We spent a very nice week aboard the Mistral late July. It was the first time for us in the red sea. Our comparable experience so far was the Maldives.
The boat:
Mistral has four rooms upper deck with double beds and eight with bunk beds below. We were in the upper deck room which was OK. It had enough room for my husband who is 6 foot tall. The bathroom was a wet room. The boat seems a little tired but well kept. The top deck was nice with plenty of shades so while the boat was full we all found space to hang out in between the dives.
The food was OK but I wouldn't say great. They made effort in catering for special requirements. Our fellow divers were mostly British so I'm not sure the boat was trying to cater for them. I would have preferred more local dishes. I will definitely like to know if anyone found good food on a red sea liveaboard!
The dive deck was reasonably spacious with charging stations etc. Nitrox was consistently at 31. I also tested for CO which were clear. Diving was a mix of going off the boat or the zodiac depending on the location and current.
I did find the ladder quite slippery with my bare foot so I had to climb up with my fins on. Next time I will have to make sure I wear shoes.
Mistral / tornado fleet had several repeat customers. One person said to me that because the boat has steel hull it is much less likely to induce sea sickness. During the week even through the shipping lanes the boat was quite stable.
Diving:
Briefings were very detailed with PowerPoint presentations each dive which made it very easy. We had options to dive guided or unguided. A couple of people dove with two tank set up. Our guide was a great guide from safety perspective but unlike Maldives explorer we didn't get many things pointed out by the guides.
About half the dives were wreck and the other half reef. My favorites were the night dives since we found some interesting things and I love macro. The lionfish stalk you during the night dive though which is a bit unnerving.
The color of the reef and the amount of fish was incredible. Some wrecks were very nice and I enjoyed the thistlegorm diving but next time (and there will be next time!) We will try the southern route. I'm just not into wrecks.
The dives were up to an hour with a board keeping track of divers / snorkellers.
Water temp was about 82. I was OK with my 3mm with 2.5mm vest. While Egypt is very hot during the summer because of the dry condition and being out on the sea I didn't feel hot at all. Lower deck though apparently was quite hot and needed ac all the time. We only turned it on for the night for ventilation.
Overall we loved the red sea. The tour operator arranged the flight from the UK as well so everything went quite smoothly. Sharm seemed to be very much business as usual other than several military check points. We had the option to have a room at a hotel after checking out of the boat which was great since we had about 7 hours to kill. Great trip and I look forward to going back.
The boat:
Mistral has four rooms upper deck with double beds and eight with bunk beds below. We were in the upper deck room which was OK. It had enough room for my husband who is 6 foot tall. The bathroom was a wet room. The boat seems a little tired but well kept. The top deck was nice with plenty of shades so while the boat was full we all found space to hang out in between the dives.
The food was OK but I wouldn't say great. They made effort in catering for special requirements. Our fellow divers were mostly British so I'm not sure the boat was trying to cater for them. I would have preferred more local dishes. I will definitely like to know if anyone found good food on a red sea liveaboard!
The dive deck was reasonably spacious with charging stations etc. Nitrox was consistently at 31. I also tested for CO which were clear. Diving was a mix of going off the boat or the zodiac depending on the location and current.
I did find the ladder quite slippery with my bare foot so I had to climb up with my fins on. Next time I will have to make sure I wear shoes.
Mistral / tornado fleet had several repeat customers. One person said to me that because the boat has steel hull it is much less likely to induce sea sickness. During the week even through the shipping lanes the boat was quite stable.
Diving:
Briefings were very detailed with PowerPoint presentations each dive which made it very easy. We had options to dive guided or unguided. A couple of people dove with two tank set up. Our guide was a great guide from safety perspective but unlike Maldives explorer we didn't get many things pointed out by the guides.
About half the dives were wreck and the other half reef. My favorites were the night dives since we found some interesting things and I love macro. The lionfish stalk you during the night dive though which is a bit unnerving.
The color of the reef and the amount of fish was incredible. Some wrecks were very nice and I enjoyed the thistlegorm diving but next time (and there will be next time!) We will try the southern route. I'm just not into wrecks.
The dives were up to an hour with a board keeping track of divers / snorkellers.
Water temp was about 82. I was OK with my 3mm with 2.5mm vest. While Egypt is very hot during the summer because of the dry condition and being out on the sea I didn't feel hot at all. Lower deck though apparently was quite hot and needed ac all the time. We only turned it on for the night for ventilation.
Overall we loved the red sea. The tour operator arranged the flight from the UK as well so everything went quite smoothly. Sharm seemed to be very much business as usual other than several military check points. We had the option to have a room at a hotel after checking out of the boat which was great since we had about 7 hours to kill. Great trip and I look forward to going back.
