Best LOB destination for inexperienced diver, looking for colorful reefs and lots of fish

[thejadeape]

My 13 year-old diver recently got OW certified (Junior OW to be more precise). She had done a total of 15 dives, all in the Red Sea near Hurghada. My wife and I are experienced divers with 100+ dives in many locations around the world over the course of 30+ years of diving.

My daughter loves diving and loves being on the boat. She keeps bugging us to do a liveaboard trip. My wife have only ever done one LOB and that was a 10-day trip on the north and south of Komodo back in 2010.

I want my daughter to be safe above all else, but also I don’t want to push her too fast and make diving stressful or scary. She has never done a negatively buoyant entry or even done very much current. She has done a back roll entry off of a zodiac where we all had to gear up, get on the edge and get in quickly and descend quickly (it was a during dive) and she did wonderfully. Her entries, trim, buoyancy and overall awareness were better than half of the dives we did. She has lots of room for improvement, but she is a genuinely able diver. Obviously, as a JOW diver she is limited to 60 feet.

We love diversity and colorful reefs more than anything. Pelagics are great, but not at all necessary. Raja Ampat is our dream destination, but I am concerned that it is too much for her experience level. We are considering central Maldives.

What destination would you all recommend for a LOB experience for a new diver like my daughter, but that will also be exciting for us?

 

[clownfishsydney]

You posted in the Australia, Pacific forum but seem to be asking about Maldives or Indonesia. Perhaps ask there.

 

[Jai Bar]

You may try this sort of question with one of these AI chats that are gaining lots of popularity.

I tried it with a similar scenario but also adding water temperatures above 27C (easier to fit all gear into 23kg suitcase and more comfortable diving) and was surprised by the results.

As to the junior OW certification (and limit to 20m) we took our kids to LOB in Similan, Tubbataha, Palau, Red Sea and not even once felt that depth limit was a limiting factor, on the contrary: we just tell the cruise director on the first day that we don't go with the kids below 20, usually it means we are assigned our own guide as nobody wants to join a depth limited group.

In other words, the smallest group which is much better in my opinion. Dives can be longer and when doing 3-4 dives every day, I think it's better anyway.

Maldives are great dives, just bear in mind that many chanel dives are too deep and there is no "20 meter" alternative to hook up against the current (and they can be really strong), so you will have to consider perhaps skipping some of these.

Palau Blue Corner, for example, we hooked up at 19 meters and had WOW dives, and they managed well with the currents.


Some tips for diving with juniors:

Our kids often skip dives preferring to sleep or whatever teenagers do in their free time (mostly involves screens and parent-canceling headphones), and we don't press them to dive. On Aggressors or boats that do 5 dives per day, we also skip one and sometimes two dives to make longer surface intervals anyway.

They have shorter attention spans and sometimes prefer to do silly stuff like blowing or trying to blow bubble rings. We leave them be, when sharks or mantas come they do pay attention

None of my kids had experience in deploying SMB at the time, so I gave each one, with instructions if they ever need to make it alone to the surface, do it as safely as possible, and only then inflate the SMB- I think it is still better than getting into trouble at depth- and for sure better than not having anything on the surface.

Personally, we don't like them being in a room with strangers, even on small LOB groups, so when the two of them come with us we put them together in one room, if only one comes we either share a room of three, and in some cases also opted to pay extra for the kid to be in a room alone.

 

[lexvil]

First Symantec’s

Best LOB destination for inexperienced diver with colorful reefs and lots of fish​

May read better with a comma after diver and replace “with” with “looking for”

Next as to the Question; Thailand

 

[thejadeape]

You posted in the Australia, Pacific forum but seem to be asking about Maldives or Indonesia. Perhaps ask there.

I posted here so as not to overlook possible Australia or South Pacific suggestions.

 

[thejadeape]

You may try this sort of question with one of these AI chats that are gaining lots of popularity.

I tried it with a similar scenario but also adding water temperatures above 27C (easier to fit all gear into 23kg suitcase and more comfortable diving) and was surprised by the results.

As to the junior OW certification (and limit to 20m) we took our kids to LOB in Similan, Tubbataha, Palau, Red Sea and not even once felt that depth limit was a limiting factor, on the contrary: we just tell the cruise director on the first day that we don't go with the kids below 20, usually it means we are assigned our own guide as nobody wants to join a depth limited group.

In other words, the smallest group which is much better in my opinion. Dives can be longer and when doing 3-4 dives every day, I think it's better anyway.

Maldives are great dives, just bear in mind that many chanel dives are too deep and there is no "20 meter" alternative to hook up against the current (and they can be really strong), so you will have to consider perhaps skipping some of these.

Palau Blue Corner, for example, we hooked up at 19 meters and had WOW dives, and they managed well with the currents.


Some tips for diving with juniors:

Our kids often skip dives preferring to sleep or whatever teenagers do in their free time (mostly involves screens and parent-canceling headphones), and we don't press them to dive. On Aggressors or boats that do 5 dives per day, we also skip one and sometimes two dives to make longer surface intervals anyway.

They have shorter attention spans and sometimes prefer to do silly stuff like blowing or trying to blow bubble rings. We leave them be, when sharks or mantas come they do pay attention

None of my kids had experience in deploying SMB at the time, so I gave each one, with instructions if they ever need to make it alone to the surface, do it as safely as possible, and only then inflate the SMB- I think it is still better than getting into trouble at depth- and for sure better than not having anything on the surface.

Personally, we don't like them being in a room with strangers, even on small LOB groups, so when the two of them come with us we put them together in one room, if only one comes we either share a room of three, and in some cases also opted to pay extra for the kid to be in a room alone.

I agree that 20 meters max is just fine for us. Going with the smallest group or arranging for a private guide would probably work best for us.

I appreciate the tips. We have definitely talked about skipping dives.

 

[thejadeape]

First Symantec’s

Best LOB destination for inexperienced diver with colorful reefs and lots of fish​

May read better with a comma after diver and replace “with” with “looking for”

Next as to the Question; Thailand

Thanks for the title suggestion. I think you are right and I have changed it.

Thailand has been suggested elsewhere as well. This my be the best choice. I haven’t been to the Similans in 20 years and wondered how the diving was. Poking around here it seems that people’s main complaint is the number of divers.

 

[Jai Bar]

Thanks for the title suggestion. I think you are right and I have changed it.

Thailand has been suggested elsewhere as well. This my be the best choice. I haven’t been to the Similans in 20 years and wondered how the diving was. Poking around here it seems that people’s main complaint is the number of divers.

We went to Similan Islands this January on the DiveRace (which burnt and sunk a couple of months ago).

It was anything but crowded, except Richlieau Rock on which were several boats. However, not all the groups go into the dive at the very same time and it did not feel crowded, it was fine and we enjoyed the dives.