Red Sea Liveaboard with Tony Backhurst

[H2Obaby]

Just wanted to drop a line about my trip on MY Typhoon in the Red Sea, organised through Tony Backhurst (www.scuba.co.uk).

Included in my trip was the roundtrip airfare from the UK, the week liveaboard and the last night in a hotel on HB basis.

In all, the liveaboard was great, nice diving from a nice boat.

However, a couple of things to note.

Firstly, be prepared for lots of divers on some of the sites. Add 20 divers from the liveaboard and sometimes its a bit much. No effort was made to drop divers at different spots on the reef/time the dives so 20 divers didn't hit the water at the same time. Perhaps this was in part due to the boat's schedule and time constraints.

Secondly, although the last night was advertised as being spent in a hotel, the operator Tony Backhurst only books this at the last minute ... which unfortunately for us as it turned out the local hotels were fully booked and alas, we got to spend the last night on the boat. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been a big deal, however we were docked in a marina without shore power. We were running on generator as was all the other hundreds of boats around to us ... the resulting stinking cloud of diesel smoke just gassed us out. We couldn't stay in our cabin as the smell and noise was that bad. The a/c was turned off and there were no cold drinks available. The last night almost ruined the holiday.

Please check that your last night in a hotel is booked already before you depart if this is offered as its really not a nice way to finish up your holiday if you're left stranded in a stinking marina like we were.

 

[mscrog]

Thank you for the information. My son and I are scheduled on the Fiji Aggressor for June 20 and were thinking about doing a Tony Backhurst liveaboard next year. Is the boat as beautiful and as immaculately maintained as it appears in the pictures. How was the food compared to typical American fare? Was it mainly Europeon or Egyptian in nature? How do you feel the Typhoon compares to the Hurricane? Did they offer any recompense for everybody having to sleep on the boat with no air conditioning or cold drinks?

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

Thanks for the info and sorry about what happened last night.

 

[H2Obaby]

mscrog, I’d say Typhoon was accurately shown in the brochure - its a 110 foot long tri-deck so there's plenty of room even for 20 divers. They keep it pretty clean. Cabins 2 & 3 are the biggest (if I remember correctly).

There was a jacuzzi on board for our trip but funnily enough it wasn’t plumbed in so no hot water and they actually had to empty it (all over the deck) as it was making the deck sag & the water was leaking through the light fittings below!

The food was served buffet style, plus your choice of omlette made to order at breakfast. Usually the buffet included a meat dish, a veggie dish and a few salads & desert. It was a mix of styles, some Egyptian, some Western, we even had Thai curry one night. The food was fine.

There were snacks served after the 3rd dive and biscuits were on the bar at all times. Water, juice (actually sweetened coloured water) coffee & tea were always available and sodas were served with dinner. There is a bar for after dive drinks.

Sorry can’t comment on the Hurricane, it does look like a similar vessel.

An offer was made by Tony Backhurst as a measure of goodwill to try to make up for the last night. I would just rather have not been put in that situation to begin with.

My recommendation would be to consider just booking the liveboard (it might even be possible to do this directly through Tornado themselves, I’m not sure, www.tornadomarinefleet.com) and make your own transport arrangements to the boat.

I would definitely recommend a liveaboard in the Red Sea - you get a lot for what you pay for.

Hope you have a good time in Fuji, let me know how you found the Aggressor.

 

[H2Obaby]

One other thing, I'd recommend bringing your own gear as the rental equipment on the boat was not up to scratch.

 

[nikyyo]

A lot of valuable information,,,thank you. I too will be going to fiji in four weeks but have been contemplating a backhurst Red Sea trip for the fall.
One question: what was you itinerary, north or south? I know the northern itinieraries were crowded, but I am contemplating a "simply the best" itinerary which comprises Elphinestone, Daedulus, and Brothers. I was under the impression that these sites were not as crowded as up north. Thanks.

 

[H2Obaby]

I did the 'wrecks & reefs' out of Sharm in the North. Apparently the South is less crowded, but from what I heard more & more dive boats are heading out there. Sudan is probably going to be less crowded.

 

[MarkUK]

But Sudan is a logistical nightmare to get to – a week-long trip on the boat involves an overnight stay in Cairo on both the outward and inward flights. The diving is awesome, but a pain in the arse to get to!

In Egypt, trips to the offshore marine parks and Deep South (The Brothers, Daedalous, Zabargad, Rocky Island, Elphinstone and St John's) are generally a lot quieter than the northern sites, which are usually within reach of the dayboats. Most of the marine parks aren't (with the exception of Elphinstone), so that limits the number of boats, but I have been out on the Brothers when there were 13 liveaboards scattered between Little and Big Brother. However, in the water only ever saw divers from my boat, and there was the usual array of great coral, sharks, etc.

North or South itinerary, you will have a great time – I have been to the Red Sea over 22 times in the past seven years and am back out there next month on VIP One, catching Ras Mohammed in the middle of the fish breeding season. Excellent...

Mark

 

[Christian]

But Sudan is a logistical nightmare to get to – a week-long trip on the boat involves an overnight stay in Cairo on both the outward and inward flights. The diving is awesome, but a pain in the arse to get to!


Mark

Mark is right about the logistics involved going to Sudan. The 'one-week' trip usually requires 10 days: Two days getting to Port Sudan, dive 6 days and then two days to get back home. If you're unlycky, the Sudan Air flight to Port Sudan is delayed (not that uncommon) and you miss half a day of diving and end up with only 5-5.5 days at sea. I would strongly advice going for two weeks when going to Sudan. Not only does it make more sense when taking the logistics into the picture, it also allows you to spend enough time on all the good sites.

good luck

Christian

 

[MRs2]

A friend of mine didn't want to loose time in going to Sudan.
He booked a flight to Cairo scheduled to arrive a few hours before Sudan Air would take off from Cairo. His flight got delayed, he missed Sudain Air and missed out on his holidays. With only one Cairo-Sudan flight a week you can't take a risk.

I always go a day before to Cairo, stay overnight, and the next day keep phoning Sudan Air asking them whether their plane already left Khartoum.
When it has left you know what time to expect it at Cairo Airport,

In my Sudan Air history I have had 1 flight in time, 1 flight an hour early (!) and the rest all leaving hours to late.