Finding buddies on Liveaboards in Australia

[LadyD]

Hi All,

Just wanted to ask how easy it is to find buddies for liveaboard dives in Australia. I am thinking of doing the 6 day livaboard with Undersea explorer in Jan 2008 and wanted to know if I was going to end up with lots of couples. I'd prefer a boat with more experienced divers who want to dive rather than couples on honeymoon and the like.

Does anyone have any advice? Is it just a case of show up and get assigned to the nearest buddy or should I let the dive operator know I would be diving solo and need a buddy?

Cheers

D

[Mary]

I went a trip on UE a couple of years ago on my own and had a fantastic time. A mix of singles, a few couples - mix of older and younger and 2 mothers and sons. Yes there were more and less experienced people but due to the nature of the sites everyone had a fantastic time and no-one felt limited by the more inexperienced people on the boat. Being buddied up on the boat was fine. One "pair" weren't really getting on so a couple of us swapped, it was very much a non issue.

Enjoy yourself I had a fantastic time and found the talks and stuff fascinating.