Caribbean Liveaboards

[crgoode]

If price is no consideration, but we want to see large animals, what is the best liveaboard operating in the Caribbean, in your opinion? Also we each have about 40 dives total in Coz, Bonaire, and West Palm Beach. We were considering checking our liveaboards in the Pacific, but more experienced divers intimated that they might be beyond our level? Are they really that much more difficult? We did a couple of dives in WPB in choppy seas, high currents and low vis, and survived alright.

 

[caymaniac]

Probably, a liveaboard in the Turks & Caicos. If you go in the spring, you've a chance to dive when the whales are there. At French Cay, sharks and eagle rays are usually sighted, as well as West Caicos or Sand Spit. Actually this wouldn't be considered the Carribean, but the Atlantic.

Caymaniac

 

[cstreu1026]

You mentioned originally wanting to go the Pacific, what about the Kona Aggressor. I understand the is a good chance to see big animals such as whales and Mantas. I don't beleive the diving there is all too challenging.

 

[sytech]

I will look into that. Do you know the name(s) of any of the Liveaboards ?

Thanks

Probably, a liveaboard in the Turks & Caicos. If you go in the spring, you've a chance to dive when the whales are there. At French Cay, sharks and eagle rays are usually sighted, as well as West Caicos or Sand Spit. Actually this wouldn't be considered the Carribean, but the Atlantic.

Caymaniac

 

[ScubaCatgirl]

I will look into that. Do you know the name(s) of any of the Liveaboards ?

Thanks

I believe the Aggressor dives there or maybe it's Nikton Cruises, but I"m strongly thinking the Aggressor.

 

[diversteve]

It's the Aggressor. Nekton does the Bahamas and now Cayman, Belize in the winter.

What sort of big animals? We saw more reef sharks than we could count, big Turtles, big Stingrays etc. on the Nekton Cay Sal trip this summer. Two trips that are full of big animal encounters are Cocos Island(Costa Rica) and the Socorros(Gulf of Mexico), but both are for pretty experienced divers, rough crossings, lots of currents and deep.
But read the fine print, some of the liveaboard big animal encounters are snorkel only, depending on their policies. I'm pretty sure the Nekton NW Bahamas dolphin encounter is that way as are their Silver Banks whale trips. And if you look at the bottom of the Aggressor T&C feature on their main page currently, you'll notice their whale trip is also "snorkel only". Not that that's a bad thing, just something to be aware of.

Links to get you started:

www.aggressor.com
http://www.nektoncruises.com/
http://www.peterhughes.com/
www.explorerventures.com
http://www.underseahunter.com/uh.htm
http://solmarv.com/

 

[Doc]

You must first understand what is meant by "advanced" or "challenging".

It's all in the same ocean, same salinity, right?

Advanced diving occurs when you are exposed for the first time to one (and more) elements that you had not yet previously encountered.

Think back. For a while there, you were had reached the level of Master Swimming Pool Diver. You mastered all of those challenges. And that took a lot!

Your first boat dive... you began to notice the differences after that in other dive boats- not only how they were shaped and outfitted, but how the crew operated. Everything was different.

After we get certified, maybe we'll try some shore diving. My dive buddy did about 30 shore dives at CoCiView Roatan. When she went off to Bonaire, she thought she knew all about shore diving. Wrong. In Bonaire, it isn't wading into a calm warm clear pool with an anchor chain on the bottom taking you out and safely back. In Bonaire, there is some surf, iron shore coral, and you "have to remember where you parked". One isn't better than the other, just different versions of shore diving.

As we progress in ability and knowledge, we gain new experience that we, as proficient student divers, must analyze and adapt to our own uses.

Liveaboards? They are all shaped differently. What to expect? What to think about?

Are you ready to do giant stride entries from 1 to 4 feet above the water? Or maybe do an "on cue" backroll off of a Zodiac? How about a "negative buoyancy" entry, as may be needed in a surface current so as to descend quickly?

Are you redy lo learn about lateral currents that make you fly along and how to duck and hide from them? Are you ready to hold on to lava rock to watch sharks glide by- as well as hold on to your second stage as it bobbles in the current?

How about "downwelling" currents that can suck you dangerously deep in seconds... how to recognize them and how to react... instantly? Nothing you can't learn, but bad to add with one or six other new tasks.

