Question My biggest fear (on my first liveaboard trip).

[BrandonTL]

I've been on the Belize Aggressor III and we had a fantastic time. The crew was great, food was good and most importantly the diving was good (was not impressed with the Blue Hole, but that is just my opinion). Lots of opportunities to dive with sharks too. That said, there were no land excursions, you were out on the boat the entire time. Still, it was a great trip.

Oh, and if you do make it to the Aqua Cat, heed the advice of Living4Experiences and avoid Cabin 11, if possible. It is very small and has bunk beds. My wife and I spent our 5th wedding anniversary in that cabin. If it's all you can get though, we'd do it again.

Thanks, I feel a lot more comfortable booking a trip after hearing directly about another's experience with it. In regard to the Blue Hole, it is interesting to me, but I would not go just for that. Particularly since I think that more exciting/adventurous stuff about the Blue Hole is way beyond what my experience/skill level would allow me to do.

 

[BrandonTL]

Hi @BrandonTL

I think you are smart to postpone Galapagos until you have more experience and skill. You only have at most 5 dives that were not your OW or AOW training dives. I assume you do have your nitrox cert.

The Aggressor to Belize is very good Caribbean diving and is very easy. I went on the BA IV in 2022, before it went aground in November of 2023. You can opt to dive with the guide. This would be a good way to increase your experience significantly. The BA does do a half day excursion on Half Moon Cay, quite good.

Trip Report - Belize on the Aggressor IV April 9-16, 2022

Belize on the Aggressor IV April 9-16, 2022 Reservations: I reserved my spot ton the Belize Aggressor IV directly with Aggressor. I made my reservations during last fall’s sale and got 25% off. I made my airline reservations directly with American Airlines, a flight from Philadelphia to Miami...

scubaboard.com

I don't know how much SCTLD and bleaching has affected Belize, but it sounds quite substantial, like it is in much/all of the Caribbean

Belize Aggressor IV mooring breaks

With divers in the water, their ability to maneuver might have been compromised as well, plus you have to assume that conditions were less than calm if it caused the mooring to fail.

scubaboard.com

Thanks for this info! You are correct we do not have nitrox cert, but we are considering completing that before the trip.

 

[BrandonTL]

Thanks for sharing your experiences @also_anon_dc ... Also good to hear from someone who did a liveaboard with a comparable amount of dives.

 

[TravisD]

Aquacat was my wife and my's first time in the actual Ocean post-certification - we had a season or so of quarry dives before then. Had no problems with this - they started out the trip with a relatively 'easy' site designed to do a proper weight check/etc.

Yes, you will be 'on the boat' for the week - but they also do some 'excursions' like seeing the iguanas and wild hogs. One of the nice things is they tow a launch behind the big boat, and on both of our trips the 1st mate was always offering up 'other' things to do. They also carry things like stand-up paddleboards. Used to offer up fishing gear too, but not sure that's allowed any more (depending on where the boat happens to be).

Liveaboards are mostly about diving... the daily schedule is basically dive-eat-nap-repeat (up to about 5 dives/day). Bring a book... or spend the time editing pics/video on your laptop, or just chatting with the other passengers. Put a DVD on in the salon...

What you're not going to get are shopping trips, casino time, and shows liek you would on a cruise ship. You will get great diving though...

 

[scubadada]

Thanks for this info! You are correct we do not have nitrox cert, but we are considering completing that before the trip.

The next most important cert after OW, no dives required

 

[also_anon_dc]

Thanks for this info! You are correct we do not have nitrox cert, but we are considering completing that before the trip.

You should definitely get it before doing a liveaboard, if you don't it's possible the liveaboard might require you to do it on the boat- check with them. All of the other divers will most likely have it and if you don't have it your bottom time on the last few dives of the day will be greatly impacted and you probably won't be able to follow the same dive profile as the other divers.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I was wondering too.

