Norlaine Thomas
Registered
My husband and I have done about 80 dives. We both have our advanced open water and enriched air certifications. We have DAN insurance, and our own equipment. We have dived in Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba and Belize. We had our first liveaboard experience in November 2016 and it was amazing. My avatar photo is one we took on that trip.
Now we are planning another trip for March 2017. We have an opportunity to go to the other side of the world and we are trying to figure out where to go. We are considering Australia, Palau, and French Polynesia, but we would be interested in other suggestions as well.
Flying from Canada, it is going to be a lot of travel, wherever we go.
What we are looking for: Beautiful and varied aquatic life.
We have done the Blue Hole in Belize and we both had the same reaction: Meh. It is deep. It is also cold and sort of dark and not really any fish. Cool to be able to say you dived it, but we probably wouldn't do it again. We are really into the diversity of shapes and colours to be found in corals and sponges and fish. We have seen quite a few sharks over the years and, while they are cool, they don't excite us as much as they do some people on the board. We are not looking for a shark feeding frenzy, such as some posters have described enthusiastically. We are not competitive about going deep. We have found our most enjoyable dives have been moderate to shallow, because of the greater diversity of marine life. I love watching the big sea turtles soar through the water, swimming through schools of fish, and watching soft corals sway while brilliantly coloured fish swim around. My husband is not comfortable in small or enclosed spaces, so wrecks and caves aren't our thing. We are not sure if we are experienced enough for really fast currents, so we would prefer to err on the side of caution. This is supposed to be enjoyable, not a struggle.
I have been reading threads about planning a trip to this region and there is so much information! It is hard to know, trip reports being subjective and people having many different interests and goals, where we should focus our search.
We really enjoyed the liveaboard experience. We were on the Belize Aggressor IV (formerly the Sun Dancer II) and the staff and accommodations were excellent. The food was superb (too good, actually). I am pescatarian (meaning mostly vegetarian, but I eat some fish/shellfish from time to time), and the galley crew was extremely accommodating. The weather wasn't fantastic, but it didn't really matter as we spent a lot of time under water. We did 25 dives in 6 days and loved the whole routine and the focus on diving and learning about the fish and corals. We would be very interested in doing this type of trip again. Having said that, it is possible to imagine that having a bad experience on a liveaboard would be a special sort of hell, one you cannot escape from until you return to dock.
We have noticed that some people say land-based is as good as a liveaboard in some of these locations because the good dive sites are a simple boat ride from shore. I think, generally, we would prefer to have the extreme focus of the liveaboard, and then do any exploring on land either at the beginning or end of the trip. We are looking for opinions on this.
We are also considering extending our trip to do two different dive locations. Palau and GBR, perhaps? But how hard is it to get between locations? Are there places that it makes more sense to pair as a longer dive trip?
Because this is a rare opportunity, we are very concerned about getting it right. Obviously, at this point, we may find our choices of liveaboards and/or accommodation and dive providers limited. We need to get busy and get this booked ASAP before everything is full. We have dithered a bit too long already.
Please, if you have recommendations, they would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!
Now we are planning another trip for March 2017. We have an opportunity to go to the other side of the world and we are trying to figure out where to go. We are considering Australia, Palau, and French Polynesia, but we would be interested in other suggestions as well.
Flying from Canada, it is going to be a lot of travel, wherever we go.
What we are looking for: Beautiful and varied aquatic life.
We have done the Blue Hole in Belize and we both had the same reaction: Meh. It is deep. It is also cold and sort of dark and not really any fish. Cool to be able to say you dived it, but we probably wouldn't do it again. We are really into the diversity of shapes and colours to be found in corals and sponges and fish. We have seen quite a few sharks over the years and, while they are cool, they don't excite us as much as they do some people on the board. We are not looking for a shark feeding frenzy, such as some posters have described enthusiastically. We are not competitive about going deep. We have found our most enjoyable dives have been moderate to shallow, because of the greater diversity of marine life. I love watching the big sea turtles soar through the water, swimming through schools of fish, and watching soft corals sway while brilliantly coloured fish swim around. My husband is not comfortable in small or enclosed spaces, so wrecks and caves aren't our thing. We are not sure if we are experienced enough for really fast currents, so we would prefer to err on the side of caution. This is supposed to be enjoyable, not a struggle.
I have been reading threads about planning a trip to this region and there is so much information! It is hard to know, trip reports being subjective and people having many different interests and goals, where we should focus our search.
We really enjoyed the liveaboard experience. We were on the Belize Aggressor IV (formerly the Sun Dancer II) and the staff and accommodations were excellent. The food was superb (too good, actually). I am pescatarian (meaning mostly vegetarian, but I eat some fish/shellfish from time to time), and the galley crew was extremely accommodating. The weather wasn't fantastic, but it didn't really matter as we spent a lot of time under water. We did 25 dives in 6 days and loved the whole routine and the focus on diving and learning about the fish and corals. We would be very interested in doing this type of trip again. Having said that, it is possible to imagine that having a bad experience on a liveaboard would be a special sort of hell, one you cannot escape from until you return to dock.
We have noticed that some people say land-based is as good as a liveaboard in some of these locations because the good dive sites are a simple boat ride from shore. I think, generally, we would prefer to have the extreme focus of the liveaboard, and then do any exploring on land either at the beginning or end of the trip. We are looking for opinions on this.
We are also considering extending our trip to do two different dive locations. Palau and GBR, perhaps? But how hard is it to get between locations? Are there places that it makes more sense to pair as a longer dive trip?
Because this is a rare opportunity, we are very concerned about getting it right. Obviously, at this point, we may find our choices of liveaboards and/or accommodation and dive providers limited. We need to get busy and get this booked ASAP before everything is full. We have dithered a bit too long already.
Please, if you have recommendations, they would be very much appreciated!
Thanks!