Liveaboards- Hammerheads

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

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

We saw hundreds almost every dive in The Galapagos. Live in Cayman. They are around but it is newsworthy when they are spotted.
 
You will be fine as a single on a LOB as long as the rest of the boat is not 1 large group. Groups tend to stick to themselves - even small groups. On a recent trip there was a group of 4 that got pissed when someone else sat at "their table" for dinner.

I can confirm that there is at least 1 hammerhead in Belize. Someone got video evidence on our last trip. None of the crew had ever seen one. Similar experience in T&C years ago. 1 hammerhead spotted.
 
If you really want to see hammerheads, lots of them, head for Cocos Island, cheaper and easier to get to than the Galapagos. I have had good luck with the Agressor fleet traveling by myself and have run into several single women who seemed pleased with them as well. On my first trip to Cocos four or five of us old guys "adopted" a young woman from Berlin and pretty much watched out for her the whole time.

OTOH, would a trip to the Red Sea make more sense for you? Closer to you and cheaper than the Caribbean. redsea.php There are some really good prices in the spring--I'm seriously considering a trip then myself.
 
Last edited:
I’ve heard stories of great hammerheads at Tiger Island in the Bahamas. I’m about 3.5 hours from Houston, so my dive shop recommended a live-aboard from a company named Fling Charters. They go about 100 miles out into the gulf, to a place called the Flower Gardens, and have mantas, whale sharks, and hammerheads depending on when you go. Not the Caribbean, but kinda close? It’s a weekend trip, so you board the boat Friday afternoon and are back Sunday morning.

Fling Charters
 
@drrich2, yes, the hammerheads tend to school in late winter at the Flower Gardens. We saw them on every dive when I dove their in late Feb (quite a number of years ago).

For the OP, the Flower Gardens are more of an advanced dive. With the exception of Tiger Beach in the Bahamas, most places with reliable hammerhead sightings are going to require some good diving skills. If hammerheads are an important goal, you might consider getting some more training/experience and then seek out those trips that have been mentioned by others here.
 
My son and I saw hammerheads when we dove in the Red Sea summer of 2016. We were on the Agressor (2 successive weeks). There were songles on each trip and they all had a good time. We were new divers then (just started the October prior... 40 dives or so) and the diving was just fine for newer divers, but they do want to see an AOW cert (maybe just Deep might do) for the deeper dives... and Nitrox may make sense as the dives add up fast. . Some negative entries and some good current in some drift dives, but no anchoring yourself to a ledge in ripping current and if you miss it you're blown out to outer space or such a thing...
So we saw hammerheads several times, but never really up close. One caveat seems to be that as soon as one dover swims after them it is assured they won't come closer... or so at least the DM said.
Overall, we saw a lot. Good trip. Many more boats in the Red Sea, not just Agressor. Reading and shopping a bit more may be worth you while.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom