Sunlight Liveaboard, Egypt

Low cost benefit for diving

Reading the existing comments on liveaboard.com, we would like to add some things that came to our attention during our stay with MV Sunlight. We chose this liveaboard because it seemed to be a good cost benefit since we just booked one month before. Although some things during our stay were really good, the general staff friendly and the food good, for us, a diving holiday has to fullfill more than the "normal hotel criteria". As a hotel, it was good, besides the constant fumes. Related to diving, we were not satisfied with our stay. Diving in general - our group consisted of 17 Russians, 1 French and us. We didn't speak Russian and the Russians spoke little English, so communication with the rest of the group was very basic. - in total 3 dive guides for 20 divers (cruise director) our guide, and one russian guest instructor) - no signs were combined - no information about local animals (besides big animals like sharks, turtles, napoleon, and barracuda) - no general grouping of dive buddies - no information in case of diving emergency - no special briefing for night dives - many times, the tanks were filled to less than 200 bars - For nitrox and normal air, the same tanks were used. - no promotion of environmentally friendly diving behaviour (e.g. night dives with objective to see and awake turtles seems to be routine) - itinerary: current and popular itinerary, at all times many other liveaboards at the same reef (counted up to 25 liveaboards), we couldn't see any traces of finding alternative dive sequences, alternative time to avoid the crowd. All dives were very busy with dozens of divers at a time. In my experience on liveaboards, I think it is possible to awake earlier, for example,  and make the first dive before the others to not meet all divers all the time. - 1st diving day: only one dive due to delay and departure from port. The dive at Abu Dabab was good as 1st dive (easy, shallow, beautiful reef), The 5th day night dive and 6th day, was also in Abu Dabab, but at a different dive site (6 in total) with sea grass. Dives without any objective. I felt bad during the last night dive when the focus was awaking turtles and following them for the whole dive. There weren't any rules, also one photographer from our boat had the pleasure to take pics from the front of the turtles and other animals with his strong torches. Dive Guide - incomplete briefing, didn't talk about underwater communication (signals), possible animals to see, potential dangers, buddy teams, safety procedures besides safety stop - diving focused on seeing big animals, many times spending all dive long in the blue looking for sharks, while could also organise the dive to look half dive for sharks and other half for the beautiful reef if no sharks are spotted - no debriefing after dives - He said that he had a video of me with the shark and said that he would give it to me, I asked more than 5 times, then the last he said he would give me in the last minute. I gave him tip and an extra compensation for that, but no video at the end. - My wife got sick after the 3rd diving day and couldn't equalise anymore. Dive guide and cruise director noticed but didn't inform that had two big boxes of medicine on the boat for any kind of disease nor did they suggest anything helpful (medicine, other options like snorkeling, etc) The other guide, probably cruise director - we assume, he was cruise director, never introduced himself properly - many times unpolite and with competitive attitude, didn't have initiative to explain anything in English,  always in Russian, making us feel that we shouldn't be there, third class costumers. - after inquiring the not working wifi connection, we were informed that we would stay 3 days without internet. He said he had explained to all guests in the beginning; however, if that took place, it was in the russian briefing, which was more than 20 minutes and in English less than 3 minutes.

Recommended for

In spite of the crowds, the Daedalus reef is very beautiful, coral diversity is amazing.

Lovely Diving experience in the Red Sea

The MS Sunlight is among the other yachts in the field for sure one of the older, a bit used and smaller ones. But after a few moments of getting used to it that's not an obstacle at all. Our guide had been really amazing. Very good briefings and coordination of the overall trip and experience. There had been a few situations where I would had appreciated a proper debriefing of the dive to optimize the flow and level out small misunderstandings and differences in experience among the participants. Besides that very professional handling of the overall trip. The food was also really good and diverse. Also for vegetarians they prepared separate tasty dishes. Rooms are sufficient in size and clean. The whole crew is very friendly, attentive and helpful. The boat is managed by a Russian operator and has a focus on that target group. In our case the participants had been a mix of different countries. I had taken rental equipment from the boat. Unfortunately the jacket had the wrong size and the mouth piece of the regulator was broken. I recommend checking the equipment in Hurghada before entering the shuttle bus with the equipment and crew in case you may rent something. Overall excellent value for the money and highly recommended.

Recommended for

Guide, food, spots

Magical!!!

It was great to have such an extraordinary experience. The crew and the guide did an exceptionally great job. The dive sites were incredibly beautiful, I have never seen or experienced anything like it. Unfortunately, my diving buddy dropped out due to Covid, I will repeat the trip with her. Many thanks also to the whole liveaboard team. I was a bit nervous beforehand and asked a lot. Thank you very much for your great support and for taking the time to answer all my questions and to write to me. Many Thanks!!! Lutz

Recommended for

Very nice Crew, Staff, People – amazing underwater world – amazing animals

Great diving, food and value for money

Saw 7 hammerheads, thresher shark, oceanic white tips

Recommended for

People, food and diving

Great price / quality value and beautiful dives.

Dolphins Wrecks Turtles Food Other divers in the group

Recommended for

Food, free Nitrox and WiFi , great crew

Difficult , but still amazing.

The crew were really friendly and helpful. However the diving guide had tendency to bad behavior and rudeness as a guide when under water. But he is a very skilled diver however and I'm sure the Russians were pleased with him. One thing that must be said is that 99% are Russian speaking, a very, very few of them speak English which makes the social interactions impossible. It was me and a german girl as the the two odd out. The main briefings are all in Russian but we do get a shorter much condense recap of what was said.

Recommended for

The cabin , the food, and the friendly staff