Liveaboard vs Dive Resort for newbie divers?

[Hoag]

I did a couple resort trips for my first couple trips and then about my 3rd or 4th trip I did the Belize Aggressor 3. The diving was pretty easy but we were doing so much of it (4 or maybe even 5 dives per day) that my learning curve advanced significantly over the course of the week. Was I now ready for a trip to the Galapagos or Cocos with ripping currents? Absolutely not! Having said that, by the end of my week on a live aboard, my buoyancy, my air consumption, my situational awareness and especially my overall comfort underwater were all far better when I was leaving the boat than they were when I was arriving at the boat.

My recommendation would be for your first couple trips go to a shore based dive destination that is "newbie friendly" and then do a Live Aboard in an easy to dive location such as Belize (Belize Aggressor), Turks & Caicos Islands (Turks and Caicos Explorer II), or the Bahamas (Aquacat).

 

[shmuggy]

It all depends on you. After your first trips you will know if an ideal vacation for you is dive, dive dive or dive, nap, lunch with mai tai etc. You won't know until you have done some trips. Also, are you fit and confident? If you are not fit, Galapagos might not work well for you. If you are not confident, you should always be with guides until you are.

The more you dive, the better your air consumption will be as well as buoyancy control. There is no substitution for this IMO. AOW certification alone will not get that for you. A week on a LOB will increase your skill level faster but you don't want to do that if you will not enjoy yourself.

Let us know how it all goes. Hope you have a good time!

 

[Troponica]

1. Did you not consider yourself very lucky on this trip?
2. What would happen if the guide has other divers to take care of or simply not interested on your lack of skill?
3. How about if there is NO dive guide provided? Happened to me in Great Barrier Reef. It did not bother me but how about beginner divers?
4. Have you tried negative entry in your early day of diving?

I have done fair number of LoB and would never recommend it to beginner diver. Because I have seen divers sitting out the dive because of unfavourable condition for them. Waste of money?

I have also met divers who could not handle rough sailing even on a day boat.

1. Not a big fan of the concept of luck. But yes, I considered myself very lucky because of all the things I learned and for the experience in itself.
2. Hire a private guide or have an instructor or a divemaster join us (LDS organized group for the liveaboard, for instance).
3. Wouldn't have joined the liveaboard at all. Read the T&Cs as well as simply emailed and asked beforehand, explaining our level of experience.
4. Yes. It is actually my preferred type of entry.

And last but not least. No, it's not a waste of money. Having the maturity and self-awareness to sit out a dive is something you get taught while OW training, I believe, and it serves one well to see how one reacts to peer pressure. I sat out the night dive on the Thistlegorm and another one at the Brothers where I felt the current was too strong.

Just to clarify: I didn't mean to suggest OP should choose a random route in a random location they know nothing about for their first dive trip. Do some research, have some more experienced diver friends join you (maybe willing to babysit if needed), have a chat with the operator etc. But these are things they should be doing even for an on-shore based dive vacation, so I thought this goes without saying.
Regarding rough sailing, you are right, not for everyone. I'm biased, since I've been sailing for some time now and given the choice, I would always choose a boat over a hotel.

 

[CapnBloodbeard]

1. Did you not consider yourself very lucky on this trip?
2. What would happen if the guide has other divers to take care of or simply not interested on your lack of skill?
3. How about if there is NO dive guide provided? Happened to me in Great Barrier Reef. It did not bother me but how about beginner divers?
4. Have you tried negative entry in your early day of diving?

I have done fair number of LoB and would never recommend it to beginner diver. Because I have seen divers sitting out the dive because of unfavourable condition for them. Waste of money?

I have also met divers who could not handle rough sailing even on a day boat.

This comes down to knowing whats provided.

I'm doing GBR in October (fingers crossed), and they made it clear that some dives are unguided.

I've been on 1 liveaboard so far and would have no problem recommending them to newbies.

Every question you have applies equally to a dive resort.

