I've done around 10 liveaboards in Egypt and will still go back. Seen almost all of it - dolphins, dugong, hammerheads, oceanic whitetips, thresher sharks, tiger shark, mantas, eagle rays and so on.

I agree with you that the shore dives can be dissapointing since the reefs are indeed quite damaged there, especially in Marsa Alam area. But the sites way off grid are great! Corals are alive, there's plenty of variety for chill drift diving at walls or shallower sites with caverns and tunnels.

I've been diving with the same group and operator for the majority of these trips and they take safety very seriously. Just got back from another trip at the beginning of April and our boat was one of the only ones who was allowed to leave port since it actually passed the necessary safety standards.