- Messages
- 196
- Reaction score
- 46
- # of dives
- 500 - 999
After my dive buddy and I decided to do another liveaboard trip, I was tasked with doing the research on destinations and trip length. Given that it was somewhat of a last-minute commitment, there were some limitations in availability in regions that neither of us had previously done. Thailand eventually topped the list.
Our location on the west coast of Canada meant that a Thailand trip would involve long flights so more bang for the buck would be achieved by a ten-to-fourteen-day liveaboard itinerary. Although there were about three liveaboards that offered longer itineraries, only Sea Dragon’s MV Explorer had available space on their 13-day trip. This trip is actually a combination of their 5, 3 and 5 day trips but, in spite of that, there wasn’t a lot of duplication in dives site and those that were such as Richelieu Rock were very deserving of multiple visits. The one downside of the combined trips was that the final day of each segment only offer 2 dives before heading to a northern fishing village to offload departing guests and await the arrival of new ones. That did, however, give you the opportunity to off-gas and to take advantage of inexpensive beer.
The Explorer is a 25 Meter (82 feet) wooden hulled ship that has been re-configured as a dive boat. The Sea Dragon Dive Centre offers this and the steel hulled Andaman as liveaboards and both reflect very good value relative to other liveaboard operators. They are, however, not as luxurious. According to staff, the Andaman caters to a younger crowd who don’t mind the mostly dorm style accommodations and 20 divers instead of the 16 max on the Explorer. The Explorer is slightly more expensive.
The ship’s layout is quite functional as a dive platform. The dive deck is not really any tighter than other liveaboards I have been on, and crowding is minimized by only allowing one or two groups to gear up at a time. They divide guests into groups of four plus a guide. Sadly, all dives are from a RIB dingy since a high-ranking government official had a close call with a big boat upon surfacing a few years ago. He issued an edict that there would be no jumping off the big boats any longer. The boat staff are great in assisting divers on and off of the dingy. Each dive station has a milk crate for gear. There are several freshwater rinse hoses as well as a camera and computer rinse tank. The camera table is quite small and, since it is also used by the cooks, your set-up will be gently moved out of the way when they need it.
The booking price does include a full set of dive gear. From a glance, the dive gear appeared to be relatively current, name brand items that are well maintained by the staff. Do be aware that the BCD’s are not weight integrated. The bonus for guests using the boat’s gear is that, at the end of their trips, they leave it to the crew to clean, dry and put away. If you bring your own gear (as we and a few divers did) you get a 10% discount off the price of the trip…but make sure you tell that to the diver centre staff when you are making the final payment. They do provide, at no charge, weight belts or weights for integrated BCD’s, dive computers (Zoop), torches for night dives and not particularly good SMB’s. Tanks are standard 12 Litre/Aluminum 80’s with DIN or Yoke available. Larger 15 Litre tanks are available. Guests gear up and head to the dingy when called and the boat crew will have already grabbed your fins to be put on when you are seated.
Everyone is different in terms of their need for thermal protection and that will vary depending on the time of year. For me and for this trip in May, a 2-mil shorty was fine but be prepared for massive temperatures due to upswelling currents. There were times when we felt like we had gone from a hot tub to an ice bath and the computer recorded temperatures as high as 87 down to 73 degrees Fahrenheit.
The dive deck also has three washrooms with toilet, sink and shower for a quick change between dives. The dive guide cabin is located on this deck as is the kitchen. Past the kitchen are 6 ensuite guest cabins that accommodate two guests either in twin or double configurations. They are very well air conditioned but, contrary to website claims, doesn’t really have ample storage space. That is a very good reason to pack far less clothing as this is, after all, a dive boat and not a fashion show. There are 220 Volt round pin power outlets for each bunk, good individual reading lights and a decent pillow and blanket. The pads on the bunks did make me appreciate the hotel mattress and the Thai massage after the trip. It is not an overly spacious cabin but not outrageously small either. All of these cabins have a good size sea view window that could be used for an evacuation should the principal exit be blocked. The combo toilet, sink and shower washroom is small but adequate. The provided towel is not overly plush, and you may wish to bring your own for topside or the beach. When booking you should be aware that these are the only cabins with ensuite washrooms. The two double cabins on the middle deck do not have ensuites and do need to utilize the washrooms on the dive deck….one deck down.
