A liveaboard diving cruise is a unique and extraordinary experience, allowing divers to explore remote dive sites that are difficult to reach with daily diving trips. Whether it’s the Red Sea, Indonesia, or the Galápagos, a diving cruise will undoubtedly rank among the most beautiful, memorable, and exciting trips of your life, taking you to remote corners of the planet filled with marine life and breathtaking scenery.
However, when choosing a diving cruise for your next trip, you must consider a significant and often overlooked downside: many liveaboard companies cut costs unscrupulously, often sacrificing essential safety standards. As a result, diving liveaboard accidents are not as rare as one might hope. This trend has led to a considerable number of incidents, making diving cruises inherently riskier than shore-based diving.
The problem is particularly prevalent in the Red Sea and Indonesia, both due to the high concentration of diving cruises in these areas and because local regulations tend to be less stringent. Additionally, a notable rate of insurance fraud contributes to the issue.
Among the most common accidents are fires, often caused by outdated and poorly maintained electrical systems. These systems are frequently overloaded due to the increasing use of electronic devices such as mobile phones, cameras, and dive computers, which divers continuously charge on board. As a fundamental safety measure, never leave electronic devices charging unattended in your cabin.
Another serious and unfortunately frequent incident is capsizing in rough sea conditions, often caused by the reckless conversion of unsuitable vessels into liveaboard ships. Below, you will find a series of recommendations to protect yourself in such situations.
This detailed checklist covers all the critical aspects that every diver should check before and during a liveaboard trip to ensure maximum safety.
The purpose of this diving liveaboard cruise safety guide is not to discourage divers from embarking on a liveaboard experience—on the contrary, as mentioned, it is an unforgettable and extraordinary adventure. Rather, it aims to encourage everyone to approach it consciously, spend wisely, and take the right precautions to ensure a safe and enjoyable trip.
Diving Liveaboard - Before Departure
1. Research on the Operator
Reputation and Reviews: Check online reviews on platforms like TripAdvisor or ScubaBoard, as well as in large Facebook groups such as Scuba Divers Uncensored or Scuba Diving, to assess the quality of the operator.
Certifications: Ensure that the operator holds recognized certifications, such as SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) or membership in the Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) in Egypt.
Safety History: Research whether the operator has had any past accidents and how they were handled.
Booking: Avoid cabins located deep inside the vessel. Try to book cabins closer to the decks, even if they are more expensive.
2. Information About the Vessel
Year of Construction and Maintenance: Ask for details about the vessel’s age and maintenance history.
Safety Equipment: Make sure the vessel is equipped with:
Well-maintained life jackets
Life rafts sufficient for all passengers
Functional fire suppression systems
Properly distributed and accessible fire extinguishers
Operational fire alarms
3. Insurance and Safety Policies
Insurance: Confirm that the operator has adequate insurance for onboard accidents and diving incidents. Most travel insurance policies do not specifically cover diving cruises. Get a reliable dive insurance policy such as DAN and a comprehensive travel insurance policy. Divassure offers specialized insurance for liveaboard diving cruises.
Emergency Procedures: Ask about the crew’s emergency response protocols. Specifically, request details on their man-overboard procedures.
Crew Training: Ensure the crew is trained in first aid and dive emergency management. Ask about their certifications. Every crew should conduct a safety briefing before the cruise begins. Ask questions and challenge the crew to gauge their knowledge and competence.
During the briefing, stay focused: mentally visualize an emergency, what you would do, and where you should go.
Once on Board (Before Departure)
4. Familiarizing Yourself with the Boat
Walk around the vessel multiple times and familiarize yourself with its layout. In each area, think about how you would react in an emergency (fire, capsizing, or sinking). Plan for worst-case scenarios and prepare Plan A, B, and C.
Pay attention to stair railings, door directions, and emergency exits. Are there tools to break windows? If so, where are they?
Do not glance over the emergency route map like an airline safety briefing—study it carefully. Close your eyes, imagine an emergency, and mentally trace your escape route to the meeting point.
Even if you’re not EFR or Rescue certified, locate the defibrillator and medical oxygen tanks—someone trained to use them may need your help.
Check windows and emergency doors for functionality. Knowing if a door sticks or has a faulty handle could be life-saving. Some vessels have had sealed emergency exits.
