Recently in Trip Reports Category

"Excellent service, great guide, excellent food and unlike any other diving I've done before. Everyone was friendly and relaxed but very professional. Loved the help with getting dive gear on and off. Found the website very helpful; one of the reasons we chose Emperor Divers. Hats off to Juan our dive master, he really did an excellent job."

Kathryn Amerell, Valdez, AK, USA

by dive guides Sonia and Juan

Boat: Dates of safari: Dive guides: Route: Exit-Enter Harbor:

Emperor Fraser 4-11 December 2009 Sonia and Juan Classic North Cruise Hurghada

First-hand report by Gabriel and Maria - Emperor Dive Guides on liveaboard, Elite

Jacques Cousteau called the Red Sea "the corridor of marvels" and it is in this corridor where the Red Sea keeps its most precious treasures; Brother Islands, Daedalus, Elphinstone Reef, off shore reefs made up of stunning walls, smothered with a variety of soft and hard corals, surrounded by thousands of colorful reef fishes. And then there's the 'big stuff' patrolling the area; sharks, mantas, tuna, giant barracudas and Napoleon wrasse.

The Red Sea often wants to show off 'simply the best' of what is has to offer, and we found these conditions on an Elite liveaboard safari recently.

by dive guides, Sonia and Marc

Boat: Dates of safari: Dive guides: Route: Exit-Enter Harbor: Pax number: Guest nationality:

Elite 20-27 Nov 2009 Sonia and Marc North Classic HRG 20 Spanish, UK, Austrian

Emperor Elite - Simply the Best cruise

This was only our second live aboard so our experience is limited but it was much better than the first one to the Great Barrier Reef so it receives high marks. We paid extra for the largest suite in the bow of the boat and the accommodations were excellent, we discovered however this was not the best choice for my wife who is subject to mal-de-mer.
The dive itinerary (Simply the Best) was chosen for being well offshore beyond the reach of the many day boats operating from Port Ghalib and Marsa Alam; large pelagics are the primary featured attraction. Dive locations included the Brothers Islands and Daedalus Reef in the south central Red Sea. The typical strong currents at these locations require that divers who book this itinerary be AOW certified with a minimum of 50 logged dives.
Strong winds, rough conditions, and long travel distances made several days uncomfortable for my wife Karen, accentuated by our location in the bow of the boat, live and learn as the saying goes.

Last week, Sharm reported some pretty impressive sightings.

Topping the bill on two successful 'Early Bird' trips to Tiran were sightings of hammerheads on the back of Jackson, oceanic white tips also in Tiran and huge schools of snapper, batfish, unicornfish and giant trevallies still hanging out in Ras Mohammed.

Add to that the manta and mobula ray at Near Garden and that has to equate to Red Carpet celeb status for the Red Sea.

Best book,get out there now and join the show!

 

We have dived with Emperor Divers now quite a few times but for this diving holiday we decided to go to Marsa Alam and stay at the Coral Beach Marina Lodge where Emperor are based. Whilst we were there we had the chance to enrol on a mini wreck safari. As soon as we heard about the trip we signed up straight away. Then the news got even better as we found out that Nick Hough was the guide on the trip. We knew Nick from Hurghada so we knew we were in safe hands (creep creep).

I have to say that the trip was well worth the money and the time away from the hotel. The liveaboard that awaited us was the Emperor Fraser. The crew made us all feel right at home and nothing was too much trouble which is a credit to the Captain on how he runs his boat. The Fraser was very homely and welcoming, the cabins were clean, cosy and had air conditioning which was great.

Day 1.

Luxury bus transfer to Hurghada, join the boat and then travel up to the Thistlegorm wreck site and moor over the wreck - good chance to catch some rays and some sleep. What was good about the trip was how the times were planned so that when we arrived the daily boats were just leaving the wreck site so we had the wreck all to ourselves apart from one other liveaboard. We did an afternoon, night and a dawn dive on the Thistlegorm. Nick timed our dives so that when the other liveaboard divers were leaving the water we jumped in so again, we had the wreck all to ourselves which was fantastic. After the night dive we got changed and spent an hour on the top deck with a few beers watching the world go by, which is fantastic as the peace and quiet is great.

