Livaboard in Palau / June

[melee]

Hi,

We are going to do our first live aboard in Palau this June for 7 days for our Honeymoon.  Our dilemma is whether to book the Ocean Hunter I or Ocean Hunter III () and i was wondering what your opinion was on the topic!

The issue at hand is # divers / size of boat, etc.  OHI holds 6 divers and with such a small number of divers are able to "customize" the daily itinerary according to *your* interests.  Our attraction to the OHII is that it is a brand new retrofitted boat (equipped with video/photography stations!) that launches March '08 *but* holds 16 divers.  While we've never done a live aboard, 16 divers doesn't sound crowded (relatively speaking), especially if the diving is done in groups of 8.... and in a new boat?  That sounds just awesome.  OH as policy, doesn't dive the reef if other boats are in the water.... 

We don't know if we'll end up diving 5 tanks a day, but we know that we want equal weighting of our out-of-water experience and our underwater experience.  Hence, we're thinking in this case, a "larger" boat (how bad can 16 passengers actually be?),  means we'll have more space, and will be more comfortable.  And statistically the more people there are, the greater likelihood we'll connect with at least another couple.  One of our top priorities is to become educated about everything we're seeing underwater and the photography stations certainly will help facilitate this process!!  The more people around us, the more questions we can ask.

I'm sure there are a lot of other factors we've considered i'm not mentioning here, but I was wondering what other people's opinions are between a larger/smaller boat, pretty much everything else being constant.  It's hard to compare a boat that has no reviews yet and with no live aboard experience i've yet to develop a strong preference eitherway.

Thanks in advance for your opinions/suggestions.

Regards,
Melissa

[jasondbaker]

I've been on liveaboards with 24 divers and liveaboards with as few as 10 divers.  I preferred the smaller groups.  But you have to weigh in other factors such as the type of boat, amenities, and cruising schedule.  Sometimes with larger groups you don't get to as many dive sites because the boat will sit at the same mooring for a couple dives.  With a smaller group the boat can get people in and out of the water faster.  I would go with the more luxurious boat for my honeymoon.  I don't think 16 divers sounds bad.  You could easily end up with a smaller group depending on the time of year.  My recommendation is the Ocean Hunter III.

[NorthlandDivers]

I would recomend the Ocean Hunter III.  The Ocean Hunter 1 would get to feeling cramped if they filled the boat with 6 people.  I have been on the Ocean Hunter II and had a great time.  The Ocean Hunter III even though it takes more divers it has a lot more space as it is a much larger vessel.  The boat might not be filled so that would give you even more room.  With all the features listed I would for sure do the Ocean Huner III.  Some of my customers that were with me on the Ocean Hunter II want me to book the Ocean Hunter III for them next year in March.  The company that owns the boats does a great job.