Warm water shark diving

[shrkdive]

My wife and I are looking to book our next liveaboard. We are both experienced divers and have vacationed multiple times in Cozumel, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Roatan, Hawaii, Tahiti and most recently spent 2 weeks in Indonesia sailing through the Komodo Islands. We are now hooked on liveaboards. Our interests include large pelagics including sharks.

So my question is where are the best liveaboards for pelagics. I know Galapagos is known for the great hammerhead experiences and may be at the top of our list but the water is somewhat cold and we would prefer to dive warmer waters if possible.

Where else (and which liveaboards) would you recommend us checking out?

 

[drrich2]

I know Galapagos is known for the great hammerhead experiences and may be at the top of our list but the water is somewhat cold and we would prefer to dive warmer waters if possible.

Have you been reading trip reports for live-aboard trips to Cocos? That sprang to mind when I saw your statement. Or the boats doing the Socorros (do you like mantas of dolphins)? What about trips to Tiger Beach for tiger & lemon sharks in the Bahamas? I'll try to link you some trip reports.

The Socorros – a group of islands under Mexican jurisdiction served by a few live-aboard boats. This is Pacific Ocean diving, not Caribbean. Aim to see mantas, sharks and dolphins. Hintermann’s Socorro Trip Report – May 10-18, 2016.

Cocos Island. Roger_Scuba gave an extensive overview/trip report– Cocos Island trip review with Aggressor Okeanos, Sept. 6-16th, 2015, RS86’s Trip Report Cocos Island on Undersea Hunter’s M/V Argos 2-12 Nov. 2016. PeeweeDiver’s Cocos Island Trip with Undersea Hunter Group (2016). Pros and Cons between Galapagos, Socorro, Coco or Malpelo(2016).

I haven't gotten to do any of those trips personally; I got my shark fix in Florida and North Carolina, and not by live-aboard (though I love live-aboards). Any particular kind of shark you do or don't want to see? Do you want to be in the water with tiger sharks or not?

Richard.

 

[diversteve]

Cocos and Socorros are generally cold water. Although with el nino, a couple years ago Socorros was almost balmy. Nautilus Explorer has a nice, newer boat there now or there's the Rocio Del Mar. It is a rough 24 hr. crossing from Cabo San Lucas though.Socorros is probably sold out thru 2018 or later by now though.

Richard hit on it, the Bahamas are pretty naturally sharky and the Bahamas Aggressor alternates trips to Tiger Beach which fits the "large Pelaics" requirement - they also get large Lemon Sharks in the mix. And regular big Hammerheads. Plus it's only 40-50' deep so you can get long bottom times.

One or more shore based dive operations on most of the larger islands also do shark feeds if that's of interest - the one at Unexso on Grand Bahama is probably the best but the Bahamas liveaboards all leave from Nassau - or Miami - except Aggresor's Tiger Beach trips leave from Freeport since Tiger Beach itself is an easy ride from there.

Stuart Coves on Nassau does a feed also. There is one shop on Grand Bahama that does an all day trip to Tiger Beach also - I don't remember the name but it's based at the AI resort on the south side.

My buddy did the Fiji Aggressor once - lots of reef sharks on many of their dives but IIRC he said the reefs were a little tired looking from bleaching etc.

Another good option is either of the Turks/Caicos boats - the Aggressor or the Explorer. I've been on the latter and we saw reef sharks almost every dive once we left Provo for West Caicos or French Cay - sometimes a dozen or more per dive. All reef sharks in the 5-10' range. Lots of rays - dozens by some moorings, turtles etc.- and the water is warm - tshirt warm for me even after 25+ dives during the week. Turks and Caicos Liveaboard Diving - Explorer Ventures Provo (Providenciales) is a non-stop from Charlotte or one of the NYC area airports. And they'll pick you up.

There's the Guadalupe trips to cage dive with Great Whites but they don't do much if any regular scuba diving - it's all hookah in a cage. Here's a link - there's others. Nautilus Explorer Luxury Scuba Diving Safari Liveaboard Socorro Giant Mantas and Guadalupe Great White Sharks

 

[Dan]

 

[Dan]

This is not a liveaboard kind of trip, but Isla Mujeres is only 2-hr flight away from Houston. It is the best place to swim with whaleshark. Last month I took this video while swimming in Isla Mujeres. There were tons of them there during summer time (July-September). @Ken Kurtis gave me a drone pictures of the gathering. They are as big as the boats (white specs on the sea). Each of them is there filter feeding snapper eggs for about 200-300 pounds/day

 

[Dan]

If you want LOB & diving with the whaleshark, then go to Cendrawasih Bay, Papua, Indonesia. I went there with Pearl Papua in June 2015.

 

[Dan]

I went to Galápagos with Galápagos Master last December. It's OK. The water was a bit cool, but 7mm wetsuit was good enough to keep me warm. Here is a video of few hammerheads that I saw in Darwin. It's expensive trip (about 2x the LOB trip to Raja Ampat / Komodo of similar quality).

 

[Dan]

I'm starting to check off my bucket list by doing a lot of warmer water LOB pelagic trips too. Many of these LOBs are very popular & some good cabin spots are booked more than a year in advance. So, I have booked mine in as many as my vacation allowance from now to the end of 2018

1.In November 2017, I'm going to Banda Sea & Raja Ampat with La Galigo.
2. In December 2017, I'm going to Palau with Palau Aggressor II.
3. In September 2018, I'm going to Cocos with Argos, including its sub that goes to 1000 foot deep.
4. In early December 2018, I'm going to Maldives Aggressor II.
5. In late December 2018, I'm going to Socorro with Nautilus Under Sea.

 

[outofofficebrb]

I'm starting to check off my bucket list by doing a lot of warmer water LOB pelagic trips too. Many of these LOBs are very popular & some good cabin spots are booked more than a year in advance. So, I have booked mine in as many as my vacation allowance from now to the end of 2018

1.In November 2017, I'm going to Banda Sea & Raja Ampat with La Galigo.
2. In December 2017, I'm going to Palau with Palau Aggressor II.
3. In September 2018, I'm going to Cocos with Argos, including its sub that goes to 1000 foot deep.
4. In early December 2018, I'm going to Maldives Aggressor II.
5. In late December 2018, I'm going to Socorro with Nautilus Under Sea.

Will you be my Dive Daddy? Lololol. I wanna gooooooooo. Loving your schedule!

For the OP...Bahamas is sharky. We didn't do a liveaboard which is unacceptable to me because I'm ADDICTED to them but we went land based and I don't regret it.

Back in late March 2017, we hit up Bimini and did the Great Hammerheads, then went to Grand Bahama and did Tiger Beach for Tigers and along the way also had a lot of Caribbean Reef shark, many very large nurse sharks, and too many lemons to count. If you had more time, I would then try to hop onto a liveaboard to the Exumas or more southern regions of the Bahamas for a liveaboard. Our land based shark excursions did not disappoint and it was bucket list good.

 

[Centrals]

I don't think the water was particularly cold when I went to Cocos many yrs ago. I am basically a warm water diver and a 5mm full wet suit was all I had on that trip.
Various kind of sharks were sighted. Big marble rays as well.