Me and my girlfriend had the best time on Andromeda. The boat is huge, cabins are the biggest I have ever seen on any liveaboard. Food was great, what surprised me the most was very healthy style of cooking from the chef. There were always at least 6 or 7 vegetable dishes or various salads. Diving was great, we had great intinerary for our north tour. I loved that we did 4 dives on Thistlegorm, including a nigh dive and very early morning dive, when our group was the only one in the water at that time! I will sure return to Andromda very soon.

Gregor Butala
PADI MSDT #938480

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.

Location: Egypt / St. John’s
Description: Reef / Coral Garden
Depths: 60+ metres

Small Gota is a small circular shaped reef. Deep walls drop away vertically on all sides into the abyss and the upper reef is absolutely covered in colourful soft coral. Long pink and red whip corals stretch out into the blue and there are some magnificent gorgonian fan corals between 20 and 30m. The upper 20 metres of this reef is teeming with small marine life of all descriptions and tuna and trevallie cruise past, looking for any opportunity of a meal.

Large shoals of blue lunar fusiliers venture cautiously away from the reef only to dart back in tight formation at the first sign of danger. A whole family of humphead napoleon wrasse swim majestically around the reef perimeter. Current normally runs from north to south so if your dive boat is equipped with a zodiac or RIB the best option by far is to get dropped at the northern most tip of the reef and then spend up to an hour cruising with any current or gently swimming back to your boat mooring on the south side.

Finishing the dive in the top few meters of water, there are small fissures in the reef which are well worth exploring during your safety stops.

A long chain of reefs, about 6 km long, with a diversity of bays, wonderful canyons and labyrinth of underwater reefs. Marvelous big and undamaged corals with fantastic colors.

Heading further south to the Sudanese border is an unexplored region which has a few surprises in store for divers. This is the true deep south and this is virgin territory. The charts are fairly inaccurate and many non-marked reefs suddenly appear out of nowhere, making navigation particularly hazardous.

The first immediately noticeable fish are the huge humphead parrotfish.

Among the hard corals are a profusion of brightly coloured chromis and damselfish. Every now and then a huge expanse of hard coral is broken by clumps of red-footed anemones and the attendant clownfish. In deeper water there is the usual Red Sea life, with nothing particularly different. A noticeable exception, however, is the sea bed, where cone shells appear to be thriving.

The main dive sites are about a day’s steam away from St John’s Reef with the season virtually all year round, but the challenge lies in persuading a like-minded group to join you on a trip with so few certainties.

The presence of sharks in this region is unique with encounters of some species not usually seen in the Red Sea such as the Mako. It shows that this unexplored region still has a few surprises in store for divers.

We have enjoyed Sudan’s hospitality once again in the beginning of this year for 16 weeks. It seems as if Andromeda had just left for Sudan and this past weekend she has already sailed back to Egypt to continue her work there after a quick and well deserved maintenance job.

Sudan has proven to be once more one of the unsurpassed gems of the Red Sea for divers with its unique underwater sites, friendly atmosphere and superb climate.

During her 16 weeks in Sudan, Andromeda has sailed to the Northern dive sites 14 times and has spent 4 weeks at the Southern sites. She spent a week in the Port Sudan harbour due to the situation of the Iceland volcano eruption when a German group had had to cancel their tour because of airspace closings.

All in all, 346 divers have toured with us this season from 17 countries including the US, the UK, Slovakia, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Holland, Spain, Finland, Portugal, France, Sweden, Russia and
Slovenia.

The most visited site was Shaab Rumi which Andromeda had visited 17 times. Thanks to the frequent presence of grey and hammerhead sharks, Shaab Rumi has provided the most exciting underwater adventure for the divers and at special requests, the boat has returned to the site seveal times during a tour.

This is the only place in the world where these amazing animals can be found in such great schools. At times hammerhead curtains have swum by us, counting up to 2-300 sharks.

All the outstanding underwater sites divers were able to see and their satisfaction with their holidays have helped to make these past 4 months in Sudan a great success. We extend our special thanks to our partners, tour operators and all those divers who have chosen us for their Sudan diving holiday this season.

Thank you for your support, the countless photos, Web links and appreciation we have received in the past weeks and months!

Next we are continuing our shark adventures in February, 2011 and we look forward to welcoming all diving instructors, diving schools, diving tour operators and individual divers who have not had the chance to join us this year or would like to make a repeat tour next year again.

Book your 2011 Sudan tours by 31.12.2010 and take advantage of our 2010 rates for 2011 as well! Contact your tour operator, tour organiser or send us an e-mail!

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.

Brothers / Daedalus / Elphinstone diving safari

One of the most popular liveaboard diving itineraries in the Red Sea is again part of our diving program in June. Places are available right now to book onboard M/Y Cassiopeia! Amazingly beautiful wrecks, sharks, mantas, turtles and dolphins have made these diving spots deservingly popular.

Date: June 16 – 23. 2010
Route: Brothers / Daedalus / Elphinstone

Boat: Cassiopeia – Safety and luxury in one place

The spacious lounge area is air-conditioned and well equipped with an LCD TV / VCR, DVD and CD player and furnished according to European style. Arabian cafe The spacious room follows the original Oriental coffee shop design with shisha (waterpipe) smoking possibility, coffee, tea and original Arabic music.

The comfortable 100-square-metre sun deck provides plenty of space for sun seekers, as well as shaded area. Comfortable deck chairs and cushioned seats make time more pleasant. There is a smaller sun deck in front of the captain’s bridge. In front of the salon is a comfortable open but covered area for resting and chatting between dives and in the evening.

The large dive deck and dive platform area ensures more-than-adequate space for divers preparing for their next plunge into the Red Sea. 2 hand-held showers on the platform allow for a rinse after diving or snorkeling. A bathroom with shower and marine head leads directly off the dive deck. Equipment Rental of diving equipment can be arranged but should be booked well in advance. We do not keep rental gear on board. Tanks: 20x 12lt and 10x15lt aluminum tanks, K valves, DIN and INT with international adaptors. Weights are provided at no charge on the boat. Zodiacs: 2, each equipped with a 40HP engine.

Diver search and locate system is available onboard!

Now offering at an unbeatable price!

We hope to see you there! For any further details or with your booking requests, please contact us. Thank you very much.

That it is for know… join your dives!

Until next time happy bubbles és safe travels! All the best,

A week at sea, gently rocking with the boat, sailing among small islands. Skyblue sea as far as the eye can see, sunrays caress your skin, you read a book, listen to your iPod, lay back comfortably in your sunchair and relax until your next dive. Your thoughts are still around the fish from your previous dive but you already look forward to the next one. A week of worryfree holiday when your shisha is prepared for you by the crew every evening after the delicious dinner and while you take puffs from the apple flavoured tobacco, your only thought is you wish this week would never end!

Your filled-up tank always waits for you in its usual place, tasty food is prepared and ready for you. At night you contemplate whether to sleep under the starry night or spend the quiet night in your cabin. You are bound to relax here – it’s all about that in the middle of the sea. Yet there will be so many adventures and great experiences to remember about this week that you will talk about for a long time to come.

Which itineraries should you try? All of them! If you love wrecks, then choose our North safaris which you can combine with a Tiran itinerary. If you long for calmer seas and less crowded dive sites, then you should try our Safaga area safaris. At Borthers, Daedalus and Elphinstone you will enjoy a real shark adventure! And on a St. Johns safari – well, anything could happen. J But if you wish to experience something new, then your choice must be Elba.

The possibilities are endless! If you are out of ideas, call us and we will help!