Rodale’s Scuba Diving

Live Aboard Diving: Now's the Time

This spring, I’m finally going on my first live-aboard trip. It’s about time.

Since gaining my open water certification in 1992, I’ve taken dozens of trips to land-based dive destinations and enjoyed them all. But, like pursuing additional advanced certification courses, I knew there would come a time when I would expand my dive travel experiences to include live-aboard opportunities. That time is now and, if you haven’t tried a live-aboard yet, maybe it’s time for you as well.

Whether you’re like me and are considering you’re first live-aboard experience or you’re a floating dive resort veteran, there’s never been a better time to plan a live-aboard getaway. The number of choices through dive travel specialists, live-aboard operators and boats, and destinations served make it the best time in scuba diving history to get aboard and follow in my wake.

Why a Live-Aboard for Me (and You)?

I have to admit I love land-based resorts, because they give me the opportunity to explore worlds beyond my street corner. But, if you love diving like me, live-aboards offer many appeals.

Some of the many draws to live-aboard diving include: cost; only unpacking once (this includes clothes and dive gear); more dives each day, if desired; more diving flexibility; generally smaller dive groups; less-explored diving, wrecks, and other dives; onboard photography and video services; and advanced certification courses and other educational programs.

Like taking a cruise, the ‘all-inclusive’ cost of a live-aboard trip is generally more economical than a land-based dive vacation. If you compare costs, the savings can include expenses for diving, food, beverages, and more.

I didn’t think I would like cruises, but one of several reasons I now like to take a cruise is because you only have to unpack once, even though you’re visiting many places. This means you can take your clothes and dive gear out of your bag once and not have to repack until the end of your trip. You also don’t have to lug your dive gear around each time you’re going diving. That’s often not the case on a land-based dive trip.

Quite simply, live-aboards also offer more diving each day. The average is typically four or five dives a day, but it’s really up to the individual diver (given proper surface intervals, of course). If you really want to dive during your precious vacation time, the sheer quantity is hard to beat.

There’s also great flexibility when it comes to live-aboard diving. If the conditions aren’t good on one site, the ship simply changes locations. If the group tends to like diving on wrecks, that’s where the live-aboard’s diving can lean.

The diving off live-aboards tends to be in smaller groups as well. This can be just because the boat doesn’t carry many divers or it can be because they stagger divers, giving everyone a chance to explore dive sites with just a few others (sometimes just a dive buddy).

Live-aboards also tend to offer less-explored diving. This is thanks to their ability to go (and stay) where land-based dive boats simply can’t reach in reasonable times. I want to go where few (if any divers) have ever been.

I’m also looking to expand my photography and video skills. Live-aboards typically offer full service to shooters, allowing participants of all skill levels to see their work and apply lessons to future dives (sometimes that same afternoon). There’s also typically instructional opportunities or programs available and I’m ready to learn.

On the learning front, advanced certification courses and other educational programs make live-aboards floating classrooms. It seems like the perfect environment to learn and I’m ready to go back to school.

Of course, I can think of many other reasons I’m planning my first live-aboard trip. These include, but aren’t limited to: more enjoyable surface intervals (you’re on a floating resort); lack of tropical insects (they’re generally not nearly as bad at sea as on land); better reef conditions (lots of divers damage reefs); the like-minded company of passionate divers; and generally more adventure above and below the surface.

Planning My (and Your) Trip

In exploring my first live-aboard adventure, I did what I always do in planning a trip: seek expert advice. This generally starts with the purchase of several appropriate books and I was in luck when I contacted Best Publishing. They carry two excellent books about live-aboard diving: Live-Aboard Dive Travel--The Essential Guide (Astrid White and Capt. Casey Mahaney) and Live-Aboards of the World (Lynn Laymon and Linda Lee Walden).

Both books were invaluable in planning my trip, with lots of specific tips about what to expect, operators, destinations, and more. They whet my appetite for the first of what I hope are many live-aboard experiences.

Live-Aboard Dive Travel begins with an hilarious history of live-aboards written by Stan Waterman. Waterman says the industry basically started with a converted WWII mine sweeper renamed the Cayman Diver. Diving legend (and fish ID icon) Paul Humann, owned, fitted, and operated this initial live-aboard attempt.

Of his first live-aboard experience, Waterman humorously writes, “It was so damp that all dunnage was clothed with a fur coat of mold in a day.” But he also recalls, “We logged more diving in one week than others at resorts could compound in a month.”

Of course, live-aboard diving has changed immensely since Humann’s pioneering efforts and this book provides a great overview of the current options and how to make the most of any live-aboard experience. Highlights include: live-aboard advantages (many highlighted above); mothership diving and advanced skills; tender and drift diving; the buddy system; dive equipment considerations; packing; reef conservation and marine life; underwater photography; live-aboard etiquette; dining; seasickness; and an excellent overview of the most popular live-aboard destinations (for instance, they recommend that new divers and first-timers generally stay in the Western Hemisphere’s better conditions).

As I opened Live-Aboards of the World, I discovered that, ironically, it started with a foreword on live-aboard history by none other than Paul Humann. His stories about the Cayman Diver are just as funny and he ends, similarly, by saying, “Live-aboards are the best way to dive.”

I found this book took a similarly comprehensive approach to covering the live-aboard experience, with informative chapters on the types of live-aboard vessels, food, cabins, diving protocol, evaluating if a live-aboard vacation is the way to go at all, a great chapter on the process of planning, booking, and packing, and specific live-aboard overviews at the time of printing (something not covered in the other book), and geographic coverage (this book covers only The Bahamas, the Caribbean, and Central and South America).

Book It

After perusing these books and salivating saltwater at the possibilities, I then took my research online and on the phone. I checked out a wide variety of websites run by both dive travel operators and specific live-aboard companies.

Like the live-aboard industry, these websites have generally come a long way since the internet was just a glimmer on Bill Gates’ computer screen. The books gave me the knowledge to look for the perfect trip for my parameters. When I couldn’t find an answer online, a simple email or phone call solved it.

This process of research quickly led me to the ideal first-time live-aboard experience. I’m booked for my trip this spring and will report on the results. I’ve done all of the research for you. Isn’t it time for you to book one as well?