Puzzlement
Registered
I've looked through past threads and seen this question answered a lot, but I have a specific variant that I'm interested in.
Holiday background: my husband and I are flying into Phuket on Nov 15 and out on Nov 27 for a belated honeymoon. We both love diving and we did our Open Water with Lanta Diver in 2004, so this is something of a return to the scene... or at least area... of the crime. But we tend to find that liveaboards are holidays that you need a holiday afterwards to recover from, so we wanted to do a shorter liveaboard towards the beginning of the stay (maybe starting the 18th or 19th, he will have come from North America the long way around the globe, thanks to round the world fares and a complicated work itinerary and will be jetlagged) and then have the rest of the holiday be land based, with perhaps a day trip or two. Given the jetlag at the beginning and wanting to have a decent land-based interval at the end we were thinking about a 3d/2n liveaboard.
Diving background: We have a fairly small number of dives logged (it's 63 each I think) but since certifying, we've mostly done day trips in Sydney (which is temperate with indifferent viz, most regulars use drysuits) and liveaboards in Queensland. We've developed a distinct preference for self-guided dives (partly because GBR liveaboards charge extra for guides, and our Sydney dive shop DM hires who haven't seen the sites before), or at least for a dive guide who will let us manage our own air, dive our own plan and not necessarily come up with the group.
Comments on this board suggest that South Siam at least are very hand-holding (45 min max, the whole group comes up as soon as one diver is low). Is this typical? Do any of the shorter Similan liveaboards cater to either independent divers or are OK with them leaving the group? Should we resign ourselves to indifferently led dives? Are there any alternative arrangements in the area that might better suit us?
Thanks for your help!
Holiday background: my husband and I are flying into Phuket on Nov 15 and out on Nov 27 for a belated honeymoon. We both love diving and we did our Open Water with Lanta Diver in 2004, so this is something of a return to the scene... or at least area... of the crime. But we tend to find that liveaboards are holidays that you need a holiday afterwards to recover from, so we wanted to do a shorter liveaboard towards the beginning of the stay (maybe starting the 18th or 19th, he will have come from North America the long way around the globe, thanks to round the world fares and a complicated work itinerary and will be jetlagged) and then have the rest of the holiday be land based, with perhaps a day trip or two. Given the jetlag at the beginning and wanting to have a decent land-based interval at the end we were thinking about a 3d/2n liveaboard.
Diving background: We have a fairly small number of dives logged (it's 63 each I think) but since certifying, we've mostly done day trips in Sydney (which is temperate with indifferent viz, most regulars use drysuits) and liveaboards in Queensland. We've developed a distinct preference for self-guided dives (partly because GBR liveaboards charge extra for guides, and our Sydney dive shop DM hires who haven't seen the sites before), or at least for a dive guide who will let us manage our own air, dive our own plan and not necessarily come up with the group.
Comments on this board suggest that South Siam at least are very hand-holding (45 min max, the whole group comes up as soon as one diver is low). Is this typical? Do any of the shorter Similan liveaboards cater to either independent divers or are OK with them leaving the group? Should we resign ourselves to indifferently led dives? Are there any alternative arrangements in the area that might better suit us?
Thanks for your help!
