MV Ocean Rover Liveaboard Information
The MV Ocean Rover is one of the most famous and popular liveaboards in the world and a truly world-class liveaboard diving vessel. She is the type of boat other operations do their best to emulate, and most fall short of this goal. She was built in the year 2000. She spends November through May diving and cruising in Thai and Burmese waters, June through August doing some serious critter diving in North Sulawesi (Manado area), and September and October in Peninsular Malaysia diving, jungle walking, kayaking, and snorkeling.
Ocean Rover was purpose designed for comfortable and safe offshore diving. Her thick steel hull is 100ft (30m) long and 24ft (8m) wide. She is powered by three Hino V10 430Hp diesel engines, driving three propellers for extra safety. Her cruising speed is 10 knots and the top speed 12.5 knots, allowing her to visit many far-flung dive sites in one single voyage. She has a 3,500 nautical mile cruising range (over 6,000km).
Since the mid-seventies, when liveaboard diving was “invented”, dive boats
have evolved considerably. Nowadays divers want more than just a dry place to sleep, some deck space to gear up and three meals a day. They have very specific wishes regarding on board accommodation, safety, and ease of diving operations, plus many demand top-notch photo facilities and excellent crew. If you prefer to "Live" aboard rather than just exist-aboard or bunk-aboard then the MV Ocean Rover is for you.
Comfortable and practical onboard facilities
She has eight guest cabins for a maximum of 16 passengers per cruise. Six of these cabins have large windows, two of them have portholes. The cabins can accommodate both couples and singles as each cabin has two beds (usually one large queen down below with a twin above).
Her large interior saloon is air conditioned, and she has a reading area and library stocked with lots of marine life books. She has a computer on board for sending and receiving email (usually twice per day), and for viewing and manipulating photos.
Up top, she has another outdoor saloon area and sun deck for relaxing between dives and enjoying the million-dollar view. Her comfortable deck chairs allow you to lie comfortably for hours if you prefer having a nap outside rather than in your cabin.
A crew you can count on
Ocean Rover’s crew members are very experienced and receive constant praise from her guests. Her dive crew has logged thousands of dives in all these waters but has retained their enthusiasm and sense of wonderment. They excel in finding small and rare marine life specimens that are hidden to the untrained eye and they are happy to show you how to photograph these creatures without destroying the coral. Add to this her Thai crews’ famous ever-smiling helpfulness plus the mouthwatering on-board cuisine and you have all the ingredients for a great trip.
Ocean Rover’s sixteen passengers are looked after by twelve crew members, and she has the same team that made the former liveaboard the MV Fantasea such a well-loved dive boat. Most crew members have been with the company for over ten years and all have been personally involved in the construction of Ocean Rover. They are rightfully proud of their boat and proud of their excellent reputation.
Safety comes first
Ocean Rover has been surveyed and certified to IMO (International Maritime Organization) and SOLAS standards and has been rewarded the following ratings:
IMO # 8984537 (ISM)
Safety Management Certificate (SOLAS)
Passenger Ship Safety Certificate
International Port and Ship Security (ISPS)
All crew has been trained according to Standards of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping for Seafarers 1978 & 1995 (STCW95).
Built with underwater photographers in mind
The huge dive-deck has several camera tables and rinse tanks. Care has been taken to ensure that photographers have safe places to put down their expensive cameras just before and after the dive. She also has a dedicated photo room just off the saloon. This is where you can charge batteries (both 220V and 110V outlets are available) and work on your camera in between dives in comfort and with privacy. The computer is here so you can burn CDs or work on your Photoshop techniques. The boat offers E-6 processing as well.
The perfect dive deck
Ocean Rover’s unique feature is the whale deck. This is the lower section of the dive-deck that slopes down to the waterline allowing for optimum ease of diving operations. This whale deck is where the dinghies are stored when the vessel is underway. It’s also where, when appropriate, guests make giant stride entries into the water, or board the dinghies to get to the dive site.
The gearing up area is huge as would be appropriate for a vessel of this size, and every care has been taken to make that that diving operations are easy and painless. The crew is extremely helpful, understand how expensive and valuable your equipment is, and treat it accordingly.
Ocean Rover offers a world-class liveaboard experience not found on too many other boats in Southeast Asia. She was built for practicality, and is designed for diving and living on board in comfort in both good and poor weather. Most importantly, she is probably the safest vessel operating in Thailand today (and is certainly no slouch in Indonesia). All in all, Ocean Rover will give you a liveaboard diving experienced you will never forget.
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