Liveaboard catering to junior OW limits?

[jbrotsky]

Hello all -

My 11 year daughter recently was OW certified, and we are wanting to plan a liveaboard trip for early 2017. That said, I'm concerned that her depth limits of 40 ft may pose a problem with many charters/dive sites, and I haven't been able to find many resources for liveaboard a that may offer trips catering to juniors/families.

Suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[KathyV]

There's been a lot of discussion about places to dive with juniors, the link below may be of interest. I have heard Aruba mentioned as a good spot for juniors because there is a lot of shallow diving (don't know myself I have never been there.) I never heard of a LOB for families and juniors.

Where to Dive with Jr. Divers

 

[KathyV]

...I never heard of a LOB for families and juniors...

I take that back, Family Dive Adventures offers family LOB charters to the Sea of Cortez, see link below, but I can't imagine that they keep it shallow enough for juniors.

http://familydivers.com/dive-deal/mexico/#sthash.7PwHQt9I.dpbs

 

[KeithG]

try directly contacting the liveaboard operations you may be interested in. ask them.

some routinely visit dives sites were the minimum depth will be too deep for many dives. i claim you should ignore T&C as the top of the wall on most sites on West Caicos and Northwest point start at around 40 to 50 feet.

Belize has more anchor spots in the 25 to 35 foot range.

The Explorer Saba is split: Saba is deep, the other islands are not so deep.

For a beginner, i would suggest Bonaire. just about every dive site is between 15 feet and as deep as you need to go.

 

[KathyV]

Divetech on Grand Cayman has been offering kids and family diving programs for years, see the link below.

http://www.divetech.com/#!kids/tcxki

CERTIFIED KIDS DVING:

For the younger kids that are certified and restricted to 40’ in depth, Divetech offers guided shore dives to explore the reefs with an Instructor. Kids can join in on the Kittiwake, Stingray City, and shallow reef boat trips too!

There are so many options for us to get the whole family in the water doing something, why not drop us a line with your ideas and we'll see what we can offer?

 

[diversteve]

Aggressor has family weeks - you'd have to think they're kept shallower since they allow 10 year olds to dive on those trips - but I really don't know for certain: Aggressor Fleet - The Ultimate in LiveAboards It does seem a little odd since the two this year were both deep wall dive locations?

. i claim you should ignore T&C as the top of the wall on most sites on West Caicos and Northwest point start at around 40 to 50 feet.

We dove T/C on the Explorer - many of the moorings are at 40' since they're placed between the islands and the wall drop-off but have to be a little farther out so when the boat swings it doesn't ground on the shallow reef. Otoh I did solo there quite a bit and I keep that above 40-50' generally (no pony) and still found some good stuff to film. But overall I agree with giffenk - wouldn't be my first choice with a depth restriction - saw a lot more healthy coral at 80' down the wall.

Really the best regional option is probably Cuan Law. The BVI's are pretty shallow - many of their dives literally start 10' deep and end before you get to 50' - there's no possible way to go deeper without a shovel - depths are listed for each site: CuanLaw Diving - Scuba Diving in the British Virgin Islands - This a small selection of the 100 plus sites we dive!

I haven't been on the boat but we did see it moored once while diving in the BVI's for a week - it's massive.

 

[Mia Toose]

try directly contacting the liveaboard operations you may be interested in. ask them.

some routinely visit dives sites were the minimum depth will be too deep for many dives. i claim you should ignore T&C as the top of the wall on most sites on West Caicos and Northwest point start at around 40 to 50 feet.

Belize has more anchor spots in the 25 to 35 foot range.

The Explorer Saba is split: Saba is deep, the other islands are not so deep.

For a beginner, i would suggest Bonaire. just about every dive site is between 15 feet and as deep as you need to go.

Agreed! The majority of dive sites we dive off of the Turks & Caicos Explorer are 50ft+

 

[jameseg]

I haven't done the Cayman Aggressor liveaboard, so I don't know their policies relative to younger divers, but that would be my top recommendation as far as suitability of the diving goes. Bloody Bay Wall, one of the top walls in the Caribbean , starts at about 20 or 25 feet, and we saw more at that depth (sharks, turtles, stingrays) than at any other site I can recall. Cayman Brac, where I did most of my diving that trip, has plenty of sites in the 40 foot range. I haven't dove Grand Cayman and understand that sometimes the boat stays there the whole week if weather is bad, so you'd want to check into that...but I believe many of those sites lend themselves to shallow dives too.

If you're not absolutely married to the idea of a liveaboard, I'd recommend Bonaire instead. There's no dive on the island where you need to go past 40 feet to feel like you're seeing everything. And you can easily get in just as many dives as on a liveaboard.

Agree with one of the other posters that suggested contacting the liveaboard operator before booking to ensure there's no issues with that age.

James

 

[DeputyDan]

I took my kids to Bonaire until they were older.
Their first liveaboard was in Belize.

 

[Damselfish]

For liveaboards I think you would do better looking into the family weeks offered occasionally by some boats, but like someone else I don't know what kind of depth limit they actually try for, or if it's more about otherwise catering to kids on the boat and grouping families on a trip. Maybe the Cuan Law as suggested, or possibly the Aquacat as IIRC there was a decent amount of shallower dives. Both boats are also large and tend to have more options of other things to do so might be good for a first LOB for a kid.

T&C isn't a good option if you need shallow. And I don't think a regular Cayman Aggressor trip would work well. While there is some shallow diving available in Cayman, the CA isn't necessarily going to do much of it (and hopefully isn't going to change to lesser sites for one junior diver on board.) And while it's true Bloody Bay Wall on Little Cayman is famous for starting at 20 feet, that is the sites towards the southwest end. Sites get deeper as you head east, and also better - a nice thing about the CA was that we got to do more of those sites further east than we ever did during many stays on Little Cayman. (Assuming you make it to Little Cayman, if by early in the year you mean winter, your odds are not as good.)

I'd look at land stays in places it's pretty easy to dive shallow - all the ABC islands are good for that. I've always heard good things about Divetech for kids, but no personal experience other than seeing them do things in the pool and they seemed to do a good job with the kids.