Dive Review of Ocean Rover in
Thailand/similan islands, surin, berma

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Ocean Rover, Mar, 2004, by ann mcgrath, va, usa ( Sr. Contributor 25 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 959.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	There is nothing bad about taking a trip on the Ocean Rover! She was built specifically for liveaboard diving, and is incredibly spacious for 16 divers. The crew is the most helpful of any crew we've ever seen (we took a vote). The food is just incredible! The diving in Thailand and Bermese waters usually involves current, so this is not beginner diving. There are two dinghies, so you never wait more than a few minutes to get picked up (unlike divers on other boats that we observed). The crew helps you get into your gear, gets your fins and your camera equipment for you, and rinses it all off after a dive. The boat is incredibly organized - each diver has a numbered locker, as well as a towel and even designated water glasses! They have cold water coolers on the dive deck and upstairs on the sun deck. There were ALWAYS great snacks upstairs, in addition to the fabulous meals and fresh made snacks they served us in the afternoons. The cabins are very large, with plenty of storage. The bathrooms are the nicest I've ever seen on a liveaboard, with tile floors and normal sized toilets. They make enough water that you don't have to worry about it, and each bathroom heats it's own water for your shower, so you never run out of hot water! The folks at Fantasea/Ocean Rover have received permission to dive in Bermese (Myanmar) waters, which is awesome. The diving in the Burma banks is clear and great - still plenty of current, but great stuff to see. We didn't encounter any whale sharks on this trip (but their numbers are dwindling), but we did see leopard sharks, manta rays and incredible sights like cuttlefish laying eggs (more than once), and lots of harlequin ghost pipefish, as well as their endemic saddleback anenome fish and the amazing mandarin shrimp! This liveaboard is a MUST for any serious diver. The charter just before ours included Ned deLoach and Paul Humann - need I say more?
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Saba, Cozumel, Turks & Caicos, Belize, Cayman Islands, Venezuela, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Bahamas
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	79-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-80 Ft/ 6-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Restricted by nitrox only
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The Ocean Rover has more room for photography equipment than any other liveaboard. They process E6 slide film as well. They have a CD burner if you want to copy your digital pictures to CD, a DVD player and a TV in the salon for viewing video. Their photo pro, Mark Strickland, is one of the best.

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Dive Review of Ocean Rover in Thailand/similan islands, surin, berma

Ocean Rover, Mar, 2004,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Ocean Rover in
Thailand/similan islands, surin, berma