Tony Backhurst - Bella, Wrecks & Reefs in May

[SonicStomp]

Hi Guys,

I am booked to go on the Tony Backhurst Wrecks & Reefs tour onboard Bella in May - this will be my first trip to the Red Sea and first Liveaboard experience.

If anyone has been onboard Bella or has any general advice for me prior to my trip that would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
SonicStomp

[lottie]

I did wrecks and reefs on Bella last September.

Bella is a lovely boat - very spacious and luxurious.

Food was excellent with a good variety and plenty of snacks. They will cater for any special requests too (one guy on our boat wanted chips 3 meals a day and they obliged without any comment!).

Reefs and wrecks - good itinerary, only downside is that quite a few of the dive sites are accessible by day boat so were busier than you'd expect from a liveaboard - you do get the first dive of the day to yourselves though, and the night dive on Thistlegorm is ace.

One thing - I had heard that TB had stopped using Bella this year - might be worth checking that you're not being put onto a different boat.

Have fun, it's a great trip.

Charlotte

[SonicStomp]

Charlotte,

Thanks for the post - really looking forward to it...

Definitely Bella when I spoke to Alison at TB last week but I guess it could change...

How well stocked is the boat in terms of spares, equipment etc? Planning on taking all my own kit (excluding weights & tank) but just curious.

[lottie]

They have a small amount of spare equipment - some people hired stuff which is brought to the boat on the first night, but they managed to sort out a few kit problems during the week and produced a spare set of regs when one of the hire sets broke. All the guests got on really well and were willing to help each other out with spare straps, clips etc as needed - certainly no diving was lost due to kit problems. You wont be back in port all week though so take everything you think you might need - they only have beer on board in terms of alcohol so if you want anything else remember to stock up at the duty free in Sharm airport!

[SonicStomp]

thanks for the info - beer is more than capable of getting me into enough trouble! :-)

[blondie]

Originally Posted by SonicStomp

Charlotte,

Thanks for the post - really looking forward to it...

Definitely Bella when I spoke to Alison at TB last week but I guess it could change...

How well stocked is the boat in terms of spares, equipment etc? Planning on taking all my own kit (excluding weights & tank) but just curious.

Bella is rented not owned by the tornado fleet so i was told but this should have nothing to do with your TB holiday.

Just back from a week on Typhoon and they had lots of rentable kit - it should be sorted on arrival as they get things brought over as previously mentionned. I think they had some rentable equipment on board during the week - mainly torches and bits and bobs from what i saw.

Bella, Typhoon and Whirlwind all seemed to follow each other last week so I'm sure they'd all help if things needed too.

[SonicStomp]

Thanks Blondie - hopefully I will remember to take all I need, but nice to know they have some spares!

I am wondering whether to take my 3mm shortie as well as my 5mm one-piece - water temp will be around 26deg I think in mid-May.

[blondie]

Originally Posted by SonicStomp

Thanks Blondie - hopefully I will remember to take all I need, but nice to know they have some spares!

I am wondering whether to take my 3mm shortie as well as my 5mm one-piece - water temp will be around 26deg I think in mid-May.

We had 21-23 degrees last week and most were in 5mm longs all week. A couple got cold but with a 5/3 and a hood i was fine. Only ever dived over there in 3mms before so .... depends on how cold you get really eh

Have a good un

[SonicStomp]

Yeah - extremely subjective area of course.

I think I will take my 3mm shortie as well as my 5mm one-piece, my hood and 3mm gloves - then I am covered (as it were )

From what I hear they are not too keen on divers using gloves - any truth to that?

[scubasuze]

if you need to rent kit, mail to TB first so the reps can put it on the manifest otherwise sizes may not be available. you'll need an SMB aswell but they usually have that on the boat so no prob if you don;t have one
happy holidays