Southern Red Sea on Grand Sea Serpent

I wrote a short article on my blog about a recent trip on the Grand Sea Serpent with Tony Backhurst.

The itinerary was Marsa-Alam to St. Johns and back:

Finally - fish and coral at St. Johns

for anyone who is interested..

the short form: diving is amazing, boat is great, but don't bring a big camera or make sure you are the only one with one :-)

The blog posts links to 2 photo albums (underwater and top-side)

Hi Fred,

As a regular user of these boats I have to agree and slightly disagree with you, they are superb value for money but if you are carrying camera gear then you may need to adapt a bit.

There is usually a table somewhere on most of the Tornado fleet - it may just need a word to one of the staff to get them to clear all of the accumulated 'stuff' from it.

The rinse tank on any of these boats is a danger pit best avoided anyhow, by the end of the week I have often wondered if a muck dive in the tank was a viable option - I am sure something moved in there..... For me most often a quick hose down with the shower on the rear deck is a better bet.

I have a trip in a few weeks with Alex Mustard on one of these boats and like last year there will be a full size DSLR with each guest ( often more than one ), think we are on one of the smaller boats (Whirlwind ?) with only 14 guests but it is quite workable.

Paul C

Hi Fred,

 

As a regular user of these boats I have to agree and slightly disagree with you, they are superb value for money but if you are carrying camera gear then you may need to adapt a bit.

Yes, that a good summary.

There is usually a table somewhere on most of the Tornado fleet - it may just need a word to one of the staff to get them to clear all of the accumulated 'stuff' from it.

I did find space for my gear - but had there been another guest with a DSLR it would have been a squeeze.

The rinse tank on any of these boats is a danger pit best avoided anyhow, ....

I didn't measure its dimensions, but I seem to remember the rinse tank on the Cyclone to be bigger than what I found on the Grand Sea Serpent. I asked for the water to be changed regularly and my gear didn't suffer.

I have a trip in a few weeks with Alex Mustard on one of these boats and like last year there will be a full size DSLR with each guest ( often more than one ), think we are on one of the smaller boats (Whirlwind ?) with only 14 guests but it is quite workable.

Paul C

Have fun!