How long of a liveaboard is too much?

[Insta-Gator]

I think after six months you are assimilated.

 

[WetLens]

I've been on several 10-day, a 12-day, and a 16-day. On each, I was always ready for more. The 16-day charter came on the heels of a 4-day stint in Lembeh where we did 4-5 dives per day. Other than the expense, can't imagine there being too many days...

 

[Allison Finch]

I am rarely on a boat less than 14 days, and often 20. I believe the longer the better. And, yes, I often feel the land rock and heave when I leave the boat afterwards. Not a big problem.

 

[Shasta_man]

I like the longer trips because on 7 day trips (5.5 days of diving), I'm just hitting my stride in diving well, when the trip is over, and because of the expense involved with traveling to the location, it's cheaper to spend a bit more for a longer trip than going twice.

Most of my diving has been in the Pacific where sites can vary, so diving is different.

I also split my land/sea time by doing all of my diving first, and then doing the land part at a relaxed pace.

 

[jameseg]

I think it depends on how many dives you're doing each day. The longest one I've done is 7 days, with 5 dives a day. I started to feel a bit drained by that last day. While I was sad for that portion of the trip to be over, the 2 days we spent relaxing on land after that were very welcome. If I was going to do a longer liveaboard (which I would love to do!), I'd probably limit some days to 4 dives a day.

James

 

[Damselfish]

The longest liveaboard I've done is 10 nights, which seems about right to me. But longer would be good on the right boat and itinerary. A week is too short since it's generally only 5.5 days of diving and it's time to leave way too soon. This isn't really liveaboard specific for me though, I feel pretty much the the same about land-based trips. (I do like to stay on land a few days after a liveaboard trip too.)

I wouldn't want to spend more than a couple days on a "rustic" liveaboard (but then I probably wouldn't do one at all, not my thing.)

 

[RJP]

I did back-to-back weeks on the Truk Odyssey (and was offered a crazy deal on a third week while onboard) and that was after three days of land-based diving. I did 57 dives over 17 days of diving in Truk... and I could have done another week easily.

I have to say that our favorite style of diving so far as been Bonaire, where you have a rental truck and can dive whenever you want at whatever site you want without being beholden to anybody else.

Bonaire is essentially a "liveaboard island" if you ask me.

 

[vladimir]

I think 10 days is the sweet spot for me, for a liveaboard or a Bonaire trip. Most of my liveaboards have been on the luxury end of the spectrum (which is still a few notches away from luxury), so comfort hasn't been an issue, but even with relatively spartan accommodations and rough seas on a couple, I have never looked forward to the end of a trip.