Advice for 7-9 day Nov-Jan Liveaboard?

[ivorynightfall]

I have 7 days left of vacation (*sigh*, American labor laws) and haven't done a liveaboard in several years so am craving it...I'm thinking to couple my vacation days with the normal holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and/or New Year's) in order to maximize my time away. If I time things correctly, I may be able to squeeze out 10 or even 11 days off!

But where to go???

About me - I've been diving for 5 years or so now, 100+ dives and have my AOW and Nitrox certifications. I've dived the Big Island in Hawaii (not great, but where I got certified), Apo Island and Malapascua in the Philippines, as well as Cozumel and the cenotes in the Riveria Maya. But my favorite diving experiences have been a 6D/5N in Sipadan on the Seaventures oil rig and a 5D/4N on the Mike Ball liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef. I love pelagics, wall dives, drift dives, warm waters and don't mind current. I hate dives with tons of people, which is why I love live aboards. I also just love being out on the open ocean, far away from land...

Concerns -

1. Time - while I'd love to do more remote dives sites like Raja Ampat (which is actually within my budget!), I'm concerned that the travel time it would take to get there would severely cut into any time diving and restrict the time I could actually spend on the ocean. I'd rather wait until I have a gap between jobs to do a longer dive trip.

2. Cost - while I'm certainly willing to spend $$$ on a dive trip, esp a liveaboard, given my concerns above I don't want to spend more money than I have to and cut into funding for a longer dive trip, e.g. Galapagos or Maldives. I'd like to spend a max of around $3K (not including flights, which I'm trying to pay for using credit card points).

3. Dive quality - I was looking into options like Costa Rica / Honduras / Socorro / etc. but it looks like some people are saying to not go during an El Nino year since there won't be any hammerheads in Cocos for example? I'd love to see hammerheads, so def don't want to miss them....

4. Trip quality - I'm totally down with mid-range/budget options (e.g. Seaventures) and will occasionally splurge on luxury ones (e.g. Mike Ball). However, while I'm considering like Blackbeard's liveaboard off of Nassau at the lower end I'm worried that I may be a bit too old to be that grungy (at the ripe old age of 26, soon to be 27). The thought of not having hot showers at all, and absolutely no privacy (in both cases previously I was lucky enough to have a cabin to myself while paying to share), is a bit off putting...Especially if the water won't be that warm and viz low in December. However, options in the Southern Hemisphere where it will be summer are much farther away...

What do you guys recommend? I've been browsing this morning through various options, e.g. Utila, Socorro, Cocos, etc. but don't really know what to think. To reiterate, looking for a prob max 8-9 day live aboard given travel time / flight restrictions, under $3K, in late November - January or even February of 2016...

Thanks in advance for your advice!!!

 

[Cali_diver]

Fiji is nice and traveling is not as far as Indonesia, with a non-stop from LA. There are a few boats there. The Naia is awesome. As for the Caribbean we enjoyed the Belize Aggressor. Socorro trips fill up pretty fast and it is pretty chilly there that time of the year (low 70's) but you might see humpbacks.

 

[diversteve]

The current deal just within your range is the Humboldt Explorer special - Galapagos for $3295 - normally $4795 Dec. 21-28. It's the only week they're offering it. Explorer Ventures: Adventures in Liveaboard Diving

You can also do Socorros for about that - even slightly less on a quad/triple share on the Nautilus boats. https://www.nautilusbookings.com/ Both boats are around $3K/just over for double occupancy also.
Rocio has space on two charters - 1st week of Dec. or Jan. at $3395.
Rocio Del Mar Liveaboard - Socorro Islands Schedule - Rates
Solmar V is sold out to 2017.

I love pelagics, wall dives, drift dives, warm waters and don't mind current.

Look at Turks/Caicos also. Pretty much every dive is a wall dive, the wall in some areas is 6,000' deep, they do drift dives in a fast moving channel between the islands and you'll see a lot of reef sharks/rays/turtles at French Cay/West Caicos where they spend most of the week - both uninhabited. Explorer has space now until they shut down in Dec. - probably for overhaul/repositioning since they do Silver Banks Humpback Snorkel trips after the 1st of the year. Explorer Ventures: Adventures in Liveaboard Diving Aggressor probably does also. They have a search engine showing availability on all their boats here: https://www.aggressor.com/reservations/

If you're trying to keep the costs down in the Bahamas but would like an actual cabin and fresh water showers check out Lost Island Voyages, Sail Juliet or Cat Ppalu. LIV even has two ensuite cabins now IIRC. Cat Ppalu is a full charter but they often sell leftover spaces - I believe all in at around $1750. It seems like with taxes/port fees the Bahamas always seems to be $200 more than the actual listed price.

The only Honduras boat is the MV Pearl. They do a week between Roatan and Utila. The only sharks you're likely to see off Roatan are at the paid shark feed. We did see a few reef sharks during a week of diving off Utila but the Whalesharks (snorkel only) are more likely to be there in the Spring. There is some seamount diving and if they go to Morat Wall off Barbareta that's supposed to be one of the best. It's east of Roatan though so I'm not sure the Pearl goes that far.

