Best diving on a liveaboard hands down is....

[diversteve]

wherever the best liveaboard diving is

in no order:

Galapagos
Cocos Island
Socorros
Maldives
French Polynesia
Wakatobi
Komodo
Raja Ampat
Pulau Weh
Palau
Red Sea

should all be considered the best for something. Depends what you're looking for.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Diversteve, you've been to each of those locations? Are you able to tell us about what each offered you and how you felt about the boats you were on?

 

[diversteve]

Diversteve, you've been to each of those locations? Are you able to tell us about what each offered you and how you felt about the boats you were on?

Really, you need to get a life instead of following me around harassing me.

Nowhere did I suggest that's I've been to any of these locations.

Only a moron would not understand that these are generally among the best liveaboard dive locations.

I assume you're not one so therefore why cause this drama?

 

[hilljo88]

Paul Gaugin: in my opinion, its a great choice if you want to do a few dives, but are travelling with someone who doesn't dive.The dives dont measure up with the best Pacific locations, but are still pretty good. If you want 4/5 dives per day, this is not the boat for you.

Galapagos: we had a great time on Humboldt Explorer. Definitely bucket list trip. Conditions can be challenging, especially strong currents. There were some very inexperienced divers in our group, but they handled it well. Still, I would be hesitant to recommend this trip for a diver still developing his skills.

 

[KathyV]

...We commonly use the Belize Dancer, T&C Explorer and the Saba Explorer for our close to home jaunts where we focus on macro creatures...

I don't agree that the T&C liveaboards are a good option for finding macro creatures. I have taken 2 liveaboard trips in the T&Cs and I think that they are a good location to see large creatures (sharks, eagle rays, turtles) and dramatic walls.

 

[diving4ever]

Really, you need to get a life instead of following me around harassing me.

Nowhere did I suggest that's I've been to any of these locations.

Only a moron would not understand that these are generally among the best liveaboard dive locations.

I assume you're not one so therefore why cause this drama?

I totally get that you are sharing general info DiverSteve and I'm not trying to give you a hardtime about that. Well, at least not a disproportionate hard time. But I wanted to say that until recently, I would have assumed from your post that you had personal knowledge or had travelled to all or most of these places. You may not take my word for it, but I am not a moron (at least after 2 cups of coffee). For all I know you own an LDS and run group trips or have Silicon Valley money . Candidly, I knew that wasn't the case because I witnessed this issue come up in a different thread a few days ago. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

 

[drrich2]

When you think about it, it's hard to give an across the board comprehensive account from 1st hand experience, enough to declare who is currently 'the best.' You could say the best I've done, the best I've heard of, the best me & my buddies came up with comparing notes...

There are a few folks who have what, to me, would be an extensive personal live-aboard experience. Hintermann has had 19 (I doubt I'll match it by the time I'm dead!). But if I were really critical, I'd ask how many were really recent? How many have seen boat modifications, crew turn over, changes in the competition, etc…? Are all still up & running with the same management? Yet experience like his, TS&M's & some other folks is probably about as good as we can get.

I've never been to any of the sites DiverSteve listed, but I recognize several as highly praised. The only one I don't recognize is Pulau Weh.

I think his list is a good destination list to explore. Anyone wanting 1st hand accounts from those who've been should have no trouble finding them. I read such threads for my 'maybe someday' bucket list aspirations, in case my place in life (working dude with a wife & toddler) changes enough to get out farther afield for longer someday.

I still want to know from the original poster what he wants to see. Mainly lush, beautiful coral reefs? Big animals? If so, whale sharks, other big sharks, dolphin, sea lions, schools of hammerheads, what?

Does this have to be all one trip? Where are you flying out of? If you want a single trip marathon flight to deplete a huge accumulation of miles, and you fancy spending 2 days+ flying there & about the same back, that's one thing. But if you don't 'want' long plane rides, & are just saying flight costs are no problem, that's different. Do these miles expire soon?

Some places, like Komodo, have a reputation for current. Have you dove in current much? I hear the Galapagos is rather cold water diving; do you want warm?

What's your comfort level going to foreign places? Have you done a live-aboard before? If the travel time is long there & back, would you want to do a live-aboard longer than 7 days? Or maybe a live-aboard following by a land resort? Just how much time can you invest in this?

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

We have taken more than a dozen liveaboard trips but, as Rich says, some of them were years ago, the most recent was the T&C Aggressor in 2013. I can tell you that we have had consistent good service and great diving with the Aggressor boats and that is our favorite liveabord operator. They are not cheap but they do have specials and after you take a trip with them you also qualify for Dive the World weeks that are 25% off per diver. Here is a list of their current specials, take a look at what is available and maybe something will appeal to you.

https://www.aggressor.com/specials.php

 

[KeithG]

I don't agree that the T&C liveaboards are a good option for finding macro creatures. I have taken 2 liveaboard trips in the T&Cs and I think that they are a good location to see large creatures (sharks, eagle rays, turtles) and dramatic walls.

I agree the T&CD is good for walls and big creatures.

BUT: if you slow down, there is lots of macro to be found:
Headshield Slug | www.kengiffen.com
Pipe Horse | www.kengiffen.com
Nudibranch | www.kengiffen.com
Star Eyed Hermit Crab | www.kengiffen.com

---------- Post added June 12th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ----------

Really, you need to get a life instead of following me around harassing me.

You mean SB is not real life?

Next thing you will be slagging Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and the easter bunny.

Say it isn't so!

 

[ronscuba]

Question was best liveaboard diving hands down. As much as I like diving in the Caribbean, it falls very short of the best diving in the world.