I have to admit that I've been on more than my fair share of liveaboards. I love them and I have yet to have a bad experience. Not even close. What's not to like? The dive site is always a short walk away as are the galley, the entertainment and sleeping quarters. It's a matter of eat, dive, eat, dive, nap, eat, dive and then sleep on it a bit. I probably don't have enough eat and dives in there either! 
It's everything you could want as a diver: maximum bottom time with minimal effort.
However, this was indeed an exceptional experience... even for a liveaboard. Why? you might ask... and I'll tell you. It was the perfect combination of destination, vessel, crew and guests. Perfect. Even the weather tried to screw us up, but Captain Gordon was too smart for that. Customs tried to spoil our fun too. The crew wouldn't have that and they more than made up for some of the niceties that were missing.
A Perfect Destination...
If the Socorro Islands aren't on your Bucket List, you should add it to the top of your list. If you want to be fancy, and you can get your tongue twisted just right, you can even call it by it's formal name: The Revillagigedos Archipelago. But a phenomenal destination by any name is still just that. This isn't your typical benthic diving, where you crawl along the bottom looking for critters. This is pelagic diving at it's finest. Lots of blue water. Lots of big critters. Lots of current. Lots of WOW. Oh sure, you'll get to see any number of bottom dwellers if that's your bag... but it's the sharks, the mantas and cetacea that take front and center here. I can't say I've felt dwarfed very often in my 45+ years of diving. It happened on almost every dive here. I could try and describe it over and over but words fail me. So, if a picture is worth a thousand words, I bet a video's worth a million. Here's a compilation of videos and pictures edited by one of my favorite people: Stacy Besancon.
The Vessel and Crew...
I guess I could try and separate the two, but it would be nigh to impossible. It's a huge ship and easily the biggest I've been on. It's also quite spacious, though the two aren't always synonymous. You can be sure that they haven't finished with it yet either. Since we've been on, NitrOx and the Hot Tub have finally passed through customs and are fully operational. I think I heard they have replaced their RIBs too. It's not that things weren't 'Good enough', because we had a fine time without them. It's just that 'Good enough' isn't a part of the ship's culture. They won't accept anything less than excellence. I have to say I blame Captain Gordon and he blames Mike Lever. The guests aren't a high priority for the Ship and Crew: we're the only priority. I mean, how often do you see the captain serving water and snacks so that our hostess can go diving with their guests? It was pretty normal on the Nautilus Belle Amie. Whatever the ship lacked, the crew more than made up for. They turned 'Good enough' into excellence every chance they got. Again, I could type pages and pages, but I've took the time to make a mini-documentary of the ship and crew. Again, thanks to Stacy for her eye and ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear:
The Guests...
As much as I liked the ship and crew, I fell in love with our dive family on the boat. They were fun, flexible, helpful, understanding and compassionate. They are some great divers and awesome photographers. However, rather than me post yet another video, I'm going to ask them all to come into this thread and give us their thoughts on the boat and hopefully post some of their pictures. I want to know when's our next trip going to be?
It's everything you could want as a diver: maximum bottom time with minimal effort.However, this was indeed an exceptional experience... even for a liveaboard. Why? you might ask... and I'll tell you. It was the perfect combination of destination, vessel, crew and guests. Perfect. Even the weather tried to screw us up, but Captain Gordon was too smart for that. Customs tried to spoil our fun too. The crew wouldn't have that and they more than made up for some of the niceties that were missing.
A Perfect Destination...
If the Socorro Islands aren't on your Bucket List, you should add it to the top of your list. If you want to be fancy, and you can get your tongue twisted just right, you can even call it by it's formal name: The Revillagigedos Archipelago. But a phenomenal destination by any name is still just that. This isn't your typical benthic diving, where you crawl along the bottom looking for critters. This is pelagic diving at it's finest. Lots of blue water. Lots of big critters. Lots of current. Lots of WOW. Oh sure, you'll get to see any number of bottom dwellers if that's your bag... but it's the sharks, the mantas and cetacea that take front and center here. I can't say I've felt dwarfed very often in my 45+ years of diving. It happened on almost every dive here. I could try and describe it over and over but words fail me. So, if a picture is worth a thousand words, I bet a video's worth a million. Here's a compilation of videos and pictures edited by one of my favorite people: Stacy Besancon.
See what I mean? BIG STUFF. It's incredible. Have you put the Socorro Islands at the top of your Bucket List yet?The Vessel and Crew...
I guess I could try and separate the two, but it would be nigh to impossible. It's a huge ship and easily the biggest I've been on. It's also quite spacious, though the two aren't always synonymous. You can be sure that they haven't finished with it yet either. Since we've been on, NitrOx and the Hot Tub have finally passed through customs and are fully operational. I think I heard they have replaced their RIBs too. It's not that things weren't 'Good enough', because we had a fine time without them. It's just that 'Good enough' isn't a part of the ship's culture. They won't accept anything less than excellence. I have to say I blame Captain Gordon and he blames Mike Lever. The guests aren't a high priority for the Ship and Crew: we're the only priority. I mean, how often do you see the captain serving water and snacks so that our hostess can go diving with their guests? It was pretty normal on the Nautilus Belle Amie. Whatever the ship lacked, the crew more than made up for. They turned 'Good enough' into excellence every chance they got. Again, I could type pages and pages, but I've took the time to make a mini-documentary of the ship and crew. Again, thanks to Stacy for her eye and ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear:
The Guests...
As much as I liked the ship and crew, I fell in love with our dive family on the boat. They were fun, flexible, helpful, understanding and compassionate. They are some great divers and awesome photographers. However, rather than me post yet another video, I'm going to ask them all to come into this thread and give us their thoughts on the boat and hopefully post some of their pictures. I want to know when's our next trip going to be?
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or better as we had a very close encounter with a whale shark) time. As another diver who loves liveaboard cruises, I find it difficult to understand why some people are put off by the idea. Of course Socorro, along with Cocos Island, Galapgos and maybe a few others, is a liveaboard only site.