Day 2

We woke up for the dawn dive at 06.30. Nick briefed us and then we jumped. This again was a great dive as we were the only divers on the wreck. We didn't see the turtle but we did see the resident Napoleon Wrasse around the stern and also got some amazing pictures inside the cargo hold of the trucks, motor cycles and rifles that are stored there. We then left the Thistlegorm and made our way across to Abu Nuhas to dive the Carnatic and Ghiannis D. The trip down gave us time to catch some more rays and some more sleep! Once at Abu Nuhas we moored away from the Wrecks. Nick briefed us and we dived off the zodiacs, diving the Carnatic first and then Ghiannis D which are both fantastic wrecks. If you like a modern wreck then Ghiannis D is the one for you but if, like me, you prefer older more vintage wrecks then Carnatic is great - it is my favourite for the hard and soft corals and the marine life that now inhabits the wreck.

We had the option of a dive at Fanous on the way back into Hurghada which we all jumped at with the possibility to dive with the pod of dolphins that are resident there. The dive was great apart from no Dolphins but we did see a very friendly pair of octopi 'getting it on' so to speak. Then back on the bus and back to the hotel in time for dinner!

The trip is well worth the money: the food on the boat is brilliant, the crew on the Fraser were excellent and Nick, well, what can we say? Professional as ever but also having fun at the same time.

A trip not to be missed because if you do you will regret it.

Andy (Gibbo) Gibbons and Sarah Gibbons

P.S big love to all the staff at Marsa Alam especially Luke and Tracey xxxx

David McCall kindly wrote an entertaining and enlightening epistle about his recent trip to Emperor Marsa Alam staying at the Marina Lodge. No editing of any kind has gone on here - it's literally as David experienced it.

"My wife Christine and I just returned from two weeks at the Marina Lodge Hotel in Port Ghalib, Marsa Alam. We chose the Marina Lodge because Emperor Divers were sited at the hotel, and their day boats were moored about 30 meters from our hotel room!

Having dived the Red Sea at the usual resorts of Hurghada, Sharm, El Gouna, Soma Bay we decided to try Marsa Alam which is just a bit further south and within reach of Elphinstone without being aboard a safari boat. We booked the complete package with Longwood Holidays including a 12 day dive pack.

And so the long arm of the octopus reaches ever further...

Remember we told you about Nuweiba's alternative tentacles on June 10? Well, dive centre manager, Jim Pickup, did. The photo we had turned out NOT to be a mimic octopus but thanks to Jane Morgan, editor of Dive Online, we know that mimic are indeed to be found in Nuweiba as Jane wrote and told us...

"Just read your post re the mimic at Nuweiba.. it certainly does exist.. I have several pictures of it and the marble shrimp.. infact they are also in the June issue of DIVE in an article I wrote on Nuweiba."

You can read Jane's article here and to prove the point, here are Jane's photos:

 

 

As told by Hannah

"My name is Hannah, I am 17 years old and currently attending a sixth form college in Cambridge. This summer I decided to do something different compared to my friends and travelled to Egypt to get some experience in the diving industry as I had decided a year ago that I wanted to become a diving instructor. I had completed my Open Water course two and a half years ago with Emperor Divers and I really trusted the company, that's why I decided to get the experience with them.

Not only was I going to experience a new adventure into the diving industry, but it was also my first time of travelling alone - a very exciting time for me. Before I travelled I worried about everything as I wanted to be prepared for the next six weeks. I got every drug in the chemist and packed all the clothes I could possibly fit in to my suitcase which was not so beneficial at the airport as I was on my own carrying everything!