First Liveaboard Guide: How to Choose a Boat and What to Expect

What a day on a liveaboard looks like

Dive, eat, rest, repeat. Emperor Divers says most Red Sea liveaboard itineraries offer three or four dives a day. Nautilus Liveaboards runs up to four a day at Socorro, starts each dive day with a briefing and finishes all diving before sunset. The Galapagos Aggressor III also plans up to four dives a day, with snacks between them and no night diving in the Galápagos. Our destination guides cover where these boats go.

On all three boats in this guide, most dives start from tenders (zodiacs, RIBs or skiffs) rather than from the main deck. Emperor's Red Sea trips use zodiacs, Nautilus dives from smaller, fast support boats, and on the Galápagos boat every dive except the checkout dive starts from a tender. Between dives, Master Liveaboards describes the deck routine: wetsuits hung to dry, cameras dunked in fresh water, tanks refilled.

The first and last days are short. On Emperor's Brothers route the boat moors in port on arrival day, leaves early next morning, and the first dive is a check dive near port, a good moment to fix your weighting. Emperor says there is normally no diving on the first day on board or on the final day before disembarkation.

What experience do liveaboard operators ask for?

It depends on the route more than the boat. Emperor Divers recommends Open Water certification as the minimum for its Red Sea liveaboards, runs two beginner routes with no minimum number of dives, and recommends 20 logged dives for two more (Get Wrecked, and Reefs & Wrecks). Its Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone trip requires 50 logged dives and Advanced Open Water or equivalent, because many dives go below 18 m (60 ft) and currents range from gentle to strong. Emperor also warns that strong currents can occur at any time, particularly around new and full moons.

Find out how closely the crew supervises you. On the Galapagos Aggressor III, a staff member is in the water with each tender group, but the staff does not directly supervise divers and each buddy team runs its own dive. Nautilus says all levels are welcome at Socorro and that new divers can stay with a guide from gearing up until they are back on the boat. Emperor's cruise director may ask divers to skip dives that do not suit their experience.

Operators also set equipment rules. Emperor requires a dive computer and an SMB (surface marker buoy) on every dive and a torch for night dives. Aggressor requires an SMB with a reel in the Galápagos, because it lets the crew track and pick up divers who surface away from the group.

How to choose a liveaboard: safety and dive-deck checks

Ask what the boat carries and what happens when something goes wrong. DAN's guidance on dive boat safety says life jackets, fire extinguishers, first aid and emergency oxygen kits should be clearly marked and easy to reach. Less visible preparations, such as the emergency action plan, charts and compass, and spare parts, are worth asking the crew about. The pre-dive briefing should explain how the crew accounts for every diver after each dive.

These are the points to compare between boats, with examples from operator listings:

• Emergency oxygen, first aid kit and AED. Emperor Elite and the Galapagos Aggressor III list all three.
• The nearest recompression chamber. Aggressor's pre-trip document names it: Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island, for the Galápagos.
• Safety management. Nautilus says it runs a certified ISM safety management system, audited every year, and holds a fire and boat safety drill on the first day at sea.
• Signalling gear for divers. Nautilus includes a Nautilus LifeLine, a DiveAlert and an SMB in the Socorro trip price.
• Guides and tenders per guest. Emperor Elite carries up to 26 guests with two or three dive guides and two zodiacs.
• Tanks and gas. Emperor Elite uses 12 L aluminium tanks as standard, 15 L steel on request, and fills nitrox up to 32%.
• Camera space. Emperor Elite lists charging stations, an air gun, rinse tanks and a camera table.

Cabins: lower deck, main deck or suite?

Boats mix cabin types across decks. Emperor Elite, a 38 m boat, has eight twin cabins on the lower deck of about 10 m² with portholes, one twin on the main deck that can be made into a double, and suites and twins on the upper deck. Solo travellers on that boat get a same-sex cabin share or, if no match is possible, a cabin to themselves with no single supplement.

Expect a small room. Aggressor calls its Galápagos staterooms compact, asks guests to store soft luggage under the beds and tells them to travel light. Your kit lives on the dive deck instead: Aggressor assigns each guest a seat and a locker or cubby, with rails for wetsuits and freshwater showers on the back deck.

If you are prone to seasickness, DAN advises staying in the centre of the boat and away from the upper and lower decks, where the rocking is stronger. Keep that in mind when you pick a cabin.

