Since I'm new to this board and have gotten some pretty good response on my first thread, I'd also like to contribute back into the community with a review of the Seawolf Dominator liveaboard and the Brother Islands in the Red Sea.
My wife and I spent a week on the Seawolf Dominator in early October 2018. This was our 2nd liveaboard experience (the first being Scubaspa in the Maldives). With only one other liveaboard to compare to, I found the Dominator to be a little dated. The boat didn't seem neglected or run down, but could use some refreshing of the cabins, linens, etc.
STAFF: On a good note, the boat staff and the dive masters were superb. They would bend over backwards to make your stay comfortable. My primary DM was Safwat and I can't say enough good things about him and the safety precautions he took to ensure the group was safe.
FOOD: The food was pretty good. They had a couple exceptional dinners - a BBQ and a turkey dinner. Prior to the trip, my wife had sent some dietary requests, but I don't think they received that memo. However, she was able to find things at every meal that she could eat. The roast beef was a little tough, but not every meal can be exceptional.
CONS: Like I mentioned, the boat could use a little sprucing up. What I didn't like was the lack of fresh towels. We only got fresh towels at the beginning of the trip and the midway point. You received a set of "beach" towels and a set of smaller towels (smaller than what i would consider a shower towel but bigger than a hand towel.) As much as we were in and out of the water as well as showering between dives, these towels never seemed to dry out. Maybe I'm being petty on this, but there was only a small soap dispenser by the sink (you could reach it from inside the shower) but i didn't bring any shampoo or bar soap, figuring it would be provided on the boat.
DIVING: I had high hopes for diving in the Red Sea based on info received from other divers and forums like these. Honestly, I thought it was mediocre. Maybe it was because I've been spoiled and been to some pretty exotic diving spots early in my diving history, but I wasn't overly impressed. I did see some new things (2 thresher shark sightings, white tip oceanic sharks, crocodile fish, sea needles, and a comet grouper), but with the exception of the sea needles and white tips, the sightings were brief and seldom). The Brother Islands were overly crowded. We spent 1 day (3 dives) at Little Brother and 2 days (6 dives) at Big Brother. Little Brother typically had about 5-7 liveaboards parked around it, and Big Brother had up to 16 liveaboards. The dives at Brothers became predicatable. I was really surprised with the lack of macro life too around Brothers. The last 3 dives were back closer to the reefs around Hurghada (all 3 of these dives at the same reef). One was a night dive and it was okay, but limited to 40 minutes despite being in 30-35 ft or less. Half the boat skipped the last dive because it just became routine and you knew you weren't going to see anything new, especially since the last 2 dives were almost identical. One of my favorite dives was actually the first, the check dive. We saw more wildlife diversity on this dive than most of the others. One wreck dive I did enjoy was the Salem Express which was a ferry that sunk in 1991. Very sad story, but a lot of things at the bottom were still kind of "fresh" and erie.
WILDLIFE TO EXPECT TO SEE: Near the reefs closer to Hurghada, we saw octopus, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, clown fish, a couple nudibranchs, moray eel, lion fish, and your standard reef fish. The other group on our boat did see a single eagle ray. At the Brothers, if you are lucky, you'll see Thresher Sharks and if you are even luckier, you'll see a hammerhead. Again, the other group on our boat got a quick glimpse of a hammerhead. Also at the Brothers, it was common to see moray eel and scorpion fish. When you first jump in the water, you would see oceanic white tips nearly every time. About half the dives, I would find a sea needle, but not much other macro life, at least that I could find - and I spent a lot of time looking. The corals looked healthy everywhere we went.
VALUE: Since Egypt is still very inexpensive, you do get a lot of value for the trip. I combined the liveaboard with 3 nights in Cairo so overall, I had a great trip. Would I be a repeat customer to the Dominator??? - Maybe, if the price was right, but I wouldn't go to the Brother Islands again. I was told Seawolf is rolling out a brand new boat for 2019. If the price is still low in a few years, maybe I'll look into that company again.
