Manta Queen liveaboard, nice?

[Taliena]

We want to stay on the Manta Queen (1 or 2) in april. It's 4 nights, 4 days, 4 dives a day. I'm a DM, my friends has AOW.

Have you been on this boat? and was it nice?
Long dives (normally we dive 60+minutes)?
some deep dives? (30+m?)
Diving on your own with your buddy? (I have a mail where they say we have enough experience to dive together without a guide)
Not only easy dives?
Good food?

 

[stevenl]

The boat offers excellent value for money, but it is a basic experience. No deeper dives than 30 meters, no dives longer than 1 hour.

You have a mail stating you can dive together, so that is sorted. I would recommend to dive with a guide anyway, max 4 people per guide, and they know the sites.

 

[Buadhai]

You have a mail stating you can dive together, so that is sorted. I would recommend to dive with a guide anyway, max 4 people per guide, and they know the sites.

I second this. Some of these sites are rather large and without a guide you're bound to miss out on some of the best stuff; especially small creatures, like seahorses, ghost pipe fish, etc.

 

[lord khram]

Personally I also generally prefer to dive without a guide.
I find a good briefing about a site that I am unfamilliar is sufficient, then left to my own devices get far more sattisfaction from the dive by being able to follow my own agenda and discover things myself.

 

[Taliena]

We prefer to dive without a guide too. Maybe we don't see everything, but we don't have to stop earlier as needed. Sometimes you hear stories of divers who empty their tanks in about 15 minutes. Sorry, we are experienced divers and we don't want to stop diving because of other guests who don't have the same experience.
If there are good divers too in a group, then a guide is a possibility.
Are most guests diving with nitrox? It's really expensive in Thailand.

 

[matts1w]

I enjoyed my time on the boat. The western managers when I was there have since moved on, but I imagine the Thai crew is pretty much the same: fun, made great food, friendly, professional. It is not a luxury boat, but then again you aint payin' luxury prices. It was clean, the bed was soft, the heads flushed, the AC cold, and my belly was full.

The managers divided the guests into three groups based on experience and air consumption. Never once did I feel rushed, babied, or short changed. My breathing is on par with the Thai giudes, and they never pressured me out of the water before I was done. In fact, there were a number of solid divers on board and everyone was satisfied with the grouping. It was a good experience and I would certainly use the boat again if/when I head back to the Similians.

 

[iamafish]

Speaking of dive guides limiting the diving experience, the last dive I did on a shallow (18m) wreck, the dive leader ran out of NDLs on the second wreck dive (because of all his prior days multiple, repetitive diving), and since myself and the other diver has more NDLs available, we had to abort the dive (me with 110 bar left in my tank) because of issues related to the "leader".

I'm not complaining; but the dive would have been more enjoyable, in my opinion, if the dive leader had of, at least, dove nitrox on such a shallow wreck dive and insured he had plenty of NDLs (we had a lot of NDLs left), so his two advanced divers (both with computers) could had dived longer and got more value from the dive.

Sometime I think dive centers really "don't think it all the way thru", especially with experienced divers who have low RMV (SAC) rates and plenty of NDLs to burn, compared to diving with "saturated" dive guides with much less NDLs ...... this type of issue with "guides" has happened quite often lately....

 

[stevenl]

There is nothing wrong with guests ending the dive independently, without the guide, Especially the more experienced guests.

In the latest example and in the 'doubts' of Taliena, nothing wrong with that. Why would a dive have to be aborted when 2 of the divers have run out of air and 2 others still have plenty. No reason for that, provided the remaining divers have their own computer, SMB etc.

 

[lord khram]

Personally diving with a guide I feel should always be completely optional, unless such things as marine park regulations state otherwise in the interest of protecting special marine environments. Ultimately certified divers with a reasonable experience level should be able to take care of themselves. If that is not the case I would question the relevance of the whole certification system. To me a dive guide is simply there to guide people (that want guiding) around a dive site. They are not baby sitters, or not there to dictate to customers on basic dive procedure.
In my experience they generally do nothing to enhance my diving experience, and quite often hamper my enjoyment.

 

[Taliena]

do a lot of guests using Nitrox?
At home I always dive with nitrox, but thats really expensive on the manta queen (I pay at home for a whole year filling my twinset (D12) the same price as in Thailand for only 14 dives).
Further, it sounds ok to stay on de Manta Queen.