Best live-aboard experience for under $2300 (Mexico or South Pacific) - opinions?

[NW_DiverDude]

In your opinion, what is the best live-aboard option (at least one full week) in Mexico or the South Pacific where the cost is less than $2300 per diver and the likelihood of seeing Whale Sharks is extremely high during either February or March?

Description of your experience, why it was the best, names of live-aboard operators, links, etc. please.



NW DiverDude

 

[pickens_46929]

Have you been out on the Solmar V?

Socorro Liveaboard diving aboard Solmar V - Giant Mantas, Sharks and Humpback Whales at the Socorro Islands and Sea of Cortez

 

[Rhone Man]

If you absolutely have to see Whale Sharks, it is not a liveaboard but your best bet may be Sogod Bay in Cebu (Philippines). They have a tame one which lives in the bay, which pretty much guarantees that you get to see it. You can always tack that on as an extra day or two to a conventional Liveaboard in the region. But Philippines is a long way from SeaTac.

 

[diversteve]

Solmar starts at $3199pp. Plus from their website:

Whale sharks are a special treat at the islands, they find us in November/December and late April/May.

So wrong time for the OP also:

the likelihood of seeing Whale Sharks is extremely high during either February or March?

Rocio Del Mar is $3195 and Baja Aggressor is $2895. All seem to substantially exceed the OP's:

Best live-aboard experience for under $2300

If you've got more than a week, Sundancer II in Belize is $1895pp. But they don't go anywhere near Gladden Spit so chances of seeing a Whaleshark are remote. If you can do a liveaboard trip first, followed by a couple of days of Whale shark diving it's probably the only sub-$2500 option.

But it's not Mexico.

You could follow the LOB trip with a few shore days in Placencia - the 2012 dates for seeing/diving with Whale sharks are March 8-18th according to Splash Divers. And maybe not - by the time you add in the local flights, accommodations and diving it's likely more $$.

 

[Doubler]

South Pacific would be the Kona Aggressor which is within your price range. Will 95% for sure see Manta,s and 95% hear humpbacks, might also see a few, Whale sharks would be extremely unlikely.

 

[octopuppy]

Here's an option in Baja. Loved the Don Jose with Baja Expeditions. But...it's May/June. Spotter planes will find the Whale Sharks. Food outstanding.

 

[ocdiver1]

The Socorros, if you catch a special discount or last minute departure with space to get the price down. Sea Escape is a boat I've been on twice that typically carries the lowest stated price of the boats that go. Caught a whaleshark on my first trip with them in January, not on my second which was in December...although I understand the best time to see them is earlier in the season. Awesome trip for "big stuff," but you'd still have to be lucky to see a whale shark. Can't think of anywhere you're likely to see one in Feb/March, any destination with that price range otherwise

 

[NW_DiverDude]

Thanks for the responses to this point - still hoping to get feedback from some more divers with additional insight.

The reason that I want to target specific locations where the likelihood of seeing whale Sharks is very high is that luck just has not worked in more than 30 years of diving. I was diving from a live-aboard this February in Palau (Micronesia) where there is a fair chance of seeing them but it was not to be. I have been to Roatan 3 times over the years, no luck there. Belize, Cabo Pulmo, Cozumel, Kona, lots of other islands in the Caribbean and Hawaii... Lots of Manta Rays, Sharks, etc but not the big guy. The reason for targeting February or March is that I have not been diving since September and I need to go sooner than later (as all you other type-A divers know).

I do plan on going to the Socorro Islands at some point in the next few years but not early in 2012 since that is not when the odds of swimming with whale sharks is best.

Going to the Philippines is not out of the question but if there is just one "pet" in the bay, there would be no real reason to spend the money for a live-aboard trip. If I decide to go with just a land based dive trip I will probably go to Utila (Honduras) since whale sharks are reportedly very common there in the March/April time frame. My hope was to find something far more adventurous and exciting that I was not aware of and through this forum providing other divers with access to the feedback that will help me plan my next trip.

Please keep the opinions and feedback coming in and when I find the right place and experience the diving, I will write up a trip report for everyone to read.


Thx,

NW DiverDude

 

[ocdiver1]

Go to Isla Holbox (near Cancun) July-September. You'll likely see 20 or more as I have each of the year's I've gone there. Only thing is you can only snorkle with them, not dive.

 

[NW_DiverDude]

Go to Isla Holbox (near Cancun) July-September. You'll likely see 20 or more as I have each of the year's I've gone there. Only thing is you can only snorkle with them, not dive.

Thank you for your thoughts ocdiver1 - Isla Holbox is definitely on my todo list (and yes I realize that we can only snorkel/skin dive with whale sharks). I am still looking for somewhere to dive in the February/March timeframe where I can also snorkel with whale sharks at least once during my trip. Maybe I will simply have to wait until I get to either Isla Holbox or Utila sometime in the future - I was just really looking for another live-aboard trip early in 2012 that was very likely to cross paths with whale sharks. Of course we do not always get what we want.

NW_D