Speaking for myself, with over 1000 dives in fresh and salt water, mild currents, under the ice, 160ft down in the Great Lakes, and numerous wreck and blackwater dives, I never felt the urge to go to the Galapagos.
Why? The diving, while amazing from the photos I have seen, is too much like work for me. Currents I would not want even to risk having to deal with, travel required to get there, and no wrecks.
If I'm going to be diving in cold water and needing a dry suit, I'd prefer Scapa Flow over the Galapagos.
And at soon to be 64, I'm getting lazy in my dives and don't want to deal with any current.
And I surely don't want to do rocket drops to the bottom to jam a hook into the reef to keep from ending up in Antarctica.

 

[drrich2]

Ironically, liveaboards are largely about maximizing time on the water focused on diving, though in some cases access to distant preferred sites is also a big draw. By the time you do the dives, gear up for diving, clean off afterward, eat, socialize a bit with other divers, sit through the dive briefings, download photos off your camera's memory card to your personal computer or tablet at day's end, etc..., and if you're like me doze on a lounge chair off and on to recuperate, there's not a whole lot of time to be bored. So while I doubt you'll find multi-day affliction with boredom a big problem, it left me wondering what led you to choose a liveaboard. Prospect of high dive count?

That said, if you like to hedge your bets, there are some options.

1.) One liveaboard with a rep. for not just being about diving is the Cuan Law. It services the British Virgin Islands, which I haven't dove; from what I understand that ought to be within your experience level.

2.) The 'land-based liveaboard' approach, where you take a land-based vacation that makes 4+ dives/day feasible. There are a number of options; I'll share a few I've been to.

1.) Bonaire - currently with coral bleaching and SCTLD, and shore diving is a lot more work than liveaboard diving, plus it's not a big topside place...still, for your first visit, it ought to be serviceable. Curacao has more topside, but involves more planning.
My Research Notes for Bonaire - My Research Note For Bonaire
8 Day Trip Report: Sand Dollar, Dive Friends
2022 Trip Report Bonaire Trip Report - V.I.P. Divers/Aqua Viva Suites

2.) CocoView Resort in Roatan. While the resort itself is on a little island, they have excursions to do to other things topside.
CocoView Trip Report May 2021 - Trip Report - CocoView Resort May 8-15, 2021
My Research Notes from planning a Roatan Trip - My Research Notes from Planning Roatan Trip

3.) Key Largo, Florida - I dove with Rainbow Reef Dive Center back in 2013. 4 Dives/day, plus the entertainments of the area on land. If you took a day off from diving you could room and do something in the Miami area, etc...
Key Largo with Rainbow Reef Dive Center 2013 - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...iving-key-largo-rainbow-reef-dive-center.html

Little Cayman Beach Resort and Cayman Brac Beach Resort I have not been to; IIRC, you can get 3 days/day (not counting occasional night dives), and Cayman Brac is bigger with a little more topside, but neither is what I'd call a topside amusement park by reputation. Grand Cayman boat diving is expensive; in the past airfare and car rental weren't bad, some resorts have access to shore diving to bump up your dive count, it's got topside excursions and a couple of budget options mentioned in the past were Comfort Suites and Sunshine Suites Resort in the Seven Mile Beach region.

Most of my Caymans diving was via liveaboard, and it rocked. The outer atolls of Belize were also very nice.

I suspect you need to get a liveaboard in so you can settle in your own mind whether they're in line with your desires, and so you can weigh whether it's worth it to you in destinations where they offer serious advantages (like the Galapagos).

 

[Johnoly]

, like the trips I found in the Galapagos? Or if that is too much to hope for.

Come dive Jupiter Florida, it's the closest thing in mainland USA to the Galapagos.
It has fast currents, it's deep, big animals that bite, rolling dive decks and lots of sharks.
If you finish 3 straight days in Jupiter, still thrilled and hungry for more>>>Then you're ready for Galapagos.

 

[drrich2]

Oh, since it sounds like the Galapagos is on the 'maybe someday' list:

Humboldt Explorer Jan 13-20, 2020 - Trip Report - Humboldt Explorer Jan 13-20, 2020

My Research Notes from Planning Galapagos Trip

Be mindful reading old trip reports that things change. A few points here - it was manta season but we only saw 1, it was the warmer water time of year but that's not when you see the whale sharks (and we saw none), and the next year part of the top collapsed out of Darwin's Arch.

The Galapagos rocked.