Travel is one activity which people of all ages can and should do. Besides being educational, it also lets the traveler be more culturally aware. For younger people, going through the museum and old churches route is like a rite of passage. The alternative, of course, would be amusement and theme parks. Increasingly, eco-tourism has been increasing worldwide.
- Liveaboard Divingdachalan / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA
Among the most ardent travelers are scuba divers. Divers are almost a sub-culture of their own. For the most die-hard divers, they schedule liveaboard scuba diving trips months in advance, to take advantage of the dive site weather or to get away from their local weather. This is to be expected, and in some tropical areas, the months of December and January are considered as foreign tourist season. But since diving is very much dependent on the local weather, synchronizing schedules and planning for the trip has to be done months in advance.
Some of the more popular liveaboard diving sites include Raja Ampat and Komodo in Indonesia, the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, the Cocos Islands of Costa Rica, Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines, and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. One recommendation I do have is you can get really cheap airfare at www.flighthub.com. Till now I got the best prices to these locations.
These different dive sites have their own particular personality and environment. The fishes for one area are not exactly the same you would see anywhere else. The same goes for the reefs and other sea life. The only analogy for land travelers is to know that each museum and old church is different from every other museum and church.
Liveaboard diving makes the experience all the more different, as you would be living on a ship while on the diving trip. This is very convenient as there would be no need to go to land and travel time to the dive site is almost non-existent. The dive boat has all the amenities needed for an extended diving tour. You board the boat in one port, and it is off to a schedule of going from one dive site to the next. Liveaboard trips can be as long as two or three weeks with almost no going back to port.
Divers prefer liveaboard diving trips because almost all the expenses go towards the boat. Because the divers almost do not stay on land, they spend more time diving, and less time shopping. In some instances, divers can also dive twice a day, with a different dive spot in the morning and afternoon.
Liveaboard operators try to make the best accommodations for divers. Because their clients would be spending all their time on the boat, the operators try to keep them safe, and to ensure that they can be evacuated to a hospital when necessary.
Diving is an addictive activity. A person can be diving well after the age of 60. This is one activity where you can start even at an old age. It is also one activity, which triggers awe and wonder in the traveler because the things he sees below the waves are not common sites, which few have seen.
