Tala Liveaboard, Egypt

Diving in the North in December on the MV Tala: A review

I had an amazing first liveaboard experience on the Tala! 100% recommended :) I was originally booked to go with another company, but my trip was cancelled last minute and I ended up on the Tala, a bit by chance I must admit. And what luck did I have! The boat itself, although 30 years old, feels like it's in pristine condition; it's clearly very well maintained and everything in the cabins was working as it should (toilets, hot water, shower, lights...). I was privileged to get a cabin just for myself (they were lacking another male person to fit the remaining bed) and I greatly enjoyed that! The crew is lovely, helpful, present when you need it (put on your gear, get out of the water), but not overtly so. Our chef kept us well fed and happy with tasty meals throughout the trip. Special mention to our guides: Lereyce and Ahmed, who were absolute top notch all throughout! Lereyce gave us the best dive briefings I've ever had before every single dive, and was always helpful in so many small ways on the boat, Ahmed had a great, cheerful presence, onboard and underwater! I did the North route, and there were some very fun dive spots along the way! Of course the SS Thistlegorm stole a bit the spotlight (4 dives there), and there are some other really interesting other wrecks along the way, but Ras Mohammed and its incredible drops and reefs was equally amazing. I saw plenty of marine life; from barracudas to blue spotted rays to eagle spotted rays to dolphins to crocodile fishes, you name it! The boat caters to tech divers, so if you're into rebreathers, trimix and the like, they got you covered! It's actually fascinating to be surrounded by people who are really deep into diving and I asked loads of questions whenever I could. I'm a divemaster myself and felt every person diving had a great level. It was a good mix: "normal" recreational divers, but also some instructors, and other divemasters, besides the tech divers. What else? The ambiance onboard was good, there was a bunch of nationalities represented: German, French (me :P), Danish, Swedish, Italian, US... And conversations flowed naturally, whether on the upper decks or in the "lounge" / social area. I did the trip at the end of December (22-29) and although there was some chilly moments (getting out of the water after a night dive, brrr 🥶!), I'l was totally fine with a 5mm wetsuit + a 3mm short sleeves top to put under the wetsuit that Ahmed lent me. The water temperature for diving was very pleasant in my opinion, and I didn't feel it warranted the use of a drysuit (but quite a few people were using them), but hey, I guess that's up to how comfortable you wanna feel! All in all, fantastic first liveaboard experience, I'll definitely be back for more, hopefully on the Tala! (Ah, the only downside I can think of is that the Internet connection didn't really work well during the trip. The wifi setup died less than a day out, and we were relying mostly on our (spotty) mobile 4G connection to stay connected + Charging 10€ extra for each 500Mb chunk is a bit of a robbery tbh! anyways, we're all here to disconnect right? 😅)

Recommended for

The diving. The crew. The ambiance.

Great time

For me diver with moderate experience it was great chance to expand my knowledge as well as experience. I am very glad I took part in this cruise and I can recommend Liveabord and Tala diving cruises to everybody. You are gonna not be dissapointed. Go for it.

Recommended for

Great diving. Good accomodation. Well organized.