yachts that specialize in scuba diving
Being Dive Instructors ourselves for many years, with anything under the water, and having done thousands of dives in the Caribbean, I know what I am talking about when it comes to dive boats! Many boats SAY that they specialize in diving, but for them truly to be a specialist in this field, there is certain critieria that I feel that they have to meet.
-They should have experience in the area. This means that they know more then what the guide books tell them on where to go. Now, this does not matter too much if you just want to do a dive a week, but if you want to do frequent dives and you don't want to get dragged to all the spots that everyone else goes to then it is helpful.-They should not only be a Dive master, but also a Dive Instructor with experience. Like many other courses nowadays, you can do a zero to hero course in a very short time, but it does not make them experienced, or knowledgable. Instructors can teach many courses and what they teach varies from boat to boat, but a divemaster doing a "Discover SCUBA" without a Dive Instructor back up is not a good idea. My opinion.
-They should have all the appropriate gear on board, either provided in the charter fee, or equipment for rent. Again, how can you be a boat specializing in diving if you have no gear aboard? What if your regulator breaks down? Then you have to find a place ashore and go through the hassles of renting one and getting it there and back.
-A boat should be condusive for diving and have easy access into and back out again. Some of the large monohulls are just very hard to get in and out of the water. There should also be enough room to gear up on the decks, and store dive gear.
-A tender that is large enough to go pick you up if you wander away from the yacht is also very important, and a crew member on the boat watching for bubbles. If you are in the water diving with the only crew member what happens if there is an emergency?
-I also think a true boat that specializes in diving should have an onboard compressor. Having to constantly find a spot to get tanks filled uses up a lot of time that you could be diving with!
-Safery Gear: Do they have oxygen on board and a defibrilator? To be a dive boat that specializes in diving they should have at the very least oxygen available.
-Finally, the crew should LIKE diving.You don't know how many crews I have heard over the years that try and discourage their guests from diving, even though they advertise that they love it! There is always an excuse why today is not a good day to dive, or the weather... Granted there is times that you cannot dive, but we could always find a place for our guests to go diving! Boats that specialize in diving will have no problems with doing 1-2 dives a day and sometimes more. If the boat only wants to do a couple dives throughout the entire WEEK then they are NOT very dive friendly.
I have probably listed less boats here then other sites do that specialize in diving, as all these boats meet the above critieria. There may be other boats that will suit your diving needs, and meet some of these critieria, and we will certainly help you in knowing whether the boat you like is capable of doing the diving you want, but these boats are true boats that specialize in diving, and if all the above sounds like something that you want, then I suggest sticking to my list.
One other thing you may want to get a thought to: If there is only one dive professional on board and they get an ear infection then what will happen? Our true dive boats have more then one professional on crew.
Our dive boats also offer other activities for the rest of the group when some are diving, even if it is only sitting on the back deck with a drink in hand!
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Diving through the hull on the wreck of the Rhone
Ready to go diving from the tender on Cuan Law. Picture courtesy of Cuan Law
Entry into the water off Cuan Law Picture courtesy of Cuan Law
Ready to go down yet?
Really, it is not a large jump!
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There are only three sail and SCUBA yachts that meet all these critieria. Cuan law and Promenade are both members of the BVISO (British Virgin Islands SCUBA Organization. The other yacht that meets these standards is Wanderlust. All three of these yachts have been offering diving in the British Virgin Islands for many years and KNOW how to do it! They each have their own special out of the way spots that they go to that you can only get to by liveaboard, as they are too out of the way for the day dive boats to get to.
Cuan Law- Maximum 20 guests, also has selected sailings that they sell by the "cabin only" for small numbers.
Promenade - Maximum 12 guests, also has selected sailings that they sell by the "cabin only" for small numbers.
Wanderlust - Wanderlust takes a maximum of 16 guests and always have everything they could possibly need for diving onboard.
Yachts that ALMOST make it!
Two If By Sea - This yacht has two dive instructors on board which really makes it shine for diving in it's size range. Their dinghy size may be a little small for a dive tender, but in the smaller cat range, taking a maximum of 6 guests, it is great and very well equipped. You can feel very comfortable diving on this yacht.
Bellline - With a maximum of 8 guests and a very long term experienced "in the Caribbean" dive instructor on board, Belline makes a great dive yacht. With three crew members and a large dinghy, they can safely provide a high level of diving service. No oxygen on board.
Braveheart - Braveheart takes up to 8 guests with all the gear and instructors on board including two dive compressors! You should never run out of tanks!
Sabore-at- 58' Sabore offers luxury and full diving services, what more could you want?
Libreterre - **Different crew on here, after only a few short months, that makes it even more of an unknown!A bit of an unknown quantity still, the boat, has recent been brought up in standard, and has a new crew on there that seems very nice and VERY keen divers. They are both professionals, and have some tech and cave diving experience, so would like to, as well as the normal day dives, cater to divers who are looking for more advanced services.
Quixote - A large nicely appointed motorsailor for up to 6 guests. She has everything from an Instructor to a Dive Compressor AND I worried when I saw her at the boat show this year that the water entry would be too difficult, but they have special ladders and it is quite good.
Qwest - A smaller monohull perfect for two guests! Qwest has about everyting for diving the larger yachts do, and has a modified swim ladder for easy entry. Although Qwest only has a 12' tender, that is not a problem when you only have two guests!
Although these boats have just about everything you could want for dive equipment, they restrict the numbers of dives. All yachts here are NOT like the gorilla dive boats where they do 5 dives a day, but we think at a minimum the ability to do 2 dives a day with a occasional night dive, is what constitutes a true yacht that specialzes in diving.
Runaway - max 5 per week
Flamboyance - max 8 per week
The BVI SCUBA organization and the BVI Tourist Board put out a promotional DVD focusing on SCUBA diving in the BVI this past fall. It gives you a bit of overview of a lot of activities that are available, features all the dive shops ( all will do rendezvous diving with any charter yacht) and also feature the two sail/dive live aboards on this page, Promenade and Cuan Law. Here is a link to view it.
