How I Plan a Liveaboard Itinerary
Running a liveaboard as a dive guide means balancing the desires of twelve guests with weather windows, site conservation rules, and the boat's fuel range. Here is my planning framework.
## Start with the weather window
Book around the prevailing wind and swell direction. For the Banda Sea this means May–October. Trying to run an itinerary outside the window is a guest-satisfaction gamble.
## Mix depth profiles
Alternate deep profiles (30 m+) with shallow reef dives to let tissue gas off between dives. Four dives a day is comfortable; five is pushing decompression exposure for recreational divers.