A Review of MV Koon9 Liveaboard

This was our first liveaboard and we weren’t really sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. The boat was large with all the amenities you need. Cabin accommodation was basic and the beds were very hard (!) but it was great to have your own private bathroom and not have to share with others. A good selection of food and drink was available from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. The dive equipment was well organised, managed and controlled by the boat crew who made sure your tanks were refilled and waiting for you ready for your next dive. Overall the staff were all really helpful and friendly. We did find a couple of our dive masters weren’t attentive enough underwater though and so didn’t pick up on issues we were having which spoilt the experience on a couple of occasions. Each day new guests would arrive by speedboat in the morning, some just on a day trip, others remaining on the boat for a few days. A number of guests would subsequently leave on the speedboat late afternoon. As a result the boat was very busy in the middle part of the day but overall it felt spacious enough.
Bearing in mind the recent spate of fires on liveaboards we were surprised that we did not receive any kind of safety briefing whilst on the boat, and we only found our life jackets tucked under the bed when we were packing to leave.
One last slight gripe….we were told to let them know asap if we accidentally left anything on board when our trip was over. Unfortunately we did leave a couple of items of clothing in the ‘dry’ cubby holes and advised them a day later once we had realised. We emailed Jamie asking if there was any way to get them back, bearing in mind the speedboat picks up from there every day. We said we were happy to pay postage to send them back to the UK but we were just told that the boat was at Richelieu Reef where there is no signal. There was no offer to check once they were back in range and we’ve heard nothing more. I know it was our