Best Luxury Liveaboard/Dive Location - Help!

[Dewi-Nusantara]

Raja Ampat casts a spell on all who visit – scientists, photographers, novice divers and crusty sea-salts alike. This group of majestic islands, located in the northwestern tip of Indonesia’s Papuan “Bird’s Head Seascape,” lies in the heart of the coral triangle, the most bio-diverse marine region on earth.
Raja Ampat is all about diversity – not only diversity of species, but also of dive sites. There are some areas where soft corals and sea fans dominate, others with amazing diverse hard corals, seagrass beds, mangroves, shallow reefs, drop offs, caves, black sand, white sand…Then there are the fish, lots of them, in more shapes and sizes than anywhere else in the world. Not only are there loads of fish, but all the levels of the food chain are well represented – from pygmy seahorses to top predators. In many places brightly colored soft corals can be found close to the surface which, illuminated by natural sunlight, make these dive sites spectacularly colorful. The reefs in Raja Ampat just buzz with life.
Raja Ampat is huge, 50,000 sq km, with hundreds of islands and an astounding diversity of habitats, which translates to wildly different diving experiences from pelagic drift dives to magic muck dives and even some habitats that are special to Raja Ampat such as clear water mangroves with corals growing right next to them! There are thousands of potential dive sites. Exploration is still continuing, and on every trip there are chances for new and amazing discoveries. Even on a 12 day trip you will only have a chance to see some of what Raja Ampat has to offer!

 

[jmsenger]

Have a look at the Carpe Vita in the Maldives. I dove with them last summer and loved it. The boat is huge (my cabin was bigger than my bedroom at home), the crew is very friendly and offers excellent service, and the diving was great.

 

[Diver Below]

Hey Lucy
If you'd like to repeat the same kind of diving you've done in Cocos, but more diverse, then Galapagos it is.
The best dives in Galapagos would be similar to Cocos, but the other dives are very diverse, above ane below the surface.
You'll have sea lions playing and boobies fishing UW, Marine Iguanas swimming and feeding, penguins, whales, dolphins, lots of sharks, whales sharks in season, everything.
Buddy boats will be the best option I believe, but Galapagos Sky is also superb
It's a bit colder though, with tems UW 24-27C in the northern sites in the wet season (no whale sharks) and 18-22 in the south sites in this season, but much less in the dry season (with Whale sharks)
Good Luck!

 

[LucyChallenger]

Thank you so much for all the feedback guys! I really, really appreciate it. I'm going to take some time to look through all the options you've given me! In the meantime I've booked a trip with: Shark Diver - Safe and Sane Shark Diving - Shark Diver for my 30th this coming September so I'm very excited to be going to dive with the Great Whites! x

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Off the beaten path, amazing diving, remote, diverse...couldn't agree more that you ought to consider Galapagos. Granted, I'm biased, but there's a reason I am!

 

[tortolatoo]

Hello everyone,

My husband and I are experienced divers and our last trip was with the Undersea Hunter to the Cocos Islands in September 2012 (for our honeymoon), which was, as you can imagine a trip of a lifetime. Now we are a little bit stuck as to where to go next. We both enjoy 5* luxury :cool2: but we also want the diving to be top notch. So I need your help to suggest any liveaboards, or land based resorts which offer access to the best diving/experiences possible.


Any help would be much appreciated as we both like spending our (well earned money) on excellent quality, incredible trips!

Thank you for your help!

Lucy

We visited Raja Ampat in 2010 aboard 'Paradise Dancer' and what a boat!. The best way to describe our trip is to check out my short video in HD Diving Raja Ampat aboard Paradise Dancer - YouTube on YouTube. The boat gets 5+ stars, the diving, 3 stars. Great soft corals and muck diving, if thats your game. We prefer the bigger animals, i.e. Cocos. Good luck with your search.

 

[Damselfish]

We visited Raja Ampat in 2010 aboard 'Paradise Dancer' and what a boat!. The best way to describe our trip is to check out my short video in HD Diving Raja Ampat aboard Paradise Dancer - YouTube on YouTube. The boat gets 5+ stars, the diving, 3 stars. Great soft corals and muck diving, if thats your game. We prefer the bigger animals, i.e. Cocos. Good luck with your search.

I believe the Paaradise Dancer is now the Dewi Nusantara.

 

[Shasta_man]

"the diving 3 stars" HA HA HA.

 

[DiverCarlos]

I have group space booked at both the Atlantis Dumaguete resort for five days on land followed by a week on the Azores doing the Bohol region of the Philippines. Great diving and really good service. Dates are November 18 - November 30, 2013. Both trips about $4,100 pp. Contact me if you are interested in joining us.
I have heard that True North is an absolutely amazing adventure of a lifetime but with a price tag to match.

 

[zeppelindiver]

Hello,

Consider liveaboard diving in the Caribbean Bay Islands. We started a liveaboard diving and sailing operation based out of French Cay Harbor, Roatan in February of 2013. We offer private, personalized liveaboard diving trips aboard our 47 foot luxury sailboat with the itineraries and schedule tailored to our guests preferences. We can provide you with access to all the best sites that the local dive shops don't go to as well as the most popular sites near the resorts, but at times of day when no one else is on the site. This is the ultimate in small group diving with a minimum of 2, maximum of 4 guests and 2 Instructors to take care of them! For more information check out our website Zeppelin Dive & Sail | Roatan Live Aboard Sailing & Diving Charters