Best Liveaboard for big animals!

[NightRaven77]

Hey..........

Anyone have any suggestions for a good Liveaboard Operator that has had great results in the big animal encounters catagory?

We are looking for a Liveaboard in Late October to dive with the big fishes!

thanks for any help!

NightRaven77

[DeepSeaFox]

Nimrod - Northern GBR.

[DocVikingo]

Either of the Aggressors doing the Galapagos http://www.aggressor.com/index.php?plugin=yes, either of the Hunters doing the Cocos/Malpelos http://www.underseahunter.com/ & Solmar V itineraries to the Soccorros & Sea of Cortez http://www.solmar.com/solmarv.html .

Best regards.

DocVikingo

[cyklon_300]

mentioned, Galapagos (Reina Silvia), Socorros (Solmar V), and Cocos (Okeanos)...

Each is definitely a big critter fest...and each boat in its own fashion was good. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Galapagos had hammerheads and a 45' whaleshark, Socorros had sharks and giant mantas, and Cocos had HHs, whitetips, marbled rays, and an amazing bait ball.

[Diversauras]

Galapagos or COCOs Island are certainly the home of many LARGE schools of LARGE animals. Did the Aggressor in Feb to COCOs and it was great, but I agree that the way to go there is via one of the Hunters.

[Zagnut]

.. I'm thinking it's probably gonna be Noah's Ark. :D

Sorry.... saw the title and couldn't resist.

[DiverDave76]

Just did the Galapagos 1 in Jul. We saw 17 whale sharks, and thousands upon thousands of hammerheads. That is not to mention the galapagos sharks, silky sharks, whitetips, schools of cow rays, manta rays, spotted eagle rays, sailfish...shall I go on? It was a spectacular trip with a first class organization. Been diving for 34 years and this one was as good as it could possibly get. You want big animals? Imagine seeing a fish the size of a school bus swimming towards you coming out of the blue. Galapagos is the place to go...but you can't go with just anybody because only Agressor and Peter Hughes go to Wolf and Darwin where all the big action takes place. Peter Hughes only goes there 10 weeks out of the year. Aggressor goes 50 weeks out of the year. It is a 17 hour boat ride to get to Wolf from Baltra (airport) and then another 5 hours to Darwin from Wolf. Currents can be tricky and it is very advanced diving.

Dave

[guido74]

mentioned, Galapagos (Reina Silvia), Socorros (Solmar V), and Cocos (Okeanos)...

Each is definitely a big critter fest...and each boat in its own fashion was good. You can't go wrong with any of them.

Galapagos had hammerheads and a 45' whaleshark, Socorros had sharks and giant mantas, and Cocos had HHs, whitetips, marbled rays, and an amazing bait ball.


Hi Cyklon,

I'm looking at booking a liveaboard in the Galapagos in June/July 2006, possibly on the Reina Silvia. I've been on the Solmar V (to Socorro Isles rather than Sea of Cortez trip) and just wondered how you'd compare the two boats?

Also (and more importantly!) the level of diving? I keep hearing that Galapagos diving is tough, and I'm not overly experienced. However, I think the Socorro diving was described as being pretty challenging too and I had no problems there tho we were in some pretty strong currents etc. I would really appreciate if you could let me know how the two compare - if the Galapagos is much more challenging I might be better off booking on a naturalist rather than a dive trip... tho I know I'd really regret going all that way and not getting as much diving as possible!!

Thanks!

G

[jakubson]

...Did the Aggressor in Feb to COCOs and it was great, but I agree that the way to go there is via one of the Hunters.

Can you elaborate?

Thanks,

[debersole]

I would definitely agree with the above posts -- Galapagos, Cocos, Socorros. However, if you're looking for something "closer to home" I'd contact Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures (www.scuba-adventures.com) regarding one of their Shark or Shark/Dolphin trips to West End Bahamas. You will routinely get reef sharks, lemon sharks, tiger sharks, and schools of wild dolphins. In the winter you'll also get great hammerheads. And when you're not seeing these animals there are also beautiful unspoiled reefs, walls, and wrecks. Here is a link to some photos from a trip in July.

http://debersole.com/layout/0001/gallery_view.cfm?g=66