What makes a dive boat trip luxurious?

[Guba]

I guess I can say I've never dived from a true luxury boat, but I can't say I feel all that deprived. IF my wife were a diver (she is not), I would be concerned about the amenities. However, since she's not there I'm perfectly satisfied with bunk berths, simple food, shared heads (bathrooms), and spartan arrangements. As long the boat is manned with a competent, friendly, and well-trained crew that knows how to provide a safe diving platform and how to give helpful dive briefings, I'm good. I've dived from enough crewboats and research vessels to know it's what is UNDER the surface that attracts me.

 

[pacificgal]

NWGratefulDiver, is there such a thing? I would go for it all except the wetsuit part, would prefer if all this was in 83 deg water...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

NWGratefulDiver, is there such a thing? I would go for it all except the wetsuit part, would prefer if all this was in 83 deg water...

Yes ... I spent a week on the boat I linked to in Komodo last year. It was all that ... and the water was 81 to 84 degrees, depending on depth and dive site ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[pacificgal]

Oh, sweet! Got to go back and check out that link.

 

[highdesert]

Plenty of warm water, both the aft deck shower and the stateroom shower.

 

[pacificgal]

Maybe that's what I'll do with my 10 year trip from work. I could do it on $8,000?

 

[boulderjohn]

I have been on several liveaboards that meet Bob's description, and, yes, one of them in Thailand put my fins on for me. It was probably the same one.

There was a good reason for it.

How and when you put on your fins depends a lot upon the structure of the boat you are on. In some cases, you put your fins on at your seat, put on the rest of your gear, and then shuffle toward the dive deck. In other cases, you carry your fins to a place near the dive deck where you can sit down and put on your fins.

In the case of this boat, you could not safely shuffle, and there was no place to sit to put fins on near the dive deck. You had to step down to the deck with very little room to maneuver on the deck. A DM on the deck took your fins, jammed them on you, and you got off the boat. It took seconds. If we had tried to put our own fins on in that situation, it would have taken forever, and I assure you people would routinely fall in while trying to put on the fins while standing up fully geared in a cramped space on a rocking boat.

Having the crew put them on for you was simply the most efficient and safest way to get people in the water.

 

[Atom]

John, why not put them on in the water?

 

[HatchetJoe]

• Enough room that I can move around and don't have to spend a 2 hour boat ride sitting in front of my gear.
• A good ladder that extends into the water far enough that I don't need to climb it to hit the first rung

I don't really like people trying to take my fins on the way up or dress me on the way out.

Terry

What this guy says is enough for me, I'm easy

 

[boulderjohn]

John, why not put them on in the water?

I suppose we could do that if we did not want to risk having someone drop a fin while giant striding in while carrying them. That only has to happen once on a trip to screw that person's trip. From the point of view of the people running the boat, it really was the best way to do it. I am perfectly capable of putting on my own fins, but I thought the system worked well.