What to take on a Liveaboard

[torekishor]

Hi Divers booked trip on Liver board for Red Sea next jan .Wondered what kit and clothes I should take :kiss2:

 

[James R]

Start by calling it liveaboard

I take my full kit - everything but tanks & weights.

I take lots of board shorts & rash guards for diving and comfy clothing for downtime.

 

[nimoh]

I would probably go with onions

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Our Scuba Snobs' books discuss particular etiquette for liveaboard diving, and as to clothes, we say this:
Take enough clothes so that you can change your clothes now and then. ( they can get pretty funky) Also, before you wear a garment to a meal or to hang out in a common area with other people, make sure it passes the sniff test. Hold it up to your nose and inhale deeply. If you puke or pass out, please don’t wear it and then sit next to us. If on giving it the sniff test you only feel nauseous, you still shouldn’t wear it. I was on a liveaboard on which two young men brought exactly one shirt apiece for the entire trip. They slept in them, wore them constantly when not diving, and sometimes donned them when they were each still a little wet with sea water. By day three they smelled worse than cat vomit that has baked for three days in a car with closed windows. They didn’t even air out the shirts during the day. We sometimes wonder if they had a clean shirt to wear on the plane ride home. Remember, it is more important to smell good than to look good when living in close quarters with 20 other people for several days. Please plan accordingly.
DivemasterDennis

 

[nolatom]

About half as many clothes as you think you'll need. Most liveaboards have showers, soap too, typically you'll do this after each dive, so we're the cleanest people in the world. In the Gulf of Mexico where I've been a passenger, a jersey with a collar is considered "formal dinner wear" amongst the shorts or just swimsuits and t-shirts*.

I agree with the sniff test, but if you are not sweating nor puking, positive sniff tests are much delayed...



*PS--maybe one warm outfit for sleeping or lounging if the boat keeps the AC on high..

 

[tdtaylor]

Beyond the clothes, take several swim trunks (or whatever you dive with) so that after a dive you can change into a dry pair. Know many people who don't and by the 15th dive in three days they have developed a rash in certain private places. Also recommend Lycra socks, for sore/blistered areas on the feet can develop quickly when doing 5 dives a day.

Other than that, I take all my equipment except weights and tanks, including all my photo rig and backups.

Terry

 

[sphyrnidus]

We take all diving gear we need except weight and tank. Clothing 2 shirts 2 shorts that can be easily washed. Several swim suits. And some washing detergent in case it's needed. Shower after every Dive and you"ll be fine. In January you should also bring a sweater or soft shell for the evenings

 

[Wookie]

Best advice I've ever seen...

I've posted the info below on previous threads specific to the two most common liveaboard questions:

• "What should I bring on a liveaboard?"
• "What's the deal with tipping on a liveaboard?"

Pack what you think you should bring into your suitcase. Then remove half of what you packed. Then remove half of what's left. Now look at what's left... you still have too much stuff.

The most important thing to bring on a liveaboard is a sense of humor and a generally good, positive attitude. If you're not familiar with boats - much less living on one - here's a few FACTS about boats:

• everything on a boat breaks
• everything on a boat leaks
• everything on a boat gets wet
• nothing on a boat every really dries
• everything on a boat smells like a boat; where things break, get wet, and never really dry
• anything that doesn't smell like a boat smells like people who live on a boat
• everything mechanical on a boat is very loud (until it breaks; then it becomes very quiet)
• everything non-mechanical on a boat creaks and/or rattles (until it breaks in; then it gets very quiet; that's usually the day before it breaks)
• everything on a boat is small
• if something is not small, it's not on the boat
• if something is not available on the island/mainland, it's not on the boat
• if something is not on the boat, it's not on the boat
• if you need something specific but didn't bring it, it's not on the boat
• even things that are usually on the boat are often not on the boat
• most things that happen on a boat happen simply "because it's a boat"

A thousand major/minor/uncomfortable/disgusting/annoying/inconvenient things can go wrong on a boat over the course of a year. Statistically, that means that 20 of them will happen the week you're on board. You won't notice 15 of them. Will any of the the other 5 things ruin your trip? Honestly - other than a condition which presents a clear and imminent safety or health issue - whether or not something ruins your trip is entirely up to you. I choose to focus on the things like diving that make my trip enjoyable; folks who choose to focus on things that will ruin their trip can always find something that will.

