M/v Orchid

[Andy Hipkiss]

Hi all,

Has anybody been on the Orchid?

For my sins I've booked us on this boat next month and any tips would be gratefully received.

It's doing the northern itinerary from Sharm FWIW ... I couldn't convince Mrs H that the Brothers and Elphinstone were worth the potential choppy conditions :(

[Mrs H]

Just so you don't all think I am a big girl's blouse I want to do the northern route first so that I can see how I get on with the seasickness. I've been sick on a couple of trips but once I've taken the tablets I am ok. I would rather try out a liveaboard close to the shore rather than be stuck out in the middle of nowhere feeling miserable :blink:

[molly]

Hi, we were on a week livaboard last year, nice big boat, crew fairly helpfull but then i'm compairing them with the coral Queen and haven't found better yet.
the diving was good, for the north, lots of drifts though, didn't have much choppy water exept when traveling for the thistlegorm, but even then not bad!
The living area was spacious, cabins the usual, there is a cabin behind the living area if u don't like the stairs, u can book it for a little extra, looked nice from what i could see.
Food was ok from what i remember, didn't remember anyone grumping anyway!
I'm sure u will have a great, if exhausting time - enjoy!
Mandy

[Bdynes]

Did the northern itinerary on Cyclone last October. I've not got the strongest sea legs but kept it all down. Only choppy bits were when we crossed open water to get to wrecks (got ripped off and ended up on a wreck week). Food was fine and plentiful, crew helpful and friendly.

The main problem we had was heat in the night - the air con was hopeless. The cabin was seriously hot and the aircon did bugger all, despite making a huge amount of noise. Result - we slept on deck along with several others. This had it's problems cos the dew fall was pretty heavy by about 4am and you got wet and cold believe it or not!!

Tip:-
Earplugs!
US$ - they wouldn't take egyptian on the boat (beer money)
Tracksuit trousers
SMB - we were told not to bother
Good Torch - something else we were told not to bother with
Get friendly with the guy that does the fills - they can get 245bar cold if you ask nicely, great if like me you're a bit more thirsty on air.

Have a top time :)

[Andy Hipkiss]

Cheers Bob much appreciated,

The aircon (or lack thereof) is a bit of a concern. In fact the whole liveaboard experience is a bit scary ... life is so simple when shore based!

Mind if I call you tomorrow to pick your brains please?

[Andy Hipkiss]

Quick follow up:

The MV Orchid was just superb. We did our research and managed to book the double cabin. We heard a few grumbles that the aircon was a bit flaky on occasion in the other rooms but our cabin was both cool and enormous (considering it's on a boat). However, nobody slept on deck so the aircon and noise levels were acceptable it would seem. The only time I had to use ear plugs was the first night whilst in harbour.

The food was faultless as were the whole crew apart from maybe the guy doing the airfills …...

Nitrox was available (and we used it 100% of the time) although we had to nag them to cold top-up the tanks. Ok, the normal dive was 45 mins which is more than covered with 190 bar in a 12 litre tank but I reckon you can never have enough air "just in case" as I proved to myself on one dive having dropped my reel. Thankfully I'm pretty light on air (ok, erm, light-ish, my SAC averaged about 12 l/min per dive although it once peaked at 43 .. dunno what I was doing but I hoped I enjoyed it ;) ) so going back down to 21 metres and slooowwwlllyy ascending wasn't a problem. With a bit of nagging 210 or even 243 one time was achieved. The air fills were the only criticism I would make of the whole experience.

Do book your rig in for a service immediately after the trip. Best will in the world, onboard compressors seem to suffer from slightly dirty air. We occasionally had a slight fuel smell to the air if the tanks were filled whilst the boat was stationary and wind had died.

As Bob recommended, I got myself a DSMB and reel and the dive guide (an OWSI) was kind enough to give me some training. Dunno why I never had a DSMB before ... excellent idea! When we occasionally got caught up with the day boats, just how glad was I that I had a big orange blob above me!

We had pretty reasonable torches before but one night dive managed to borrow a UK D8 lantern ... much better but I kinda think too large/heavy for travelling. Our strobes proved excellent as normal and I feel they are worth the slight irritation of having them wink away.

Thankfully the boat would take almost any currency (someone joked about having Turkish (lira??) and they said no problem) they even took cards!

Tiran proved glassy smooth and the drift diving wasn't too great as a consequence. Still excellent but not the "whoosh" feeling you get from a good strong current (flip slide of course was that it made it much easier to take photos).

So if you feel the urge for a high quality northern itinerary liveaboard, very seriously consider the Orchid. Huge thumbs up!



.... now for a southern route ;) ;) ;) (prolly on the new sister ship, the Snap Dragon).

[EnglishReefer]

Hope Andy doesnt mind :o but I noticed he's put some good piccys up of the dive, heres a link...


http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/orchid/index.htm

[Mrs H]

Oh FWIW, for those wondering how ugly I truly am ... http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/orchid/pages/hunter.htm ... I'm the one in red shorts grinning like a maniac ... erm , ok , so I am a maniac but I'm pretty normal apart from .. erm ... erm ... ok so I need therapy :D

(Mrs H is in http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/orchid/pages...hassanhelen.htm (http://www.andy-hipkiss.co.uk/orchid/pages/chrishassanhelen.htm) and is cleary showing she's madder than I :D )


Cheers AndyH

[Mrs H]

This is the real Mrs H. I just wanted it noted that I was sober at all times (well until after the night dive anyway). I think the temptation of cake with cream finally topped me over the edge and all self control was lost, well that's my excuse and I sticking to it.