The middle deck is the key area between dives. It has a considerable amount of seating for meals and socializing along with coolers/freezers for drinks and ice cream treats. Certain items such as beer, wine, coffee capsules and ice cream cost extra and are on an honor system for guests to record consumption. Prices are more than reasonable. All meals, buffet style, are served here and you will not go hungry. The middle deck has some charging availability and a very large supply of clips for drying clothing on the rails along each side of the front deck right to the bow. The two double cabins are on this deck. This deck is where all the pre-dive briefings take place and the daily dive schedule (subject to change due to weather/current) is posted. Each guest has an insulated drink container (with identifying letters) to borrow although many bring their own.
I will say that my dive buddy and I, in addition to liking the great boat staff and dive guides, had a great connection to John Carter…. our trip supervisor and our dive guide for the two five-day segments.
The upper deck would be considered a sundeck and has full length pads, hammocks and bean bag chairs and is partially covered as well as open for sunseekers. It does get hot up top.
THE GOOD
I would, without exception, recommend this boat and crew to friends looking to dive the Similans and the Andaman Sea. I doubt that you would improve on the food on any other boat and that the higher priced ones would only see a little more luxury and larger cabins.
Our location on the west coast of Canada meant that a Thailand trip would involve long flights so more bang for the buck would be achieved by a ten-to-fourteen-day liveaboard itinerary. Although there were about three liveaboards that offered longer itineraries, only Sea Dragon’s MV Explorer had available space on their 13-day trip. This trip is actually a combination of their 5, 3 and 5 day trips but, in spite of that, there wasn’t a lot of duplication in dives site and those that were such as Richelieu Rock were very deserving of multiple visits. The one downside of the combined trips was that the final day of each segment only offer 2 dives before heading to a northern fishing village to offload departing guests and await the arrival of new ones. That did, however, give you the opportunity to off-gas and to take advantage of inexpensive beer.
The Explorer is a 25 Meter (82 feet) wooden hulled ship that has been re-configured as a dive boat. The Sea Dragon Dive Centre offers this and the steel hulled Andaman as liveaboards and both reflect very good value relative to other liveaboard operators. They are, however, not as luxurious. According to staff, the Andaman caters to a younger crowd who don’t mind the mostly dorm style accommodations and 20 divers instead of the 16 max on the Explorer. The Explorer is slightly more expensive.
The ship’s layout is quite functional as a dive platform. The dive deck is not really any tighter than other liveaboards I have been on, and crowding is minimized by only allowing one or two groups to gear up at a time. They divide guests into groups of four plus a guide. Sadly, all dives are from a RIB dingy since a high-ranking government official had a close call with a big boat upon surfacing a few years ago. He issued an edict that there would be no jumping off the big boats any longer. The boat staff are great in assisting divers on and off of the dingy. Each dive station has a milk crate for gear. There are several freshwater rinse hoses as well as a camera and computer rinse tank. The camera table is quite small and, since it is also used by the cooks, your set-up will be gently moved out of the way when they need it.
The booking price does include a full set of dive gear. From a glance, the dive gear appeared to be relatively current, name brand items that are well maintained by the staff. Do be aware that the BCD’s are not weight integrated. The bonus for guests using the boat’s gear is that, at the end of their trips, they leave it to the crew to clean, dry and put away. If you bring your own gear (as we and a few divers did) you get a 10% discount off the price of the trip…but make sure you tell that to the diver centre staff when you are making the final payment. They do provide, at no charge, weight belts or weights for integrated BCD’s, dive computers (Zoop), torches for night dives and not particularly good SMB’s. Tanks are standard 12 Litre/Aluminum 80’s with DIN or Yoke available. Larger 15 Litre tanks are available. Guests gear up and head to the dingy when called and the boat crew will have already grabbed your fins to be put on when you are seated.
Everyone is different in terms of their need for thermal protection and that will vary depending on the time of year. For me and for this trip in May, a 2-mil shorty was fine but be prepared for massive temperatures due to upswelling currents. There were times when we felt like we had gone from a hot tub to an ice bath and the computer recorded temperatures as high as 87 down to 73 degrees Fahrenheit.
