Which Liveaboard trip? Want world class diving?

[qwimjim]

I've done some land based diving here and there, have been to Cozumel in the Caribbean and will be headed to Hawaii in the fall. It's not a diving trip but I'll try to get 5-6 days of diving in over 3 weeks. But I've decided I'd rather do one awesome diving trip in the Pacific rather than 3 mediocre Caribbean trips. I'm a quality vs quantity type when it comes to travel. But where to go? Has anyone ever made a spreadsheet with all the liveaboards and prices?

What I'm after.. I like visibility, this is important. I like big stuff (whale sharks, sharks, mantas, dolphins, mola mola, etc..), the more the better, the closer the better. I like huge schools of fish, teaming marine life, bait balls, etc.. interesting topography is always nice. I am not a macro small critter type. I want sensory overload.

So where should I go? Galapogos? Cocos? Socorro? Palau? Maldives? Raja Ampat? Komodo? PNG? Fiji? Red Sea?

 

[photog]

I made a chart, but only for Raja Ampat! I saw another post where you asked about divers favorite destinations AND their experience. That's smart.

Definitely you need to decide if you want big stuff, or variety. For variety & diversity, Indonesia is amazing - Raja Ampat always my favorite by far, but Komodo good too.

Galapagos, Cocos, etc. offer a different sort of diving - if that is what you want you sure shouldn't end up looking at corals, fishes & critters in Indonesia, PNG, Fiji, etc. I once had a fellow come on one of my Raja Ampat trips who expected Cocos-style diving. The rest of the group were having an incredible time, but the one fellow was just... in the wrong place...

What about 1 trip each year and try one of each style?

 

[diversteve]

Socorro:



Recent trip video:



Solmar publishes a weekly trip video also: solmar v trip report - YouTube It's not canned, it's what they saw that week.

I don't know if they see Mola out there but you can sometimes see those off Catalina (SoCal) for a lot less money.

It's on my short list also. You'll probably need to book at least a year in advance also.

 

[RJP]

In many places "visibility" and "big stuff" doesn't always go together. Especially if you want "lots of big stuff." Lots of big stuff requires lots of food. Lots of food requires water that is high in nutrients. Water that is high in nutrients tends to be low in visibility. For instance in the Galapagos Islands we maybe had 40ft of viz, 50ft at the best. But we saw HUNDREDS of sharks on every dive.

Lots of mantas, turtles, dolphins, and of course whalesharks...

 

[qwimjim]

Socorro looks great, it seems like Galapogos lite at half the price with Mantas? But I had read some trip reports that were less than enthusiastic, long boat ride to get there, diving hit and miss, sometimes terrible visibility? I'd hate to go to that much trouble and expense and it be a crap shoot.

I like big stuff but I also like shallow colourful aquarium diving with amazing visibility where there's fish -everywhere-. It's just I prefer big stuff, but ideally would be a place where you can have both. I'm not into hunting for nudibranchs and macro photography but I still love diving shallow reefs with lots of marine life.

Palau seemed like and interesting halfway between the two but looking at videos they all kind of looked the same. Reef hook on the edge of a wall and watch the action out in the blue 50-100 feet away. It never seemed like the divers were immersed in the action, and in some videos it looked like there was 30+ divers on the same site! But then unlike Socorro, I haven't read a single negative review of Palau

 

[KeithG]

Anywhere?

Bait balls, Bonaire & dominica
whale sharks, Roatan and PNG
Dolphins, t$c and Hawaii
topography, saba
sensory overload IS macro

Every place is different. No single place offers everything.

 

[sphyrnidus]

Tons of fish, beautiful corals, sharks incl whal, manta, mola: the South of the Maldives. Most liveaboards stay in the North, but the South is far better. It does take some travelling however as the country is 1100 mile top to bottom. But it was one of the best diving experiences of the 20 liveaboards I've done these last ten years.

 

[diversteve]

Socorro is an all day boat ride - they leave from Cabo San Lucas. And it can be rough since you're going several hundred miles in the open ocean in winter. I've read trip reports where people take dramamine and sleeping pills and wake up there.

As far as the visibility, look at some of the trip report videos I linked to and decide for yourself. It's pretty apparent that it's variable - even during the same trip. If you want big stuff - the visibiility often suffers. Whale Sharks and Mantas typically only swim in plankton filled water - it's what they eat. I've heard Cocos and the Galapagos can also have bad days/weeks - no personal experience. IIRC even Howard Hall commented on poor visibility in Shark Mountain - filmed off Cocos.

I have to agree with the above poster, most of what you want is in the Maldives. Including crystal clear water from what I've seen. And the coral reefs are among the best in the world also for smaller stuff. My standard comment is that it's one of two places in the world that I know of where the Four Seasons also has an upscale liveaboard operation. They must know something...

There's a DVD on Amazon called The Worlds Best Dive Destinations. While I don't agree with all of them, it does give you 10 mins. of many locations. I tend to be a visual person and not go a lot on what I've read so I like to see video of a region. Part of the problem I've found with reading reviews is that most people who were happy don't comment but someone who had a perceived problem sure does.

 

[qwimjim]

To whoever suggested one liveaboard trip a year to try out different places, I wish! Cost aside, with a one year old at home and another on the way the fact that I would be able to go for a week to self indulge is a near miracle

Looks like there's no obvious choice, though the Maldives sounds interesting. Galapogos is out simply because of the cost, if I went that far I would want equal time on land so that's easily a $10,000 per person trip.. maybe when the kids are in college

There are a lot of liveaboards in the Caribbean, and they're not cheap, why do people go on them? For instance a week on the Cayman Aggressor is $2,800.. or $2,700 for Belize.. whereas 9 days on a Socorro liveaboard is only $500 more at $3300, and airfare within North America is pretty much the same, or at least from the northeast. Or a liveaboard in the Red Sea (Egypt/Sudan) looks to be about $1,700. Even with the added cost of airfare it still works out to be cheaper than a liveaboard in Belize or the Caymans? What am I missing?

---------- Post added February 14th, 2014 at 09:28 AM ----------

Sounds like we like the same type of diving: High Voltage! Give Komodo a GO.

Hah yes that's a great way to describe what I'm looking for

 

[ronscuba]

There are a lot of liveaboards in the Caribbean, and they're not cheap, why do people go on them? For instance a week on the Cayman Aggressor is $2,800.. or $2,700 for Belize.. whereas 9 days on a Socorro liveaboard is only $500 more at $3300, and airfare within North America is pretty much the same, or at least from the northeast. Or a liveaboard in the Red Sea (Egypt/Sudan) looks to be about $1,700. Even with the added cost of airfare it still works out to be cheaper than a liveaboard in Belize or the Caymans? What am I missing?


---------- Post added February 14th, 2014 at 09:28 AM ----------



Hah yes that's a great way to describe what I'm looking for

The Caribbean is popular for us because it is quick, easy to get to and flights are more affordable. Even if flights are comparable in cost, time is a factor.

Typical vacation for Americans is 1 week. If it takes more than 12 hours travel door to door each way, it will be hard to do a liveaboard in 1 week.