fairybasslet
Contributor
Here's another. If you love taking UW photos, bring a back up camera. I flooded mine on my first dive and alas, have no photos of my own from the GBR, Coral Sea and Sydney.
First Liveaboard Trip - What I Learned...
- Thread starter charlesml3
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
georoc01
Contributor
Another couple things that hit me were hidden costs. Ie the fuel surcharge. While I am sure it was in the fine print, It was an extra $140 payable on the boat that wasn't disclosed in the price, or even in discussions of how much money to bring. Then you have a maritime park fee, another $22. I was told Nitrox would be $150, ended up being $8.50 a fill.
Add in the boat tips, and its an extra $500-600 each on top of what we paid for the trip.
Add in the boat tips, and its an extra $500-600 each on top of what we paid for the trip.
Ana
.
Depending on the type of vessel, it is also helpful to bring heavy duty hangers and heavy duty cloth pins. I've gone in the "Juliet", with its sailboat configuration there where several locations adjacent to the gear wher you could hang the suits, towells, misc. Having the proper hangers and strong pins kept the items secure even navigating. It made for a considerably shorter drying time.
I took two pairs of wetsuit booties and a couple of pairs of socks to avoid the blister problem. But I don't have the space for five wetsuits in today's luggage restricted world. I found that hanging up my wetsuit inside out let the inside be dry enough for me.
And definitely bring a hood.
And definitely bring a hood.
Wayfarer2
Guest
- Messages
- 154
- Reaction score
- 0
- # of dives
- 200 - 499
I wholeheartedly second the athletic sock recommendation. Non-cotton Coolmax (or is it Coolmesh? -- anyway long distance running type) dry quicker so you don't need as many.
- Messages
- 98,154
- Reaction score
- 99,786
- Location
- On the Fun Side of Trump's Wall
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
I'll have to try the socks idea ... we'll be doing three weeks in Indonesia in March, and the second week will be my first liveaboard experience. With luck, I'm planning to put in between 50 and 60 dives on this trip ... and usually after the first 20 or so my toes all have band-aids on 'em.
Already purchased a backup camera (sorry to hear about yours flooding FB) ... will be following this thread closely for more ideas ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Already purchased a backup camera (sorry to hear about yours flooding FB) ... will be following this thread closely for more ideas ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Darnold9999
Contributor
Backup strobe isn't a bad idea either - mine failed on Tuesday morning of a week long liveaboard trip. Ikelite DS125 just a bit more than 18 months old. We will see what they find. Makes taking pictures underwater difficult and night shots almost impossible. Sure did learn alot about my camera working around the problem however!
Also after Continental crushed my brand new flat port I am going out and buying a hard sided case to protect the camera gear for my next trip. The port was well protected - the amount of pressure required to break this port was extreme. Soft sided luggage while great for storing on the boat is not enough protection for housings, ports etc. Wil just have to pay for the extra weight. Cheaper than replacing hardware.
Also after Continental crushed my brand new flat port I am going out and buying a hard sided case to protect the camera gear for my next trip. The port was well protected - the amount of pressure required to break this port was extreme. Soft sided luggage while great for storing on the boat is not enough protection for housings, ports etc. Wil just have to pay for the extra weight. Cheaper than replacing hardware.
OP
charlesml3
Contributor
The sock idea is really good. I wish I'd known about that one before my trip.
I thought about getting insurance for my camera but it was going to cost more than the camera was worth.
Other things:
- Get trip insurance. Catching the flu two days before you fly... Enough said about that.
- Get your Nitrox cert if you don't already have it. If you're going to be on air only, your bottom times are going to get mighty short after a couple of days. You're making 5 dives each day with the last one ending at around 8:00pm. You're going to be back in the water at 8:00am the next day. The Aggressor charged $100 flat for unlimited Nitrox. Almost every diver in our group took it.
- Bring Sudafed. My right ear is fine for a couple of days of hard diving, but after about 3 it starts to bug me. I started taking two Sudafed each morning and that cleared it up.
I'm not sure where this notion of bringing 5 wetsuits came from. Who has 5 identical wetsuits? It's good to bring a couple of swim suits, however. You'll be back on the ship between each dive and you can swap them if you like. Or just alternate days. I only had one and it wasn't a problem. I just hung it at night and it was plenty dry by the next day.
-Charles
I thought about getting insurance for my camera but it was going to cost more than the camera was worth.
Other things:
- Get trip insurance. Catching the flu two days before you fly... Enough said about that.
- Get your Nitrox cert if you don't already have it. If you're going to be on air only, your bottom times are going to get mighty short after a couple of days. You're making 5 dives each day with the last one ending at around 8:00pm. You're going to be back in the water at 8:00am the next day. The Aggressor charged $100 flat for unlimited Nitrox. Almost every diver in our group took it.
- Bring Sudafed. My right ear is fine for a couple of days of hard diving, but after about 3 it starts to bug me. I started taking two Sudafed each morning and that cleared it up.
I'm not sure where this notion of bringing 5 wetsuits came from. Who has 5 identical wetsuits? It's good to bring a couple of swim suits, however. You'll be back on the ship between each dive and you can swap them if you like. Or just alternate days. I only had one and it wasn't a problem. I just hung it at night and it was plenty dry by the next day.
-Charles
Damselfish
Contributor
When people say bring a "suit" for every dive of the day some are talking about bathing suits and some are talking about wetsuits. I find I do pretty well on a liveaboard with 3 bathing suits ( I have bathing suits that dry pretty quickly) and alternating between 2 wetsuits. 5 wetsuits, even thin ones, would take a bit too much room in the luggage! Getting stuff dryish on a boat as long as it's warm and sunny is generally pretty easy.
Similar threads
