Entries Tagged 'Hurghada' ↓

Video by Vince Whitmore on You Tube.

The Spanish Dancer is the largest nudibranch in the Red Sea and extremely colorful often bursting with bright red color on the sea floor.  Once in a great while you can see a Spanish Dancer in flight which is such a surreal experience.

Spanish Dancer, Red Sea

As a tour operator one of the most important things to us is customer care and making sure that our clients feel comfortable and looked after in resort. The importance of this is shown in the way we have structured our business… we are the first British diving tour operator to operate and manage our own Red Sea liveaboard fleet. With offices in both the UK and Egypt, we make quality of service paramount, from initial enquiry to ground operations. Providing accessible channels for communication and feedback is essential to customer satisfaction and care; we offer a fully accountable service from start to finish.

This unique business structure was key to our customer care during the recent volcanic disruption.

Our customers unable to fly out of the UK…
We had just less than 60 divers due to fly out from London Gatwick to Egypt on Friday 16th April.  The flight was marked as ‘delayed’ on Friday and this delay continued into Saturday and Sunday.  Throughout this period we kept in constant contact with our clients and offered them partial refunds for the holiday time lost; this partial refund increased as the delay progressed.  On Sunday when the flight was still delayed we took the decision to cancel the trip and offered our clients the opportunity to transfer their trip to another week anytime within our published schedule dates (end 2011).  This offer was very well received and we have now successfully re-booked the majority of clients.

Our customers stranded in Egypt…
On Fridays our clients have day use of the Marriott hotel while waiting for their flight.  When the news came that the flight was going to be delayed until at least the next day, clients were transferred back to our boats (Marriott marina) for dinner and to stay the night. 

When it came to light that the flight was going to be very delayed and there would be no-one travelling out from the UK or back from Egypt anytime soon, we came up with a plan to try and make the best out of a potentially disastrous situation for our stranded guests. This plan involved the following options…

1. Another liveaboard safari

or

2. Local activities such as golf and quad biking, Free use of the Marriott facilities including the Health & Fitness centre, followed by a mini safari later in the week if the situation did not improve.

All of these activities were provided at a very minimal cost.

As a tour operator we have certain legal responsibilities and a duty of care to our guests which we believe we far exceeded.  In most circumstances being stranded abroad can be tough both physically and mentally, not to mention frustrating and costly.  Most of this frustration is caused by uncertainty and lack of information or communication from your tour operator.  We did everything possible to make sure that all guests were kept up to date on the entire situation as it unfolded, made sure everybody was safe and looked after, provided assistance when needed, provided a free laundry service and generally tried to make the whole experience as stress free as possible for our guests.

This volcanic disruption enabled us to put our business ethics into practice and the showed the lengths we will go to. We are very pleased that we were able to help our guests make the most of this unexpected turn of events.

Post courtesy of Blue O Two web site

One of the top dive operators in the Red Sea, Blue O’ Two is proud to announce that their flagship vessel M/Y blue Horizon has won ‘liveaboard of the year’ in the 2009 Diver Awards! Thank you to everyone who voted for us!! SEE MORE OF M/Y BLUE HORIZON >>>http://www.blueotwo.com/my_blue_horizon.htm

Hurghada had a welcome surprise visit recently from a 15 foot whaleshark. Emperor Divers dive guides spotted the visitor on the surface close to the shore near the Dive Centre marina. Emperor dive guests were fortunate enough to be on the boat but, alas, not able to get into the water but, “The view from the boat was awe-inspiring.” New divemasters, Terry and Islam, said the guests were very happy with the days diving but that this was the ‘icing on the cake!

Post courtesy of Emperor Divers News Blog: http://www.emperordivers.com/blog/

Due to the large number of requests for a liveaboard route that combines the Red Sea’s best wrecks and reefs, Emperor Divers are pleased to announce the creation of “Reefs and Wrecks”. This exciting new liveaboard route combines the best wrecks in the Red Sea with some stunning reefs and walls. Originating from Hurghada, this 7 night itinerary is available on the Silver Class MY Emperor Asmaa and the Gold Class MY Emperor Superior. Wrecks include the famous SS Thistlegorm, Rosalie Moeller, Dunraven, Giannis D, Carnatic and others. The famous horseshoe shaped reef of Shaab El Erg is a perfect example of the reefs offered on this route, with its beautiful hard coral garden and the chance to see dolphins. Walls dives in Ras Mohammed Park include Shark Reef, a sheer wall that plummets into the deep blue. This is just one example of the many liveaboard routes in the Red Sea. Anyone that has been to the Red Sea knows that it takes at least 3 or 4 trips to dive the majority of the fantastic dive sites.

