Embarking on a liveaboard trip can be an exciting milestone in a scuba diver’s journey, offering an immersive dive experience and a unique camaraderie with fellow divers. But for newer divers, choosing the right destination can be daunting. It is essential to choose somewhere with calm conditions, accessible marine life, and a liveaboard that is supportive of newer divers. Here’s a look at seven liveaboard destinations that cater to beginners, featuring gentle currents, great visibility, and abundant marine life to make your first liveaboard experience unforgettable.
Why Go Liveaboard Diving?
It might seem counterintuitive to consider liveaboard diving if you’ve only recently earned your diving license and don’t have many dives under your belt, but there are some great beginner-friendly liveaboards to choose from.
So, why go liveaboard diving? Liveaboards allow you to immerse yourself fully in the underwater world and maximize your time diving without the hassle of daily travel. They give you access to remote dive areas that are often too far for day trips, including untouched reefs, uninhabited islands, and secluded dive spots. These sites typically offer some of the best diving in the world, are less crowded, and allow for encounters with marine life that may be less common closer to shore.
On a liveaboard, you can dive up to four or five times a day, including night dives. This helps to improve your dive skills quickly. With all diving logistics handled on board, liveaboards provide a level of convenience that shore-based diving can’t match. Dive equipment, meals, and accommodations are all provided, so you can focus entirely on diving and relaxing.
You’ll meet people who share your love for the ocean, exchange stories, and form friendships with fellow divers and the crew. For new divers, this supportive atmosphere can boost confidence and make each dive more enjoyable. Many liveaboards also offer refresher courses, buoyancy workshops, and night diving guidance, providing hands-on support as you explore.
Beginner-Friendly Liveaboard Destinations
Photo by Pascal van de Vendel on Unsplash
1. Roatan, Honduras
Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras, is a fantastic liveaboard destination for beginner divers. Known for its warm waters, calm currents, and diverse marine life, Roatan offers plenty of shallow reefs, colorful coral gardens, and easy-going drift dives. The region is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest barrier reef in the world, providing excellent opportunities for new divers to explore vibrant underwater landscapes with minimal current.
Dive sites around Roatan, like West End Wall and Mary’s Place, have areas suitable for beginners, featuring clear visibility where divers can see everything from tropical fish and sea turtles to eagle rays and reef sharks. Just be aware that the West End Wall can have medium to strong currents at the end of the dive.
- Average Water Temperature: 27-30°C (80-86°F)
- Best Time to Dive: March to September
2. Similan and Surin Islands, Thailand
The Similan and Surin Islands are some of Thailand’s most famous diving spots, known for clear blue waters, vibrant coral reefs, and diverse marine life. The Similan Islands offer dive sites such as Anita’s Reef, where you’ll find a gently sloping reef with coral bommies teeming with tropical fish. The Surin Islands, just north of the Similans, feature easy dive sites that are perfect for beginners, including shallow reefs and sandy slopes with minimal current.
Whilst more challenging, nearby Richelieu Rock is a standout dive of the area and features a stunning pinnacle covered in corals and teeming with reef and pelagic fish. To make the most of this dive site, consider becoming an Advanced Open Water diver or doing a Perfect Buoyancy specialty before your trip.
Liveaboards to the Similan and Surin Islands typically require 5-10 logged dives, cater to various skill levels, and provide guided dives perfect for new divers looking to experience Thailand’s underwater riches.
- Average Water Temperature: 27-29°C (80-84°F)
- Best Time to Dive: November to April
3. Egypt’s Northern Red Sea
Diving in Egypt is famous for offering some of the best beginner diving in the world, with easy access to world-renowned dive sites and excellent visibility. Around Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, you’ll find thriving coral reefs and colorful fish in conditions that are beginner-friendly.
The Ras Mohamed National Park features vibrant soft and hard coral reefs and plenty of marine life in beautiful turquoise waters. The wide selection of shallow dive sites makes this national park ideal for beginners. The Giannis D offers a great introduction to wreck diving, with depths from 6-27 meters, and is an impressive sight at 99 meters long!
