Diving several times a day for a week straight? Waking up and looking at the sun rising above the water? And how about being the first in the morning to dive at a remote dive spot?
If this sounds like the perfect dive trip, then a liveaboard cruise is what you are looking for.
In this article, we will take a closer look at liveaboard diving, what it is, where to find the best deals, and how to prepare for such a trip.
What is Liveaboard Diving?
On a liveaboard trip, divers stay on a dive boat for a duration of anywhere between 3 days to 3 weeks and dive, sleep, eat, and relax together. Such boats feature a compressor to fill tanks and a diving deck off of which all scuba diving activities start, so divers never need to go on shore. On average, this allows for about 2 – 5 dives per day.
Liveaboard diving is probably the favorite type of dive trip of any scuba diver. The concept is simple. Board the dive boat, then dive, eat, sleep, and repeat until the end of the trip.
The dive boats vary in size from small 10 people boats to large 30-people yachts like in Egypt.
Why Go Liveaboard Diving?
Liveaboard diving allows divers to stay on the dive boat without disembarking and explore dive sites that are far off the coast and impossible to get to on day trips and excursions. Since the focus of the liveaboard safari is scuba diving, divers can often do up to 5 dives on a single day and up to 30 per week. Another advantage is that dive boats can anchor at popular dive spots overnight and therefore the diving can start before smaller boats arrive with day-trip divers.
Remote Dive Sites
Getting to remote dive spots is one of the reasons many scuba divers absolutely love liveaboard diving.
Destinations like St. Johns in the Red Sea or Socorro Island off the coast of Mexico require several days of boat travel to get to them, making them impossible to reach on day trips.
No distractions
Since a liveaboard safari is all about scuba diving, there are no perceived distractions and no feeling of “missing out” on anything else while diving. Many divers feel this leads to a more relaxed atmosphere.
Since remote dive sites often don’t provide cellular network access, this is a great opportunity to put your phone away and go offline for a few days.
Feels like exploration
The experience of staying on a boat together feels a lot like exploration.
I always feel like I am an explorer of the old days, visiting places no human has been to before.
Yes, I know it isn’t true, but the sense of exploring extraordinary places is incredible.
More diving
Liveaboard diving means every day is packed with several dives.
I have never had a day with less than 2 dives on a dive boat, and if you join the night dive, you can get in up to 5 dives on a single day.
Boat life
Waking up and seeing the sunrise above the water is an incredible feeling, just like feeling the waves underneath when the boat travels at night.
Food is usually superb on every boat I have been to and often features true local cuisine.
Convenience
Last but not least, liveaboard diving is arguably the most convenient way of scuba diving. Your scuba gear is stored close to the diving deck, which means you basically set up your equipment, walk just a few steps, and can already jump into the water.
It doesn’t get easier than that.
Where to go liveaboard diving in 2026
You can go liveaboard diving at a lot of places around the world with access to the ocean. Here are my suggestions for the best liveaboard diving destinations in the world, as well as some that are great for beginners:
Where to book a liveaboard diving cruise?
The best way to book a liveaboard diving cruise is through a certified travel agent that offers competitive prices, personal support, a variety of different tour operators, and interesting locations. You can also contact tour operators directly if you have a specific location selected.
Here are my recommendations for trustworthy operators and travel agents for your next liveaboard dive trip.
Liveaboard.com
My recommendation to book any liveaboard cruise is LiveAboard.com.
They offer thousands of cruises in dozens of countries by 500+ operators and don’t charge any booking fee!
What I like most about them is that they give you a lot of info on the itinerary of each trip, up-to-date photos and reviews of the vessel, and always have great deals and discounts available.
If you are spontaneous, you can take advantage of their last-minute deals that offer up to 50% discounts on some highly sought after trips.
Check out my guide on where to book a dive trip for more recommendations!
Liveaboard Diving Deals in August
Want to save big time on your next dive trip`
You can find all our current featured liveaboard deals with up to 40% discount here:
Who Can Join a Liveaboard Dive Trip?
There are liveaboard dive trips for any level of diver, from beginner to advanced. While it is important to be a good diver, there are many liveaboard operators who accept newly certified Open Water Divers and some even offer beginner courses on a liveaboard safari. Having an Advanced Open Water Diver certification is often helpful as it allows you to join deeper dives.
As long as you are comfortable being on board a ship and have confidence in your abilities as a scuba diver, you can do liveaboard diving. In fact, it is a great way to get more experience since all you do on a dive boat is dive, dive, dive.
While I don’t recommend this approach, I have even seen some tour operators offer Open Water Diver courses during a liveaboard diving trip.
However, my suggestion is to do your Open Water Diver course at home, and then join a liveaboard trip so you can enjoy the trip instead of spending time doing the course.
An Advanced Open Water Diver certification allows you to dive down to 30m which is very beneficial at many dive sites.
Again, it is possible to get your certification during the trip, however, remember that you will still need to pay for both the course and the liveaboard diving.
Do I Need to Have a Buddy to Go on a Liveaboard?
No, you don’t need a buddy to go liveaboard diving. Most tour operators allow you to book only one spot and arrive without a dive buddy. In this case, you will be matched with another single diver, optimally with the same experience as you to dive together. Of course, it is often more fun to dive with a dive buddy you already know.
Having a good dive buddy makes your scuba dives much more fun and relaxed. However, it is not a requirement to join on a liveaboard dive trip.
In fact, it can be a great opportunity to meet new people and dive with someone you don’t know.
If you feel more comfortable traveling and diving with someone you already know, here are some proven ways to find a dive buddy.
What Should You Bring on a Liveaboard dive trip?
Since you will be on a boat for several days with the focus on scuba diving as much as possible, you should pack light for a liveaboard dive trip. Only pack what’s absolutely necessary, such as scuba gear, swimming gear, a few shirts and shorts for during the meals, and maybe a good book to read in between dives. Some people also pack medicine against seasickness and earplugs to sleep better at night.
What you bring on a liveaboard safari depends largely on the destination and whether you plan to do anything else besides scuba diving during your vacation.
Most dive boats operate in warm places so the need for warm clothes (or many clothes at all) is limited.
At the same time, always pack a sweater and something to protect your ears such as a headband or hat so you stay warm after your dives. You would be surprised how cold you get after several days of non-stop scuba diving.
Use my scuba diving trip packing list to make sure you have everything you need and download it before your next dive trip!
Extra tip: You won’t need any shoes on most dive boats and some operators even collect them before embarking.
Conclusion
Liveaboard diving in 2026 is one of the best ways to explore the underwater world and go scuba diving at exotic places.
If you haven’t done one yet, this should be an absolute must on your diving bucket list!
Here are my recommendations for the best liveaboard diving destinations in 2026.
What was your favorite liveaboard diving destination?
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Always dive with friends and happy bubbles. 😃
Cheers
Julius