When the dive is nearing completion, have you rigged and learned to deploy your sausage from 20fsw and wait below at your safety stop at 15fsw until the Zodiac arrives? Do you know how to ascend slowly and doff your BC, passing it up to the boatman? Can you then pull yourself aboard? Do you know to stay low and make yourself "small" so others can be assisted (by you) in reboarding?

No- this isn't to scare you, anybody can do all of this stuff. But are you ready to learn a whole lot of new things at once? (task loading)

Take your diving "in steps". Get incremental experience.

You will also some day understand that "big critters" are a great place to start your dive career. When you are truly advanced, you will search out the micro critters, after having mastered perfect buoyancy, having excellent observational skills and carry a flashlight and magnifying glass on a lanyard.

Take it in steps. Do a nice comfy nearby Caribbean liveaboard, be it Blackbeards or Nekton... get lots of dives in under varying conditions. Then throw down the big money for the Indo-Pacific trips... after you have mastered diving to the point where you can appreciate the view thru the mask faceplate.

Dive lots.

 

[DPJ]

Here are a few others, some are technically Bahamas and not Caribbean:
AquaCat
and if you like sailing:
Juliet
Cuan Law
Blackbeard

 

[BurBunny]

There are two liveaboards in the Turks & Caicos - T&C Aggressor II and the Caribbean Explorer II. Because of depths, I'd rank both as intermediate diving.

 

[ScubaCatgirl]

You must first understand what is meant by "advanced" or "challenging".

It's all in the same ocean, same salinity, right?

Advanced diving occurs when you are exposed for the first time to one (and more) elements that you had not yet previously encountered.

Think back. For a while there, you were had reached the level of Master Swimming Pool Diver. You mastered all of those challenges. And that took a lot!

Your first boat dive... you began to notice the differences after that in other dive boats- not only how they were shaped and outfitted, but how the crew operated. Everything was different.

After we get certified, maybe we'll try some shore diving. My dive buddy did about 30 shore dives at CoCiView Roatan. When she went off to Bonaire, she thought she knew all about shore diving. Wrong. In Bonaire, it isn't wading into a calm warm clear pool with an anchor chain on the bottom taking you out and safely back. In Bonaire, there is some surf, iron shore coral, and you "have to remember where you parked". One isn't better than the other, just different versions of shore diving.

As we progress in ability and knowledge, we gain new experience that we, as proficient student divers, must analyze and adapt to our own uses.

Liveaboards? They are all shaped differently. What to expect? What to think about?

Are you ready to do giant stride entries from 1 to 4 feet above the water? Or maybe do an "on cue" backroll off of a Zodiac? How about a "negative buoyancy" entry, as may be needed in a surface current so as to descend quickly?

Are you redy lo learn about lateral currents that make you fly along and how to duck and hide from them? Are you ready to hold on to lava rock to watch sharks glide by- as well as hold on to your second stage as it bobbles in the current?

How about "downwelling" currents that can suck you dangerously deep in seconds... how to recognize them and how to react... instantly? Nothing you can't learn, but bad to add with one or six other new tasks.

When the dive is nearing completion, have you rigged and learned to deploy your sausage from 20fsw and wait below at your safety stop at 15fsw until the Zodiac arrives? Do you know how to ascend slowly and doff your BC, passing it up to the boatman? Can you then pull yourself aboard? Do you know to stay low and make yourself "small" so others can be assisted (by you) in reboarding?

No- this isn't to scare you, anybody can do all of this stuff. But are you ready to learn a whole lot of new things at once? (task loading)

Take your diving "in steps". Get incremental experience.

You will also some day understand that "big critters" are a great place to start your dive career. When you are truly advanced, you will search out the micro critters, after having mastered perfect buoyancy, having excellent observational skills and carry a flashlight and magnifying glass on a lanyard.

Take it in steps. Do a nice comfy nearby Caribbean liveaboard, be it Blackbeards or Nekton... get lots of dives in under varying conditions. Then throw down the big money for the Indo-Pacific trips... after you have mastered diving to the point where you can appreciate the view thru the mask faceplate.

Dive lots.

Roatan Man.....excellant advice! Food for thought, made me think.