Picking a Caribbean Live-Aboard

[Asteve]

Blackbeard's Cruises has a third boat that I have not seen mention yet, The "Cat Ppalu" it takes 12 guest and 4 crews. 6 staterooms and a sink in each cabin. Diving you suit up and it is one step from your seat to the back of the boat and the water. We enjoyed the trip so much we went a second time few years later..

 

[drrich2]

From what I understand the Cat Ppalu is somewhere between Blackbeards & the AquaCat, leaning toward the latter, with the boat typically booked by a group (e.g.: a dive shop), which then fills the slots, some of which may be open to 'outsiders.' If I got that wrong, someone please chime in. I know a local dive shop that booked the boat & advertised it to my wife & I a few years back.

The Juliet offers cruises to the Bahamas and some other destinations; with a price higher than Blackbeards & cheaper than the AquaCat, and I believe it's spoken well of on the forum. They hit different places at different times (e.g.: some Turks & Caicos). PPatin already mentioned Juliet and Lost Island Voyages in an earlier post.

Turns out you can hit the Florida Keys by live-aboard if so inclined. Juliet hit the Keys some. Blue Iguana Charters does Florida Keys trips, plus trips to Tiger Beach (Bahamas) and 'Hammerhead City.' Diving with Rainbow Reef Dive Center Sept. 2013 I found I could do 4 dives/day via day boat out of Key Largo, so I'm not sure a live-aboard would be as attractive to me for Keys diving as some destinations, and in the context of this thread, I don't think Tiger Beach is a beginner's destination (I'd like to hit it someday, but I don't feel ready yet).

Perhaps it'd be useful for the thread's purpose to also round on continental U.S. offerings a bit?

The M/V Spree does live-aboard trips to the Dry Tortugas, a group of islands not all that far from the southern Florida Keys. Is also does some Keys and Bahamas trips; I'm not up on the Spree, other than to know it & its captain enjoy a good reputation on the forum.

2 Other locations come to mind with U.S. live-aboards.

1.) Fling Charters operates the M/V Fling out of Freeport, TX, not far from Houston, offering 2 & 3 day trips out to the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary. From what I understand, this is a long haul out into the Gulf of Mexico, the waters aren't as reliably calm as parts of the Caribbean, I doubt there's an island to 'hide behind' when the waves get big, and the diving tends to be deep. Living in southwestern KY, I need to take a plane to reach a live-aboard, and for me, a 7 day is desirable, but for some this might be the ticket. Conditions may be harsher than Caribbean. You're not stuck on it as long, though. Undercurrent has a free access review of it.

2.) California - such as to the Channel Islands. Rather cold water (7 mm wetsuit or dry suit, hood & gloves), lower viz., kelp may offer a bit of added complexity to the newcomer, some may be bothered knowing great white sharks inhabit the region, the boat may expect you to rent tanks rather than bundle them in the package deal (from what I've been researching online), and I tend to see 2 or 3 day trips, not 7 day. Seems a regional norm that they don't put a 'free' guide in the water to lead a tour of the site. Not my idea of a 1st live-aboard, unless one is otherwise seasoned and accustomed to the conditions. Truth Aquatics seems well-regarded. The California Diver Magazine site has a review of it. They've also got an article called A Florida Diver in California: Diving the West End of the I-10, one of the articles I read trying to get a sense of what a 'warm water wuss' like me might run into diving there someday.

Richard.

P.S.: Some of what I delved into wasn't U.S., or warm water, or great viz., etc… I brought it up on the grounds this thread may serve as a resource to some researching potential live-aboard trips. And the option to 'just try it 2 or 3 days instead of a week' without even leaving the U.S. might tempt some to consider the Fling or one of the Truth boats. Which is fine, but be warned these locations are not in the Caribbean and their conditions may be more 'challenging' than, oh, say, diving out of Belize aboard the Sun Dancer 2.

 

[diversteve]

En-suite is generally going to rule out most of the 60' ish sail boats as they won't be. Like Cat Ppalu which has 2 heads/showers for the whole boat - not together but not en-suite.

T/C Explorer has one of the bigger baths - and cabins that I've been on. Sink with a shelf that extended over the toilet and a shower tucked along the outside. I'm tall - 6'4" and had no issues except that the top of the door bar was about 6" or less. Had to crouch a little for the shower head also.

The rooms with the queen beds have a closet, multi-drawer dresser and desk. One half of the bed is right up against the cabin wall/closet though. Our room with two twins had a nightstand between them and a corner desk against the foot of the bed. If money isn't a factor, I understand the 2 premier cabins upstairs are a lot bigger.

One factor to also look at in terms of pleasing your wife is cabin positioning. If we compare the two T/C boats for example, the Aggressor is entirely below main deck en-suite cabins with bunks. Explorer has 3-4 cabins below deck, the majority of them on the main deck and the two premium cabins are one deck up at the front of the sundeck. You can learn a lot by looking at the ship plans/photo galleries. Some of the Aggressors have a little more separation between the lounge and the dining room - on the Explorer it was cabins-kitchen-dining room-lounge-dive deck back to back. Made it a little louder in those cabins if people were loud at night.

