It is auction time! Bid for your place onboard M/Y Cassiopeia departing September 8, 2010 to the Brother Islands! The highest bidders win!

About the auction:
· You may make your bid for 2 people on the Cassiopeia page of Facebook.
· Simply add your bid to the page.
· Always check the previous highest bid which you can continuously follow on the page.
· Bid only if you can participate in the safari!

What you are bidding on:
· A one-week diving safari at the price you want to go.
· Safari date: September 8 – 15, 2010
· Safari itinerary: Brother Islands
· Vessel: the 5-star luxury liveaboard M/Y Cassiopeia
· The price includes: 7 nights full-board accommodations onboard, transfers between Hurghada airport and the boat, diving, 12l tanks and weights, taxes and shisha/water pipe onboard.

Details of the auction:
· Last bid: August 26, 2010, 20:00 ET
· Starting bid: EUR300 / person (maximum 2 people)
· Minimum bid increment: EUR10 / person
· Auction date: August 12 – 26, 2010
· The winner will be notified by e-mail.

Important:
· The prize is not transferable to a person other than the bidder and it cannot be exchanged for money.
· Guests already registered and booked for the same safari are not eligible to enter the auction.
· Additional expenses apply: Egyptian visa (USD15 / person); Brothers Marine Park fee (EUR40 / person); alcoholic beverages, Nitrox, equipment rental, Satellite phone use, T-shirt purchases onboard and other expenses not included in the price.

Our contest posted on the pages of Red Sea Boats Group and Cassiopeiasafari – with the main prize of a place on our August 4, 2010 diving safari – concluded tonight at 20:00.

There were 37 photos sent to us in total that met the contest rules.

Thank you for your photos, your interest and your participation in our contest!

Due to the big demand and the number of interested contestants, we have decided to draw 2 winners tonight who can take part in the safari and may also bring 1 guest each with them!

The draw was performed using the Google Docs Spreadsheet random function. In the event the winners are unable to attend the safari for any reason, we are going to draw a new winner!

Our lucky winners are:

- Kata Tüske
- Robbert Vrouwe

The winners will be notified via a Facebook message. In the event they will not be able to join the safari, the new winners’ names will be published on Facebook as well!

Win a Free Diving Safari for 2 people from 04th until 11th August, 2010!

How to enter the game?

Upload your picture about M/Y Cassiopeia or M/Y Andromeda into our Facebook Cassiopeiasafari Group and win a free stay onboard Cassiopeia from 04th until 11th August, 2010 (including transfers between Hurghada airport and boat, 7 nights fullboard accomodation onboard, diving, taxes and sisha/waterpipe onboard). The winner can be anyone who uploads a picture of either of the 2 boats. You can upload more than one picture, but it will count as one participant in the game.

The winner will be notified by e-mail until 31st of July.
The deadline for submitting  your photos is 31st of July 2010 20:00 pm

Remarks:
- The price is not transferable to another person and can not be exchanged for money.
- Who is already registered and booked for the same safari is not eligible to enter the game.

UMBRIA, an old italian freighter that provided war material for the italian troops in Eritrea in 1940. When the British entered the vessel, the Captain decided to sink his own ship. Now it´s a terrific place for diving.

The wreck “Umbria” was built in Hamburg 1912 and started life as a freighter. Umbria has a cargo of 360.000 bombs that makes the exploring of the wreck still more exciting. The “Umbria” is one of the most famous sunken ships in the world. Lying in the shelter of Wingate Reef, just outside Port Sudan and largely unaffected by currents and tides, it is within easy reach of Port Sudan harbour.

The wreck lies at an angle on her port side with her starboard davits breaking the surface. At a maximum depth of 36m, the Umbria is shallow by most wreck divers’ standards. With plenty of light and good visibility, entering most of the ship is easy. The hull itself is completely intact, if heavily encrusted with marine life, and can be explored internally and externally along its entire length.

Our first Egyptian safari this year commenced yesterday onboard Cassiopeia. The boat was again at the service of divers after a complete exterior paint work and interior refurbishing. Now, following the renovations, at first glance Cassiopeia and Andromeda may seem identical but at closer look, the differences are noticeable.

