Red Sea Aggressor II Trip Review

Area visited:
Ras Mohamed & Straits of Tiran. Wrecks including SS Thistlegorm, and Dunraven.

Date visited:
June 3-11, 2022

My background (before trip):
- US Resident
- Age: 60
- 42 dives
- First liveaboard
- First time international travel besides Mexico and Canada
- Get cold relatively easily.
- AOWD

Accommodations:
While I lucked out and got my own cabin, the available space seemed adequate for
two adults. The cabins were comfortable and clean.
I prefer a firm mattress so for me the bed was perfect.
Each cabin also had an A/C unit which was a nice comfort.
Outside of the cabins, the common areas were clean and enjoyable to hang out in,
with most of them shaded or enclosed.

Worth noting was that the captain moored the boat in sheltered areas in the
evenings, which made sleeping easy.

Food:
In short, the food was great. The chefs did a great job providing varied meals
with numerous choices. They really take pride and enjoyment in
creating the great food and presenting it in an appealing manner.
I'm vegetarian and felt that the creations I was served exceeded or at least
equalled everyone else's fare.

One of the chefs is a pastry chef, much to my delight. We got lucky and two
people had birthdays, so we had birthday cake on two nights. One of the cakes
was in the shape of a dolphin which was delightful.

In addition to the food, there was free soda pop & beer as well as tea & coffee.

Diving:
Briefing
Before each dive we had a detailed briefing, covering the dive "goal", route
taken, animals to look for, and history if a wreck.
Reefs
The reefs appeared healthy with lots of life. I really enjoyed the anthias
and chromis fish that hung out over the coral heads.
Wrecks
I found the wrecks quite interesting and enjoyed the abundance of life around
them. I missed some of the highlights of the wrecks because I was focused on
buoyancy and trying to avoid crashing into the wreck. A good training
exercise would be to swim through hoops in a pool before going on this trip.
Some spots in the wrecks were a little snug. If you are claustrophobic, you
can often remain on the outside of the wreck.
Night diving
With the exception of the first and last day, each day ended with a night
dive. I found that brighter isn't always better when it comes to dive
lights. Many of the creatures did their best to flee the bright lights and a
dimmer light wasn't so repulsive to them. Some of the sights I found more
interesting was watching the schools of fish swimming around the boats,
attracted by the lights.

BWDT Staff:
I enjoyed working with my Bluewater Dive Travel agent, Jaime Smith. As this trip
was entirely new to me, it was very nice to have someone to talk to and get a
good idea of what to expect.

Aggressor Staff:
The staff of the Red Sea Aggressor II were great. I found them super helpful,
friendly, and approachable. Being new to the whole liveaboard situation and the
quick tempo from briefing to splash, it was great to have the reminder to bring
my camera for example.

I appreciated the assistance with food choices as well. In some cases it was not
apparent which options were meatless, and the staff was helpful in this regard.

The staff/crew of the boat was also very hard working. I was quite impressed
with their level of effort throughout the trip. I was pretty wrung out by the
end of the trip and for them it was just another week in a busy year.

Recommendations:
While the seas were very calm, if you get motion sick, why chance it? I took my
dramamine (Meclizine) once/day and had zero trouble, even bobbing on the surface.

Bring a hood for diving. I always wear a hat outside, so my hairless head got a
bit burned in just the 15-25 min. in the zodiac. From then on I wore a hood.

Adequate wetsuit. I wore a 7 mm wetsuit and found myself getting cold by the end
of the dives. Initially, I debated whether the 7mm would be too much, but it was
just right. I think I could have used a thicker hood even.

Ear drops or alcohol in dropper to dry them. This was a somewhat unpleasant slow
surprise. By the end of the week, my ears had gotten sore. It didn't affect
equalization, but made putting on and taking off my hood somewhat uncomfortable.
I used some ear drops that were available for everyone to use and the problem
started to abate. On shore I put a few drops of alcohol in each ear and the
problem completely cleared up in a couple days. Strange.

This trip is right for you if:
Your buoyancy is not out of control
You like wrecks
You like reefs