Live-Aboard Advice and Suggestions Request - South Pacific

I've dived the Solomons & PNG, but not been on a liveaboard in either place - I've always used land based for the diving.

The only thing I would say looking at your list of destinations is that Fiji, Tonga & Samoa won't have the wrecks that you'll have at the other places. Vanuatu has the President Coolidge.

I can give you quite a lot of info on wrecks in PNG & Sols, but you might not be looking to dive wrecks - PNG & Sols have plenty of dives that aren't wrecks.

There are a number of PNG liveaboards, - you need to do some research on the net to find out which boat goes where - & when - & if they have spaces left.

MV Chertan, MV FeBrina, Star Dancer, Tiata are some of the boats you'll be looking at. They all do various areas of PNG.

Hi BK Traveller,

My suggestion would definatley be Nai'a in Fiji.

Nai'a is consistently voted as one of the top liveaboards in the world. She makes seven or ten day trip to Koro Sea, Nigali Passage, Wakaya, Gau, Koro and Namena Islands, Nananuira Passage and Nukurauvula (spinner dolphins live here).

Just for pristine conditons, uncrowded dive sites and abundance of marine life and coral.

She make trips to Tonga for Whale Watching but not till August.

Idived Fiji a few months ago (but not on a liveaboard) and the reefs were pristine. Wanted to do a liveaboard because so many sights are difficult to reach through land based operators, but the liveaboards in Fiji are so outrageously expensive ... not an inexpensive option in the bunch and Nai'a is the most expensive of those. I also saw an IMAX movie where they used the Nai'a. I only hear good things about the Nai'a, and I can vouch for the diving in general, so if it's within your budget go for it!