New Diver Considering Liveaboard Trip

[C C]

Hello everyone,

I have recently finished my Open Water coursework and confined dives and plan on finishing the certification dives through a referral in Thailand next month. First off, does anyone have any recommendations for dive centers? Originally, I was thinking of going to Koh Tao, but am leaning against it now due to the additional travel time that would result in. Now I am leaning more towards somewhere in Phuket.

Second, I've latched on to the idea of taking a Liveaboard trip (4 or 5 day) to the the Similian and Surin Islands. Is this over ambitious? The site I was using had an option to search only trips with no minimum logged dives. Here are some potential concerns I've identified: dive pace, finding a dive buddy that doesn't mind an inexperienced partner, dive depth limitations, and general comfort with the dives. However, if having people along that aren't at least AOW certified is an issue, I would think there would be a very obvious notice or disclaimer? Any thoughts/advice?

 

[ZzzKing]

On a liveaboard, your will typically be doing 4-5 dives a day and Nitrox certification is a big plus. I would look into that before you go. Any potential buddy may not want to team with someone that is more time limited on their dives than they are.

Don’t be afraid to sit out a dive or two if you don’t feel up to it either experience wise or if you are just tired or if it is deeper than you are comfortable with.

Most experienced divers don’t mind showing a new diver the ropes for a couple of dives but be willing to switch off buddies so you don’t have one dedicated buddy that starts to feel like your baby sitter.

Contact the operator first and verify that the schedule they have planned is compatible with your level of experience.

Assemble your gear set and dive it at least enough to be proficient with it prior to the trip. Knowledge of how your dive computer works is very important. Don’t take an underwater camera.

Have fun.

 

[dmaziuk]

You may be better off asking on Thailand forum.

 

[Rob9876]

Some liveaboards have the option of getting your AOW on board. If so, this would give you 5 more dives with an instructor.

I would definitely contact the liveaboard operator and get their thoughts on whether your experience level would be compatible to the dives you will do, and pairing you with buddies.

 

[TMHeimer]

All excellent advice. I don't think I would jump right into a liveaboard, but that's just me. Maybe one day I will actually do one....

 

[Aviyes]

Liveaboards not a bad way to go, I think I had about a dozen dives outside of OW/AOW training when I went on my first liveaboard and I enjoyed it thoroughly. However, that all depends on how quickly you take to diving and how comfortable you are in the water. I would definitely recommend taking the AOW course while on board, as it will give you some one-on-one time with an instructor improving your diving even more. Outside the mandatory Deep/Nav, take Peak Performance Buoyancy/Night and one of your choice.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Another option is to pay extra for a dedicated dive guide as your buddy, instead of relying on other divers to be your insta-buddy.

Frankly though, my advice is that you arrange to take your AOW as mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

[Saniflush]

Comfort is everything and varies between individuals. Mrs Flush and I did our first liveaboard pretty early in our diving career. (I think I had about 15 dives and she had about 10) We thought it was great because we had a full week of diving/practicing the things we had been taught. After almost every dive we were identifying something that we had not done as well as we wanted to and would have the ability to correct that action pretty quickly with a subsequent dive. We found that in itself to be valuable in reinforcing good diving habits.

 

[Neilwood]

Hello everyone,

I have recently finished my Open Water coursework and confined dives and plan on finishing the certification dives through a referral in Thailand next month. First off, does anyone have any recommendations for dive centers? Originally, I was thinking of going to Koh Tao, but am leaning against it now due to the additional travel time that would result in. Now I am leaning more towards somewhere in Phuket.

Second, I've latched on to the idea of taking a Liveaboard trip (4 or 5 day) to the the Similian and Surin Islands. Is this over ambitious? The site I was using had an option to search only trips with no minimum logged dives. Here are some potential concerns I've identified: dive pace, finding a dive buddy that doesn't mind an inexperienced partner, dive depth limitations, and general comfort with the dives. However, if having people along that aren't at least AOW certified is an issue, I would think there would be a very obvious notice or disclaimer? Any thoughts/advice?

Taking your points individually:
dive pace - so long as you are up front with the operator you want to go with and your potential buddy, there shouldn't be a problem.
finding a dive buddy that doesn't mind an inexperienced partner - most experienced divers don't mind a less experienced buddy so long as you are up front about it
dive depth limitations - it can be worth tacking AOW onto a trip if for no other reason that it extends the depth that operators will let you dive to.
general comfort with the dives - a lot of that is attitude which can only come from you.

I would be tempted to add AOW certification into the trip as mentioned above for a few reasons:
1) it allows you to go deeper - 30m instead of 18m
2) More dives with an instructor - can give you more confidence
3) Having done Deep and Nav should extend your own abilities as a diver which will give you more confidence.
4) You can take a optional speciality that is helpful for the trip such as wreck, night, etc. Again more skills and more confidence

I might also be tempted to do Nitrox on the trip or before I went - opinions vary but I certainly reckon I felt better because of the lower Nitrogen loadings.

I went on a liveaboard with 20 local UK dives and I feel like I came back a better and more confident diver. A lot of diving in a relatively short time makes for a lot of reinforcement of skills/habits - make sure you reinforce the right habits though.

As a couple of people have identified though - don't be afraid to sit out a dive if you aren't feeling it for any reason (too tired, sore, worry about the dive plan etc). On both liveaboards I have done, I have sat out a few on each and don't feel I missed out - I wasn't feeling up to them so decided I was better out of the water.

 

[Rob9876]

I only had 9 dives before doing a liveaboard, and I also felt like it really helped me to develop skills.

I also agree that it's good to let yourself skip some of the dives. Once you start getting in and out of a wetsuit 4-5 times or more a day it can start to feel a bit like work and can get a bit tiring. I noticed that many of the more seasoned divers skipped a few dives on my trip. After not wanting to skip any dives on my first liveaboard, I've decided that next time I'm going to give myself permission to skip a few dives.