Safy Mar — a new Red Sea liveaboard built around serious diving

Safy Mar is for divers choosing the route first and the hotel second. Its itineraries reach Fury Shoals, St. John's, Rocky Island and Zabargad, the Northern Wrecks and Reefs, and the Golden Triangle, with technical diving, rebreather and sidemount support on board. That combination gives the trip a clear purpose: spend the week moving between Red Sea reefs, walls, wrecks and current-fed sites, then return to a boat arranged around the next dive rather than around shore excursions. Non-divers and snorkelers are welcome, and a naturalist guide gives the trip another way to read the reef. It suits a mixed group when some people are in the water and others are not, without turning the diving into an afterthought.

Safy Mar was built in 2025, so boarding begins with a boat whose character is still defined by its purpose rather than by years of wear. The design is diving-led: there is a dedicated shaded dive area, a platform for water entries, separate camera rinsing and space for technical equipment. Inside, the boat combines an air-conditioned salon with an outdoor terrace, observation deck and jacuzzi. The layout spreads 13 cabins across the decks, with private bathrooms and standard windows. It is a substantial liveaboard rather than an intimate yacht, carrying up to 34 passengers, but the dive areas are given the space that matters most once the first kit is assembled.

The crew speaks English, German and Polish, with local and international staff on board. A naturalist guide is part of the operation, which gives the trip a second focus beyond getting divers from one reef to the next. The boat is set up for a mixed group: snorkelers and non-divers are welcome, while divers have technical, rebreather and sidemount facilities to work with. Evenings can stay simple, with the air-conditioned salon, audio-video entertainment, the bar and the open decks available after the last dive. There is no passenger feedback to point to a particular crew style, so the clearest reason to choose Safy Mar is the combination of its diving infrastructure, broad language coverage and naturalist element.

The recorded departures all run for 8 days and 7 nights. Routes include Northern Wrecks and Reefs between Port Ghalib and Hurghada, Northern Wrecks and Tiran from Hurghada, Fury Shoals from Port Ghalib, the Golden Triangle between Hurghada and Port Ghalib, St. John's from Port Ghalib, and Rocky Island and Zabargad from Port Ghalib. The sites cover very different Red Sea dives. Rocky Island brings strong current, oceanic sharks, barracudas and manta rays. Fury Shoals is a vast hard-coral complex cut by canyons. Zabargad combines strong currents, remote reefs, pelagic life and nesting turtles. Shaab Ruhr Umm Gamar moves from an oval fish-filled reef to a plateau with pinnacles and at least three wrecks, reaching -40m. El Fanadir has a wall, a shallow coral pinnacle and a cleaning station, also to -40m. Shaab Sabina is a labyrinthine coral garden to -14m. Shaab El Erg is known for reef life and spinner dolphins. The Strait of Tiran reaches -40m across four offshore reefs; Tiran offers shallow gardens and deep canyons. St. John's adds coral gardens and caverns. El Fanous West reaches -15m, El Fanous East -18m, Marsa Egla -30m with seagrass for dugongs and green turtles, and Ulysses is a merchant wreck to -27m.

Fury Shoals →

Rocky Island →

Shaab Ruhr Umm Gamar →

Max. depth · 40 m

El Fanadir →

Max. depth · 40 m

Shaab Sabina →

Max. depth · 14 m

Coral Garden →

Max. depth · 20 m

Shaab El Erg →

Strait of Tiran →

Max. depth · 40 m

El Fanous →

Max. depth · 27 m

Marsa Egla →

Max. depth · 30 m

Ulysses →

Max. depth · 27 m

Turtles are the recurring sight across this route, recorded at nine sites, with dolphins at six. Barracudas, manta rays, reef sharks and hammerheads each appear at four sites, while soft coral and parrotfish give many reefs their colour and movement. Currents are part of the attraction: Rocky Island, Zabargad and the Strait of Tiran can bring pelagic life past the reef, including tuna, jacks and sharks. El Fanadir's cleaning station gives morays, groupers and other reef fish a reason to gather around the shallow pinnacle. Marsa Egla's seagrass beds are the place to look for dugongs and green turtles. Some encounters are tied to one site: a giant grouper at Shaab Ruhr Umm Gamar, a tiger shark in the Strait of Tiran, a frogfish and stonefish at El Fanadir, a glassfish school at Shaab El Erg, and a reef shark at Zabargad Island. Hammerheads are noted at Tiran in summer, but no sighting is guaranteed.

