I’ve just returned from a week in the Red Sea diving with Emperor Divers off their boat, the MV Superior. I thought Wetpixelers may welcome a trip report given how popular the Red Sea is with European divers.

I booked a safari known as Simply The Best directly with Emperor Divers and a plane ticket to Hurghada with Thomson Airlines.

Contact with Emperor Divers was easy and their booking staff were helpful and quick to respond. They wanted a certain amount of pre-trip information: passport details and dive experience. There is a trip requirement of having logged 50 dives.

I flew Manchester-Hurghada. As I have reported separately, Thomson Airlines did not weigh my cabin baggage and I travelled with a hold-loaded bag of dive gear at about 21kgs and a 1510 Pelican roller case as cabin baggage weighing about 14kgs. Thomson Airlines charge for everything: the initial 20kgs of baggage, seat reservations (note: they consider seats adjacent across an aisle as “sitting next to each other” - so on their B757s seats C and D), food and all drinks. They allow an extra 5kgs for divers and 5kgs of cabin baggage. So divers should get a total of 30kgs. On the way back from Hurghada cabin baggage was weighed and although not limited to 5kgs, the check-in staff wanted to charge extra for being slightly over the total of 30kgs.

Egyptian immigration charge $15/£13 for a visa on arrival. Arriving about 7pm, I was through immigration and customs quite quickly and was met by a taxi driver sent by Emperor who drove me the 45-minutes south to Safarga pier where the Superior was tied up.

A friendly welcome on board by the two expat dive guides (one Canadian, one Spanish) who were very good – and a nice supper of chicken and salads.

Superior is an excellent boat. Very nicely finished, air conditioned through-out, good sun decks, a Jacuzzi, a friendly, fun crew – and a huge dive deck. Lots of plug–ins for batteries and chargers. Big flat screen for slide shows. There were 21 guests on board and this never felt crowded. Food was always good and plentiful. Lots of cookies and cake for ‘tween dive snacks. Tea and coffee (including an espresso maker!) and soft drinks constantly available. Beer and wine available for a reasonable charge.

The day usually started with a 5am wake-up and a 5.30 briefing for the first of the day’s three dives. Surface intervals were usually 3 hours. Apart from one night dive, the diving ended about 4.30pm. Diving was generally from RIBs launched from Superior. Dives ended either at Superior or, by launching an SMB, a RIB pick-up.

We did 2 dives on the first and last day, the middle 4 days were all three dive days. There was one night dive. A guide was available if required but dive plans were straight-forward and a guide was not necessary. There was no pressure on dive time limits – but you had to carry (and sometimes needed) an SMB for the end of the dive. Nitrox was available at no extra charge. We did Elphinstone Reef, Daedalus Reef, the Brothers and the Salem Express wreck. Given the huge loss of life I had mixed feelings about this but it was an amazing dive and possible to photograph almost the whole 100m wreck given the visibility and a Tokina 10-17mm.

16 dives, nearly all in the 25-35m range. We saw hammerheads, reef sharks and – and one lucky group saw a whale shark. I had taken 10-17mm and 60mm lenses. I used the 60mm twice and have only 1-2 keepers. The 10-17 was perfect especially, for travelling purposes, when combined with the Zen 100 dome. I have some pics which I am delighted with! A couple are attached. I would not have used any other lenses even if they had been available.

30C degree water temperatures and viz at around 20-30 metres combined with Emperor Divers excellent organisation made for a very enjoyable trip.

PM me if you’d like more info.

Did you hear the ghosts on the Salem Express? Not a friendly wreck, at all...

Tim

Thankfully not. But it wasn't hard to imagine them, Tim. I really had mixed views about diving the wreck - as did many of the guests. But no-one regretted it afterwards. It really is an amazing sight/site.