Trip Report Red Sea Aggressor trip report

[Shasta_man]

Thanks for the informative report. Contrasting against the Caribbean was helpful to give a scale.

<<No one ever felt hot on this trip>> With my only info from the web/TV, I never expected to hear this statement. The post discussion about weather was helpful to understand what it's really like. Thanks.

 

[stevenq99]

Thanks for the great report really getting excited for my trip in June. We are going on the Emperor Superior out of Hurghada.

 

[Christian]

The dive briefings were generally a little loose or ambiguous--maybe intentionally so. It wasn't clear whether the plan to, for example, "swim 20 minutes along the reef then return" was a limit imposed upon us or just a suggested dive plan. Divers returned at different times, and it's entirely possible that some divers managed to achieve 60 minutes. I suspect we could have reached 60 minutes on some dives if we had made an effort to be first in the water (only possible when diving from the ship, not the RIBs) and last out. However, on the dives from the ship, we were often the last in, because we prefer to avoid the mad rush on the dive deck. Also, on the deeper dives, we preferred not to push the limits of our air, and so we sometimes ended up at the safety stop with air we could otherwise have used but nowhere to go at that point but up the ladder.

From my experience it sounds like a ’general plan’ for those whishing to follow a guide or guided group. Normally you don’t have to follow them at all as long as your dive plan is safe and communicated to the staff. You’re free to dive your dive with your buddy, or if you go with the group, hang around a little extra time on a certain point if ndl and gas permits ... Have never been on the Aggressor though so they might have different rules. Anyways not easy to know how it works if no one explains clearly what the norm is first time in an area. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

When I was on the Red Sea Aggressor in Oct 16 you were allowed to go on your own and dive as long as you wanted to. The final dive of the trip was a drift dive and the RIBs followed us to pick us up when we surfaced. I recall that dive was almost 80 mins bc we stayed shallow. We were never informed to be back in 60 mins or less. Although, i do recall a few dives where we followed the guide and they were surprisingly short.

Very nice, practical report. Couple of observations:

2.) What was the longest flight in your travel to/from, and about how long did it take to get there?


Richard.

It surprisingly not that far/long of a flight from the east coast of the US. The flight from NYC > Cairo is 10 hrs and Cairo > Hurghada is an hour flight.

I am going back in May and to the OP...it was great to read about your experience in Luxor. I am spending 3 nights there in May to see some of the sights. I was an archaeology major in college so this will be like going to mecca for me. can't wait. Giza and the pyramids were cool and all but I can't wait to see Luxor and all of its treasures

 

[Christian]

A bit easier from here where we can fly directly to Hurghada or Port Ghaleb in 5-6 hours. And a piece of advice is to go in summer if possible (Egyptian RedSea). It’s not that bad (dry heat). Quicksilver numbers might seem high but it’s not comparable to the humid heat in the Midwest, FL or SEA. Less risk of rough conditions and water has tropical temp then and marine life more prolific. Hammerheads much more common. Oceanics not as frequent as in fall, but you see them. Some spots in Egypt like RasMo is night and day in summer vs winter in fish quantity.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Lorenzoid, I was surprised at your report of your dive times. My experience was more similar to that of @Scott from LongIsland.

I did back to back weeks on the RSA in April/May of 2016. We did 22 dives on the northern itinerary. Most of our skiff dives were drifts on the wall rather than out and back. Buddy pairs often sent up a SMB at the end of the dive and were retrieved by the skiff. On most of the dives from the boat, we spent whatever time we wanted relatively near the boat and returned when we were done. My average dive time was just over 67 minutes (51-83 minutes)

Is it possible that the RSA has changed the dive protocol?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Hi @Lorenzoid, I was surprised at your report of your dive times. My experience was more similar to that of @Scott from LongIsland.

I did back to back weeks on the RSA in April/May of 2016. We did 22 dives on the northern itinerary. Most of our skiff dives were drifts on the wall rather than out and back. Buddy pairs often sent up a SMB at the end of the dive and were retrieved by the skiff. On most of the dives from the boat, we spent whatever time we wanted relatively near the boat and returned when we were done. My average dive time was just over 67 minutes (51-83 minutes)

Is it possible that the RSA has changed the dive protocol?

I doubt the protocol has been changed. As I alluded to, maybe my buddy's and my sub-hour dive times were due to us fairly strictly following what was in reality just a suggested dive plan. As I said, a typical briefing for a wall dive on which we were to return to the boat advised us to dive along the wall for 20 minutes before turning around. On those dives, we typically had shorter dive times. On dives where the plan was to be picked up by the RIB, I think our dives were more limited by our endurance against the current than anything else. At least once my wife and I had simply had enough of fighting the current, not finding the elusive hammerheads, etc., and were ready to call the dive. I'm sure we were not the last to exit the water on those dives. As I recall, some people just fought on until they passed around the point of difficult current. They probably had long dive times. Good for them.

Perhaps you and others shouldn't interpret my post as meaning ALL divers got less than an hour dive time on average. I didn't pay attention to others' dive times, and so my report is limited to my own dives. I hope that provides some clarification.

 

[electric_diver]

Hi @Lorenzoid, I was surprised at your report of your dive times. My experience was more similar to that of @Scott from LongIsland.
?

Me too. The only times the set a strict deadline was for the late afternoon dives at Deadalus/Elphinstone. They wanted us out of the water before dark.

Lorenzoid How many people got sick on board? I went in November 2016 for two weeks. In my first week 5 of the 16 passengers went down with Egypt belly and on the second 7 of 16. My buddy went home early because he was sick. One woman on the second week lost all but 1 dive because she was ill.

 

[Lorenzoid]

@electric_diver , nobody got sick. One guy had an ear issue, and another had a tooth issue--neither really related to the diving/trip. I didn't even get sick during my three days in Luxor, which I was pretty happy about. No need to use the emergency Cipro. The worst episodes of traveler's diarrhea I have had were on my previous Egypt trip--"Egypt belly" is right. But I ate in some dodgy circumstances--street food and that sort of thing.

 

[FindingMenno]

I was impressed with her, though at least one of the guests who had been on other Aggressors remarked that she is perhaps not the most optimally designed Aggressor in the fleet.

Looks like the Red Sea Aggressor was formerly the Suzanna I looking at the pics. I did a trip on her October 2004 and then she wasn't the newest so it would be a bit older design.
I was always very impressed with the Tornado Marine Fleet ships (Hurricane, Whirlwind) which I think are some of the nicest in the Red Sea.