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The best liveaboard I have ever been on is the Nai’a in Fiji and Fiji is a photogs dream, ton’s of macro and soft corals for color. There are sharks up close in Negali passage and we saw Mantas there too.
The boat it’s self is well run, same crew all of the time, when the crew is off the boat doesn’t sail. Only boat I ever saw with guitar racks in the camera room, the crew all play and sing, be sure to buy their CD for the sound track to his slide show! Meals are chosen from a menu at breakfast, all are sit down not buffet and the best food I have ever had aboard ship.
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i have been to PALAU and loved it both times. i used FISH N FINS, great service... SAMs TOURS also comes in as a great shop. FISH n FINS will take u where u want to go, nice prices, lunch is usually on shark beach, pretty nice, dont mind the spiders...i can only speak for FnF, as i have never used SAMs, but i hear they are pretty good...
water out there is outstanding...blue holes, and blue corner...awsome drift drive.
PHUKET thailand is also wonderful. dont remeber any names of dive boats out there, i spoke with the lead search and rescue guy in thailand (hes american) and asked if he would take me diving, he booked all the reservtions for me, awsome guy. the sites are great, james bond island is out there, pretty coool,
well if u have any other questions feel free to email me...
DAVID
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What are the diving conditions like in Fiji? Currents? Drift dives? Most dives off the big boat, or a tender? Is the Na’ia nice to photographers (dedicated buckets, places to load film and store equipment?) I’m getting conflicting stories of Fiji, and can’t decide which ones are real....
Thanks!
ChocMoose13
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Check out Wakatobi in Indonesia (www.wakatobi.com). I haven’t been on their livaboard, but I have been to the resort, which is phenominal and does have a dedicated set up area for cameras, each photog gets their own space, etc. I hear their livaboard is just as phenom. Of course, it’s so popular there may not be any space left this late in the year. The livaboard especially, as space is limited.
Good luck. Hope you find something you really like. Have a great time.
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From ChocMoose13: What are the diving conditions like in Fiji? Currents? Drift dives? Most dives off the big boat, or a tender? Is the Na’ia nice to photographers (dedicated buckets, places to load film and store equipment?) I’m getting conflicting stories of Fiji, and can’t decide which ones are real....
Thanks!
ChocMoose13
Not sure of the Fiji resorts but from the Nai’a we got a nice mix of dives, all are from the tender, you hang your tag on the dive board and the crew loads your gear into the tender. Once I drifted back to the boat but usually the tender picked us up. You start all dives with a DM. Many were Bommies, coral heads starting around 80’, you work up the sides and do your safety stop on tops covered with life. We did a few drift dives but most are on reefs but you never need to navigate back to the boat. As noted above there is a camera room with plenty of space, one night during a rough crossing the crew took the cameras off the tables and placed them on the floor so they wouldn’t fall.
As DiveMaiden said, Wakatobi is another choice, it usually needs to be booked a year ahead but you may get lucky. Getting there is a PIA and you need to fly into Bali early so as to not miss the plane but there is some good diving in Bali too and plenty of topside stuff so allow a few days at each end of the trip.
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Best Macro in the world is Lembeh Indonesia. You don’t need a liveaboard there as the sites are a 0 to 5 minute boat ride. Try Lembeh Resort it is just like a liveaboard in service and number of dives, it is just land based. Lembeh is 90% muck diving.
For the best bio diversity on earth go to Raja Ampat. Live aboards are an option there. There were liveaboards leaving the Lembeh area going to Raja Ampat.
Another great place for photographers is Anilao Philippines. Once again, land based, but they treat you very good. Best dive guide I have every had is Alexis at Club Ocellaris in Anilao. Alexis was not there to baby sit you, he search out the best critters to photograph. He was one of the best nudibranch finders I have seen anywhere. Anilao has muck and reef dives.
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