But, as an optimist, keep in mind that you also get to take the good with the bad...

• everything GOOD that happens on a live-aboard happens "because it's a boat"
• you're never more than an hour or so from the next dive, the next meal, the next nap, or your first drink - because it's a boat
• you set your gear up once and don't worry about it again - because it's a boat
• you're right over the dive site - because it's a boat
• two hours later you're right over the next dive site - because it's a boat
• it's a twenty foot walk from your last bite of desert after dinner to your night dive - because it's a boat
• it's a ten foot walk from your night dive to a hot shower - because it's a boat
• it's a twenty foot walk from the hot shower to a cold beer - because it's a boat
• it's a twenty foot walk from the cold beer to your bed - because it's a boat
• when you wake up the next morning to the smell of coffee and waffles...you're right over the next great dive site - because it's a boat

Tipping? I can only provide my American perspective. But first, if you're reading this and you a.) are not American, b.) disagree in principle with the societal convention of tipping in certain cultures, or c.) are otherwise too cheap to tip --- don't bother reading on if you're simply going to dog-pile this thread with general "I don't believe in tipping...crew should be paid...not my fault...I don't need their help...I already paid enough for the trip...no one tips me when I do my job" type of responses. There's plenty of threads elsewhere for that. When it comes to liveaboard diving: "If you can afford the trip, you can afford to tip."

To put liveaboard tipping in context, break it down this way: Imagine the same dive trip but not living aboard. You're dining out three meals a day for 6 days, having a drink or two at a bar every day for 6 days, you're doing a 2-tank morning charter, a 2-tank afternoon charter, and a night dive charter every day for 6 days. With even conservative tipping on boat dives and budget-minded meals, you'd be looking at handing out more than $300 in gratuities over the course of the week. Well, the crew on the liveaboard are "the servers" for all the things listed above. Some have proposed a figure of "10% of trip cost" which is a good start; perhaps going to 15% to avoid being chintzy on lower priced charters.

Now further consider that the crew also works 16hrs a day doing everything else that needs to get done on a boat. Including tidying your cabin daily, making your bed daily, cleaning your toilet daily, etc. Good crews on good boats - luckily have never experienced a bad one - will wait on you hand and foot above water and below while you're awake. When you fall asleep they're working a few more hours to make sure tomorrow is even better. Then, when they go to bed, it's four of them in a cabin smaller than yours, under/behind/adjacent to the engine room and generators, that they live in for several months at a stretch, with effectively everything they own during that time. (Seriously, it would be illegal to house convicted felons in the same fashion. They deserve a good tip merely for mustering a smile once during any given day.) From what I understand, on the typical liveaboard the base salary they receive for that week's work is on the order of US$100-$150 a week. To be very clear...they work for tips.

For a week-long trip I budget for $300+ pretty much regardless of the cost of the charter. The + usually takes the form of a couple of extra $20's slipped into the hands of a few individuals who's efforts made my trip particularly enjoyable. I also tend to leave for home shy a backup light or two, maybe a guide with a rusted out illegible SPG finds my backup in his bin after I've headed to the airport, and there's one fabulous guide who has an Atomic Frameless mask now instead of the genuine piece-of-**** he was diving with when I got on board.

Ultimately, the advice of "tips are at your discretion, whatever you feel is appropriate is the right amount" is the right advice. I simply tend to believe that you should give some real consideration to what's "appropriate" before deciding on the amount. I tip a lot. I've never over-tipped.

 

[nolatom]

Every dining table has an ocean view... ;-)

The beach is aluminum, but fun.

 

[Dsix36]

My first and most important packing concern is always SEASICK PILLS.