Introverts and liveaboards

[geekgirlau]

My partner is suggesting a liveaboard at Ningaloo reef.

Ningaloo is definitely on my to do list, but as a card-carrying introvert the thought of a liveaboard is terrifying.

I usually cope quite well in most social settings and can carry my end of a conversation, but I also need time on my own. After a few days of constantly being around other people I'm likely to become stressed and irritable. Even normal group holidays are a bit of a stretch for me, and at least then I can go off on my own for a while when I need space.

As as you will gather I've never done this before so I don't really know what to expect. Is it possible to survive a liveaboard as an introvert?

 

[Akimbo]

Yes, get a private cabin.

 

[drrich2]

I'm not familiar with your local offerings. I'd like to do a live-aboard someday, am also an introvert, and also need my alone time to remain 'centered.' If I believed in having a 'totem animal,' mine would be a turtle, 'cause I've gotta have my time in the shell.

You might do a search on the forum and read the reviews of, oh, say, the AquaCat in the Bahamas. I know that's not where you plan to dive, but you can see a size, diver capacity, and how people felt about the space.

In a nutshell, I'd like to dive AquaCat someday, but would be more leery of Blackbeards. I assume your partner would be your room mate?

Richard.

 

[SeaHorse81]

Is it possible to survive a liveaboard as an introvert?

I'm as introverted as they come and had the same concern about liveaboards. I tried my first one with great trepidation, and now they are the only way I'll dive. What I find is that the boat is separated into enough distinct areas that even though none of them are far from anything, there is a sense of being able to be "somewhere else" when most of the people are gathered elsewhere. And the other guests usually are seldom all over the boat all the time -- they tend to gather in one or two places so I can usually find some area that nobody's interested in for awhile and get it all to myself. If worse come to worse, I just go hang out in my cabin for a while.

I'd suggest getting very detailed information about the layout of the boat. Blackbeard's, for example, sounds like an introvert's nightmare and you literally couldn't give me a trip with them.

I hope you go for it; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you do, I hope you'll come back and post about your experience either way.

 

[diversteve]

This one? The Vessel - Sail Ningaloo - Luxury sailing catamaran Shore Thing

I don't think you'd find much privacy short of in your cabin. Most of those big cats have a center public galley, a small rear deck area and seating up by the captain. Except for that everyone hangs out on the main trampoline area around the masts. Walk off 60' in your backyard and see if you could get far enough away from the others in that space.

These are fancied up day boats. The one sleeps 12 in 5 cabins. You do the math...Aliikai | Ningaloo Whaleshark N Dive

Who else is there in that area? This one seems like an option but they don't seem to be in Ningaloo. A bigger cat like that will have multiple indoor/outdoor deck spaces. http://www.diveadventures.com/pages/destinations/Australia/Liveaboards.htm

Post links to other options and maybe someone has been on it or a boat of similar size. I've done several liveaboards on our side of the world. If somethings in the 60' range expect it to be pretty tight quarters. Above 100-120' or so they start to open up and there's some private spaces - or at least spaces you can occupy and be alone unless someone is pretty rude or clueless.

p.s. <- The Whale Shark was shot off Utila, Honduras in Central America. Ningaloo is on my bucket list - besides WS I want to dive the pier...

 

[drrich2]

That 1st link DiverSteve provided is for a op. offering 3, 5 & 9 day trips. Perhaps a shorter trip to 'test the waters,' so to speak, would be in order?

Richard.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Take a book. Many divers are photogs and they are busy with their cameras. Others are chatting but anyone reading a book could be in their own world. I spent a lot of time in my cabin when I needed my shell time.

 

[Hickdive]

A short length of string, chewed thoroughly and then allowed to dangle from your mouth will keep people away.

Beware of over eager DMs though, as seen in a thread on here Scubaboard, some will regard your reticence as a sign of diving incompetence.

 

[SeaHorse81]

Beware of over eager DMs though, as seen in a thread on here Scubaboard, some will regard your reticence as a sign of diving incompetence.

FWIW, I've never had any experience remotely like that and I've been on a decent number of trips.

 

[RJP]

Good thing about being on a boat with 15 other divers is that you WILL have a common subject for conversation if you want. The other good thing is that there's a surprising amount of "alone time" space on a boat. People know that if you're on a lounge chair on the sundeck or curled up on a couch in the salon reading a book... that you're "alone" for a while.

In fact, other than lunch, dinner, and dive briefings there will never be a time where you're grouped all together with everyone else. (I omitted breakfast because that tends to be twosies-threesies floating through between 6:30 and whenever the first dive is.) At any other point in time...

- four passengers will be taking a nap in their cabin
- three passengers will be on the dive deck fiddling with their gear
- two passengers will be in the salon editing/comparing their photos
- two passengers will be on lounge chairs on the sun deck with headphones/ipods
- one passenger will be in the shade, reading a book
- one passenger will be in the galley annoying the chef

So you'll have the rest of the boat to yourself!

But seriously, after years of liveaboard diving I've found that people will interact with you as much or as little as YOU want, and the other people will want some "alone time" throughout the week as well. Liveaboard divers tend to get this, and I find that most trips are comprised of 2/3rds to 3/4th experienced liveaboard divers.