You take your wife on the Fling, Spree or Blackbeards and that will be your last trip. They're not en-suite and the former two are converted crew boats with bunks and curtains in common rooms. As you've probably seen, Blackbeards is called camping at sea. Not only is it not en-suite but fresh water showers are limited to something like 90 seconds. You can have all the salt water you want...

The most spacious liveaboard in the Caribbean is Cuan Law in the BVI's. It's massive - 2 separate flights of stairs down from the main level to board the tenders to take you diving.

Each stateroom adjoins the Main Salon which measures over 30 feet by 22. This is the social hub of the ship with luxurious real leather easy chairs and sofas, tables and a large bar. Around the mast are coolers for beer, wine and juices. The salon has two wide openings onto the cockpit deck where meals are served.

One of the better boats for non-dive activity, they have all the water toys and since many of the moorings in the BVI's are near an island, offer multiple off-boat excursions. They even carry two 14' Hobie Cats on board. And you can ski - although I think that's behind one of the zodiacs.

Aquacat has/does some of that also.

Rocio Del Mar's Sea of Cortez trips are sort of "US based" with a passport also. You fly into Phoenix and a shuttle takes you both ways to the boat in Puerto Penasco/Rocky Point - about a 4-5 hr. ride.

 

[drrich2]

Time to update the thread hoping the additions will be of some use to others.

I had a great time onboard the Sun Dancer 2 out of Belize; I got 26 dives in (all they offered), 24 in the Lighthouse Atoll region & 2 at the southern end of the Turneffe Atoll region. A happy memory. My trip report from 1st week of May 2015.

I recently realized from another thread that while the AquaCat is around 2 1/2 times the cost of Blackbeards (for which one might tolerate bunk beds in a common room, lack of en suite bathrooms & unlimited fresh water), there's another factor that's not always shared. Number of dives. Aquacat's website FAQ includes a page with this to say:

How many dives per day?
Divers will have the opportunity to do up to 5 dives a day Sunday through Thursday, including night dives, as long as weather is not a factor. Two dives will be offered on Friday.

That's 27 dives. On the Sun Dancer 2, we did 26 because when they do the Blue Hole dive (which we did), only do 1 morning dive instead of 2. So it's comparable.

But check out this page at Blackbeard's:

Up to 19 Dives Per Week

Cat Ppalu has a page showing this:

How many dives per day?
Depending on arrival time, you will normally dive once on Saturday and 4 dives per day Sunday through Wednesday, including night dives and 3 dives on Thursday as long as weather is not a factor.

If I add correctly that's 20 dives on the Cat Ppalu.

But I also found this:

Certified divers can enjoy 3-4 dives per day.

There are different measuring sticks/metrics for determining dive trip value. One is to divide total trip cost (e.g.: airfare, car rental if any, food, lodging, diving, tips) by # of dives (not a bad metric if you're all about the diving, which the live-aboards are apt to draw). So be aware! That said, still looks like Blackbeard's is as cheap as you're likely to get for room, board, 19 dives & no car rental needed.

I searched around on Juliet's site for awhile & could not pin down how many dives you get on a Bahamas cruise. The boat has 4, 7 & 10 day Bahamas trips and hits a range of other places. Nice to know there's a 4 day option for people who want to try a live-aboard more conservatively. This page says:

We offer four dives per day – three during the day and one night dive...

And it's noted for Bahama's trips:

• 7-day trips depart on Saturday afternoon with boarding at noon. Juliet returns to Miami on Friday morning

If the diving doesn't start till Sunday (I'm assuming), that's 20 dives.

Now, Lost Island Voyages. Per their FAQ:

[FONT=treasure_map_deadhandregular]How many dives do we make per day?[/FONT]
Including night dives, you can usually average 3 or 4, depending on the weather.

If I understand right from their website, most of their trips are 7 day, leaving Saturday & back Friday morning, so I'm guessing Sunday - Thursday diving, so if the weather's fine you'd max at 20 dives?

Looks to me like you have to contact Lost Island Voyages to get a trip price. For the Juliet, a standard cabin 7 day trip fee is $1,690, but then there's the port fee & ground transfers not included.

Of course, nailing down comparative pricing between varied live-aboards can be tough. Is there a fuel surcharge? What's the port fee? How much is nitrox for a week? Etc...

But since the Bahamas seems to offer some 'budget' trip options, I thought maybe throwing in # of dives for that region would be useful.

Richard.

---------- Post added June 12th, 2015 at 10:04 PM ----------

P.S.: From what I understand, you don't have a nitrox option on Blackbeard's. You can get it on Juliet & AquaCat. I didn't think Cat Ppalu had it but someone put 'yes' on an Undercurrent report (& someone else put N/A) & I can't find nitrox offered on the website, but this boat is generally chartered rather than offering open-seating. I don't see anything about nitrox mentioned on Lost Island Voyages website. Depending on dive time, frequency, individual preference & SAC rate, nitrox may or may not matter on your trip. For 5 dives/day, I wanted it!

 

[KeithG]

I am more focused on the length of dives as opposed to how many. In bonaire our single morning shore dive is longer than the 2 combined boat dives. Bottom time is the bottom line!