Nitrox on a liveaboard and oxygen exposure over a week

All three boats in this guide offer nitrox, at very different prices. Emperor Elite fills nitrox up to 32% at no charge from a membrane system. Aggressor charges US$100 for unlimited EAN32 on a 7-night charter, US$125 for 8 nights and US$150 for 10, and asks for proof of certification. The Galapagos Aggressor III also runs nitrox courses on board.

A week of repeated nitrox dives adds up in oxygen exposure as well as nitrogen. On EAN32, our nitrox calculator gives a maximum operating depth of 33.7 m (110 ft) at a ppO₂ of 1.4, and a dive to 30 m (100 ft) puts you at 1.28 bar. DAN notes that PADI has proposed 1.4 ATA as the limit for open-circuit nitrox diving, and that NOAA's limit at 1.6 ATA is 45 minutes for normal diving.

The single-dive limit is only part of the picture on a liveaboard. Our CNS and OTU post works through a four-dive EAN32 day and a full week against NOAA's daily and multi-day limits.

Seasickness: what medical sources advise

Try any medicine at home before the trip. The CDC Yellow Book lists drowsiness as the most common side effect of motion sickness drugs and recommends a trial dose before departure, because side effects differ between people. Scopolamine is slightly less sedating than dimenhydrinate or meclizine, while promethazine is the most sedating. Tablets need time to be absorbed, and once symptoms begin the stomach may stop absorbing them.

DAN adds cautions for divers. Test over-the-counter drugs for drowsiness before you dive on them. Scopolamine acts on the central nervous system, and its side effects (dry mouth and blurred vision are the most common) can impair your ability to dive safely. Wearing a patch for more than three days can cause withdrawal symptoms that mimic decompression sickness, and DAN advises divers on the patch who feel dizzy, nauseous or vomit within 24 hours of a dive to contact a physician.

Without drugs, DAN suggests watching the horizon, staying in the centre of the boat, setting up your gear before the boat leaves, and skipping alcohol and heavy meals the day before. The CDC adds that lack of sleep makes motion sickness worse. If you vomit underwater, keep the primary regulator in your mouth and vomit through it. Long crossings are where this matters: about 24 hours each way to Socorro and about 36 to Cocos Island.

What to pack for a first liveaboard

Soft bags and your own safety kit. Aggressor asks for soft luggage such as duffel bags because cabins have little storage, and Emperor's Red Sea list covers the dive gear. Check your boat's own list too:

• Mask, snorkel, fins, boots, wetsuit, regulator and BCD, or a rental booked ahead (Emperor asks for your height, weight, shoe size and clothing size).
• A dive computer with spare batteries, which Emperor requires on every dive.
• An SMB with at least 5 m of line. Aggressor also suggests a DiveAlert, a Nautilus rescue radio, a whistle and a signalling mirror.
• A torch for night dives, if the itinerary has them.
• A suit for the water. Aggressor recommends bringing your own wetsuit to the Galápagos and has only a limited range of 7 mm suits on board. Our wetsuit thickness guide matches suits to temperatures.
• Plug adapters. The Galápagos boat uses 110-120 V with type A and B sockets, the same as North America.
• Seasickness medicine you have already tried, and prescription medicine kept in your cabin, because Aggressor's crew will not store medication.
• Reef-safe sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses.
• Your certification card, and your nitrox card if you plan to dive nitrox.

What does a liveaboard cost?

The prices below are as listed on the operators' own pages. They change with season, boat and cabin, so read them as a guide to the range, not a quote.

The extras are where quotes differ. Emperor names port fees, marine park fees, fuel surcharges and daily nitrox charges as the add-ons other operators put on the bill, says they can reach several hundred dollars per person, and says its own prices include them. Gratuities are not included on two of the three boats listed: Aggressor calls them voluntary and collects them in an envelope split equally among the crew, and Nautilus lists crew gratuities as not included.

Add flights, hotel nights before and after, equipment rental and insurance. Nautilus makes medical and dive insurance with evacuation cover mandatory, and Emperor requires both dive insurance and travel insurance.

The last day: diving and flying home

DAN's recommended minimum before flying after multiple dives a day or multiple days of diving is 18 hours, from the 2002 flying-after-diving workshop, and longer surface intervals reduce the risk further. Some operators build in more. Emperor requires 24 hours between the last dive and flying or travelling to altitude, so its Brothers trip offers two dives on the morning of the last diving day and is back in port at about 1 pm.

The Galapagos Aggressor III week ends with one morning dive on Wednesday and check-out at 8 am on Thursday. Book the flight home around the boat's schedule, not the other way round, and see our flying after diving guide for where the numbers come from.