Liveaboards are one of the best ways to experience diving in Thailand, where you can be brought on a multi-night journey to several dive sites, opening up the experiences that you can enjoy without losing out on sleep or comfort. There are many possible liveaboards that you can book in order to get unique and disparate experiences and diving opportunities across Thailand and the surrounding waters, but two of the greats amongst these differing vessels would have to be The Aggressor and The Phinisi. One is of a modern design, sleek and long, while the other is based on some of the oldest ships ever designed, a cultural masterpiece. Both offer something that the other does not.
The Aggressor and The Phinisi are both set in the Andaman Sea, off the southwestern coast of Thailand, the city of Phuket, and offer journeys to more than fifteen dive sites in the northern and southern Andaman Sea. Both offer multi-night journeys, with the aggressor offering seven and ten night adventures, while The Phinisi offers four and six night tours. Both have the modern luxuries that you know and love, air conditioning, hot showers, and food to dive for, and of course, both have five star PADI certified diving suites with all the state-of-the-art equipment available. From there though, these two particular vessels couldn’t be more different.
There is also The Phinisi, so named for the style and design of one of the oldest ways that men and women used to sail the waters of Asia. Shorter than The Aggressor at one hundred and eight feet long, this vessel nonetheless can hold eighteen passengers between two private cabins with twin/double beds, two three-berths cabins and two four-berths cabins. Rather than a modern interior design, The Phinisi offers warm and beautiful maroon and earthy tones that break from the ocean blues and greens. There is also a history aboard this vessel that you will not find in any other charter ship, stretching back to the sixties and moving into the present day. The Phinisi did not start its journey as a diving liveaboard experience, and instead was a cargo ship with six others in nineteen sixty-two. From there, she journeyed all around the Asian coast, and in ninety-seven, more than thirty years after her first launch, she was bought, refurbished and restored, becoming the vessel that you see today.
Both of these vessels and their respective companies are experts in the field of diving liveaboards, and you can’t go wrong with picking either. Whether your choice is the restored fifty year old cargo ship, with history in its wood grain, or the sleek and modern vessel of today and tomorrow, both are incredible. It will all depend on what you want out of your experience, what you are adventuring and exploring for. You can learn more about each vessel, rates and itineraries, with us at Caradonna Adventures, or click on The Aggressor or The Phinisi to learn more.