How long are the dives on the other boats? And are guides mandatory?

I know the answers for the belize dancer:
- They say there is no limit, but they want you back on board in 70 minutes since they have a schedule to keep. The blue hole is the exception. It is a very short 28 minutes, although the first person to splash bobs on the surface for an extra 10 - 15 minutes while the rest of the boat gets geared up and into the water.
- DM is in the water every dive. No need to follow the DM.

 

[drrich2]

I can only speak for my week aboard in May. When I did the Sun Dancer 2, we weren't pressured on times. I usually stuck with the guide, who generally got back to the boat at about the 45 minute point to provide the 'fintastic service,' but I could then mill around the bottom, sit on the hang bar or whatever. I wasn't the 1st in generally. We'd start the day moored at a site, do 2 dives there, then lunch while the boat moved to the afternoon site, then we'd do 2 afternoon dives, and later a night dive, all at the same site.

So unless you were going the last dive before a move, I don't see that you'd need to finish your dive early. And a number of people dove longer than I did.

The Blue Hole dive we did was fairly brief, but we did use EAN 24%, and once out of the hole, we were free to mess around in the shallows. It's not lush reef so I got done messing around before long, but nobody rushed us back on the boat.

Richard.

 

[KeithG]

I can only speak for my week aboard in May. When I did the Sun Dancer 2, we weren't pressured on times. I usually stuck with the guide, who generally got back to the boat at about the 45 minute point to provide the 'fintastic service,' but I could then mill around the bottom, sit on the hang bar or whatever. I wasn't the 1st in generally. We'd start the day moored at a site, do 2 dives there, then lunch while the boat moved to the afternoon site, then we'd do 2 afternoon dives, and later a night dive, all at the same site.

So unless you were going the last dive before a move, I don't see that you'd need to finish your dive early. And a number of people dove longer than I did.

The Blue Hole dive we did was fairly brief, but we did use EAN 24%, and once out of the hole, we were free to mess around in the shallows. It's not lush reef so I got done messing around before long, but nobody rushed us back on the boat.

Richard.

Pressurized on time? Well not if you did a measly 45 minute dive! Really not worth suiting up for such a short dive...

I commend this boat on their intense safety focus combined with a very laid back attitude and focus on having fun. This makes it a special destination. We have been multiple multiple times. i think everyone should go again!

But you are totally correct. The dive guide (DM) plans to hit the boat at 45 minutes - that is part of the dive briefing. Worst case, they will always be back to the boat in 45 minutes. They often pass beneath it much sooner if air hogs are onboard. Last trip they had a few 30 minute divers... Lookup grasshopper: that shadow is the boat...

We are the people not following the DM and diving much longer than most. FILO: first in, last out. Lazy bastards we are. We do not do every dive. But often the most bottom time. We plan for 75 minute dives. And yes, we have often heard the motors firing up as we approach the ladder. But that is okay, as we are informed about it before we splash.

The boat is well aware of our dive plan before we hit the water. They also make us aware of the boat plan before we splash.

On our last trip, the DM asked us to cut our thursday night dive VERY short (50 minutes!) since the weather was supposed to get bad. It did. We hit the ladder at 50 minutes. Big waves. The dingy of shame was being cranked aboard as we surfaced and we were steaming back to Belize City before I had my deck shower.

Fintastic: Boat Ladders | www.kengiffen.com is great!

 

[drrich2]

Good to know. I just checked my online log; of 26 dives, looks like I had 4 over 70 minutes - 70, 71, 75 & 77 minutes. I aim for an average hour/dive, and if I've cut an earlier dive short, I stay down longer on later dives to make up those minutes. A petty vanity, but rewarding for some reason. I used to be a bad airhog (I used a 100 cf tank this trip, but usually came up with plenty of gas), so staying down an hour remains rewarding.

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

I also consider the cost per dive for a vacation, especially a liveaboard. They may seem very expensive at first glance but when you figure out how many dives you get per total trip cost as compared to most land-based trips, it often turns out that the liveaboard is a bargain. And you often get to dive the more remote, pristine locations that are not available from land-based trips - and that adds value in my opinion.

The diving is very easy from a liveaboard but other things may not be that easy, especially if you don't have an ensuite bathroom or you are sick or stuck on a boat during bad weather.

But in comparing liveaboard options, the total number of available dives isn't the only thing to consider. Some liveaboards offer optional island tours during the week. You will miss some dives by taking a tour and it will add to the total expense, but I usually like the opportunity to visit the islands that I've been floating near.

One example that comes to mind is the Caribbean Explorer that offers optional ($30) land tours for Saba and St. Kitts. I think that actually adds to the value of the trip even if it means I won't get in quite as many dives in during the week. Just something to think about.

 

[BDSC]

Richard,

Thanks for a great and detailed trip report on the Sun Dancer II. I have been thinking about booking either the Belize Aggressor III or the Sun Dancer II for 2018. I'll most likely book the entire boat and couldn't decide between the two but am now leaning toward the SD. I like the fact the cabins are a little larger and the beds are both on the floor. Now just need to decide the overall best time to go.