Name your Liveaboard...

[guido74]

Truk Aggressor II - outstanding in every way possible.

A boat I would not go on is the Solmar V - still no nitrox last time I checked, . I wouldn't think of doing five dives a day without nitrox. And besides, the Nautilus Explorer is doing the Socorros now. I haven't been on it but it has a stellar rep.

I'm going to Cocos Islands in 2006 w/ one of the Sea Hunter boats. That promises to set a new standard for me.

I've been on the Solmar, and it is a superb trip. I'm not nitrox certified so I wouldn't have had the same concerns as you tho. In any case, the five dives a day argument didn't apply - I think because of the very abundant shark life around, we didn't do any night dives! This might be different on the Sea of Cortez trip, I went to Socorro.

We did have a very entertaining evening wathing loads of dolphins and sharks feeding just off the side of the boat - the fish were attracted to the boat lights so they were having a feeding frenzy there - made me feel quite happy not to be in the water ;-) The most surprising thing for me to see was how much faster the dolphins were than the sharks at catching dinner - amazing!

 

[guido74]

I've been offered a space on the VIP One out of Sharm-el-Sheikh in November....does anyone have any personal experienc eof her?
I've checked their website and it looks superb (esp for the price I've been quoted!)
but I've never done a liveaboard and am a bit concerned about motion sickness and being cooped up with 12 people I don't know for a week!
Thoughts/opinions/advice gratefully accepted!

Sorry if the reply is too late - but I was on the VIP One in October last year, and had the same concerns as you! It was our first liveaboard and we were a touch nervous, but had a fantastic time. Liveaboards are definitely the way to do things! The boat is great and the instructor, Tim (if he's still there) was superb (there was only one on our trip as the boat wasn't full - I think they usually have two on a full boat, but to be honest it wouldn't worry me if they didn't as there were no huge currents or anything really worrying on the dives).

In general liveaboards are not meant to be luxurious (tho there are a few if you want to spend the money!) - VIP is, I believe, one of the two nicest boats out of Sharm and is very comfortable, but the 'en-suite' is fairly basic! If I was taking a trip out of Sharm, I would def go on VIP One again, no questions.

Noone on our trip was remotely seasick, and everyone got on great. Highly recommend VIP One!