whiplash00 wrote:Is LOB generally more expensive than just diving-from-shore? I am looking to clock dives but don't want to spend too much money
Liveaboard has pluses and minuses.
You get to dive places you never will shore-based, as a charter boat can get to places a day-boat can't.
You're stuck on a boat with a bunch of people, some of whom you might quickly dislike.
'Same restaurant/same crowd' every night.
Possibly 5 dives a day, intense, but log-book building, if that's what you're after.
You're on a $1,2,5mm motor yacht, in paradise... it's fun'.
All things considered (flights, hotel, F+B etc), liveaboard might be less than shore-based + hotel + f+b.
It also tends to be very dive-focused, and less so RnR, though the food
can be amazing. People go to max the diving, and get to remote places. 4 dives a day is standard, 5 is not uncommon, 6am-11pm, every day.
Everything is for the next dive. Be fit, be ready, it's not a holiday (don't take a non-diving other-half, they will HATE it) !
The way I look at it is, I've done a few weeks LaB, and it's as above. Now years later, I don't need that intensity any more. 5am starts. No risk of a beer until 11pm? Phhh. The wild roving can be really fun... but such trip are intense. Do a couple while you're young. Pick your 'zones' and operators carefully (go with quality, rather than quantity). Then, later, be glad you did it whilst young...
Glad I did, and for example had an incredible 'Red Sea Wrecks and Reefs safari' on a brand new 35M 16 pax boat (M/Y Cyclone) . A decade on, I'm glad I never will do 25 dives in a one week trip again either... I'd rather do even only 3 to 5 dives dives a week, and seek to re-connect with that elusive Zen 'sub' moment...