Looking for a liveaboard to see sharks and other large animals in Januari/Februari

[ClairevL]

My boyfriend and I would like to do a liveaboard trip of about 7 days in Januari/Februari. We love to see large animals. Especially sharks. Mantas and whalesharks would be great as well.. We do not diving in strong currents. Both have about 90 dives, PADI rescue diver, and also don't really mind cold water.

We don't know yet where we want to go, so I hope you could give us some advise.
For now we are thinking about the Bahamas, or Maldives (Deep South), but we haven;t been at any of these places yet. As I mentioned we would love to see sharks up close. We don't really care about very fancy boats, we do care about great dive sites and tasty food. So far we have only done two liveaboards with Emperor in the Red Sea, and we absolutely loved them, especially the Brothers, Daedalus and Ephinstone trip.


One thing is that for this trip, we do not want to spend too much money, since it will just be a short trip (total trip should be shorther than 2 weeks). So far we had an offer for Maldives Deep South, 2300 euro each, including all flights. That would be a bit higher than what we had in mind, but still ok, if I'm sure this is going to be an amazing trip(the dive sites sound great to me, but I haven't been there)! At the Bahamas we found Blackbeard, which also has very affordable trips, but we are not quite sure how exciting the dive spots are. It's easy to find which animals you can see where, but it's so hard to find how likely it is to spot the animals.


What would you recommend? Any other place than the two I mentioned would be great as well. I should probably mention that we fly from Amsterdam, but most places are kind of easy to reach from there.


Thanks very much in advance. I'd appreciate any advise!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Deep south Maldives should deliver lots and lots of sharks, but also lots of current! !

 

[Nasser]

If you're ready to go back to the Red Sea then Sudan Deep South - Suakin Islands is pretty much guaranteed sharks (and everything else)... practically on every dive.

Check these guys out:

Home - Donquesto

and this specific itinerary:

Pagina non trovata - Donquesto

 

[drrich2]

T.C. posted a great trip report of a Blackbeard's trip last year. If you want something similar but a little more upscale, yet cheaper than the AquaCat, the Juliet, Lost Island Voyages and the Cat Ppalu might be of interest. I'm not pushing the Bahamas, just suggesting some points of interest if you do go there.

Richard.

 

[TheTrickster]

Big fish - you need to be heading to Socorro, New Mexico.

Alas 2000€ won't touch it thou.

What about Thailand? I saw Mantas, Sharks and Whale sharks the last time I went and it wasn't too badly priced either.

 

[ClairevL]

Thanks so much for all your replies! Socorro sounds great, but is a bit too expensive for this trip. How does Socorro compare to Galapagos by the way (also on the list of places to visit on another trip)?

I'm still having a bit of trouble what would be the best trip for sharks. The blackbeard cruise sounds great! But apart from the shark feeding, it doesn't seen like the dive sites will show many sharks...or am I wrong? I also feel like I prefer just meeting the sharks on the dive over shark feedings. Are there any Bahamas trips that are a bit more focussed on sharks (perhaps also great hammerheads)?
A couple of weeks ago I went to the Red Sea, and in some spots I saw multiple hammerheads on every dive...they also came very close to the divers. And on all the wall dives grey reef sharks, also saw a treasure shark and a silky shark, many huge barracudas and napoleon fish. So I hope to find something that is a least as great as my last trip

Nasser, Sudan sounds great. Do you know if Januari/Februari is the right time of the year to see the hammerheads? And do you perhaps know how it compares to Brother's Islands and Daedalus?

South of Maldives sounds great as well! I think I'm ok with the strong currents, but strong is always relative. Could you elaborate a bit? Can anyone compare Southern Maldives to the Bahamas in terms of seeing sharks and other big stuff?

I should look at Thailand as well. Anyone who has been at more than one of the trips mentioned above and who can compare?

Thanks again!

 

[Nasser]

Nasser, Sudan sounds great. Do you know if Januari/Februari is the right time of the year to see the hammerheads? And do you perhaps know how it compares to Brother's Islands and Daedalus?

Jan/Feb/March is a very good time to visit the North of Sudan. Dive sites like Angarosh, Abington Reef, and Shaab Rumi are teaming with sharks.. Angarosh in particular is known for schools of Hammerheads.

But for a truly spectacular diving experience you need to go to the Deep South, where you will not only find schools of hammerheads, white tips, grey reef, and tiger sharks... but you will see massive schools of a variety of fish and pelagics including giant barracuda. The hard and soft coral is very profuse and very healthy and the macrolife is also plentiful. This is in my IMHO the best diving in the Red Sea.

The only thing is due to weather conditions liveaboards only go down there from April-July. So there are perhaps a total of only six or seven cruises per year to the deep South.

I have indeed dived all of the Egyptian Red Sea including Brothers, Daedalus, Elphinstone, and even further South down to Rocky Island etc.. This is really great diving, but the Deep South in Sudan is in a different league altogether and IMHO superior in every way.

BTW the photo of the school of hammerheads in my avatar photo just below my name is a photo taken during one of my dives in the Sudanese Deep South last year.

 

[drrich2]

Are there any Bahamas trips that are a bit more focussed on sharks (perhaps also great hammerheads)?

Yes, but a lot more expensive than Blackbeard's. Tiger Beach is a well-known destination for diving with tiger sharks.

What kind of sharks do you want to see? There's a big difference between seeing a couple dozen reef sharks vs. a couple of tiger sharks, for example.

Richard.

 

[Cali_diver]

Maybe consider Rangiroa / Fakarava for sharks in a natural setting without baiting. Master liveaboards has a boat there. Fakarava has an amazing number of sharks, but it is pass diving with lots of current. Socorro is awesome. Fiji has some great shark action and there are a few boats there. I think sharks in a natural environment requires current so you might have to start liking current!!

 

[ClairevL]

Fakarava sounds amazing! Wow, I'll definitely put that on my list of places to visit. But for this trip it is a bit too expensive and far away. I would rather go there on a longer trip.

Nasser, your avatar is amazing! I think we'll go to South Sudan in May then, it sounds like an incredible destination for diving.

Drrich, good point! So far we would be happy with different types of sharks. I haven't seen a couple dozens reef sharks at the same time yet, and I've never seen tiger sharks...so both situations would be very exciting for me. I would also absolutely love to see great hammerheads!! We're willing to spend a bit more than for the Blackbeard cruise if we can go to more exciting dive spots. Would you recommend any specific company/itinerary? Bimini sounds excellent as well, has anyone been there?

---------- Post added September 9th, 2015 at 05:55 AM ----------

And I'm also still very curious if anyone can compare diving in Central Maldives to the Deep South itinerary. Or if anyone can compare Maldives and Bahamas in terms of big stuff.

Thanks!