Liveaboards and The Stockholm Syndrome

Colin Marshall · Issue 91, Jul/Aug 2016 · pp. 62–68

Liveaboards are fantastic vehicles to reach pristine, unspoilt and otherwise inaccessible locations. And the diving is “easy” - once you arrive onboard, you just set up your gear once at the start. After that, all you have to do is stagger onto a dive tender, enjoy the short ride to the dive site, don your gear and slip into the water. And repeat, diving up to four times a day, in a variety of different locations. Paradise! But sometimes (fortunately rarely), there are problems in paradise. Potential Problems 1. The Boat Liveaboard diving inevitably involves putting sensitive machinery and electrics in close proximity to salt water. This continuously taunts Mother Nature, begging for trouble. And trouble inevitably comes. Perhaps the worst boat disaster story I’ve heard (from one of the actual guests) was of ascending from a dive to the sight of the liveaboard on fire and sinking. All we…