Liveaboard with fewer old people?

[boulderjohn]

I agree with the others - we didn't start diving liveaboards - or even going to exotic dive destinations - till we could afford it in our late 40's/50's. Before that we'd often dive on family vacations when we could.

Family is, I think, the primary reason. If you only have a few weeks of vacation a year, most people are going to take them with the rest of the family. I did not take my first liveaboard trip until I had no children living at home.

Lots of things in life are routinely put off until the future for similar reasons. A couple recently celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary and surprised everyone by announcing their divorce. When asked why they were getting divorced after so many years of marriage, they said, "We wanted to wait until the children were dead."

 

[drbill]

I love liveaboards but as a person in my twenties I really have nothing to talk about with people in their sixties.

Really? You and the old fuddy duddies (like myself) all have SCUBA diving in common. I've been diving for 56 years now and I've never had a problem communicating with younger divers about our shared passion.

 

[runsongas]

The cheaper liveaboards have a more varied crowd. Other than Blackbeard's, you have the ones in the similans, red Sea, the budget Indonesian ones.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Blackbeard's, as already mentioned. Or try the Red Sea, where there are (US) $1500 liveaboards that attract Europeans of all ages.

As a 20-something who can afford a multi-thousand dollar liveaboard vacation AND at least a week of time off from work and family obligations, you are in a tiny minority.

(I was still typing while runsongas posted the same idea above--yeah, Red Sea, Similans, etc. Also, places that offer shorter liveaboard trips than a week might be attractive to budget-conscious 20-somethings.)

 

[Dogbowl]

I think older people are a hoot! They are so funny and so comfortable in their own skin. They're so knowledgeable and they have so many stories to tell because they've lived through so much. If they're diving at an older age, you know they really love to dive. It's their passion. And I'll bet they can talk forever about diving!

When I was in my 20s, I also didn't know what to talk about with older folks. But that's also because I really didn't give them a chance. I assumed they were not interested in me and I also assumed they had nothing in common with me. That's not true of course, they would've loved to talk with me and they liked the stuff I did.

Of course, I agree with most of the posts above...fancier liveaboards will have older folks just due to the economics and life timing. For me, that's actually a plus.

I'm not "older" but I'm getting there...

 

[KathyV]

@ivorynightfall I came across the item below that you posted in 2015 asking for information on liveaboards and dive vacations.

First, let me say that you need to update your profile information; you have clearly done more than 49 dives! That's important, because people will consider your level of experience before making recommendations for destinations and LOBs.

Back when you first made that post, the expense required and time off from work were factors of concern to you in regards to dive vacations, but that situation seems to have improved, so congratulations on that!

The post linked below also suggests that you will be turning 30 soon, correct? So there may be some young folks out there that won't know how to talk to someone as old as you! Three years ago you expressed concerns that you might already be too old for the Blackbeards demographic.

I think that the advice you are getting today is pretty good; look for opportunities to hook up with younger divers and then try to coordinate vacations, and also try talking to older divers (and talk to people that are younger than you, too!) You can always start talking about diving, countries you have visited, etc., and then see what develops; you might have some interesting conversations.

Here's a couple of other suggestions. You can look for all-inclusive resorts on land that cater to singles but also offer scuba diving. It may not be the best diving, but it will give you a chance to meet people your age that like diving and perhaps form some friendships for future liveaboard trips. Or maybe a cruise ship geared toward singles, with opportunities to dive at various ports of call, could be an option.

You can also contact the liveaboard(s) you are interested in and ask if they have any charters booked that still have slots to sell? If yes, give the agent your contact info and ask to have the person arranging the charter contact you if he/she may be interested in letting someone else join their trip. Once you know more about the group and the trip, you can decide if it would be a good match for you.

Unless it is a family or other close-knit organization, charters are often looking to fill up spaces because that may bring down the price for everyone. In some cases they have had cancellations or are even in danger of having the whole trip cancelled because they don't have enough people; and they are very happy to welcome outsiders.

That happened to us twice, and we met some great people and made new friends and had wonderful trips at good prices! And we even went on future trips with some of the folks we met.

Advice for 7-9 day Nov-Jan Liveaboard?

 

[northernone]

Really? You and the old fuddy duddies (like myself) all have SCUBA diving in common. I've been diving for 56 years now and I've never had a problem communicating with younger divers about our shared passion.

Thank you.

...If the poster really wants to sort divers by age, perhaps the Galapagos might be a good choice for liveaboards. It's a "bucket list" dive location so I saw a lot more young divers who had prioritized it as one of their first liveaboard experiences. That may help.

 

[Dogbowl]

Since @KathyV posted a previous post of the OP from 2015, I went ahead and read it. In that thread, @ivorynightfall says:

However, while I'm considering like Blackbeard's liveaboard off of Nassau at the lower end I'm worried that I may be a bit too old to be that grungy (at the ripe old age of 26, soon to be 27).

I'm going to suggest that the OP be less concerned about slotting herself or others into age groups. Age really isn't that important. It's someone's outlook that counts.

 

[Aviyes]

It was a concern of mine as well being in my mid-30s, easier for me to take a week worth of leave and being single I have the money to afford the trips. Everything worked out great on my first liveaboard on the Belize Aggressor IV; there were 3 couples in their late 30s/early 40s that I got along great with. I'm going on the Turks&Caicos Explorer at the end of April, so i will have to see if my luck holds.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I enjoying meeting and diving with people of all ages--occasionally I even meet someone who's older than me and has been diving longer (granted, it does not happen very often). It's fun talking to young divers and learning about the new-fangled equipment such as BCs and SPGs etc, and to see the look on their faces when I tell them I did thousands of dives without a BC, which they KNOW is impossible It can be enlightening for both of us and I think it's just natural for older people to keep an eye on the kids who probably think they need to keep an eye on us.

Like everyone else said, us older folks often don't have all those bills any more and can take advantage of cheap flights during the week and go just about any time we want as long as it doesn't interfere with our upcoming colonoscopy appointment. Statistically I suspect that you are very likely to meet up with many geezers unless you are doing some kind of diving that requires high-level physical conditioning, and even then you might sometimes be surprised to see who is trying to keep up with whom If you are concerned about the lack of a "party" type atmosphere it might be wise to consider that, in many cases, those older divers who don't party much are still alive and still diving (although many people do start diving later in life). Many young people complain about how slowly old people drive cars and seem to think it's because we can't see and have no reflexes any more. But the reality is that there are no old reckless drivers because they all got killed long ago.

@Dogbowl Just to verify what you said, for Christmas I got a T-Shirt that reads: Warning! Spontaneously Talks About Scuba Diving

As for the common interests, we did all the same things years ago that younger people are doing now--only the names have changed.