Dive Review of Blue Planet Liveaboards in
Red Sea/Daedalus Elphinstone Fury Shoa

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Blue Planet Liveaboards: "Daedelus, Elphinstone & Fury Shoals - Excellent Service & Crew!", Oct, 2023, by Katie Alpers, CI, Cayman Islands ( 1 report). Report 12761.
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	We booked a weeks diving with Blue Planet Liveaboards on board Blue Storm. We made the reservation through Liveaboards.com, but soon found that dealing directly with Blue Planet was more efficient. We selected Blue Storm as it had the least number of people booked on the boat, and were lucky to have a total of 14 divers out of a possible 24. Lovely mix of people - British, German, American, and Columbian in their 40’s & 50’s. Dive staff (Tarek & Wiel) and crew were exceptional. Detailed briefings, very safety conscious, humorous, professional. The service was second to none - assisted with gearing up, as well as taking off wetsuits, ensuring suits were dry for the next dive and waiting at your station. Fabulous hot showers on deck after each dive. Food service, variety & presentation was wonderful - snacks available 24/7, as were hot & cold drinks. If anything there was too much food! For the overnight crossings in rough seas, they reminded us to take medication if needed, and even provided it for us. I was sick and unable to dive 1 day during the trip, and the crew looked after me with a constant supply of ginger tea and medications to help settle my stomach, checking on me throughout the day. They really went above & beyond. Its been 10 years since I last dived the Red Sea. Volume of liveaboards at each location was as expected - sometimes as many as 14 others. We were fortunate to rarely come across another group during the dives. Staff were flexible in the schedule so we could avoid the other groups as much as possible. Conditions at the surface were hazardous, with so many zodiacs zipping in and around the liveaboards. You needed to have your wits about you. As a dive pro, I was horrified at the potential for accidents involving props and oblivious floaty divers! I couldn’t imagine dealing with that kind of stress on a daily basis. Tarek & Wiel had a system where each diver would surface, holding the line of the dive guides SMB, so each person surfaced one at a time, directly below the marker. We wanted to see Oceanic White Tips (Longimanus) and had a handful of close encounters as they cruised under the boat during our safety stops. However, I saw no other sharks on the trip (my husband saw 1 distant hammerhead). Rumour has it that after a spate of tourists were nipped by sharks in 2019, Daedalus was closed (by the Government) to all dive boats for one week. Since then - shark sightings have been few and far between…hmmm?! The hard corals were magnificent - acres & acres of healthy reef as far as the eye could see. We only saw one or two small patches of diseased/dead coral during the week. We saw a few Napoleon Wrasse, a pod of dolphins (they were at the surface, we were at 100ft sadly!), clownfish & anemones, and a great variety of fish. Only a handful of nudibranchs, no frogfish. I felt there was a much greater variety of critters in Dahab (northern Red Sea) 10 years ago - and much of that was shore diving. My only complaint with regard to Blue Storm was the lack of fish & critter ID books available on board. Prior to the trip I enquired directly, and through Liveaboard.com about the availability of books on board. They assured me they would be available, so I left mine at home. When we got there, I found there was only 1 tatty fish ID book, and it was the German edition. I found that very disappointing as I like to research what I’ve seen after each dive. Overall, a wonderful trip, with 5 star service. Highly recommended!
Websites	Blue Planet Liveaboards
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	UK, Cayman, Malta, Indonesia, French Polynesia, Red Sea.
Closest Airport	Marsa Alam	Getting There	Flight to Cairo, then Marsa Alam. 15 minute drive to Port Ghalib where Liveaboard departs.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-100 Ft/ 9-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Max depth 40m, bottom time 60 mins, min 3 mins from deco.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	Small charging area on deck - plenty of sockets. Plenty of other table space in lounge & dining room if you wanted to fiddle with your housing. Only charge phones & cameras in your cabin if you are also in the cabin. Under no circumstances leaves items charging inside unattended.

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Dive Review of Blue Planet Liveaboards in Red Sea/Daedalus Elphinstone Fury Shoa

Blue Planet Liveaboards: "Daedelus, Elphinstone & Fury Shoals - Excellent Service & Crew!", Oct, 2023,

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 Blue Planet Liveaboards in
Red Sea/Daedalus Elphinstone Fury Shoa