Despite diving for over 30 years, this was my first ever liveaboard adventure. I relied heavily on recommendations from Katie at Bluewater travel and I have to say that I was very pleased with both the itinerary, the boat and the "extras" that were necessary to get me there and back again. Emperor Elite is a well maintained vessel (much more luxurious than i imagined for the price) with comfortable cabins, private baths and plenty of space for the week long journey. We set sail for the southern Red Sea adventure in flat calm seas which, as a frequent seasickness sufferer, I took as an excellent sign. The local crew were great as helping us all get acclimated to onboard living as we steamed south for the St John reefs and caves. The two non-dvers on board were made to feel at home and the dive guides were great about encouraging them to snorkel at a few sites where there was decent viewing. Diving was done directly from the dive platform or from one of two zodiacs where the crew could drop us off up-current for some fantastic drifting back to the boat.
Four dives a day for a week straight is a marathon. The dive guides selected the best sites for the conditions and their briefings were very thorough, utilizing detailed diagrams of each reef supplemented with actual UW photos. The atmosphere was like a carnival as the dive crew would often crank up the music on the dive deck and you just have to experience for yourself the comedy of 20 divers getting into wetsuits while trying to dance at the same time. The crew would be waiting for us post dive with fresh fruit smoothies for us to refresh ourselves (hot chocolate for the colder night dives) before we even had our wetsuits off. This level of personal attention really made the dive marathon possible.
As a self proclaimed foodie, I was disappointed with traditional Egyptian fare, however the chef on board made sure we were well fed with wide range of comfort foods that, while somewhat bland for my personal palate, were satisfying and filling for those long dive days. The real problem was the onboard pastry chef whose dessert table after every meal made us all wonder aloud whether we would still be able to fit into our wetsuits by the end of the voyage. Egyptian wine was included with dinner (beer available for extra $). Overall I found was not too wanting in the food department.
As the trip progressed, the winds picked up and by the end of the voyage were were dealing with 20 knot winds and 10' swells, however the dive masters still managed to select good sites that afforded protection in the lee of the reefs where we both dove and occasionally slept in relatively calm waters. On the last day the options were so limited we pulled into a shore site in the hopes of finding the resident Dugong, even though the conditions were so bad visibility was down to a meter or two. Luckily for us the crew and their zodiacs are so skilled they managed not only to spot the beast, but drop us right next to it for a brief, but extremely exciting encounter with a very rare and endangered animal.
Overall this trip was an amazing value for the money and was a great experience.