Every Caribbean boat I know of does 7 day charters - it works the best for flights/people with a week of vacation. So Socorro/Cocos are probably your only longer options and two of those days are travel days usually. In the winter I'd pass on the Cayman Aggressor - while it's a lot of wall diving weather sometimes prevents them from going across to the Sister Islands - Bloody Bay Wall of Little Cayman being the draw. So if they circle Grand Cayman instead, you can do 90% of their dives from dayboats - I read a trip report once and realized I had.

Don't forget to include the country/resort taxes in your plans. I believe Honduras is now at 18% and Mexico combined at 16%. Plus Nitrox add-ons typically. We also paid a fuel surcharge in Turks/Caicos of I believe $100 or $200pp.

 

[KathyV]

I agree regarding doing a liveaboard dive trip to the Turks and Caicos on either the Explorer or Aggressor. Beautiful walls and large animals on just about every dive including sharks, eagle rays, tarpons, turtles, morays and more. If you have a couple of extra days plan to spend them topside on Provo, it's a nice destination and Grace Bay Beach is amazing.

 

[Liveaboard]

Hi IvoryNightfall,

Hope we can help and thanks for being specific about what you are looking for in terms of your trip ;-)

1- Agree save Raja until you can do a 10 night trip so you can experience the full range of the area. But if you think a 7night trip is ok then Raja Ampat Aggressor have a trip departing 4th Jan for $2,975 or Mermaid II have availability for 8 night trips in January at just $2,785

2 - I'm not sure where you are based in the US and how much of a pain getting there would be for you but i think you should certainly keep the Maldives on the table. I've run a search on the Maldives and there are several 7 night liveaboard trips that come in under your 3k budget.

There are at least 4 different yachts departing 28 or 29 November which would tie into Thanksgiving holiday time. Each is running a central atolls itinerary which will give you plenty of wall, drift, coral and pelagic dives - Ari atoll, superb night dive in vaavu with nurse sharks, a wreck or two, and some smaller creatures will be likely. its warm water and certainly you should expect current. Just beyond budget is the Ocean Diving at $3,096 so that may also be doable? A few yachts still have availability over the Christmas / New Year period also.

3- I've read up on the el nino and don't think its as big as everyone thinks at the moment. Friends of mine were thinking of cancelling our trip to the Galapagos in Feb 2016 but we asked the operator (Master Liveaboards) and regular reports show the hammerheads and other pelagics are still coming - though the water temp is slightly higher than average. So if you have your heart set on cocos or galapagos then I'm for going. Can;t wait for my Feb trip!

4 - There are plenty of liveaboards within your budget that mean you will still have privacy and won't have to suffer cold showers!

Please feel free to pm me if you'd like some more help.
All the best and happy diving,
Susie
Liveaboard.com

 

[Dora the Explorer]

Hello! This is Dora with Rocio del Mar and Quino el Guardian liveaboards. I'd like to invite you to consider one of our vessels for your upcoming vacation! Rocio del Mar has availability on a trip to the Socorro Islands Jan 6-14 for $3395. While this is a bit above your $3K budget, I think a trip on RDM is worth it-- in January we see lots of giant mantas, Hammerhead sharks, Tiger sharks, dolphins, silky sharks, Galapagos sharks, clouds of jacks and barracudas, and more. Additionally, our accommodations on RDM are very comfortable. For more information check out: Rocio Del Mar Liveaboard - Socorro Islands
Another great opportunity we have coming up is our Citizen Science trip on our newest vessel, Quino el Guardian. This trip is Nov 7-15. Divers on this trip will be participating in research with shark and manta experts. For more information on this trip and the boat visit our site: Shark and Manta Research and Conservation |
If you have any questions, you can contact me, Dora Sandoval, at 602-558-9580 or dsandoval@rociodelmarliveaboard.com

 

[Worldwide Dive and Sail]

Hi IvoryNightFall,

I think Fiji is a good option! Beautiful corals, incredible macro, sharks (hammerheads) and mantas. You can perfectly do it on board a 7 or 10 night liveaboard trip. This will allow you to dive the best dive sites of Fiji without the hassle of dealing with internal flights.

If you want you can have a look to the Siren Fleet Fiji Trip blogs in here.

Cheers!

 

[ivorynightfall]

Hi! Thanks all for your suggestions - there was a crazy special deal from explorer ventures in the turks and caicos that i ended up going with! A little on the earlier side (early November) but the water should be warmer too...am very excited! Although that citizen science trip looks awesome, I literally booked several hours before seeing that...next time!!!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Good for you, ivorynightfall!! I was coming in to this thread to recommend you contact Greg Carter at Liquid Diving Adventures Scuba Diving Destinations - Vacation Specials - Liquid Diving Adventures to get aboard the Explorer Ventures Turks and Caicos trip!!

 

[diversteve]

Hi! Thanks all for your suggestions - there was a crazy special deal from explorer ventures in the turks and caicos that i ended up going with! A little on the earlier side (early November) but the water should be warmer too...am very excited! Although that citizen science trip looks awesome, I literally booked several hours before seeing that...next time!!!

Good choice, I did that trip a few years ago - in spring though. Lots of sharks. Mike Southard was on it sometime before we were: Saudio's Trip Reports The only change is they move you back to the airport now Sat. morning instead of allowing you to stay on board - it's a pretty tight window for them to clean the ship since the next guests arrive on the 1PM flight.