A liveaboard is simply diving without the drive back. You board in the afternoon, the boat moves overnight, and you wake up moored on a reef that day boats need four hours to reach. Three dives most days, a night dive when the site is right, and between them you eat, sleep and dry off in the same place.
We run these weeks as full charters. That means the boat is yours: your group, your route, your dive times, and no strangers on the ladder. It suits a dive club, a course group, a family that fills the cabins, or a set of friends who would rather plan their own week than join someone else's.
Up to four dives a day
Three day dives and a night dive when the mooring allows it. Nobody is counting the drive home, so the day is planned around the water instead of the road.
The offshore reefs
The Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone, Sataya, St John's. These sit hours offshore and are only reachable by a boat that sleeps out there.
Our guides, your group
You dive with Dive Red Sea guides, in small groups, at the pace your divers actually dive. Briefings in the language your group speaks.
The whole boat
Full charter only. The cabins, the dive deck and the schedule belong to your group for the week, and the itinerary can change with the wind.
Our safari routes
Four itineraries covering the northern wrecks, the central offshore reefs and the far south. On a charter the route is your choice, and the captain will tell you honestly which one the season and the wind favour.
The route that made Red Sea diving famous. Cargo ships that went down on Abu Nuhas reef, the SS Thistlegorm with her trucks and motorcycles still in the holds, and the wall at Ras Mohammed where the whole park comes together in one dive. It runs all year, because the islands in the north give shelter when the wind gets up. Dive Red Sea guides know these wrecks and brief every one of them.
The week experienced divers come back for. Three offshore reefs standing alone in deep water, walls that drop past what you can see, and the pelagic traffic that comes with them: grey reef sharks on the plateau, hammerheads in the early blue at Daedalus, and oceanic whitetips patrolling Elphinstone. Currents are real here and the entries are from the tenders, so this one asks for experience. Dive Red Sea guides run the diving, in small groups, from the tenders.
The gentlest week in the south and the prettiest. Fury Shoals is a field of shallow reefs and coral gardens with swim throughs you can take slowly, a small wreck sitting on the coral at Abu Galawa, and the spinner dolphin lagoon at Sataya, where the pod rests through the middle of the day. Calm, shallow and sheltered, which is why it works for a group with mixed experience. Dive Red Sea guides take it at the pace your group actually dives.
The far south, close to the Sudanese border, where the reefs see few boats and the coral shows it. Cathedral caves at Umm Kararim, pinnacles standing in open water at Habili Ali and Habili Gaffar, and the twin remote reefs of Zabargad and Rocky Island. Long crossings, real currents, and the best chance in Egypt of a quiet reef with big fish on it. Dive Red Sea guides plan the crossings around the forecast.
The boat we charter for these weeks. Three decks, a dive deck across the whole stern, and two tenders that put you on the reef and pick you up again.
C-Echo 2 is the boat we charter for our Red Sea safari weeks. Three decks, a wide teak dive platform across the stern, and two tenders that run you onto the reef and pick you up again. Cabins are twin bedded with sea view windows, there is an air conditioned restaurant and an indoor saloon to sit out the crossing, and the top deck is shade, loungers and open sky. The whole boat goes to one group at a time, so the week runs at your pace: your route, your dive times, your people.
Decks
3
Tenders
2
On board
Air conditioning throughout
Wide dive platform
Shaded sun deck
Indoor saloon and restaurant
Sea view windows in every cabin
On board, in photographs
Every photograph here is of the boat we charter, taken on board. Nothing is a stock image.
Weeks the boat is free
These are the weeks the boat is available as a full charter. The route is your group's choice unless one is named, and the price depends on the route, the season and how many of you there are, so we quote it in writing when you ask.
Full charter only: the whole boat goes to one group. Ask us for a price and we will send the quote and what it includes in writing.
What a full charter means
The price is quoted, not listed
A charter is priced on the route, the season and the size of your group. We would rather send you a real figure in writing than publish a number that changes the moment you ask a question.
You pick the route
Any of the four itineraries, or a mix of them. The captain will tell you what the wind is doing and where the diving is best that week, and the plan can change at sea.
Your group only
No strangers in the cabins and no waiting on the ladder for a group you did not come with. Clubs, course groups, families and groups of friends.
Our guides on board
Dive Red Sea guides run the diving, with the boat's own crew running the boat. Small groups in the water, and briefings in your group's language.
Liveaboard questions
It depends on the route, the season and how many divers are in your group, so we quote each charter individually. Send us your dates and your numbers and you get a written price with exactly what is included and what is not.
Three dives on a full day, plus a night dive when the mooring and the site allow it, so a seven night week usually lands between seventeen and twenty dives. There is no diving on the last day, so there are at least eighteen hours between the final dive and a flight.
It depends on the route. Fury Shoals and the north suit any certified diver with a reasonable number of logged dives. The Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone and the deep south ask for Advanced Open Water and around fifty logged dives, because entries are from the tender and the currents are real. Tell us your group's levels and we will say honestly which week fits.
On the northern and southern reef routes, yes. There is snorkelling over shallow coral most days and time at the dolphin reefs in the south. The Brothers and deep south weeks are built around demanding diving, and there is little for a non diver to do out there.
The north runs all year, and is the sheltered choice from December to March. The Brothers and Daedalus open around May and run into October, when the water is warmest and the pelagic traffic is heaviest. The southern routes are good from March to November.
Message us with the dates you want, the number of divers and their levels. We hold the week while you decide, send the charter quote in writing, and take a deposit to confirm it. Nothing is charged through the website.
Tell us your week
Send us your dates and how many divers you are, and we will come back with the routes that work and a price for the charter.
Northern Red SeaIntermediate
