Manta Queen liveaboard, nice?

[stevenl]

Manta Queen is a typical backpacker boat, with not that many experienced guests, and therefor also not that many guests diving with Nitrox. On Manta Queen nitrox is cheaper than on most other boats, where prices up to 350 baht per tank are not exceptional.
We would love to make Nitrox cheaper here, but with the prices for a membrame system or if partial blending for oxygen that simply is not feasible.

 

[eelnoraa]

I will be onboard Manta Queen 2 in a few days. I wonder what kind of electricity plugs are onboard? My charging devices are all with North America plug (2 flats or 2 flats with rounded ground post), do I need to get some converter? And do people usually bring laptop on live aboard in general? My main purpose of laptop is to back up video and photo, free up memery card the the later dives. If laptop is not prefer, how do people do it?

 

[Quero]

I usually take a power strip along to charge all my stuff (camera batteries, strobe batteries, laptop, phone, etc.). If you get the kind of power strip that has "universal" outlets, you can plug in anything you like. Most of the outlets in Thailand accept multiple sorts of plugs--two flat prongs; two flat plus round ground pin; two round pins. It would make sense to bring an adapter for two flat outlets, just in case the one you're trying to plug your power strip into doesn't have the hole for the ground pin.

 

[stevenl]

ou can use your plus without problems. And laptops are very commonly used aboard liveaboards, for precisely the purposes you're using it. I would be very surprised if not all guides bring their own laptop.

 

[Taliena]

ok, if we (150+ and 350+ dives) book this boat, we can go diving on our own. The boat is ok, but not luxery, food is ok. Basic boat, but nice crew. Sounds ok for us
We are maybe a little bit old for backpacking (40),but, we think like young people

 

[lord khram]

do a lot of guests using Nitrox?
At home I always dive with nitrox, but thats really expensive on the manta queen (I pay at home for a whole year filling my twinset (D12) the same price as in Thailand for only 14 dives).
Further, it sounds ok to stay on de Manta Queen.

Most things related to diving are more expensive in Thailand than they are in Europe.
With reference to the use of nitrox, aside from the personal benefits of using nitrox on repetative dives, if every member of your group are not using nitrox there is little point in using it yourself.
Just one more benefit of diving with your own buddy as opposed to the guided group. You have full control over your own dive times and deco requirements.
Why pay extra for use of nitrox to then conduct your dives to NDL's based on breathing air?

 

[Taliena]

Most things related to diving are more expensive in Thailand than they are in Europe.
With reference to the use of nitrox, aside from the personal benefits of using nitrox on repetative dives, if every member of your group are not using nitrox there is little point in using it yourself.
Just one more benefit of diving with your own buddy as opposed to the guided group. You have full control over your own dive times and deco requirements.
Why pay extra for use of nitrox to then conduct your dives to NDL's based on breathing air?

Here the same thoughts. For deeper dives (25-40m), nitrox (28-36%) can be usefull for the longer ndl's, or the last day (the trip we found will finish 24 hours before our flight to Hongkong will depart). But do we know the possible depth of a dive to decide to use nitrox or not? Or do we know the total dayprogramm? And is it possible to make multilevel dives or are all divesites starting at 15+m depth? (then your stops are boring, nothing to see at 12-3m). All this factors are needed to make a good choice of gas (nitrox/air) and the depths of your dive.
For example if you dive on a wreck of 32m. on air, everybody knows that a no-deco dive is impossible, so in this case I prefer using nitrox (and mostly it will be a decodive too, but with 32% you have 30 minutes no-deco on 30m depth).
To make a decompression dive is normally not a problem, but in this situation with 4 dives a day, we don't prefer this.

 

[stevenl]

Here the same thoughts. For deeper dives (25-40m), nitrox (28-36%) can be usefull for the longer ndl's, or the last day (the trip we found will finish 24 hours before our flight to Hongkong will depart). But do we know the possible depth of a dive to decide to use nitrox or not? Or do we know the total dayprogramm? And is it possible to make multilevel dives or are all divesites starting at 15+m depth? (then your stops are boring, nothing to see at 12-3m). All this factors are needed to make a good choice of gas (nitrox/air) and the depths of your dive.
For example if you dive on a wreck of 32m. on air, everybody knows that a no-deco dive is impossible, so in this case I prefer using nitrox (and mostly it will be a decodive too, but with 32% you have 30 minutes no-deco on 30m depth).
To make a decompression dive is normally not a problem, but in this situation with 4 dives a day, we don't prefer this.

The tourleader can inform you the day before about the depth of the first dive of the day, and quite often also about the depths of the other dives. With a few exceptions the dives will be multilevel.
Considering the pricing, I would recommend a package whereby you make all 14 dives on Nitrox for the price of 10.

On board Manta Queen, and nearly all other general liveaboards in the area, decompression diving is not allowed.

 

[Taliena]

The tourleader can inform you the day before about the depth of the first dive of the day, and quite often also about the depths of the other dives. With a few exceptions the dives will be multilevel.
Considering the pricing, I would recommend a package whereby you make all 14 dives on Nitrox for the price of 10.

On board Manta Queen, and nearly all other general liveaboards in the area, decompression diving is not allowed.

Ok. We think about it.
Multilevel is in this case nice. 4 dives a day is a lot, but we think it will be a nice trip to the similans.

 

[lord khram]

On board Manta Queen, and nearly all other general liveaboards in the area, decompression diving is not allowed.

If deco diving is not allowed. (and I fail to see why it should not be allowed for divers with the correct training and experience) This surely is the reason behind using nitrox? But it must be used correctly and in the correct mixture for each individual dive to obtain the maximum benefits, which involves accurate dive planning and sticking to the plan, then in such cases I doubt if anyone on a single cylinder dive would be carrying sufficient gas to actually go into a deco situation even on repetative dives.
All too often in such situations I have found that selling nitrox has turned into just another way of operators making money because quite often it's use is not being applied correctly to gain maximum advantage on the dives.
The last time I elected to use nitrox on a liveaboard I was simply given the same mix on every dive, was not given a choice of mix, and the dive briefing simply stated 'we cannot exceed a certain depth because of the nitrox mix'. In such cases other than maybe feeling less tired at the end of your days diving there is little advantage to your actual dives by using nitrox.