Blue Pearl

MY Blue Pearl is a motor yacht built in November 2003, 36 metres long and 8 metres wide, refitted in 2013. She works the Red Sea year round and is based in Hurghada. The vessel belongs to the German operator Blue Planet Liveaboards, who run four hulls; Blue Pearl is the smallest of them and the only one that spends almost the whole schedule on northern routes out of Hurghada.

Twenty guests are accommodated in ten cabins. Eight twin cabins with separate beds sit on the lower deck, two cabins with a double bed and a sea view are up top. Every cabin has its own bathroom with a shower, individually controlled air conditioning and a TV. Twenty berths across ten cabins is fewer than most Egyptian forty-metre boats carry, and you feel it on the dive deck: nobody queues to get into the water.

Common areas are an air-conditioned saloon with panoramic windows, a buffet restaurant, a bar, two sun decks with mattresses and bean bags, and a separate al-fresco dining area. Two sets of stairs lead down from the stern to a large dive platform; the same deck holds a charging station for dive lights and camera batteries and a separate rinse tank for camera gear.

Diving is fully included: 3-4 dives a day, two on the last day, around twenty over the week. 12-litre tanks with DIN valves (INT adaptors on board) and weights are included, and NITROX 32 is free for certified divers — the boat carries an NRC membrane system. Everything else you bring yourself: there is no rental stock on board, only one complete spare set for the whole boat, and rental must be ordered at least a week before departure.

Blue Planet applies one experience threshold to every route, and it is higher than usual: at least 50 logged dives, the most recent no more than a year old. This is a contract condition, not a recommendation; the marine parks (Brothers, Daedalus, Rocky, Zabargad) are closed to less experienced divers altogether, night diving is banned there, and landing on Zabargad and Rocky is not permitted either. Egyptian law caps depth at 40 metres and forbids decompression dives.

About money. On top of the berth price you pay “local fees and diesel surcharge” on board — a single payment that with this operator covers park fees, port fees and fuel. The amount depends on the route and on the year: departures in 2026 cost EUR 230-260 per person, departures in 2027 cost EUR 300-390. Add EUR 40 for the visa, which a company representative arranges at the airport. The operator suggests budgeting tips at 10% of the trip price and states plainly that they are not compulsory. On board you can pay cash in euros, dollars, pounds sterling and Egyptian pounds, and also by Mastercard or Visa — a rarity in Egypt.

Catering starts with dinner on boarding day and ends with breakfast on disembarkation day: buffet three times a day, with water, tea, coffee, cola, Sprite and juices free all day long. Alcohol is charged for, beer and wine are sold on board, and you may not bring your own. Boarding is in the afternoon of the day before departure; the boat leaves port between 8 and 9 in the morning, with the exact time set by the coastguard.