Please recommend a Socorro liveaboard for a group of experienced cold water divers.
All of our group will have 200+ dives in cold water. At least half the group will be active cold water tech divers.
Requirements:
4 dives scheduled per day
minimal handholding once they get to know us and our skills
nitrox
mechanically reliable boat
nice boat
post dive adult beverages
Nice to haves:
large capacity steel tanks
din valves
Several years ago, I did a trip to the Socorro Islands on the
Solmar V. It would meet all of your requirements, with one possible exception. I honestly don't know about your "Nice to haves". The common areas of the Solmar V were gorgeous with Mahogany wood work, brass and frosted glass trim. The common areas easily exceed your requirement of "nice". The cabins however are
TINY! There is only room for one person at a time to stand up in the cabin. Storage space is limited to a couple small cubbie holes beside your bunk. Even the heads are tiny with the head being in the shower. If you want to take a shower, you have to straddle the toilet.
Diving was great and it is done off of "Zodiacs" which will be nearby when you surface. IIRC, they were very strict about policing depth and I seem to remember a 100' Hard Deck that they would actually check when you got back on the main boat. (They would look at your dive computer.) If you went below that, you got to sit out for 24 hrs. The reason they were so strict about this was that the closest chamber was back on the mainland more than 24 hours away.
Now, I guess they key question that you are looking for an answer to: If I were to go back to the Socorro Islands, would I book on the Solmar V? The answer to that is probably not. If I was going with a group of very good friends, then I might, but if I was booking for myself and a dive buddy, then I would probably book on a ship such as the Nautilus Belle Amie that I have heard nothing but good about.