dvrliz1:
Ok, I'm partial, I live here, but I have this thing about live aboards, first I get seasick, even with every invention and medication known to man. Second, what happens if for some reason you can't dive???? I know some people that have severe squeezes or reverse blocks and had to take a couple a days off from diving, so what do you do? At least on land, no matter where you decide to go, you have other options in case you need them.
You're right, if you can't dive for whatever reason, you're stuck on the boat with limited choiced of things to do. It all depends on how you structure your vacations and what you want to do. My husband and I like to dive a lot on land-based vacations and often just hang around the resort after diving anyway, so hanging around on a liveaboard isn't so different for us.
dvrliz1:
I have a question for those that have been on live aboards. As you know Bonaire is known for it's "diving freedom". This is not only because of the freedom of dive where you want, but for as LONG as you like. I have heard that in some places if you do boat dives and are guided by a DM or instructor, et al, you have to surface when they say you have to. So they say 40 minutes, and your normal dive time (this is mine) is an average of 1 hr - 1 hr 10 minutes on air with a depth of longer than 65 feet (no I don't stay at 65ft for that long....I am a chamber nurse you all know...) you loose a lot of precious u/w time. Is it the same for liveaboard? I would think so because of safety.
I can only speak to the liveaboard we were on (Nekton Pilot), but the only limiting factors on diving were: staying within recreational dive limits (130' max); no deco diving; first drink = last dive; be back on board at the stated time. We had Steel 95 tanks that gave us lots of bottom time, we dove our own profiles, and determined how much and how often we wanted to dive. The dive deck was open from 8:15-11:45 every morning, from 1:00-5:45 in the afternoon, and night diving was around 7:30 or 8:00 every night. There was often a dawn dive at 6:30am, so you could dive before breakfast if you wanted.
So there were limiting factors on when you could dive (unlike Bonaire with their 24 hour fill stations), however there were no limits on how deep or how long you wanted to dive as long as you stayed out of deco and within rec. limits.
dvrliz1:
Sorry my choice is for Bonaire, for dive freedom, not because I live here, but I was medically not able to dive for 2 years, and thank God am able to dive again. I know what it is like to have diving taken away and given back. Definitely dive freedom.
Like I said before, I've never been to Bonaire, but given the choice of either unlimited shore diving or a week on a liveaboard, the choice is easy for me....the liveaboard.
I like the convenience of not having to go to restaurants to eat, not having to pull out my wallet to pay for things all week, not having to wear shoes, not having to lug my gear around multiples times a day, not having small boats take me to and from dive sites, gearing up and falling off the boat 4x a day.....
The trade-offs are that I have dive windows for when I can dive, I can't choose the sites, I can't choose my meals, my choices for SI's are limited, I can't do land tours, I may not like everyone on the boat....
Everything is a trade-off...it's simply a matter of figuring out what fits you best.
. Good luck. Woody
