Favorite Pacific Liveaboard and Why

The year has come (2010) that I'm determined to make that trip to the Pacific and choosing a destination and liveaboard has been a daunting task. Will you help me narrow it down a little by telling me what your favorite liveaboard in the Pacific is and why? What I'm looking for is warm clear waters, prefer reefs to wrecks, and love all critters big and small. I'm a fairly experienced diver, can handle strong currents, rough waters and random surprises.

I have not done a lot of Pacific liveaboards, but just did Peter Hughes Paradise Dancer and can give it high marks for amenities. The boat itself is wonderful. Lots of room throughout. The rooms are very large and got raves from everyone on the trip. The single deluxe suite is amazing and if you were planning a special trip as a couple I would be tempted to book it.

As a liveaboard the boat worked very very well. Lots of room, dining outside weather permitting, or inside otherwise. Lots of places to take a book and relax. A very nice camera room with lots of power outlets and space to store all the bits and pieces. Logistically the diving worked very well.

Don't believe the brochure, there is no computer on board and they will not be taking a trip video. Didn't care as I had my own computer and camera but if you were relying on it you would be in for a surprise.

Getting there and back is not easy, but the further out of the way you go the harder it is to get there.

I don't think they have yet hit their stride on the diving side. They are new to the area and still searching for the best dive sites. We were on several sites that were first time for the boat. All in all it was a great trip, but I suspect that the diving side will be better in the future as they become more familiar with what is available.

Diving is from tenders which means 4 dives a day and no open deck. Diving was limited to 60 minutes and 45 on the night dives. Our tender stretched these times as it became obvious that we were all ready to spend another 10 - 15 minutes in the water but it was a limitation few were happy with. Dive guides were excellent - they needed one more however. One tender had two guides the other only one. One guide between 9 people is not enough.

The vis was not great for tropical, but the nutriunts in the water is what generates the life so that is a trade off. Average vis was 40 - 60 feet. Worst was about 20 feet on only one dive.

A few very high current dives. One spent on the edge of a current coming around an island around and across a plateau was a highlight. If you got caught in the current you were in for a ride, as it was running 5 + knots in the middle of it. Around the edge you could keep it under 1 knot pretty easily. Lots of fish and life on that dive. Another dive was just a roller coaster. Unless you tucked in behind a rock it was just fly by the wall and relax.

No big animals except for four dives. Manta rays at a cleaning station for the two last dives and manta sightings for a couple of others. Some saw a couple of sharks, and and a couple of rays but I did not.

Lots of other stuff however. Lots of blue ring octo's - I think we found 6 different ones over the trip. Ghost pipe fish, nudi's, and lots and lots of macro life to see. The colour of the soft coral is spectacular. Didn't get enough sun to get really great wide angle shots, but visually it was excellent on several dive sites.

Food was good, a little more variety would have been nice, but that would be just an improvement to bring good to excellent.

If you go I would tack on a few days to dive Lembeh at the end and stay in Sorong the night before leaving. I would also plan on all internal Indonesian flights to be very late. Counting on close connections does not work.

Gwen1011:

The year has come (2010) that I'm determined to make that trip to the Pacific and choosing a destination and liveaboard has been a daunting task. Will you help me narrow it down a little by telling me what your favorite liveaboard in the Pacific is and why? What I'm looking for is warm clear waters, prefer reefs to wrecks, and love all critters big and small. I'm a fairly experienced diver, can handle strong currents, rough waters and random surprises.

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any liveaboard in Palau...... we did the Eco Explorer while the Big Blue Explorer was getting upgraded. I think the Big Blue is there now. Awesome diving, awesome crew, big boat that stays anchored in German Channel most of trip just 5-10 minutes from the most amazing diving.... incredible vertical walls, sharks almost every dive, current from mild to ripping, deep blue holes (actually caverns), glorious colorful fish everywhere. I would do ANY liveaboard in PALAU again in a heartbeat if we had the $$$$. It ain't cheap, but its worth every penny!
my trip report here: Palau on the Eco Explorer - Dec 2007

robin

I've been on 2 liveaboards in the Pacific, the "Diversity" out of N.E. Australia and StarDancer out of New Britain. The StarDancer was our favorite but the Diversity was good too. The Diversity is no longer available.
One really nice thing about the StarDancer was you dove right off the back, no tenders. Mostly no current although it wasn't true for all the dives. The Bismark Sea has been rated as having the highest diversity of marine life, which I found was very true. We also loved the remoteness as well as the primitive...with smoking volcanos.

We did Mike Ball's Spoilsport out of Cairns, Australia and we were totally spoiled. The trip starts with a low-level flight over the reef to Lizard Island where you board the boat. Then you spend the next 3 or 7 days (depending on the trip length you chose) diving Cod Hole and the amazing Ribbon Reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is definitely a must-dive spot and we found the staff, boat, food, and diving to be just perfect. We were new divers at the time and had a DM accompany us on most of the dives, but experienced divers could just do their thing. We saw so many amazing critters, from macro life to dwarf minke whales. The 7 night trip also goes to the Coral Sea.

You can check our website as we have done Fiji, PNG, Palau, GBR, Chuuk, and Raja Ampat on live-aboards. When we do repeat it will probably be PNG, it really has everything. But Palau would be a close second. We went with Mike Ball but he has pulled his boat out of PNG and for Palau we can recommend the Ocean Hunter boats.

Last year, my husband and I spent a week aboard the Nai'a, diving many amazing sites in Fiji. This was our first liveaboard, but I can't imagine having a better experience. The crew was fantastic, as was the diving. We saw little critters, along with big critters (hammerhead shark and manta rays were my favorite big critters). Our cabin was bigger than I expected, as was the bathroom, and I slept like a baby each and every night. We definitely plan on returning. My husband's photos can be found at this link: Home/Website/Fiji 2008