads in the blue, with me seeing 3 together on 3rd dive off cleaning plateau. Plenty grey reefs also, barracudas, tuna. Not masses of fish but good diving and viz 40m minimum. Manta ray on surface spotted by others in group and more hammers than i saw.
Big brother was the highlight, with cleaning station at 40m, 5 threshers up close and personal, including a baby one, plus grey reefs. Mumidia and aida wrecks interesting to see and again viz 40m at least.
Last days diving was weak, Little giftun was pretty but not great. Long nosed hawkfish was cool though. Last dive was East Farous which was terrible reef with low viz, no fish and millions of boats. Supposedly a dolphin house but was very bad indeed. Cant believe blue o two use this site....several people on baord said site was crap.
Overall the week was excellent, with no major complaints. The boat broke down once but the mechanic managed to sort it out so only a few hours without power, and water ran out on the letter half of the last day only. The service and food was excellent, the cabins great, the diving was great. Elke, the on board biologist gave daily presentation on the sharks and conservation was a real treat, and very eye opening. Worth spending a little extra for the project shark.
The numbers of oceanic white tips being seen this year is worryingly low, with elke documenting only 13 this yr, compared to >100 in other years, You can see numbers declining due to shark fin trade. Very sad. I think the only place soon you maybe able to see them is going to be the bahamas.
This is the 3rd time diving in egpyt and it does feel like fish numbers are declining, but we were lucky with certain sharks. I spoke to one guy of blue melody who saw only grey reefs and a manta on the same itinery, so there is still a lot of luck involved.
few niggles were...
-advertised dvd player in cabins so people brought dvds to watch....not the case. films provided on hard drives only.
-was told couldnt use jacuzzi much, due to various reasons, and it wasnt really advertised to people on board to use
-last day seemed a rush, felt like being kicked off boat and customer service was lost. The guy taking us to the marriott was in a bad mood and no one really helped with our bags at the hotel. Also our only lay in to 9am was cut back to 7.30am for no real reason other than what looked like so staff could go home? who knows.
-fresh water rinsing of gear at end difficult as ran out of water.
last day in marriot hotel nice, flight home thompson who gives 10kg carry on and more leg room. well organised transfer to airport.
Would i use blue o two again, absolutely yes. Elke on board was a real highlight. Would i do this itinerary again...yes but i can see how you could do this trip and see very little, but another day see a lot....but with declining fish levels and less sharks.....highly recommended, and any q's re this trip, happy to answer.
Quick transfer to our Movenpick Resort for the week before our liveaboard. I will be sending blue o two a letter regarding this hotel which they picked for us as it was shockingly awful and i really would send people there. Its a russian hotel practically with the worse food and service i have ever seen. Anyways you can read my experience of this hotel on tripadvisor if you want.
After the week we were collected from out hotel on time, having previously been advised on pick up times etc. There was a 3.5hour van ride to port ghalib from the hotel which was a bit uncomfortable but they had provided a snack box for the journey and gave us plenty if info about the trip. We arrived on time, and we settled onto the boat before dinner.
The boat was nice, clean, and had plenty or nice little perks. Daily wake up calls with hot drinks brought to your door, eggs cooked how you want for breakfast, towels and robes post diving, and snacks after afternoon dives were nice touches. The boat had a nice exposed sun top deck, jacuzzi, covering mid deck and inside lounge, with wifi for some days when signal was available. Help yourself bar to drinks incl soft and hot, plus chic bar snacks on tap. The food was excellent generally, minimal sickness casualties and generally the staff were very accommodating. We had a master suite with double bed and bathroom, flat screen tv with dvd hard drive. Hot water most of the time. slightly noisy at night from engine but on the whole no issues.
We did 3 dives a day with 2 days having night dives. No night diving at daedalus, elphinstone or brothers. The diving was well organised and timed, fairly unclustered for the 20 odd gustes on board. There were guides if you need, either to totally look after you or to be used as visual references especially for the blue water dives. The weather for this time of year was amazing, baking sun, mill pond waters, no waves...perfect. We looked after our own gear in terms of setup, sorting out air and nitrox fills to alter mixes depending on the dive types you are doing, but the staff were helpful with de-gearing post dive. Dives were sometimes off back of boat, sometimes by zodiac.
Day 1 was 3 dives at Marsa Shuna and Malaak - basic reef dives, viz 20m, blue spotted stingrays and some corals, mainly check dives. Night dive had a pharoah cuttlefish and pygmy cuttlefish, and a head shield slug. Overall not that interesting. water temps 26C
Daedalus was excellent, with hammerheads seen by various people on all 3 dives, usally in numbers of 1-4, for me i saw a 2 hammers close up (one at least 3m long) on 3rd dive, a thresher deep down and a few grey reefs on all 3. Minimal currents, viz around 40-60m - fantastic! water temps 25C. Manta seen at 45m by others on boat.
Elphinestone was disappointing again. I had been before a saw very little and was much the same. No sharks at all, few dogtooth tuna, reef top pretty and nice corals, but for 3 dives without OWTs it was a bit boring. water temps 25-26C.
Little brother island was excellent. Threshers deep down, hammerheads in the blue, with me seeing 3 together on 3rd dive off cleaning plateau. Plenty grey reefs also, barracudas, tuna. Not masses of fish but good diving and viz 40m minimum. Manta ray on surface spotted by others in group and more hammers than i saw.
Big brother was the highlight, with cleaning station at 40m, 5 threshers up close and personal, including a baby one, plus grey reefs. Mumidia and aida wrecks interesting to see and again viz 40m at least.
Last days diving was weak, Little giftun was pretty but not great. Long nosed hawkfish was cool though. Last dive was East Farous which was terrible reef with low viz, no fish and millions of boats. Supposedly a dolphin house but was very bad indeed. Cant believe blue o two use this site....several people on baord said site was crap.
Overall the week was excellent, with no major complaints. The boat broke down once but the mechanic managed to sort it out so only a few hours without power, and water ran out on the letter half of the last day only. The service and food was excellent, the cabins great, the diving was great. Elke, the on board biologist gave daily presentation on the sharks and conservation was a real treat, and very eye opening. Worth spending a little extra for the project shark.
The numbers of oceanic white tips being seen this year is worryingly low, with elke documenting only 13 this yr, compared to >100 in other years, You can see numbers declining due to shark fin trade. Very sad. I think the only place soon you maybe able to see them is going to be the bahamas.
This is the 3rd time diving in egpyt and it does feel like fish numbers are declining, but we were lucky with certain sharks. I spoke to one guy of blue melody who saw only grey reefs and a manta on the same itinery, so there is still a lot of luck involved.
few niggles were...
-advertised dvd player in cabins so people brought dvds to watch....not the case. films provided on hard drives only.
-was told couldnt use jacuzzi much, due to various reasons, and it wasnt really advertised to people on board to use
-last day seemed a rush, felt like being kicked off boat and customer service was lost. The guy taking us to the marriott was in a bad mood and no one really helped with our bags at the hotel. Also our only lay in to 9am was cut back to 7.30am for no real reason other than what looked like so staff could go home? who knows.
-fresh water rinsing of gear at end difficult as ran out of water.
last day in marriot hotel nice, flight home thompson who gives 10kg carry on and more leg room. well organised transfer to airport.
Would i use blue o two again, absolutely yes. Elke on board was a real highlight. Would i do this itinerary again...yes but i can see how you could do this trip and see very little, but another day see a lot....but with declining fish levels and less sharks.....highly recommended, and any q's re this trip, happy to answer.