http://www.emperordivers.com/liveaboards_routes_reefs_wrecks.php

Blue O Two Liveaboard Fleet and Pharaoh Dive Club added to Stable of Dive Operators

Learning Through Travel, an innovator in developing awe-inspiring itineraries to exotic destinations celebrates their most successful DEMA show ever by announcing new partnerships with prestigious Red Sea dive operators.  “The Red Sea is more popular than ever with Americans and there was a definite need to expand our choice of operators who serve the Red Sea.  We also needed to increase the number of resort locations to cater to divers with different preferences.  Our newest Red Sea dive operators exhibited at DEMA this year and now have a clear understanding of the American dive market,” says Darlene Buonauro, President of Learning Through Travel.  Blue O Two and Pharaoh Dive Club are added to Learning Through Travel’s select list of Red Sea dive operators that currently include Emperor Divers, Sinai Divers, Sub Sinai Divers and the Royal Diving Club.

Blue O Two owns three luxury liveaboard dive boats that sail both Northern and Southern Red Sea itineraries and offer clients 5 star service and amenities.  Blue Horizon, Blue Fin and Blue Melody are luxurious boats all less than 3 years old and hold 24-26 passengers in a mix of double and twin cabin accommodations.  (http://www.blueotwo.com)
Pharaoh Dive Club is a PADI 5 Star Gold Palm IDC Centre based in El Quseir, Egypt who offers a mix of shore and land based diving on pristine reefs in an extremely relaxed environment.  El Quseir is an authentic Red Sea resort town that has yet to see the western developments of more popular Red Sea destinations of Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam. (http://www.pharaohdiveclub.com)

Greetings from Learning Through Travel.  The Thistlegorm is a 418 foot British World War II cargo transport vessel sunk in the Red Sea off the Sinai Peninsula in 1941.  The ship was en route to the Suez Canal to deliver supplies to the Allied troops fighting Rommel’s forces in Northern Africa.  Jacques-Yves Cousteau discovered the Thistlegorm in 1955 while searching for wrecks in the Red Sea.  Cousteau featured the discovery of the Thistlegorm in the award winning movie, “The Silent World” released also in 1955.  The location of the Thistlegorm remained a secret to the general public until a group of recreational divers stumbled upon her whereabouts in the mid 1990′s.  The Thistlegorm is presently one of the most famous ship wrecks in the world accessible to recreational divers.  Dive operations in the Red Sea bring numerous divers each day to the Thistlegorm to experience a virtual time capsule of World War II history.  Tanks, locomotives, Bedford trucks, motorbikes, aircraft parts, guns and boots lie in the cargo holds of the Thistlegorm and are easily accessible in the ship and lie in under 100 feet of water.  The Thistlegorm is truly a dive of a lifetime.

Congratulations to Debby Miller from Somerset, New Jersey for winning a trip for two on a 7 night live aboard on the Red Sea from Hurghada, Egypt with Emperor Divers.  Debby entered our drawing in March at Beneath the Sea Dive and Travel Expo in Secaucus, New Jersey.  Learning Through Travel had over 250 entries for the drawing for the free Red Sea live aboard trip and we would like to thank all those patrons at Beneath the Sea who took the time to stop by our booth and enter the contest.  www.beneaththesea.org

Are you interested in joining a fun group already planning a trip to dive the Red Sea? Stop by the booths of our group travel partners at Beneath the Sea.  Each group partner is offering a unique Egypt-Red Sea trip on different dates in 2009.  You can find Learning Through Travel’s group travel partners (dive shops and dive clubs) at the following booths at Beneath The Sea March 27-29, 2009:

SCUBA Connection: Egypt Trip Dates: April 17-May 2, 2009: Booth #’s 402 to 408

Oceanblue Divers: Egypt Trip Dates: May 22-June 3, 2009: Booth # 108

Indian Valley SCUBA: Egypt Trip Dates:Sept 22-Oct 3, 2009: Booth #’s 228 & 230

For Beneath The Sea Dive & Travel Expo information, go to: www.beneaththesea.org