Favorite Liveaboard Destination

[KeithG]

Paul Gauguin does 1 to 2 dives depending on what island you are on. You can also book dives with outside ops to get your two a day in.

Yep, cruise with diving. After a very quick read of the link posted above it does not seem to provide any advantage over a non dive cruise ship.

 

[diversteve]

They get into smaller ports due to the size of the vessel.

And I've never seen one of these on a larger cruise ship: Watersports Marina | Paul Gauguin Cruises



IDK if they still do it but at one time there was an itinerary with Phillipe Cousteau aboard as your host. You even got to dive with him IIRC.

 

[vladimir]

With the benefit of hindsight, if I had to choose between my trip to Cocos Island aboard the Undersea Explorer and all of my other liveaboards combined (Palau, Truk, Coral Sea x2, Similans, Papua New Guinea, Belize x2, and Komodo), I would choose the Cocos trip. The divemasters did caution us, however, that our trip was better than average.

I wish I had bought my wife a sports car instead of dragging her along on the Komodo trip. There would be fewer regrets.

 

[Shasta_man]

Knowing the costs of cars in Singapore, that must have been some Komodo trip. (She didn't like Komodo?!)

 

[Cali_diver]

Yep, cruise with diving. After a very quick read of the link posted above it does not seem to provide any advantage over a non dive cruise ship.

I have to disagree with this, the PG is very different than your average cruise. First there are only 300 people with only a couple handfuls of divers. If you book with the PG itself they take care of all your gear for the trip. Depending on what islands they go to they offer 1-2 dives. For example they have one dive on Bora Bora (2 if you want to do a night dive), but 2 on Fakarava and Rangiroa. If your wife is not a diver (or at least isn't a die hard 4 a day or not going) this is the way to go. It is pricey but is ALL inclusive. There is so much to do in French Polynesia I don't think she would complain about being on the boat.

Komodo was awesome.... We went on the Dewi Nusantara....Fabulous boat, great crew and awesome diving!!!

 

[Wind & Sea]

I took my wife on live aboard to the Solomon Islands a couple years on the Bilikiki. Wife was also a little apprehensive about it, but ended up loving the diving, food, and the crew everything was fantastic. They also take you on a shore excursion to visit a local tribe.
We never saw any other divers or dive boat.

 

[vladimir]

Knowing the costs of cars in Singapore, that must have been some Komodo trip. (She didn't like Komodo?!)

She doesn't dive...and she gets seasick pretty easily, as it turns out. What was I thinking? One island on the trip has probably the best snorkeling in the world—a shallow virgin reef. She loved that, but two hours out of ten days is poor consolation.

 

[Cali_diver]

She doesn't dive...and she gets seasick pretty easily, as it turns out. What was I thinking? One island on the trip has probably the best snorkeling in the world—a shallow virgin reef. She loved that, but two hours out of ten days is poor consolation.

ouch!!

 

[CanadianTravelAgent]

They get into smaller ports due to the size of the vessel.

And I've never seen one of these on a larger cruise ship: Watersports Marina | Paul Gauguin Cruises

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IDK if they still do it but at one time there was an itinerary with Phillipe Cousteau aboard as your host. You even got to dive with him IIRC.

Yes, they still have specialty weeks. You can see the schedule here. Special Guest Cruises | Paul Gauguin Cruises
The ship has it's own on-board marina. As I understand it, they take you out on their own dingy with their own divemasters. Note: the ship is all inclusive, but optional excursions like diving are at an additional cost. This vessel was designed for sailing into the small ports and through the small channels of French Polynesia specifically. Itineraries range from 7 to 14 night cruises and can include islands in French Polynesia, but also Cook Islands and Fiji as well. Really nice trip for a couple who would like to fit in a few dives in between enjoying some romance and the sights topside.