Trip Report MY Ghazala Explorer and north Red Sea, Hurghada to Straits of Tiran

[nippurmagnum]

Very interesting experiences with the oceanic white tips. The operator in Kona did not require you and the other divers to exit the water upon seeing the whitetip? I read a trip report in the Hawaii forum that Jack's Diving Locker pulled their divers out of the water at the 20-minute mark upon sighting a whitetip during one of the black water dives.

That dive was with Jacks, actually. There were two divemasters in the water with us. During the briefing before the dives, one of the divemasters said that if an oceanic whitetip showed up, he would pull “his” divers out of the water. The other divemaster, a young woman, laughed and said that she would consider herself lucky to have an oceanic white tip on the dive and would keep her group in the water and enjoy the encounter. I asked to be in her group, as did my daughter. When the shark appeared, the male divemaster stayed in the water after all, because his male pride had been wounded. The white tip was a juvenile, so maybe that was a factor too. Anyway, the white tip was not particularly aggressive but it was also definitely not timid.

 

[Cornbread O'Malley]

The other divemaster, a young woman, laughed and said that she would consider herself lucky to have an oceanic white tip on the dive and would keep her group in the water and enjoy the encounter. I asked to be in her group, as did my daughter. When the shark appeared, the male divemaster stayed in the water after all, because his male pride had been wounded.

Ha! That is funny.

 

[BubblesBubblesBelow]

After the recent LOB accidents in the red sea, I am looking closer for more safety information on Ghazala Explorer. I am booked for this April and considering if I should switch to a shore based trip. All the reviews I read are positive in terms of dive safety, but not as much on the boat's safety.

Did you see a sprinkler system or fire suppression system on the boat? During the safety drill, were there life rafts and did they go over how to use them? Did you notice any smoke detectors on board? Did you notice if a crew member was on watch over night? Thanks.

 

[Cornbread O'Malley]

Did you see a sprinkler system or fire suppression system on the boat? During the safety drill, were there life rafts and did they go over how to use them? Did you notice any smoke detectors on board? Did you notice if a crew member was on watch over night? Thanks.

No sprinkler system or fire suppression system on the boat. Just fire extinguishers. Boat has life rafts secured on the topmost area of boat. Crew did point them out during safety drills. The crew deploys these manually or if boat sinks the rafts will be afloat. There are two rigid inflatable boats. My cabin had a smoke detector, and a night watchman was on duty each night.

 

[Jai Bar]

Something to note. The Ghazala Explorer's lower deck suite has the emergency exit in the bulkhead. Going through the exit leads towards the bow, through the berths for the crew, and up several steps to the main deck. The bulkhead or the door is also rather thin. The lower deck suite occupant during my cruise said she could hear the crew snoring.

I stumbled on an earlier thread about liveaboard fires in the Red Sea. That reminded me of a few more safety items for Ghazala. The boat does have flotation jackets in the cabins for each passenger with whistles and lights attached. Fire extinguishers are easily accessible throughout the boat. And all crew and passengers conducted an evacuation drill. Those of us in the lower deck had the pleasure of squeezing through the emergency exit in our life jackets.

Crew snoring, sometimes listening to local music, smoking... And sometimes the bed blocks the escape hatch from guest cabin.