If the boat capsizes, everything turns upside down—furniture becomes obstacles, ceilings become slippery floors, teak becomes slippery. Survivors of such accidents have reported crawling along walls and navigating through debris. Take time to mentally prepare for different emergency scenarios.
5. Safety Equipment Checklist
Life Jackets: Check their presence, quantity, and condition. Practice wearing them multiple times until it becomes second nature, even under stress.
Life Rafts: Ask to see them and ensure they have a recent certification, especially SOLAS. Be meticulous—anyone can print a fake certification sticker from Amazon.
Check how the rafts are secured to the boat:
Are they properly maintained quick-release mechanisms?
Or are they tied with makeshift diver weight belts and rusty carabiners?
Alarms and Smoke Detectors: Confirm sufficient smoke detectors are installed. Request a test. There should be:
At least one detector per room
Two in larger rooms
Simply seeing smoke detectors is not enough—verify they work.
During the briefing, ask the crew to sound the alarms so you can recognize the sound and test if you can hear it from your cabin.
Are there emergency alarms distributed across the vessel that you can activate if you see smoke or fire?
Fire Extinguishers: Ensure they are accessible and properly distributed.
Communication Systems: Ask to see the satellite phone and request a test call. Insist on seeing it function with your own eyes.
Consider bringing a Garmin InReach with an active subscription (you can activate it before departure and deactivate it afterward for a small fee). Keep it charged in a waterproof bag near your life jacket, along with a power bank.
Onboard Radio: Request a radio communication test to ensure it works.
6. Documents and Valuables
Keep your passport, money, a small flashlight or headlamp, and essential medications in a waterproof bag that is always within reach. As mentioned earlier, I recommend also including a fully charged Garmin InReach with an active subscription and a fully charged power bank.
The bag should not be too bulky or heavy, but at your discretion, you may also add a water bottle, some protein bars, and sunscreen.
During the Cruise
7. Onboard Safety
Regularly check that the safety equipment is still on board—for example, the satellite phone might have been shown during the initial briefing but then transferred to another boat before departure.
Monitor the functionality of emergency equipment.
If the sea is rough, consider sleeping on deck rather than in the cabin.
In case of flooding, your cabin door might not open due to water pressure. If you do not want to sleep on deck, consider keeping your door slightly open while you sleep.
Check whether the alarm and fire detection systems remain active during navigation. In some cases, smoke detectors are turned off by the crew to prevent them from being triggered by engine smoke. There have been incidents where fires spread without any alarm sounding, leading to fatal consequences.
8. Checking the Tenders/Zodiacs
Observe whether they need frequent re-inflation—this could be a sign of poor maintenance, and in an emergency, there may not be enough time to inflate them properly.
Ensure that they are always ready for an emergency evacuation.
9. During Dives
Carefully inspect your dive gear before each dive.
Ensure that there is always emergency oxygen on board.
Follow the buddy system and establish clear hand signals for communication.
After the Cruise
10. Debriefing and Feedback
Attend the final debriefing and discuss any issues with the crew.
Leave detailed reviews to help other divers choose safe operators.
11. Maintenance of Dive Equipment
Rinse and inspect all your equipment to check for any damage.
Perform a safety check before your next dive trip.
Final Recommendations
Challenging the crew about safety concerns can be awkward and uncomfortable, especially if you are sharing a boat with them for an entire week. To avoid conflicts, consider printing a copy of this checklist and sharing it with other passengers as soon as you board. This way, the initiative for a thorough safety inspection will come from the entire group, rather than just one person.
By following this detailed checklist, you can significantly reduce risks and enjoy your diving cruise safely. Your safety depends on your preparation, so don’t be afraid to ask questions and demand clear answers.
Google My Maps of Diving Incidents Since 2006
Below is an embedded Google My Maps showing all recorded liveaboard diving incidents since 2006 (map rights belong to Jan-Philipp Lauer).
(Note: The mention of over 240,000 incidents is clearly incorrect, but the map highlighting the most well-known accidents gives a good idea of the scale of the issue).
Below, I Include an Even More Detailed and Professional Checklist.
(The rights still belong to Jan-Philipp Lauer) from the website insightscuba.com.
The inspiration for this post came from Steve Povey, one of the most experienced divers I know, especially when it comes to safety. I never miss an opportunity to recommend his dive center in Egypt (Dive UK Hurghada).
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