Any last-minute liveaboard deals?

[gfb]

Wife and I are looking for a vacation, 7days, 3 dives a day sounds just right.

Nothing too pricey as the economy is tight, but we have some frequent flyer miles to spend so distance is not a problem.

Preferences:
- reasonably comfortable, not camping-at-sea please
- not too expensive, have I mentioned the economy yet?
- nice wrecks!
- 5+ days, up to 2 weeks.
- Warm & sunny, though do note that it is currently 18deg F where we live, so anything above freezing sounds great.

We can leave this weekend assuming flights are available.

 

[diversteve]

Most liveaboards are booked full months in advance. But with the economy the way it is now???

Belize - the Sun Dancer is $1895pp all year - plus about $100 in port/fuel charges. Fly to BZE - they'll pick you up at the airport.

What's Pricey? The Aggressors - (Kona, Utila, Cayman) might be an option. They're about $2600-2700pp.

Explorer is running one boat on their Eastern Caribbean trip now - Saba, St, Kitts, St. Maarten. It's also $1895 but you have to fly into St. Maarten and out of St. Kitts - or vice-versa - they run the boat back and forth. A quick check shows they're booked this weekend - looks like space may be available on 2/5. Their other Caribbean boat is doing the Whales of the Silverbank now - it's more whale watching than diving.

You might also check with Aquacat - it's about $2200+ pp.

One last option might be Cat Ppalu - it's about $1750pp. They may have space if their charter doesn't take the whole boat.

Most of these you'll have to pick which 3 of 5 dives you want to do per day. Aquacat and Cat Ppalu might have some afternoon shore excursions or kayaking etc...both are out of Nassau so pretty easy to get to.

IIRC Aquacat will be your best choice for wrecks. Or the Cayman Aggressor. They all list detailed itineraries on their websites - down to the dive site and what you'll find.

All of them are better than "camping" - that's Blackbeards...lol. Cat PPalu has shared heads, all the others are en-suite. On some of them you have to upgrade to an "upstairs" cabin to get a window - not a porthole.

This close I'd call them all. In my experience they don't always respond to e-mail/reservation requests on their website immediately.

Links: (had them all bookmarked)

Explorer Ventures: Adventures in Live-Aboard Diving
Aggressor Fleet | The ultimate in live-aboards since 1984
Scuba Diving LiveAboard Excellence
Aqua Cat Cruises Scuba Diving Bahamas Liveaboard
www.catppalu.com

 

[Quero]

We've got last minute liveaboards in Thailand right now. Interested?

 

[Kevrumbo]

This last minute opening is one worth going into debt for:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...palau-dive-trip-april-2011-a.html#post5696291

 

[gfb]

Thanks for the responses folks, I am reaching out to some of those to find out if they have any fantastic last-minute deals going on

Steve, to your questions and my allusion to camping at sea, you hit it on the nail. Blackbeards was fantastic last year, would do it over and over and over, but we had a pretty rough past couple of months and could use a little pampering. Thinking of doing blackbeards again in the summer though!

As to cost, we would prefer to spend less than $2k/pp not including airfare...

 

[Misa]

Egypt > Red Sea > aprox 800-900 usd/pp depends on where you will go. Just dont go there now...since there is a problem with the riots they have now.

Ecuador, QUito > Galapagos - and do shore dives there. Really worth the trouble but the 2 best spots to dive there are in the route of the liveaboards.

 

[gfb]

Good poing on Egypt, insane to go until their problems get sorted out.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Update & still available:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...palau-dive-trip-april-2011-a.html#post5696291

Get a loan --and go on this trip!!!

 

[capt539]

I have a group Liveaboard trip to Malaysia's famous Sipadan and Mabul islands in April We will be aboard the MV CELEBES EXPLORER for a 10 day dive tour which will include the best diving this remote region of Malaysia has to offer.

Due to a couple of recent cancellations, you can join this group photo tour for a discounted price of $2500/person. This is over $1000/pp off the original price of the 10 day trip and also includes 2 nights stay in a Kota Kinabalu hotel and your domestic flight from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, value of an additional $500/ea.

We are also guaranteed to dive Sipadan on up to 6 different days and will be able to explore Mabul and 3 additional islands. This tour will also include professional U/W photography instruction based on each individual skill level.

For lots more you can check out the web site at bluekirio com go to destinations and click through to Malaysia. (FYI..I didn't put in links due to the this forum won't allow it till after 5 post)

You can contact me via email diving @ bluekirio com

 

[RJP]

Update & still available:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...palau-dive-trip-april-2011-a.html#post5696291

Get a loan --and go on this trip!!!

I'd need to get a divorce lawyer if I did that trip... again!