No one's mentioned the Marine Sanctuaries way out off the Texas coast?
I've been intrigued by the
Fling's offering before, but have never booked and scheduled a trip. A few things got in my way:
1.) I'd need to fly and while the
Fling has a strong reputation, weather often dictates cancellations. To minimize your risk you need to pay attention to season, and even then, no guarantees.
2.) In the past, I tended to see 2 or 3 night trips, so for my tastes, I'd be looking to book 2 back-to-back trips to get in a week's time. Judging from a glance at their online calendar just now, that's not always practical to do.
The OP is based in North Carolina.
With that in mind, I'll mention something that'd be of interest to many people looking at live-aboards. Some live-aboards, such as the Aggressors (in the Caribbean) and an Explorer Ventures boat (in the Galapagos) put a guide in the water. From other's reports, it's my understanding Blackbeards, the
Juliet and dive boats out of California tend not to do this. If I recall correctly, neither does the
Fling.
On the subject of live-aboards, historically Aggressor Fleet has tended to run an annual sale at over 30% off; I think last year it came out in early November? It's not worldwide, but tends to cover the Caribbean boats at least. I try to avoid playing list price for live-aboards.
Richard.