An Aging Liveaboard, a Dangerous Dive Deck

In December, rather than a standard issue, we will send you the 2025 Travelin' Divers Chapbook, which compiles all the readers' reports we received this year in a searchable volume. You may access it online, download it, or even order a printed version.

We have pulled a few interesting reviews you might miss, and we're abbreviating them here with our commentary. As John Bantin likes to point out, you're more likely to be injured by your dive boat than a fish, which the first item demonstrates.

Your Dangerous Dive Boat

While Ellen Marie Smith (Edina, MN) had an excellent trip in March to the Bahamas, diving with Epic Diving and staying at the Blue Marlin Cove resort, she reports trouble on their 65-foot dive boat on the Tiger Beach trip. "Be careful on the dive deck. People were rinsing their masks and dumping the water on the dive deck. As there are no mats on the deck and it was slippery, my buddy fell on this slippery mess, dislocating and fracturing her arm. (Ironic, as she was worried about the sharks before she did a few dives. Be very afraid of boats!) Luckily, Vic of Epic Divers is an ER doc and got her arm back into the socket. We didn't take her to the island hospital but waited to return home. She was a trouper but not very comfortable." https://www.epicdiving.com/ https://bluemarlincove.com

We're in Hot Water

You can't ignore how climate change affects the oceans, especially if you dive in water as hot as Dean C. (Colorado Springs) did in September. Diving from the Quino El Guardian in the Sea of Cortez), he found the water was "Hot, Hot, Hot. Water temps ranged from 85-90°F with occasional surges to 91°F, which had me looking for a volcanic vent, and as low as 78°F, which felt blissful."

As for the Quino El Guardian, Mexican Liveaboards will replace it next July with a new boat in the Sea of Cortez, and the Quino El Guardian will travel to Socorro. However, it's at the bottom of the comfort charts for such a long journey. Dean says, "Sleeping arrangements were compact with two bunks sleeping four people in a lower deck cabin smaller than a bathroom on other boats I have been on . . . . Crawling into the bunk was like entering a coffin, since the beds were narrow and the top bunk and ceiling were low. Many people hit their heads on the top bunk or ceiling. Four shared toilet/shower combos are on the dive deck, and all share the two basins for shaving and brushing teeth on the open deck. This makes for some interesting midnight trips to relieve bursting bladders after beers. Lock the bathroom door - even at 3 a.m. I was startled by the late-night roving watch." https://tinyurl.com/35fsvy2u

A Little Luxury for Couples

If you're looking for luxury living and highly personal diving, Douglas Peterson (Naperville, IL) says Ibaragi Boutique Hotel on Roatan is "way above five stars. Give it 10. Top of the line. Romantic and beautiful pool, restaurant, bar, and grounds, with lux-friendly service and great food (especially the gourmet breakfast). Adults only. There is plenty of room on their fast, comfy, shaded boat. Instead of putting us together, they took a less-experienced group on a separate boat, so it was just the two of us with the excellent DM, Caleb. Relaxed pace, no regimentation, it was all about helping us two divers have a great time." It's typical Roatan diving, but he says, "must-see dive is Blue Channel, a 20-foot-wide sand channel with 40-foot reef walls on both sides. As the divemaster predicted, when we came out of the channel onto the sea-grass-covered sloping sand, visibility dropped to 25 feet, but there was an amazing 10-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide wall of big eye shad. The orals had brown algae on them at many locations, but the soft corals seemed in reasonably good shape." https://www.ibagarihotel.com/

It's Worth Learning to Dry-Suit Dive

Iceland diving is indeed unique, and reader Ryan M. Neely (Akeley, MN) hired guide Sigurdur Haraldsson from Ice Dive in Iceland to take him to Silfra and ocean dives. "We saw a ton of jellyfish, and starfish, and soft spongy corals, and a cousin to the scorpionfish, a curious seal, even a nudibranch, and dived several freshwater lakes. Kleifarvatn, where there's some hot springs activity, and Silfra (of course), and Davidjá (still a crater, but at the bottom of a lake). Lots of massive freshwater trout here." It's quite the diving (and land) adventure, so if you're interested in Iceland, you can read Ryan's full report here. https://tinyurl.com/46b3dy67

Lahaina is Coming Back

Dive Maui is open for business on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, reports Jeff Robertson (Roseville, CA), who gave them a go in September. "They have a specially designed ridged inflatable boat (RIB) or selected shore dives of no more than four divers. I chose a shore dive at the Mala Pier, led by instructor Abbey. Corals are growing on the old sunken concrete beams and schooling reef fish abound. We saw several resting white-tip reef sharks and so many turtles I couldn't count. The place is a huge cleaning station for them. It was incredible. Maximum depth was barely 30 feet, so we had a long, relaxing dive." If you want to support Lahaina's recovery, here's your chance. https://goscubadivemaui.com/

Dive with the Ghost of Nero

Joe Simmons (New Braunfels, TX) is a retired professional archeologist with more than 1000 dives. He joined a group in August in Italy to make six dives, the deepest 42 feet, on "sunken Roman Imperial Villas in Baia - the Las Vegas of the ancient Roman world from the first century BC until the third century AD. Visibility generally ranged from 20 feet down to 10 feet or slightly less. However, the uniqueness and historical importance of what we looked at were far more impressive than the visibility. The guides uncovered and then recovered intricate Roman mosaics or wall footings, column bases, toppled walls, and even exposed natural hot springs. The sheer impact of diving on Emperors Claudius, Caligula, and Nero's nymphaeum and bath complexes, seafront villa ruins of a patrician involved in a foiled assassination plot against Nero, and areas of the ancient harbor entrance underwater since the fourth century AD was truly gob-smacking!" https://www.subaia.com

Solomon Islands Liveaboard Alternative

In this month's travel story on the Solomons, our undercover writer noted that the Bilikiki is an aging graft without many of the comforts found in other liveaboards. An alternative is the Solomon Master. Jeffery Lynn Reeb (La Canada, CA) was aboard in September and reports. "I'm well aware that the vessel's reputation in the past has been less than stellar, but it has changed hands recently and undergone a retrofit. The new owner (Mark Shandur of Master Liveaboards) greeted us during the boarding process and explained that the vessel is back under their management/ownership and they are focused on turning the operation around. I found the vessel clean, everything worked, the food was excellent (the Chef worked previously on the Bilikiki), and the dive operations were a 10. There were 14 crew for 14 divers. I couldn't lift a finger." You can find his full report on our website and his video and photos at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBKrEq https://masterliveaboards.com/solomons

So, fellow divers, keep your reader reports coming. We and all Undercurrent subscribers look forward to reading about your dive trips.

-Ben Davison