A Review of MV Pawara Liveaboard

Booking this trip with Jamie was easy and one of the only positives of this trip.

I believed this boat to be of 3 star, mid range quality when I booked this trip. At best, this is comparable to a hostel with private rooms.

You are emailed a digital log book at the end of the trip, and the DMs make a group video which is nice and something I have not seen on other liveaboards. I believe the crew is doing the best they can with the very limited facilities.

We just finished a 4N stay on the Pawara, where my husband and I, along with at least 1 other guest that I know of, got food poisoning. The kitchen and food prep areas are right next to the 3 bathrooms that all DMs, the entire crew and some guests share.

The highlight of the trip is Richelieu Rock and while very busy site, it has a lot of marine life. Similar to other sites in the Andaman Sea, there is some current, okay visibility and a lot of fish at many sites.

Due to the number of guests, we were in groups of 1:5 - 1:6 during our trip. These are the largest ratios I've ever dived with. Coupled with the fact that you are grouped with divers with various levels of ability and air. We are advanced divers on nitrox grouped with customers who have only their open water, who have not dived in over 4 years — who were not required to do a refresher or dive to the recommend 18m. They simply do not care. Perhaps this is best for people who have never dived on a liveaboard before or have very limited abilities.

There was no wifi during our trip, unlike advertised. We were told on the first night that it was broken.

We stayed in a standard cabin with a double bed, which is next to the engine room - loud 24/7. The room is small; the ceiling is so low my husband struggled to stand upright in the room and shower. I've stayed in a number of hostels that were cleaner and nicer than this room.