Games on liveaboards ( contract bridge, chess, baduk, etc )

[Joaz Banbeck]

I'm starting this thread as a gathering point for divers who might want to play certain games during down times on liveaboards. I figure if the American Contract Bridge League can fill a whole cruise ship with bridge players, it ought to be possible to get four on a liveaboard. Or two for chess, or a handful for poker, or whatever.

I'm not looking for the occasional player who knows the rules and who could fill in if asked, but rather the serious player who would look forward to playing. ( Please note, I'm not asking which boats might have certain games available. It is the people that matter. )

Please post your preferences here: at least the game and the location, and maybe your preferred boat, month, etc.

 

[Joaz Banbeck]

I'm hoping to find three other bridge players or one other go player on a boat to:
Socorro in April/May, maybe winter
Cocos in September, maybe summer
Galapagos in January to May, maybe August or September

I have no preferences for boats, as long as the staterooms have individually controlled air conditioning.

 

[KeithG]

I claim you will not be successful. Maybe look for land based morning divers?

LOB divers come to dive. Some do 5 a day. Others a few less because they are too tired to dive more. So they nap a bit.

While there is time for a bit of relaxation between dives on a LOB, nobody demonstrates much energy for anything other than stuffing food into their face.

 

[Bubblesong]

My husband and I are quite fiercely competitive at Scrabble, and i might pack a travel set next trip. Mr. Bubblesong has said he won’t do an LOB because he doesn’t want to “just dive”.
Another travel relaxation we bring is Lectures on CD, (like Astronomy or Oceanography) because it keeps us from being bored while resting up, but we can rest our eyes instead of reading.

 

[Damselfish]

I claim you will not be successful. Maybe look for land based morning divers?

LOB divers come to dive. Some do 5 a day. Others a few less because they are too tired to dive more. So they nap a bit.

While there is time for a bit of relaxation between dives on a LOB, nobody demonstrates much energy for anything other than stuffing food into their face.

I’ve seen folks go on a liveaboard mostly to socialize with friends they’d met on past trips or just didn’t live near - they quit diving by midafternoon to hang out/drink wine. So I suppose it’s possible.

I learned to play Mexican Train on a LOB with an enthusiastic Train contingent, though they mostly found the time by not night diving. (Also Mexican Train doesn’t require alot of thought, which helps.)

 

[Hoag]

I have never seen (nor heard of) a LOB trip that was organized to facilitate playing a specific game in the quiet hours, however the last one I was on did get a pretty hilarious "Cards Against Humanity" game going one night. I also know of one shore based resort that has a staff poker game on Tuesday nights that guests are sometimes invited to join.

 

[Joaz Banbeck]

I have never seen (nor heard of) a LOB trip that was organized to facilitate playing a specific game in the quiet hours...

Nor I. I've seen bridge-based cruises, ski holidays with poker in the evenings, and I knew a couple of chess-playing doctors who met up at medical conferences.

I was surprised when google showed nothing. I conclude that there is a gap in the marketplace. Either that or most of us who are interested in LOBs are too out of shape to do anything but drink and sleep after surfacing. I hope it is the former.

I don't expect this thread to bear fruit immediately. I'm hoping that it will serve as a water hole that someone googles.

 

[nudisusie]

I learned to play Mexican Train on a LOB with an enthusiastic Train contingent,

we had a whole group that just played Mexican Train their entire trip... they were mostly non-divers though and happy to start on the wine at lunch and then play games all afternoon (even the mantas at manta alley only tempted 3 of the 12!)

 

[Shasta_man]

Non-divers always blow my mind on the trip but apparently some people either have more money than me or value it differently. Nothing wrong with them, just the value proposition of paying for flight and boat to the farflung locales I go to and then not dive don't add up when I can just pay 1x and go somewhere we both (or maybe just them) enjoy later. I guess I am lucky enough to have a spouse who lets me do that. I suppose you could say I must have the money too to be able to do both, but the other trip doesn't usually cost on the order of a liveaboard + plane ticket to the far Pacific.

Mention that the assumption that people on liveaboards are too tired to be interested in games because they are out of shape tells me the OP hasn't been on said liveaboards or is just confused by the word "cruise" in the description. It's more of an exercise cruise. One, you're pumping around the ocean for 4-5 hours a day where you stop kicking, you stop moving and the water is not always moving the right direction. Second, you would be surprised, if you did all or most of the dives, how little time there is available aside from diving. Since I'm going on the "big trip" and seeing things that are very interesting to me, it takes a lot of time to just decompress/get off the high of each dive. Throw in discussing with other guests, cleaning up, eating, enjoying the scenery of the amazing places you go, and just plain relaxing since you can, and there you go. Add a camera and downloading some pics/video, recharging batteries, whatever and forget it.

 

[KathyV]

I have never seen (nor heard of) a LOB trip that was organized to facilitate playing a specific game in the quiet hours, however the last one I was on did get a pretty hilarious "Cards Against Humanity" game going one night. I also know of one shore based resort that has a staff poker game on Tuesday nights that guests are sometimes invited to join.

The only time I've seen the board games and cards come out of hiding on liveaboards has been during bad weather when there wasn't any diving.

I have been to land-based dive resorts that offer games at night that are very popular with the guests (and me too!) like Bingo and Trvia. And I always manage try to get a massage while I am on vacation! But when we are on a LOB we mostly just want to eat, sleep, and dive, unless the weather is poor or one of us gets an ear infection. If they offer shore excursions on an LOB, I always enjoy them because it is usually a chance to visit a place I have never been before.

Some people just like to dive and others like to mix things up and it's all good