Manta Ray →

Mobula birostris

Spinner Dolphin →

Stenella longirostris

Dugong →

Dugong dugon

Tiger Shark →

Galeocerdo cuvier

Safy Mar has a naturalist guide, and the crew speaks English, German and Polish. The boat carries oxygen, first-aid kits, fire alarms and extinguishers, life rafts, lifejackets, a VHF/DSC/SSB radio, GPS, sonar, radar, emergency beacons and mobile and satellite phones. Those are the pieces of the safety system that are identified for the vessel. Nitrox certification and scuba-diving certifications are available as optional activities, but guide-to-diver ratios, instructor qualifications, logged-dive requirements, recall procedures and the organisation of dive groups are not stated. Divers with a technical, rebreather or sidemount configuration should confirm the briefing and supervision arrangements before departure.

The dive deck is shaded and built for more than standard recreational diving. Safy Mar provides DIN adapters, nitrox, technical diving and rebreather support, as well as single-cylinder sidemount diving. Nitrox is an extra, and rental equipment is available separately. Divers work from a proper platform, with tenders supporting the operation, rinse tanks for general equipment and a separate rinse area for cameras. Charging stations and a dedicated camera space keep photo equipment away from the main kit flow. Hot-water showers are available on board, alongside beach and deck towels. Tank volume and construction, compressor details, SMB provision and tender numbers are not stated, so those are worth checking directly if they affect a technical setup.

Between dives, Safy Mar gives passengers several ways to get out of their wetsuit and out of the sun. The shaded dive area is the practical centre of the day, while the terrace, observation deck, air-conditioned salon and jacuzzi offer different temperatures and levels of noise. Photographers have a dedicated photo space, camera rinsing and charging stations, and there is an indoor audio-video lounge for quieter hours. A massage service is available as an extra. The boat also welcomes snorkelers and non-divers, with naturalist guiding and snorkeling guidance included, so surface time does not have to mean waiting for the divers to return.

The day is organised around diving rather than a fixed sightseeing schedule. Divers move from a briefing to the first water entry, return for food, rest and snacks, then prepare for the next site as the boat either holds position or moves along the route. Full-board meals punctuate the intervals, while the shaded dive area keeps wet equipment and surface recovery close together. When there is no dive, the terrace, observation deck, salon and jacuzzi provide places to sit without crowding the working deck. Night dives are included, so the day can finish with a completely different reef: darkness, torches and the small creatures that stay hidden in daylight. The exact departure times and number of daytime dives depend on the itinerary and conditions.

Meals are included as full board, with buffet service, à la carte dinners and a mix of local and Western cooking. Vegetarian and vegan options are available, while snacks are served throughout the day to bridge the gaps between dives. Non-alcoholic drinks, drinking water, tea and coffee are included; beer, wine and cocktails are separate choices. The galley can therefore support different appetites within one group without making every meal a formal event. On a diving itinerary, that matters: food has to appear reliably between water entries, and snacks have to be within reach when a proper meal can wait. The table becomes the place where the dive is reviewed, not another appointment competing with it.

The cabins are Deluxe category, with air conditioning, private bathrooms, standard windows and sea views. Their position varies across the boat's decks, so the experience of a cabin depends partly on where it sits rather than on one identical arrangement throughout. Nights are therefore built around practical comfort: a private bathroom, hot water and a place to shut out the day between dives. The boat also provides daily housekeeping, cabin towels and a safe in the cabin. The real luxury here is not a list of furnishings; it is returning from the last dive to a cooled room, a shower and a bed already made for the next early start.

Departures and returns use Port Ghalib and Hurghada, depending on the itinerary. Airport and hotel transfers are available as optional arrangements, from the airport or hotel to the boat and back. The transfer details are provided with the booking arrangements. Arriving the night before is sensible, especially when the cruise starts from a different port than the return.