Dive Review of Emperor Divers in
Red Sea/Northern portion

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Emperor Divers: "Good Red Sea wreck/reef diving", Mar, 2019, by Ed Noga, OH, US ( Sr. Reviewer 10 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 10883 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Red Sea is an inexpensive diving destination, loaded with sea life of all sizes, healthy coral and interesting wrecks. I booked this trip to see the wrecks of the Red Sea, in particular the renown Thistlegorm, which lived up to its billing. I’d been on a Red Sea liveaboard a decade or so ago, in December, which was the wrong time of year to go. This visit was much better. The trip was billed as a wreck adventure, and we had plenty of that. However, close to half the dives were on reefs. That was no problem because the reefs are in exceptional condition, full of fish of all sizes, from huge Napoleon Wrasses to nudibranches and everything in between. The only thing lacking was sharks. Wrong time of year? Are they all hanging out at Brothers Islands, with an appetite for divers? I don’t know. Like the last time I dived the Red Sea on a different liveaboard, the ship’s crew and divemasters were friendly and highly professional. The Emperor Superior is a solid ship with plenty of room. Then again, it is set up for 23 divers, but we had just six. Trips before and after ours were full. I had a single cabin and it was quite adequate. The divemasters accompanied us on most trips, except for some visits to the Thistlegorm and other wrecks after we’d had initial dives on them, or when doing dives off the boat, rather than an inflatable. If you are a repeat, frequent customer, as were a couple of divers on this trip, they have no objections if you go off by yourselves. In about five days of diving we did 19-20 dives. I was impressed by how the divemasters protect the reefs. Drift down to the coral and you’ll get dragged off. On one occasion some idiot from another boat was shooting pictures while kneeling in the sand, with his fins smacking the coral behind him. The divemaster grabbed his fins and pulled him off…which seemed to irritate the diver. Hey, this is a reason why these reefs are so healthy. We had a number of encounters with schools of dolphins at one site. That alone was worth the price of admission. All of the other divers on this trip lived in Great Britain. Including my dives from years ago in the Red Sea, on a boat with at least 20 divers, there was only one other American on board. Europeans take advantage of the excellent Red Sea diving, which costs much less than most other sites. Traveling in the Middle East isn’t particularly risky if you avoid conflict areas, certainly not the Red Sea departures from Hurghada or Sharm el Sheikh. Heck, the week I was on the Emperor Superior there were six shootings in my hometown. My only complaint was about myself. I rented most gear—very reasonable cost, and everything worked well—but ordered a 5 mil full wetsuit. Back in the day I’d dive comfortably in water down to 55 degrees F in a 5 mil. Not anymore—in 72 degrees F water I froze my butt off on most dives, other than on the wrecks when the adrenaline was pumping. Everyone else knew better and wore at least 7 mil suits. Live and learn.
Websites	Emperor Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Primarily Lake Erie and the Great Lakes, but all over, from Truk to Galapagos, the Red Sea to Cocos Island, the Philippines to the Florida Keys.
Closest Airport	Hurghada, Egypt	Getting There	Flights go there from Europe daily, or via Cairo or elsewhere in the Middle East.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	72-73°F / 22-23°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Frequent customers could go off on their own. After doing initial dives at a site, we could do the same at times. Get back on the boat with 500 psi.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	They have a rinse tank, camera table and lots of electrical outlets. Be advised this is in Egypt, so bring an electrical adapter if you are from the U.S. The crew was very careful in handling photography equipment.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Emperor Divers in Red Sea/Northern portion

Emperor Divers: "Good Red Sea wreck/reef diving", Mar, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Emperor Divers in
Red Sea/Northern portion