My wife and I spent a week on the Seawolf Dominator in early October 2018. This was our 2nd liveaboard experience (the first being Scubaspa in the Maldives). With only one other liveaboard to compare to, I found the Dominator to be a little dated. The boat didn't seem neglected or run down, but could use some refreshing of the cabins, linens, etc.
STAFF: On a good note, the boat staff and the dive masters were superb. They would bend over backwards to make your stay comfortable. My primary DM was Safwat and I can't say enough good things about him and the safety precautions he took to ensure the group was safe.
FOOD: The food was pretty good. They had a couple exceptional dinners - a BBQ and a turkey dinner. Prior to the trip, my wife had sent some dietary requests, but I don't think they received that memo. However, she was able to find things at every meal that she could eat. The roast beef was a little tough, but not every meal can be exceptional.
CONS: Like I mentioned, the boat could use a little sprucing up. What I didn't like was the lack of fresh towels. We only got fresh towels at the beginning of the trip and the midway point. You received a set of "beach" towels and a set of smaller towels (smaller than what i would consider a shower towel but bigger than a hand towel.) As much as we were in and out of the water as well as showering between dives, these towels never seemed to dry out. Maybe I'm being petty on this, but there was only a small soap dispenser by the sink (you could reach it from inside the shower) but i didn't bring any shampoo or bar soap, figuring it would be provided on the boat.
DIVING: I had high hopes for diving in the Red Sea based on info received from other divers and forums like these. Honestly, I thought it was mediocre. Maybe it was because I've been spoiled and been to some pretty exotic diving spots early in my diving history, but I wasn't overly impressed. I did see some new things (2 thresher shark sightings, white tip oceanic sharks, crocodile fish, sea needles, and a comet grouper), but with the exception of the sea needles and white tips, the sightings were brief and seldom). The Brother Islands were overly crowded. We spent 1 day (3 dives) at Little Brother and 2 days (6 dives) at Big Brother. Little Brother typically had about 5-7 liveaboards parked around it, and Big Brother had up to 16 liveaboards. The dives at Brothers became predicatable. I was really surprised with the lack of macro life too around Brothers. The last 3 dives were back closer to the reefs around Hurghada (all 3 of these dives at the same reef). One was a night dive and it was okay, but limited to 40 minutes despite being in 30-35 ft or less. Half the boat skipped the last dive because it just became routine and you knew you weren't going to see anything new, especially since the last 2 dives were almost identical. One of my favorite dives was actually the first, the check dive. We saw more wildlife diversity on this dive than most of the others. One wreck dive I did enjoy was the Salem Express which was a ferry that sunk in 1991. Very sad story, but a lot of things at the bottom were still kind of "fresh" and erie.
WILDLIFE TO EXPECT TO SEE: Near the reefs closer to Hurghada, we saw octopus, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, clown fish, a couple nudibranchs, moray eel, lion fish, and your standard reef fish. The other group on our boat did see a single eagle ray. At the Brothers, if you are lucky, you'll see Thresher Sharks and if you are even luckier, you'll see a hammerhead. Again, the other group on our boat got a quick glimpse of a hammerhead. Also at the Brothers, it was common to see moray eel and scorpion fish. When you first jump in the water, you would see oceanic white tips nearly every time. About half the dives, I would find a sea needle, but not much other macro life, at least that I could find - and I spent a lot of time looking. The corals looked healthy everywhere we went.
VALUE: Since Egypt is still very inexpensive, you do get a lot of value for the trip. I combined the liveaboard with 3 nights in Cairo so overall, I had a great trip. Would I be a repeat customer to the Dominator??? - Maybe, if the price was right, but I wouldn't go to the Brother Islands again. I was told Seawolf is rolling out a brand new boat for 2019. If the price is still low in a few years, maybe I'll look into that company again.
I got similar just bigger than hand towels as the only towel in trips in Europe like in Munich. Not sure what the deal was with it but we thought it was just a cheap bed and breakfast. I was surprised to hear turkey dinner in Egypt. I don't expect to have a monopoly on them here but I'm having a tough time picturing them living in Egypt. 
