There are many different types of dive vacations. No one type is best for everybody. Some divers enjoy experiencing a wide variety of dive excursions. Others may prefer a specific type of vacation. To find out what is best for you, you first need to answer three questions.
Will you be traveling with friends or family members who don’t dive?
If traveling with nondivers, this will immediately rule out most liveaboard dive vacations. Few nondiving friends or family members will be content with being cooped up for a week aboard a dive vessel, with little or no opportunity to go ashore and unable to enjoy the one activity that occupies everyone else’s time. Additionally, most liveaboards don’t offer package pricing for nondivers.
One notable exception to this is something like our Great White Shark expedition. Because you are fed by surface-supplied air, you don’t need to be a certified diver to come on this trip and enjoy the same thing that everyone else is.
To what degree do you want your vacation to revolve around diving?
If you want to do more on your vacation than just dive, not only will you most likely want to avoid liveaboards, you will probably want to avoid land-based dive resorts in remote locations. Dive resorts like Wakatobi offer a wide range of nondiving activities ranging, from paddleboarding and yoga to kite surfing. But, due to its remote location, there are no opportunities for off-site shopping and dining.
If the isolation of a remote destination doesn’t appeal to you — or to anyone traveling with you — you may want to consider destinations such as Bonaire, Grand Cayman or Cozumel, with a multitude of shopping and dining opportunities in close proximity to the resort.
Be aware also that when we plan a trip to the Southwest Pacific or Southeast Asia, we frequently tack on extra days before or after the main part of the trip, to experience nondiving adventures such as rainforest tours or orangutan sanctuary visits.
How important are factors such as privacy and creature comforts?
Dive resorts and liveaboards can run the gamut from fairly primitive to surprisingly luxurious. For example:
- On some liveaboards, there is a single, common sleeping area with bunks stacked two-deep and shared shower and toilet facilities. Privacy may be limited to a curtain you draw when you are in your “rack.” (Some don’t even have this.)
- The more typical liveaboard will have cabins with a lower double bunk and an upper, single bunk. Unrelated friends will most likely use both bunks; couples will probably use just the lower bunk and leave the upper one for storage. There will be an en-suite, private “head” with its own toilet and shower. Nevertheless, even on the most luxurious of liveaboards, there will be nowhere near the space you find in a room at Motel 6.
- Land-based resorts will have rooms that are more typical of what you expect to find at a nicer hotel. Even these can range from simple thatched huts to suites that can only be described as palatial. Be aware also that the remoteness of the resort can affect how simple or how elegant the owners were able to build.
Narrowing it down
If you take all of the factors we have discussed into account, you should be able to quickly narrow down a list of available dive vacation options to the ones most likely to please you and anyone traveling with you. As we mentioned earlier, you may not always want to stick with the same type of dive vacation.
- When traveling with nondiving friends and family members, you may want to stick with land-based resorts at major destinations with lots of shopping, dining and nondiving activities.
- When traveling by yourself or with another diver, more remote resorts or liveaboards with little to do but eat, sleep and dive may be just what the doctor ordered.
If you are not sure what the best choice is for you, talk to us. We have decades of dive travel experience to draw from. We’ve been to every major dive destination and all the best resorts and liveaboards. We can help make sure your next dive vacation is exactly what you want and need.