12 things I wish I had known before my first liveaboard

From cabin selection to seasickness prep, the practical things no one tells you about your first week on a dive boat.

Your first liveaboard is a learning curve. The diving is the easy part. It is everything around the diving, packing, sleeping, eating, choosing a cabin, managing camera gear, that catches first-timers off guard. Here are twelve things I would tell anyone heading out for their first one.

1. Pick a lower-deck cabin if you get seasick. Lower and more central means less motion. Upper-deck cabins have more light and views, but you feel every wave at night. Whichever you choose, pack ginger candies and your favorite seasickness remedy. Take it before you board, not after you feel sick. That is the universal mistake.

2. Bring a refillable water bottle and a microfiber towel. Every liveaboard has filtered water stations and a regular supply of fresh towels, but having your own bottle and a quick-dry hand towel for between dives saves enormous time and clutter.

3. Pack a thin long-sleeve sun shirt and a light fleece. Sun on a dive deck is relentless. Air conditioning in the salon can be aggressive. You will be hot and cold on the same boat, sometimes in the same hour.

4. Bring more rinsable swimwear than you think. You are going to be wet six times a day. A rashguard and shorts you can rotate through a freshwater rinse keep you comfortable and reduce the laundry pile.

5. Cash for crew tips. Tipping is universally expected on liveaboards and almost universally not pre-arranged. Bring small US bills for crew gratuities. Most boats provide guidance on amounts at the end of the week, but you will not want to scramble for ATMs at the dock.

6. Charge everything every night. Camera batteries, dive computer, flashlight, phone, GoPro. You will dive earlier than you expect and you will not have time to charge later. Make it a habit at dinner.

7. Label your gear. There will be a dive deck full of nearly identical wetsuits, fins, regulators, and BCDs. Two strips of brightly colored tape on your fins and a permanent marker on your mask strap save daily confusion.

8. Buy a save-a-dive kit and actually pack it. A spare mask strap, fin strap, fin keeper, O-rings, mouthpiece, and zip ties take up nothing in your luggage and have saved more trips than I can count.

9. Take the seasickness meds the day before too. The boat starts moving the moment you board. Many travelers get sick the first night because they underestimate how rough the transit can be. Premedicating the day before, especially if you have any tendency, makes the first 24 hours much easier.

10. Camera setup happens once, in port. Set up your rig before the boat leaves the dock. Once you are at the first dive site you want to be diving, not assembling. Bring a small parts container for housing screws and the like, and a microfiber for the dome port. Always.

11. The food is going to be a lot. Liveaboards feed you constantly. There is breakfast, two snacks, lunch, two more snacks, dinner, and often dessert. Pace yourself the first day and you will feel better the rest of the week. Also, mention dietary needs in advance, not at the buffet.

12. Talk to everyone. You are going to spend a week with these people. Some will become friends you travel with again. The best stories from any of our trips come from connections made over breakfast or during a long surface interval. Show up curious. The diving sells itself.

If you are about to do your first one, do not stress the gear too much. Crew are excellent at helping you set up and adjust. Bring what you need to be comfortable, leave room in your bag for the things you will buy from the boat shop, and trust that the rhythm will click by day two.