Question My biggest fear (on my first liveaboard trip).

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Anyway, I'm sure there are novice divers who do a Galapagos liveaboard and do just fine, but I don't think they're the majority. For most of us, the Galapagos is a milestone in our diving career.

When I went to the Galapagos in 2021 the only spot on our boat that wasnt taken by our shop was occupied by a young lady who had just learned to dive (in the Galapagos) and had ~10 dives, all there. I think that is why they let her on the boat (also COVID and needing to fill it). She did great and asked a ton of smart questions. So it is possible, but if your reference is the Caribbean, probably a little more difficult.

Also, the currents were not that bad, once you learned how to manage them. It was actually often more the surge in the rocks that got you, but once you learned to ride it, all good. Didnt need a dry suit, but I can see how some might enjoy that.

All in all, this is getting to be a long winded way of saying the Galapagos rocks and I want to go back, but will probably wait until my child is old enough.
 
As far as being able to do other things, I am a huge fan of extending a liveaboard trip by staying on land at least a night before and several nights after the boat. Before lets you start to chill, possibly fly at a more civilized hour, and reduce any chance of missing the boat or luggage. Adding land time gives you the opportunity to wander, shop, relax, whatever. Also beats the heck out of rushing to get dried out and packed for travel, leaving a liveaboard early morning to sit around an airport. Instead, you can be leisurely and enjoying umbrella drinks around a pool that afternoon.

But as everyone says, there is not much time to be bored on any liveaboard. If there is extra time it gets occupied with napping, puttering with gear, or hanging out telling fish tales with like-minded people. Sometimes games or movies depending on the boat. Watching the sunset. Lots of things.

The Aquacat is a great liveaboard choice for beginners if you want to have some other things to do, they usually offer at least daily excursions - some you’ll miss a dive some not. Well run and roomy, you’ll get spoiled. I don’t think the diving in the Bahamas is that great as far as reefs, but they know how to make the most of the area. And yeah it tends to be booked far ahead because it’s all around good. Also relatively easy and inexpensive to get to doesn’t hurt.
 
Oh and my first liveaboard was the Turks and Caicos Explorer. I only had 25 dives and it was a great experience! No land excursions but I generally don't like those since I'm usually wishing I was rather in the water.

Whatever liveaboard you choose just let the cruise director know that you only have a handful of dives and are looking for as much feedback/tips as possible. Also I'd honestly recommend switching buddies for a day or so. I always learn more from watching more experienced divers and listening to their perspective.
We did this liveaboard last month and we had an amazing time. Food was great, crew were great. 27 dives over the week. I wasn't an ironman diver but did over 20. You won't be bored between eating, sleeping and diving. This trip would be good for divers with not a ton of experience I would say. Shark activity was a lot of Caribbean Reef and Nurse Sharks.
 
Lots of good helpful information in this thread. Regardless of your age, a live aboard is a great experience, if you love to dive. The key is experience and comfort in the water. When my wife and I started doing live aboards, were some of the youngest on the boat and now we are some of the oldest. Life goes on... I doubt you will be bored, but I always load up my Kindle. Just another trip idea, Wakotobe. It's in Indonesia and you can do their live aboard for a week or dive from their resort for a week, or do as we did and do both. Both are great.
 
I just got back from my second trip to Galapagos (see my Trip review) on March 16, 2024. Our first was in 2015, when my wife and I had 14 dives under our belts. But, we both grew up on the water, and I surfed every day in SoCal. So although we weren't "intimidated" by the diving, we didn't have the basic skills and experience to troubleshoot problems underwater, dial in our buoyancy well and tended (in retrospect) to treat it like we were diving in Belize. We weren't. My wife got into trouble at depth from hypothermia and thought she could breathe without her reg in. Luckily, a DM was with her, recognized that something was wrong and brought her up to a better depth. I, on the other hand, didn't have great air consumption, but thought I handled the dives like a pro (but of course, if I had been a pro, I would have been right next to my wife and not watching a moray or something). It was cold, especially below the thermocline, down to about 60F, so it was pretty nippy. I used a 3/2 with a 3mm vest and hood, which was good for all but the coldest dives. The viz was good and the diving was epic. Fast forward to this year. 10 liveaboards, Rescue Diver cert, SSI Dive Master cert. and more than 500 dives under our belts, we went back. The viz was terrible -- 25-30 ft. The surge in the shallower dives was challenging, and on the best dives, Wolf and Darwin, the current was ripping and we had to hang on for dear life. On the deeper dives at Wolf, the temp was 60F and I used a 7mm wetsuit over a Sharkskin T2. I was toasty with that. But we couldn't see more than a shadowy outline of a hammerhead although a couple of reef sharks got within 25 ft. I loved it because it was great experience at dealing with adverse conditions, especially current and surge and sticking with your buddy and the DM had me lead the group a couple of times because someone who definitely shouldn't have been there needed one on one supervision, so I got some good experience keeping track of everyone in challenging conditions, although we were all pretty to very experienced divers.

