Dive Review of Emperor Divers/Emperor Elite in
Red Sea/Port Ghalib

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Emperor Divers/Emperor Elite: "Amazing diving liveaboard at a bargain price", Aug, 2016, by Eric Schindler, AZ, US ( Contributor 16 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 9011.
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 Diving: Warm water above 83 degrees in summer. Reefs and walls in very good condition. Hammerhead sharks congregate at Daedelus island. Fish life is moderately abundant and conditions have improved significantly thanks to declining tourism and more assertive conservation policies. We had always wanted to cross the Red Sea off the bucket list and now want to return! While Coral Triangle locations are still generally more prolific, the Red Sea, at least further south is beautiful, interesting, and appealing, especially compared to Caribbean destinations. Various itineraries are available and recommendation to include one with visit to the more offshore Brother's Islands and/or Daedelus. Diving done from zodiacs, and occasionally directly from ship. Deep dives very common on these sites as sharks congregate lower below modest thermocline in summer, so nitrox a big plus. We got very lucky with flat seas; rougher conditions are more common. Info on website very accurate and Emperor Divers a top notch company. Excellent dive guides with freedom to do own profile or have them lead. Visibility up to 150 feet at times, usually about 80-100 and never below 60 The Boat: Elite is the top of the line vessel in the fleet and a well maintained liveaboard that I would label as just short of the luxury category. 12 cabins - the two premium ones are worth the extra $50 in a better location. We were lucky with only 13 people on our trip; would be a bit crowded above 18 I would judge. Food was outstanding, plentiful, varied, and free local wine (surprisingly Egypt makes wine) with beer reasonably priced. Very attentive staff working hard to please. Logistics: We were the only Americans on this cruise, and Red Sea is more a European venue. Very competent divers in our group a pleasure. At under $1400 for a week trip that would cost over $3000 elsewhere, the Red Sea is very appealing. Much closer to US than some other diving locations actually. We flew through Frankfort on to Hurghada where free transportation is provided (3.5 hours) to the boat. Fewer flights to Marsa Alam right at the port exist, but can be an option. Van transport even had wifi though. To avoid concerns about Egypt we chose to not fly through Cairo, the other option. Tourism has suffered catastrophically in Egypt and land based hotels/diving is at low occupancy. That said, we still had many other boats at several of the sites and coordination of dive times was done by the crew.
Websites	Emperor Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	[Indonesia, Palau, Maldives, Philippines, Mexico, Caribbean]
Closest Airport	Marsa Alam or Hurghada	Getting There	Through Europe, or alternatively via Cairo
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	83-86°F / 28-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	70-150 Ft/ 21-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Come up with reasonable air left, dive sensibly
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
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	I am not a photographer so can't provide expert feedback. Dedicated space for cameras, etc provided, maybe a bit small

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Dive Review of Emperor Divers/Emperor Elite in Red Sea/Port Ghalib

Emperor Divers/Emperor Elite: "Amazing diving liveaboard at a bargain price", Aug, 2016,

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/Emperor Elite in
Red Sea/Port Ghalib