Sunlight Liveaboard, Egypt

Excellent crew and service

“Reading the existing comments on liveaboard.com, we would like to add some things that came to our attention during our stay with …”

Eduardo A, Brazil Brazil
Read 14 more reviews

Highlights

  • Choice of 3 dive itineraries
  • Dives at world-famous wreck sites
  • Opportunities for drift diving and big fish action

Completely renovated in 2019, the MY Sunlight liveaboard is a 34m yacht offering year-round Red Sea dive safaris. She caters to 20 guests in 10 modest cabins, each with single and double beds, individually controlled air-conditioning, and private ensuite bathrooms. The indoor salon and dining room feature air-conditioning, comfortable sofas, and a drink station. A large, partially covered sunbathing area and an outdoor lounge are on the upper deck. The perfect place to hang out with your new dive buddies to swap dive stories at the end of the day.

Located at the stern of the boat is a large dive deck with rinse tanks, storage space, and a platform for easy entry into the 2 zodiacs or straight into the water. Divers can choose 3 itineraries, the North Route, South Route, and Deep South Route, aboard the M/Y Sunlight. The North Route is perfect for wreck lovers with dives as the world-famous SS Thistlegorm, Rosalie Muller, and Carnatic, as well as reef dives at Ras Mohammed National Park & Tiran. The Southern Red Sea route offers amazing drift diving and big fish action at the Brothers, Elphinstone, and Daedalus. For the more adventurous, the Deep South Route explores that little bit further to St. Johns for pristine diving and stops at Rocky, Zabargad, and Elphinstone.

Whichever route you choose, the crew of the MY Sunlight liveaboard is on hand to show you the fantastic dive sites of the Red Sea. Book online today to reserve your space.


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Included: VAT, National Park Fees, Airport Transfer, Drinking Water, Soft drinks, Tea & Coffee, Welcome Cocktails, Full-Board Meal Plan (All meals), Snacks, Diving Package, Extra Dives, Cabin Towels, Complimentary Toiletries, Deck Towels, WiFi internet.

Required Extras: Environment Tax (60 EUR per trip), Gratuities (60 EUR per trip), Port Fees (50 EUR per trip).

Optional Extras: Private Dive Guide (50 EUR per day), Rental Gear (15 EUR per day).

Book now, pay later: You can easily place your booking online. We will then hold the spaces for you and you can confirm with a payment later.

* Extra fees are shown per person.

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Boat features

  • Laundry Service
  • Camera Station
  • Daily housekeeping
  • Audio & video entertainment
  • Library
  • Air Conditioned saloon
  • Aircon Cabins
  • Sun Deck
  • Indoor Saloon
  • Non-Diver (Snorkeler) Friendly
  • Warm Water Showers
  • Custom built for diving
  • Charging stations
  • En-Suite bathrooms
  • Free Internet
  • Non-Smoking Rooms
  • Outside Showers
  • Family Cabins
  • Naturalist Itineraries
  • Dedicated Local & International Crew
  • Leisure Deck
  • Observation Deck
  • Bar
  • Available for Charter

Food & Drinks

  • Western Food
  • Local Food
  • Vegetarian Options
  • Buffet style
  • Snacks All Day
  • Vegan Options
  • Fine Cuisine
  • Beach BBQ
  • Welcome Cocktails

If you have any specific dietary requirements whilst on-board your cruise, you can add this to your special requests on step 2 of the booking form. We advise limiting these requests to religious beliefs or food allergies.


Diving

  • DIN Adaptors
  • Nitrox available
  • Rinse Hoses
  • Dive deck
  • Tenders for diving
  • Sidemount Diving
  • Shaded Diving Area
  • Free Nitrox

The crew speaks English.


Gear Rental

There is diving gear available on this boat. Please provide your rental needs on the booking form. See below for further details on inclusions and pricing. Show prices.


Boat Specifications

  • Year built 1999
  • Year renovated 2019
  • Length 34
  • Beam 7
  • Top speed 15 knots
  • Cruising speed 13 knots
  • Engines 2x Mercedes MTU Marine 650HP
  • Max guests 20
  • Number of cabins 10
  • Number of bathrooms 12
  • Tenders 2
  • Water capacity 10
  • Fuel capacity 10
  • Freshwater maker 2x 55 tons p/d

Boat Navigation and Safety

  • Radar
  • Depth Sounder
  • GPS
  • Radio VHF/DSC/SSB
  • E.P.I.R.B. Distress System
  • Emergency Rafts
  • Life Vests
  • Fire Alarm & Fire Extinguishers
  • Oxygen
  • First Aid Kits
  • Fishfinder
  • Satellite & mobile phones
  • Bilge pump alarm
  • Search light
  • Engine room CCTV
  • Crew trained in first aid
  • Emergency flares

Sunlight Reviews

  • 8.3 Very good
  1. Vessel
    7.4
  2. Crew
    8.6
  3. Food
    9.3
  4. Diving
    8.3
  5. Value
    8.1
  • 5.2 Review score
  • Eduardo A
  • Brazil Brazil
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.
  • 9.2 Superb
  • Martin K
  • Germany Germany
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
  • 8.0 Very good
  • Lutz S
  • Germany Germany
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
  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Alice J
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
Great diving, food and value for money

Saw 7 hammerheads, thresher shark, oceanic white tips

Recommended for
People, food and diving
  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Jeroen M
  • Netherlands Netherlands
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
  • 7.2 Good
  • Emmanuel S
  • Sweden Sweden
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
  • 7.2 Good
  • Eduardo S
  • Spain Spain
Red Sea in a windy weather

Good planning for a difficult weather conditions

Recommended for
The crew is very friendly, the food was sufficient and basic, the schedule changes were discussed in ahead and agreed
  • 8.0 Very good
  • Demiray O
  • United Kingdom United Kingdom
Great and well run fuss-free dive safari for more experienced divers.

A Russian company (so expect a lot of Russians) it was a refreshing experience for a more adult diving crowd. Not too many rules or hand-holding, people left to their own devices and a great atmosphere in the evenings. Really good food and lots and lots of it, great diving conditions and good guides, good value for money and if you know how to dive already this is a great trip and company to do it with.

Recommended for
Crew hospitality, safari director, dive timetable
  • 10 Exceptional
  • Cristina D
  • Spain Spain
Experiencia maravillosa a bordo del SunLight

Vimos una mantarraya gigante de 6 metros viniendo nadar hacia nosotros. Una experiencia especial y única.

Recommended for
Un guía de buceo con amplia experiencia, tripulación amable y servicial y personal en tierra pendiente de los últimos detalles
  • 9.6 Exceptional
  • Thorsten R
  • Germany Germany
Preis/Leistungs-Knaller

3x Delfine (2. Dolphin-House, 1x Nähe Thistlegorm) Geniales, sehr leckeres Essen (der Koch ist ein Künstler), klasse sehr zuvorkommende Crew. Nachteil: der Motor qualmt - da der Motorraum nicht luftdicht zu dem Kabinen-Trakt abgedichtet ist, dringen je Windlage des Bootes die Abgase in die Schlafräume.

Recommended for
Gourmet-Koch + unglaublich kundenorientierte Crew