We have been all over the world diving on liveaboards (Red Sea, Palau, Raja Ampat, Papua New Guinea, Komodo National Park, Turks & Caicos, Belize, St. Kitts, etc). A liveaboard is the way to go because you are at different dive sites all the time -- many of which are too inconvenient to reach from shore, there's lots of diving, and there's no travel time aboard a small boat from shore to some dive site. My advice is to do the Turks & Caicos Aggressor, or perhaps the St. Kitts/Saba liveaboards. They are great. Belize Aggressor is good but skip the Blue Hole, unless you want to go down to 150ft for 3 minutes for bragging rights and see absolutely nothing. I have never been bored on a liveaboard, ever. Eat Dive Sleep Repeat. 4-5 dives a day, and you will be definitely looking to dive the "bed reef." FYI, you must get Nitrox. If you do 4 dives a day on air, you will be hitting your NDL and depending on your dive computer, may be locked out for 24 hrs. Both of those liveaboards are fun, the diving is good, viz is usually good, not a lot of current to sweep you far away from the boat, and easy to get to from the states, unlike my absolute fav dive spot in the world, Lembeh Straits, where I go for at least 2-3 weeks and takes two days to get to.
 
I just got back from my second trip to Galapagos (see my Trip review) on March 16, 2024. Our first was in 2015, when my wife and I had 14 dives under our belts. But, we both grew up on the water, and I surfed every day in SoCal. So although we weren't "intimidated" by the diving, we didn't have the basic skills and experience to troubleshoot problems underwater, dial in our buoyancy well and tended (in retrospect) to treat it like we were diving in Belize. We weren't. My wife got into trouble at depth from hypothermia and thought she could breathe without her reg in. Luckily, a DM was with her, recognized that something was wrong and brought her up to a better depth. I, on the other hand, didn't have great air consumption, but thought I handled the dives like a pro (but of course, if I had been a pro, I would have been right next to my wife and not watching a moray or something). It was cold, especially below the thermocline, down to about 60F, so it was pretty nippy. I used a 3/2 with a 3mm vest and hood, which was good for all but the coldest dives. The viz was good and the diving was epic. Fast forward to this year. 10 liveaboards, Rescue Diver cert, SSI Dive Master cert. and more than 500 dives under our belts, we went back. The viz was terrible -- 25-30 ft. The surge in the shallower dives was challenging, and on the best dives, Wolf and Darwin, the current was ripping and we had to hang on for dear life. On the deeper dives at Wolf, the temp was 60F and I used a 7mm wetsuit over a Sharkskin T2. I was toasty with that. But we couldn't see more than a shadowy outline of a hammerhead although a couple of reef sharks got within 25 ft. I loved it because it was great experience at dealing with adverse conditions, especially current and surge and sticking with your buddy and the DM had me lead the group a couple of times because someone who definitely shouldn't have been there needed one on one supervision, so I got some good experience keeping track of everyone in challenging conditions, although we were all pretty to very experienced divers.

We have been all over the world diving on liveaboards (Red Sea, Palau, Raja Ampat, Papua New Guinea, Komodo National Park, Turks & Caicos, Belize, St. Kitts, etc). A liveaboard is the way to go because you are at different dive sites all the time -- many of which are too inconvenient to reach from shore, there's lots of diving, and there's no travel time aboard a small boat from shore to some dive site. My advice is to do the Turks & Caicos Aggressor, or perhaps the St. Kitts/Saba liveaboards. They are great. Belize Aggressor is good but skip the Blue Hole, unless you want to go down to 150ft for 3 minutes for bragging rights and see absolutely nothing. I have never been bored on a liveaboard, ever. Eat Dive Sleep Repeat. 4-5 dives a day, and you will be definitely looking to dive the "bed reef." FYI, you must get Nitrox. If you do 4 dives a day on air, you will be hitting your NDL and depending on your dive computer, may be locked out for 24 hrs. Both of those liveaboards are fun, the diving is good, viz is usually good, not a lot of current to sweep you far away from the boat, and easy to get to from the states, unlike my absolute fav dive spot in the world, Lembeh Straits, where I go for at least 2-3 weeks and takes two days to get to.
Good info. But the Turks and Caicos Explorer is a vastly nicer boat than the aggressor and considerably cheaper and they both do the same sites.
 
Late to this party and on all of the liveaboards I have been on, dives were each different experiences and, as mentioned, there was little time for boredom if you do most or all of the dives.

However, if you want to guarantee no downtime, bring an underwater camera. Between setting it up for dives, charging and installing fresh batteries and reviewing your pics, there won't be enough time.
 
If you are concerned about being bored on a LOB, as mentioned above, I'd look at a Caribbean resort. Little Cayman Beach Resort, Cayman Brac, Anthony's Key, Buddy Dive Bonaire, LionsDive Curacao, Captain Don's Bonaire. I'm not a big fan of some of the Roatan resorts simply because of the biting sand flies. Some folks get eaten alive, my wife for one. Maybe Blackbird Caye or Huracan Resort in Belize. There are a lot of cool land based resorts for a lot less money than the Galapagos if budget is an issue.
 

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