As for your first question - LOB or resort, if they're providing a guide then they're being paid to accommodate the skill levels. That's why they try to roughly match up skill/experience levels.

 

[Centrals]

1. Interesting to know how many newbie would be happy for an unguided dive.
2. Only speaking from experience, some of the LoB that I have been are absolutely not suitable for inexperienced.
3. Not every Lob could match up diver skill/experience levels. They are first come first serve based.
4. You have to pay everything upfront on LoB. No such problem on resort based.

It is a learning curve, just like everything in life, one step at a time.

 

[peeweediver]

Interesting discussion. My thoughts center on the location as opposed to the living arrangements. Cocos or Socorro, not for the true newbie whether if was land based or not...I know there's no land based for those locations. My first live aboard was the Bay Island Aggressor after about 40 dives. Easy conditions, but even then I was not good the first few days on buoyancy control, etc. By day 5, I was much better and that carried over to future trips. My trips to Cocos and Socorro highlighted how tough it can be for newbies. Almost lost one in each location due to inability to deal with currents and not being observant of their air consumption at 90 feet. Both needed to be rescued by the dive guide with share air to the surface from 70 feet. There are a ton of great places for newbies to dive, some may have to wait another year, but they are great. Almost any live aboard in the Caribbean would be ok for a newbie and a great way to improve your skills. My concern now is the industry in general. The need to fill spots seems to be leading to inexperienced divers being allowed to book to tougher locations. Without naming anybody, recent experience was a newbie with only the certification dives being allowed on a live aboard in a tough location and the person being so bad as to require having a dive guide hold this persons hand, literally, for the entire trip. As the guide said, he had to do "Discover Scuba" for a week. I also worry about the state of instruction, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Rob

 

[Centrals]

My concern now is the industry in general. The need to fill spots seems to be leading to inexperienced divers being allowed to book to tougher locations. Without naming anybody, recent experience was a newbie with only the certification dives being allowed on a live aboard in a tough location and the person being so bad as to require having a dive guide hold this persons hand, literally, for the entire trip. As the guide said, he had to do "Discover Scuba" for a week. I also worry about the state of instruction, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Rob

They always need diver to book the spot.
I have no idea if boat operator ever actually turn away diver because of qualification.
I have seen "unsuitable" diver on LoB. Really hard time for the dive guide and other divers. No boat operator would have an extra diver to take care of them.
Some divers just over estimate their own ability.

 

[FishWatcher747]

Unless someone has experience with whether they are prone to sea sickness or not I think a liveaboard would be a lousy idea. I have been on morning 2 tank dive boats in Key Largo and half of the 16 or so customers are vomiting. Like turning green and not having fun. Linda Blair stuff. But most of them completed the dives.

Unlike liveaboards after 3.5 hours they got to get off the boat.

 

[Hoag]

Unless someone has experience with whether they are prone to sea sickness or not I think a liveaboard would be a lousy idea. I have been on morning 2 tank dive boats in Key Largo and half of the 16 or so customers are vomiting. Like turning green and not having fun. Linda Blair stuff. But most of them completed the dives.

Unlike liveaboards after 3.5 hours they got to get off the boat.

Yes, there are times on a Liveaboard when you might be stuck in rough seas for a prolonged time. This is especially the case if you hit a rough stretch in the transit to a destination such as Cocos, the Galapagos, Socorro, or Isla Guadeloupe. Not much can be done if it gets rough. Your post misses one of the big advantages of a LOB, if it is at the destination, it has the ability to relocate to find calmer water or better conditions. For a shore based trip, you are stuck in one location and you depart from and return to it no matter how rough the seas get. The only other option for a shore based trip is to sit out a day, but when push comes to shove, that isn't why you took the trip and people may choose to go diving despite the conditions.

 

[Centrals]

I was on a long day trip out from Phuket many yrs ago. One of the diver suffered badly on the way out and needed the guide to hold on to her so she could fed the fish! Of course she did not dive or took the lunch provided.

Imagine it is the 36hrs one way journey to Cocos Island(Costa Rica).