Cassiopeia’s interior walls of the cabins and the restaurant were completely refinished and all curtains were replaced during the month-and-a-half long dock work. As was the sitting furniture on the covered deck in front of the salon. The exterior lights were replaced and for increased safety, handrails were installed along the staircases.

And for popular demand, we have installed a table for the camera equipmnet as well. As you can see from the photos, the boat looks almost more beautiful than when she first was.

After a long safari season, Cassiopeia arrived in the dry dock at the beginning of December, and into experienced and professional hands to make the entire boat more beautiful as before. You may read about the dock work in our previous article. We are happy to announce that she is back in Hurghada now with all her new permits.

The entire boat has been re-painted and all the necessary maintenance work has been completed. Andromeda has received her own underwater stabiliser wings just like Cassiopeia’s. The interior walls have been covered with new velour finishings and the windows have received new curtains on the main deck and on the lower deck in the cabins.

All damaged wood planks have been replaced, the teak floors have been sanded and the bottom of the boat has received a new coat of algae-repellant finish.

During this time, Andromeda has received her permit to sail to Sudan and she is set to leave for the South in the beginning of February to start her 5-month long work there.

This week the Marine Academy in Alexandria, Egypt started to issue the ID cards that have become manditory for every captain sailing in the Egyptian Red Sea. We have also paid the fee for the cards for our captains and when we received them, we got the surprise! On the back side of the cards the picture of Cassiopeia can be seen, even with the name of the boat visible. We do not know whose decision it was to have our boat selected to be on these cards but we hope others will also like it as much as we do!

In any event, we are very proud that our boat represents all the vessels in the Egyptian Red Sea on the captain ID cards!

alias: Scheduled dry dock for Cassiopeia II

For unknown reasons, in the noon hours last Sunday, the Diving City safari boat caught fire in the Safaga dock and two hours later, was completely destroyed. The boat was right behind Cassiopeia, awaiting works to be done on her. The sometimes strong winds from the North-Northwest managed to blow some of the flames onto Cassiopeia as well, burning off the paint in some areas of the boat.

The fact that Cassiopeia did not suffer any more serious damage can be attributed to the twenty people who were working together to save the boat by emptying all the fire extinguishers and by using an old hose to pump some water that was found nearby onto the fire. Cassiopeia did not have any water onboard as it all had to be drained the day before when she was being lifted out of the water and she fell back due to being too heavy for the operation. It was very close that Cassiopeia could have also been eaten up by the fire.

Following the Sunday scare, the renovation continued on Monday. The new steel sheet were installed along with the stabiliser wings onto the bottom of the hull and all the paint was sanded off to prepare for the new coat of paint. On the main deck the walls of the diningroom are bare, waiting to receive the new covering.

To be continued…

After a well-done job, everyone deserves some rest. For some, it may be a long bath or a massage to rejuvenate, while others will do with just a new make-up or with a little relaxation. After a long season, at the beginning of December, Cassiopiea was lifted out of the water and into the dry dock, into professional hands to beautify and to renew her in the coming weeks.

Every boat must be continually checked and repaired because the constant use and time leave their marks on them. Wooden boats are taken to the dry dock about every 9-12 months where following the lift out of the water and the sanding, the decayed and damaged wooden planks are replaced. However, for steel boats it is enough to do the dry dock work every 3 years. During the interim years the steel boats are maintained by repairs to the interior such as painting, sanding the teak and interior surface cleaning and repairs.

The hull bottoms of steel boats are protected from the algee deposits by special paint which is guaranteed for 1-3 years depending on the price. This special paint protected the bottom of Cassiopeia’s hull for 3 years which is now sandblasted all the way to the steel and the new coat of paint is applied.

Andromeda’s underwater stabiliser wings have worked very well and substantially reduced the rocking of the boat in the wind. As a result, Cassiopeia is also going to be equipped with similar wings.

The rubber caulking around the propeller rod has also served its purpose and their replacement is also part of the general technical check-up and maintenance.

Besides the maintenance of the electronics in the engine room and steel hull, the interiors are also going to be renewed in the dining room, the salon, the corridors and the cabins. Instead of the previous faux leather coverings we are going to use chenille coverings as we did on Andromeda.