What would you do? Liveaboard dilemma

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dianna912

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ScubaBoard Sponsor
Messages
197
Reaction score
185
Location
Virginia
# of dives
200 - 499
We were excited to book the Amr Ali Red Sea Defender, even though we suspected that it might be a bit of a gimmick. It is a dolphin/sea turtle research tour in the south Red Sea. It looked fun, and the itinerary worked decent for our flights. Our dates are pretty set in stone, though, as we are flying to Egypt after one week work trip in Italy.

Anyways, I pulled the trigger on Padi travel. Unfortunately, I just got word that they need 6 more divers to confirm. I'm kind of surprised, because I would think a research trip would already have marine biologists and such lined up, and that they wouldn't need us tourists to fill the boat to confirm.

We had originally looked at M/Y Odyssey and heavily considered them. There are very few reviews here, but I looked up the main company, Seafari International, and on facebook, they have a lot of positive interactions, along with the boat's facebook page. The only thing negative I could find on here was the thread about someone having a bad experience in the Maldives shortly after the Explorer wrecked. Some of the feedback on there was pretty bad, though. Recently, there were two negative reviews on the facebook page, again, about the Maldives trips. Apparently the dive instructor there lets the divers crawl all over the reefs, and this has been going on pretty consistently. They have quite a few pictures.

The boat looks amazing, and the itinerary fits our best flight options absolutely perfectly. We will be flying into Marsa Alam and out of Hurghada. This itinerary actually matches that. Should we just risk it?

The other options would be Amelia or Samira. Both of those are out of Marsa Alam, so on our departure, we'd just have a long transfer to Hurghada. Oh, my, but a big NEVERMIND there. They were caught feeding sharks back in November.

I don't necessarily want to support a company that doesn't respect the reefs, but a company that was/is feeding sharks is even worse, of course.
 
Unfortunatly when you are selling "Dive with Sharks Dives" you have to do something in order to make sure that the sharks are gonna be there. If it gets a bit out of hand a diver will get bitten and the Egyptians close diving access to the Brother Islands for 3 months in addition to prohibiting chumming.
As long as you're not the diver that gets bitten - who cares, you went there for shark pictures.

Michael
 
I have had good experiences with the Aggressor boats and just returned from a trip on the Red Sea Aggressor 1, which docks at Marsa Alam. It was a little cold and most of the the sharks were on vacation elsewhere, but the boat, food, and crew were fine. You would be looking at a 3 hour ride back to Hurgahda at the end of your trip. (You don't say when your dates are, and it appears that May is full.)
 
Did a back to back trip last year in March - one week on Aggressor and a week on Amelia. Aggressor was slightly better but the difference was marginal. The food was the difference as it was slightly better on Aggressor, the service virtually identical, the diving identical but for a slightly different route. (The Southern route was closed by the military so we did a bit in the south and then repeated Daedelous and Elphinstein no complaints). The major difference was the guests. On Aggressor most were American - On Amelia most were European. Means language is a possible barrier. There was a Russian on board that spoke only Russian. Everyone else could get by in English at varying levels. TThere was no chumming for sharks on either boat. Amelia is (or at least feels) smaller.
 
We are going July 20th. Our dates are not flexible, unfortunately. None of the boats from the aggressor, or emperor, or blueOtwo fleets are available for that date.
 
We are going July 20th. Our dates are not flexible, unfortunately. None of the boats from the aggressor, or emperor, or blueOtwo fleets are available for that date.

Which is why I gave you my experience on Amelia which you asked about????
 
What does your contract with Padi Travel say about cancellation of trip by the LOB? At time of booking, did they tell you that the trip could be cancelled due to insufficient passengers? Is Padi Travel doing anything to put you on an alternative boat?
 
Which is why I gave you my experience on Amelia which you asked about????

Sorry, I was just responding to the earlier post about my not having the dates listed. I appreciate the feedback on Amelia!
 
What does your contract with Padi Travel say about cancellation of trip by the LOB? At time of booking, did they tell you that the trip could be cancelled due to insufficient passengers? Is Padi Travel doing anything to put you on an alternative boat?

This was actually the response to the original booking inquiry. Good question, though, for future reference.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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