Red Sea liveaboards often include flexible dive schedules and knowledgeable guides and offer a variety of safari lengths, from short 4-day safaris to extended 12-day adventures.
- Average Water Temperature: 23-28°C (73-82°F)
- Best Time to Dive: May to October
4. Bunaken National Park, Indonesia
Diving in Indonesia might not be something you would consider as a new diver, given it is renowned for its advanced diving and thrilling currents. However, the Bunaken National Park is a fantastic option for beginners offering calm, clear waters, gentle drift dives, and abundant marine life.
Located in North Sulawesi, Bunaken has one of the highest levels of marine biodiversity in the world, with over 70% of the Indo-Pacific fish species found here. The park’s dive sites are ideal for beginners, featuring vibrant coral walls and calm drifts that allow you to see everything from tiny reef fish to larger species like eagle rays and sea turtles. To make the most of this stunning destination, it’s a good idea to do a drift diving specialty before your trip.
- Average Water Temperature: 27-30°C (80-86°F)
- Best Time to Dive: April to October
Photo by Manny Moreno on Unsplash
5. Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is a classic choice for new divers, offering calm, warm waters and beginner-friendly dive sites at the world’s most famous coral reef system. Liveaboards here provide easy access to the outer reef, where you’ll find colorful coral gardens, sandy bottoms, and diverse marine life.
Popular spots like Cod Hole and Steve’s Bommie are known for gentle conditions, providing plenty of opportunities to encounter sea turtles, clownfish, and even the friendly potato cod. If you visit during the winter months (June to August), you might even spot manta rays and humpback whales.
There are numerous liveaboards to choose from, most of which depart from Cairns. As with Egypt, there are plenty of different safari lengths, ranging from 2-night safaris upwards. If you’re not sure about liveaboard diving, you can join a day boat trip to dive the inner reef.
If swimming with manta rays is on your wish list, consider adding a trip to the Whitsundays (May to September), Lady Elliot Island (May to August), or North Stradbroke Island (October to March) after your liveaboard.
- Average Water Temperature: 24-30°C (75-86°F)
- Best Time to Dive: June to November
6. Belize Barrier Reef, Belize
The Belize Barrier Reef, part of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, offers an ideal setting for beginner divers with calm, shallow waters, abundant marine life, and stunning coral formations. Belize is known for its gentle dive sites, with highlights like Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley where you can spot nurse sharks, stingrays, and a variety of reef fish in easy conditions.
Belize liveaboards cater to new divers, providing easy access to dive sites and offering helpful guidance for those building their confidence underwater. These liveaboards don’t have a minimum logged dives requirement.
- Average Water Temperature: 26-29°C (79-84°F)
- Best Time to Dive: April to June
7. Exuma Cays, Bahamas
The Exuma Cays in the Bahamas offer stunning, beginner-friendly dive sites with clear, calm waters and abundant marine life. This Caribbean paradise is known for its colorful coral reefs, playful dolphins, and a variety of reef fish. Dive sites like Amberjack Reef and Stingray Alley boast shallow, sheltered areas and plenty of opportunities to encounter stingrays, nurse sharks, and groupers.
Bahamas liveaboards are beginner-friendly (no minimum logged dives), offering flexible dive schedules, knowledgeable guides, and calm waters. All of which makes them ideal for new divers looking to explore some of the best diving in the Caribbean.
- Average Water Temperature: 26-29°C (79-84°F)
- Best Time to Dive: November to May
For beginner divers, these liveaboard destinations all offer supportive environments with calm waters, clear visibility, and experienced dive guides. Each destination has world-class diving and the chance to see vibrant marine life, providing a wonderful introduction to liveaboard diving. Whether you’re drawn to the diverse reefs of Indonesia and Thailand, or the colorful coral walls of Belize, these locations are perfect for exploring the underwater world with confidence and ease.
