- Messages
- 2,083
- Reaction score
- 54
- # of dives
- 500 - 999
I spent a week on The Horizon -- it was awesome! The food was great -- and the crew could not have been better!!
How often do you go on a California live-aboard?
- Thread starter Rob9000
- 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
Why go out on a live-aboard when I essentially live on one... Santa Catalina Island... I have my own bed and it doesn't rock as much as the dive boats. Now I've gone out on a number of SoCal dive boats, even spending the night before on several of them, but to qualify as a live-aboard I imagine it would require a multi-day trip which I've never done.
My favs are the Truth Aquatics boats and the Peace. I've used them a number of times to dive all the northern Channel Islands.
My favs are the Truth Aquatics boats and the Peace. I've used them a number of times to dive all the northern Channel Islands.
Noboundaries
Guest
We're doing our first mock liveaboard in mid-May on the Sand Dollar. My wife takes dramamine and has no problems on the Monterey and Mexico boats, but she's never slept on one. We're going to spend the pre-dive night on the boat and see how she does. If all is good, we'll take it to the next level and do a two day. If that's good.....three days. If that's good, we're off to an Aggressor boat. I'd love to do three or four SoCal liveaboards a year in addition to our other diving.
There aren't any NorCal liveaboards. I've done a couple of SoCal bunkaboards and I
saw better dives in in NorCal off my own boat. You can do the same dives off any of
the NorCal day boats (they are WAY bigger than my boat).
And the SoCal bunkaboards seem to cater to the hunter-gatherers, which I'm not. I want
pretty stuff for my camera.
saw better dives in in NorCal off my own boat. You can do the same dives off any of
the NorCal day boats (they are WAY bigger than my boat).
And the SoCal bunkaboards seem to cater to the hunter-gatherers, which I'm not. I want
pretty stuff for my camera.
Bring some LP tanks and be prepared for short fills. They only pump to about 23-2500 psi. Other than that, the boat is decent. Old, but decent. Food is plentiful and good. There are some double bunks in the back, below the tender.
gonphishing
Contributor
I do as much as I can. 3+ trips a year. I recommend it.
OP
This was my experience on my last Northern Channel Islands trip in December....the diving wasn't very good. Also, on any trip I would want to know if the group are hunters and/or lobster grabbers. I don't do either, so I wouldn't book a boat where the majority of the people are there for hunting...and I don't book lobster season opener boats. I remember my Southern Channel Islands trips being better diving, so we'll see how this upcoming trip goes.
Yeah if you have your own boat it certainly changes things.
OP
Dramamine doesn't work for me. On a multi-day trip I use the Scopolamine patch (which is good for 72 hours) and for day trips I use Scopace, which is a 6 hour pill form of the patch. These are both prescription things. There can be some side effects..I've only experienced them a couple times (slight blurry vision; cotton mouth; a little off balance feeling) but for me that is better than sea sickness.
I guess mileage varies on the quality of Channel Island dive sites. I sometimes get a little bored with the slide rubble walls you encounter on the northern islands, but just when I'm wondering what it will take to get me excited we'll drop somewhere like Fern Grotto on Santa Cruz, or at Coral Reef, Underwater Island, or Pelican closure (only open to divers 2 months out of the year) off Anacapa. These sites are so spectacular that I put up with the merely good dives interspersed in between.
Vis can be variable just like anywhere, but almost always beats most shorediving spots available to NorCal divers on a given day.
Bunk life is what it is. I'm usually so tired when I roll into my bunk that I just fall asleep immediately. You can organize your stuff so that it is accessible. I do however try to avoid getting a bottom bunk assignment on the Truth boats, except on Truth, where they're easier to get into and out of than on Vision or Conception.
A major attraction for me is the price of these trips. I can get in 10-12 good to incredible boat dives on 3-day trips, eat great food when I'm hungry, and sleep when I'm tired. Last year all that cost just over $500 not including gas, tips and food departure night. When I count up the cost of 5 two-tank boat charters, three nights in a Monterey hotel, food and gas from Petaluma, well, it's more. This year, with the cost of fuel increasing the way it is, I'm sure the trips will be more expensive, but I'm pretty sure it'll still be cheaper than that many two-tank trips and 3-night hotel costs, etc.
There are always some hunters on the Truth boats: IME 3-5 divers out of 30 during any time except the opening month of lobster season. But since the boat captains don't select sites specifically for hunters when the charter is for general diving during the rest of the year the hunters haven't really had much impact on my experience. If you book during the first weeks of bug season then of course things will be different. But on all my trips so far photographers have far outnumbered hunters. Many good sites are marine reserves where no game may be taken.
It's really pot luck when it comes to who else is on the boat. Sometimes you can have a really great group where everyone is considerate and friendly, other times not so much. Chartering through your LDS usually means you'll already know some people; booking blind with a group you don't know can work out as it did for me with the SoCal group I went with last year and had a great time with. But you never know.
My next trip is in July on Vision to San Clemente, an island I've never been to and I'm really looking forward to it.
Vis can be variable just like anywhere, but almost always beats most shorediving spots available to NorCal divers on a given day.
Bunk life is what it is. I'm usually so tired when I roll into my bunk that I just fall asleep immediately. You can organize your stuff so that it is accessible. I do however try to avoid getting a bottom bunk assignment on the Truth boats, except on Truth, where they're easier to get into and out of than on Vision or Conception.
A major attraction for me is the price of these trips. I can get in 10-12 good to incredible boat dives on 3-day trips, eat great food when I'm hungry, and sleep when I'm tired. Last year all that cost just over $500 not including gas, tips and food departure night. When I count up the cost of 5 two-tank boat charters, three nights in a Monterey hotel, food and gas from Petaluma, well, it's more. This year, with the cost of fuel increasing the way it is, I'm sure the trips will be more expensive, but I'm pretty sure it'll still be cheaper than that many two-tank trips and 3-night hotel costs, etc.
There are always some hunters on the Truth boats: IME 3-5 divers out of 30 during any time except the opening month of lobster season. But since the boat captains don't select sites specifically for hunters when the charter is for general diving during the rest of the year the hunters haven't really had much impact on my experience. If you book during the first weeks of bug season then of course things will be different. But on all my trips so far photographers have far outnumbered hunters. Many good sites are marine reserves where no game may be taken.
It's really pot luck when it comes to who else is on the boat. Sometimes you can have a really great group where everyone is considerate and friendly, other times not so much. Chartering through your LDS usually means you'll already know some people; booking blind with a group you don't know can work out as it did for me with the SoCal group I went with last year and had a great time with. But you never know.
My next trip is in July on Vision to San Clemente, an island I've never been to and I'm really looking forward to it.
sarita75
Guest
I have also found that paying attention to who the LDS chartering the boat is can impact the ratio of hunters v. "scenery" divers onboard. I've been on both. I would have to say that Mark and I probably will not be doing anymore liveaboards/bunkaboards until next year simply because of the amount of travel that we're doing. But I am pretty interested in the NYE trip going out.....
Similar threads
