Kirk Truscott- long time diver of the Red Sea talks about his trip on Mistral.

The Barge – Dive site

This will be a dive site that I will remember as being one of the best of this trip for me as a photographer. So much so I dived the site three times, two day dives on day one, one night dive followed by a morning dive the next day. The little life was simply stunning and in vast quantities. The thing I will remember the most from this site is my first sighting of a yellow mouth eel, the colours of this beautiful creature and the brightness of the yellow when it looked straight at me from its resting hole will stay with me for years to come.

The Crew and Dive Guides

Having dived 30 trips in the Red Sea (mainly daily diving), this boat with its crew have set a new bench mark for me. Starting with the crew: all were very helpful, worked well beyond the call of duty and you could see that they were proud of maintaining their hard working and guest caring reputations. The guys looking after our kits before, during and after the dive were amazing at the level of detail to ensure your kit was ready and then returned to your spot on the boat after each dive (very impressed with this).

The guys in the main saloon behind the bar were always ensuring our needs for refreshments were met. Dinner was well organised with finished plates being removed and dessert offered without asking. 5 star service, thank you.

The Guides – Firstly impressed with the use of technology for providing the dive briefs on the LCD using powerpoint was a nice touch. Something you don’t get on the day boats. The briefs from Reda provided all the information required for a safe dive and the level of detail was impressive. I like the touch of using actual photographs from the dive sites to give people an actual representation of what to expect from each dive. In the water, the guides knew the sites like the back of their hands and showed various things of interest to anyone who wanted to see it.

The food

I usually lose weight when I visit Sharm on dive trips. Needless to say I will need some extra gym time when I head home to lose the few pounds I have gained from the food on this trip. Cooking was lovely and complements to the chef.