Diving from the Yacht

[Texas.Crude]

So I was talking to my wife about a dive trip we're currently planning, and she mentioned that one of the things she liked most about our previous liveaboard experience (on the Nekton Pilot) was how laid back the diving schedule was -- we could basically go at any time and just had to literally step off the diving deck.

As I've looked at a lot of the Aggressor and Dancer itineraries in the Pacific, I noticed that several of them do the diving off the little skiffs. My question is whether anyone who's done both feels that the scheduled dives make it a less relaxing experience? I know it's a small thing, but apparently it's bothering her a bit.

Follow up question -- does anyone know of some pacific itineraries where the diving is done from the yacht itself? Is the only way to find out by calling the company and asking on specific locations? We certainly wouldn't mind some dives from the skiff, but just wanted to get some more info.

Thanks!

 

[Darnold9999]

Mike Ball dives from the yacht, but that is the only one I am aware of in the Pacific.

I did the Nekton boats a few times and have done a couple of Pacific trips - Paradise Dancer and Damai. Diving from a skiff is a bit more "schedule" oriented - i.e. you dive when the skiff goes out, but I didn't find it any less or more relaxing than Nekton. Damia was much more relaxed as they would take a skiff out whenever you wanted to go and they have a 2 divers to a guide ratio so you can go whenever you want as a buddy team. Even with this level of service we typically dived at scheduled times of the day. Mostly the flexibility was used to do an extra dive on a site to get a picture of some unique creature.

 

[vladimir]

So I was talking to my wife about a dive trip we're currently planning, and she mentioned that one of the things she liked most about our previous liveaboard experience (on the Nekton Pilot) was how laid back the diving schedule was -- we could basically go at any time and just had to literally step off the diving deck.

As I've looked at a lot of the Aggressor and Dancer itineraries in the Pacific, I noticed that several of them do the diving off the little skiffs. My question is whether anyone who's done both feels that the scheduled dives make it a less relaxing experience? I know it's a small thing, but apparently it's bothering her a bit.

Follow up question -- does anyone know of some pacific itineraries where the diving is done from the yacht itself? Is the only way to find out by calling the company and asking on specific locations? We certainly wouldn't mind some dives from the skiff, but just wanted to get some more info.

Thanks!

I don't think it's a small thing at all, and I agree with your wife that diving from the yacht on your own schedule makes a world of difference. But if the Palau Aggressor let its divers roll in off of a dive deck whenever they pleased they'd lose a lot of divers or need a fleet of tenders. When I dived Truk we did all our dives from the main vessel, on our own schedule. In Komodo we did them all on schedule, from tenders. In Milne Bay, PNG, and in the Coral Sea with Mike Ball, we did it both ways, depending on the site. Some boats are not set up for it, and locations with a lot of current can't allow it.

 

[Texas.Crude]

I don't think it's a small thing at all, and I agree with your wife that diving from the yacht on your own schedule makes a world of difference. But if the Palau Aggressor let its divers roll in off of a dive deck whenever they pleased they'd lose a lot of divers or need a fleet of tenders. When I dived Truk we did all our dives from the main vessel, on our own schedule. In Komodo we did them all on schedule, from tenders. In Milne Bay, PNG, and in the Coral Sea with Mike Ball, we did it both ways, depending on the site. Some boats are not set up for it, and locations with a lot of current can't allow it.

Yea, that's kind of what I figured. I'll have to check Mike Ball -- hadn't heard of them until now. All of our diving so far has been out of the Caribbean or North Carolina's outerbanks, so anything in the Pacific will be completely new -- just need a place that's relaxing

 

[diversteve]

Kona Aggressor dives off the ship afaik.

 

[Quero]

Lots of liveaboards have diving directly from the boat. Very few have diving with no fixed schedule. In order to do that, you have to be pretty much parked in one place all day long, and the water has to be very still to make it possible for divers to return to the vessel. Here in Thailand I've only had that experience when on private charters of catamarans, and even then we have to be pretty careful about tides.

 

[Shasta_man]

The Bilikiki in the Solomons has some elements of what you are looking for. On all dives, they schedule dives for a certain time and go as a group, but will happily take you out after the group if you aren't ready. That doesn't mean when you want to go, but a bit of flexibility.

Actually I recall there were a few dive sites we dove straight off the boat and at Mary Island they tied up to the island itself, and it was pretty much open diving while there. The edge of the island pretty much went straight down so you could dive right there and it was pretty neat with the sounds of an underwater volcano, which was actually 60 miles away but you felt it in your chest on the right side of the reef. The Bilikiki had good diving and was a good boat. They have a lot of interaction with the local islanders in their genuine dugout canoes living in their huts on stilts. I'd recommend it. I flew out from LA to Fiji, then on to Vanuatu to Honiara.

 

[Texas.Crude]

The Bilikiki in the Solomons has some elements of what you are looking for. On all dives, they schedule dives for a certain time and go as a group, but will happily take you out after the group if you aren't ready. That doesn't mean when you want to go, but a bit of flexibility.

Actually I recall there were a few dive sites we dove straight off the boat and at Mary Island they tied up to the island itself, and it was pretty much open diving while there. The edge of the island pretty much went straight down so you could dive right there and it was pretty neat with the sounds of an underwater volcano, which was actually 60 miles away but you felt it in your chest on the right side of the reef. The Bilikiki had good diving and was a good boat. They have a lot of interaction with the local islanders in their genuine dugout canoes living in their huts on stilts. I'd recommend it. I flew out from LA to Fiji, then on to Vanuatu to Honiara.

Great -- thanks for the recommendation! I don't need 100% free diving, but some flexibility is nice -- I'll have to check them out.