The dive deck also has three washrooms with toilet, sink and shower for a quick change between dives. The dive guide cabin is located on this deck as is the kitchen. Past the kitchen are 6 ensuite guest cabins that accommodate two guests either in twin or double configurations. They are very well air conditioned but, contrary to website claims, doesn’t really have ample storage space. That is a very good reason to pack far less clothing as this is, after all, a dive boat and not a fashion show. There are 220 Volt round pin power outlets for each bunk, good individual reading lights and a decent pillow and blanket. The pads on the bunks did make me appreciate the hotel mattress and the Thai massage after the trip. It is not an overly spacious cabin but not outrageously small either. All of these cabins have a good size sea view window that could be used for an evacuation should the principal exit be blocked. The combo toilet, sink and shower washroom is small but adequate. The provided towel is not overly plush, and you may wish to bring your own for topside or the beach. When booking you should be aware that these are the only cabins with ensuite washrooms. The two double cabins on the middle deck do not have ensuites and do need to utilize the washrooms on the dive deck….one deck down.
The middle deck is the key area between dives. It has a considerable amount of seating for meals and socializing along with coolers/freezers for drinks and ice cream treats. Certain items such as beer, wine, coffee capsules and ice cream cost extra and are on an honor system for guests to record consumption. Prices are more than reasonable. All meals, buffet style, are served here and you will not go hungry. The middle deck has some charging availability and a very large supply of clips for drying clothing on the rails along each side of the front deck right to the bow. The two double cabins are on this deck. This deck is where all the pre-dive briefings take place and the daily dive schedule (subject to change due to weather/current) is posted. Each guest has an insulated drink container (with identifying letters) to borrow although many bring their own.
I will say that my dive buddy and I, in addition to liking the great boat staff and dive guides, had a great connection to John Carter…. our trip supervisor and our dive guide for the two five-day segments.
The upper deck would be considered a sundeck and has full length pads, hammocks and bean bag chairs and is partially covered as well as open for sunseekers. It does get hot up top.
THE GOOD
- Very good value…not the Hilton but above a Motel 6
- Exceptionally delicious and plentiful food…both Thai and Western with consideration to vegetarians upon request. You would be hard pressed to find better on any boat. The routine was usually: briefing, dive, eat and surface interval. Repeat three and four times daily.
- An incredibly hard working and delightful boat crew and dive guides. I have only done about 10 liveaboards and have had equal but never better crews and guides. We especially enjoyed John and Nat who were our guides.
- We also had the pleasure of having two dive master’s in training who accompanied us on all dives and did guide some of them.
- Small dive groups and a strategy to be woken up early so as to have a quick briefing and to get in the water earlier than the other big boats. Once we have done that, then the food and surface intervals for us and the other boats generally kept us well apart.
- Extra charges for Nitrox were reasonable as were the treat and beverages that required payment.
- Dive groups organized based on experience.
- A nice assortment of guests from various ends of the earth.
- Dive guides who cater to guest requests when it comes to finding marine life.
- Dive boat supervisors who offered exceptional communication throughout the trips.
- Some world class dive sites…especially Richelieu Rock that was full of massive schools of fish and lots of pelagic predators.
- Sea Dragon Dive Center itself as they were reliable in advance communications and took care of things like arranging reasonably priced taxis to and from the dive center or recommending hotels.
- The recommended tip level is more than reasonable and more than deserved.
- A skilled and experienced Captain.
- Somewhat smallish sleeping quarters.
- Cabin mattresses that were not overly kind to your back.
- Smallish camera table compared to other boats
- No Nitrox analyzers available to guests. Instead, a staff member would sample one tank and declare the percentage for everyone diving Nitrox. The boat should invest in a couple of analyzers for the guests to do their own testing to sign off. This is how nitrox divers were taught during their course.
- The SMBs for the guests are pretty basic and do not include a reel. You may wish to bring your own.
- Although they provide torches for night dives and the guide carries one back-up, any further fails would end the dive. Bring your own as a back-up.
- Not exceptional visibility. Probably 50 feet tops. That may have been a product of the time of year.
- The limit of two dives on the transition days.
- Not seeing mantas or whale sharks. Certainly not the fault of the boat or the crew and likely the time of the year. We did make up for it by finding a large Bull Shark on one dive.
I would, without exception, recommend this boat and crew to friends looking to dive the Similans and the Andaman Sea. I doubt that you would improve on the food on any other boat and that the higher priced ones would only see a little more luxury and larger cabins.
