Red Sea Aggressor
The Red Sea has been on my bucket list for a long, long time (since I first saw Jacques Cousteau's Undersea World some 40 years ago!). I finally "bit the bullet" with three diving buddies this last July and booked the Red Sea Aggressor. Admittedly, we booked the trip with some trepidation, primarily because of recent middle east unrest, but had I booked an Aggressor Fleet boat at another venue with my Daughter and had a great experience. Plus, the phenomenally low cost for trip (under $2K US) could not be ignored. I have a diving buddy from the UK that has been to the Red Sea on several occasions; he told me the US concerns about unrest are completely unfounded, however, as the Red Sea is a hot spot for Euro-travelers, he told me to be prepared for crowds.
He was correct on both accounts. First, Egypt's economy is very closely tied to tourism so Egyptians go out of their way to make your "touring experience" special. From the agents that met us at the airport to expedite us through customs to the drivers that transferred us to the disembarking port (Marsa Alam) to the supporting crew on the Red Sea Aggressor, we found the Egyptian people warm, friendly and willing to bend over backwards to make our experience special. In two short words for American's, in my opinion, there is NO RISK in traveling to Egypt and I will do it again in a heart beat.
With regard to diver traffic, yes, there are a considerable number of boats in the Red Sea and they all go to the same diving venues. Having said that, the Captain of the Red Sea Aggressor worked timing will with the other Captains on the premier dive sites and we had little overlap with divers from other boats. In addition, The Dive Masters on the Red Sea Aggressor allowed us (all photographers) to move at our own pace. There was no "cattle herding" like we occasionally observed from the other liveaboards moored on the same dive spots; we would simply let the group of divers wiz by, following their Dive Master and, in a matter of minutes, we would be once again totally alone. On the Red Sea Aggressor EVERY dive was at our own leisure. What a Pleasure!
So, what about the diving? Breathtaking! I was prepared to see some amount of "wear and tear" on the reefs just do to the volume of divers the few choice locations see over the course of a diving season. But I have to tell you, I saw absolutely NO IMPACT to the reef systems. They were absolutely pristine. And, the visibility at some sights exceeded 150 feet!
The Red Sea is known for big animals and our divers aboard the Red Sea Aggressor were not disappointed. We had multiple dives with schools of scalloped hammerhead sharks, manta rays and large Napoleon wrasse. On Big Brother there are not one but two wrecks that are quite photogenic. Most of the dives are near vertical walls that begin near the surface and drop off to seemingly infinity. The crystal clear water gave me a unique perspective of depth I have not witnessed in nearly a decade and the soft corals are spectacular.
There is no night diving allowed beyond the coast so we were limited to 4 dives a day (if you consider 4 dives a day limiting!) on the offshore locations however, I can testify that I would have passed on the night dives anyway with so much bottom time allowed by our Dive Masters.
The food was very good and plentiful. The chef on board kept things interesting with a different dish for each meal. He and his cooks were up well before dawn making fresh pastries every day! Our trip happened to coincide with the Holy Month of Ramadan, yet our devout Muslim crew NEVER bended in their total support our divers in spite of the hot, dry, long summer day conditions. Honestly, I do not know how they managed! They deserved much respect and admiration for remaining devout yet managing our every need throughout the long summer days.
The boat has been recently refitted and is in beautiful condition. The cabin air conditioning (as well as in the salon) was superior. There is ample room for photo equipment in the back deck area behind the salon but, admittedly, our group was decidedly spoiled; there were only seven divers booked for our week leaving us with a boat that can manage 20 divers virtually all to ourselves!
My bottom line: The Red Rea is a safe destination, the Red Sea Aggressor will not disappoint and for the comparative cost for a week's diving, you cannot beat the price!
