The Editor says: Staying aboard a luxury yacht for a liveaboard dive trip has always been every diver's dream. Yet while liveaboards are commonplace in Thailand, the Maldives, and beyond, they have never taken root in Taiwan — a country that prides itself on being a "maritime nation." The issue is tangled up in government policy and public attitudes, and it keeps limiting Taiwanese people's access to the sea. Fortunately, in 2018 Monterey Yachts led the industry by building Taiwan's first liveaboard yacht. Not only does it elevate Taiwan's dive-tourism industry to an entirely new level, it also challenges Taiwan's bizarre culture of keeping people away from the ocean — with the hope of giving Taiwanese people back their right to the sea.
What Is a Liveaboard Dive Trip?
A liveaboard is an extremely convenient and popular way to dive abroad. The basic idea is that you live on the boat — no need to worry about accommodation, meal planning, or logistics. It's a blissfully simple cycle of diving, eating, and sleeping, making it a wonderful choice for city dwellers who want to completely unwind through diving.
On top of that, liveaboards typically sail at night. That means you finish your dives at Site A in the morning, the boat sails to Site B overnight, and the next morning you wake up refreshed and ready to jump back in. A single liveaboard trip lets you experience multiple dive sites while cutting out all the overland travel time. On board, you just eat, sleep, chat about diving, and share your underwater photos. Life doesn't get much better than that!
Taiwan's First Liveaboard Yacht
Although Taiwan is still in its early stages when it comes to marine recreation, its yacht-manufacturing industry is world-class. In 2018, Taiwan's large-yacht production output surpassed the United States to rank fourth globally, claiming the top spot in Asia. The liveaboard trial run the Editor was invited to join was aboard a vessel built by Taiwan's leading yacht manufacturer, Monterey Yachts. First, let's feast our eyes on the 4K footage shot by underwater videographer Ming-ge of Ocean Impression!
The itinerary departed from Kaohsiung Port on Thursday evening, sailed overnight to Kenting, and conducted diving activities in the Kenting waters on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was scheduled for diving around Xiaoliuqiu before returning to Kaohsiung Port. According to Monterey Yachts, future itineraries beyond the Kenting–Xiaoliuqiu route will include island-hopping dive trips to Penghu, Green Island, and Orchid Island. Who knows — someday a hop all the way to Yonaguni in Okinawa, Japan for Hammerhead Sharks might even be on the cards!
For this build, Monterey designed the vessel around a multi-purpose concept: it can serve as a leisure yacht for social gatherings, or the seat cushions can be removed to convert the deck into a diving vessel with secured scuba tanks. Every thoughtful detail is intended to give this boat a versatile new life. The yacht is named Victoria 76 — fittingly, she is a 76-foot mega-yacht, and her sleek silhouette draws plenty of onlookers when moored at the dock.
Using the Editor as a scale reference, you can see just how enormous the yacht is.
What Equipment Does the Liveaboard Yacht Have on Board?
Scuba tanks secured on the stern deck
The boat features a unique design: all dive gear is mounted directly to the scuba tanks. After each dive, crew members use a top-mounted fill valve to refill the tanks on the spot — no need for a large stock of spare cylinders waiting to be swapped out, and precious yacht space is saved. The compressor is housed beneath the stern deck and mostly runs while divers are in the water to top up the air reservoir; combined with a thick, sound-insulated hatch, you barely notice it running throughout the trip. Monterey Yachts also plans to offer enriched air nitrox (EANx) cylinders in the future, catering to divers eager to explore deeper sites.
Moving up to the upper deck, the fit-out is impressively refined. During the trip, the Editor's favourite thing to do was climb up to the upper deck, soak up the sun, feel the sea breeze, and chat with the captain about how to navigate the vessel.
This entire mega-yacht is navigated from a single instrument panel.
After the upper deck, let's head back down to the main salon on the middle deck and see what's on offer. No need to worry about the heat — the air conditioning on this boat is seriously powerful, and the interior is well-appointed throughout, with sofas, a TV, a bar, a refrigerator, an oven, and more. It's fully equipped for everything from parties to extended liveaboard trips.
A full dive itinerary accommodates 16 diving guests, paired with 4 dive guides (strictly maintaining a 1
instructor-to-guest ratio), plus 2 chefs, a captain, and other crew. With a full complement of 26 people on board, the space never feels cramped.
Now let's check out the sleeping quarters and other essential human needs. Heading down the stairs to the lower deck, the cabins consist of one 4-berth room and two 6-berth rooms; the remaining cabins are reserved for crew.
The cabin area on the lower deck
Bunk beds in the 6-berth cabin
Each bunk is equipped with two power outlets.
The bathroom is clean and comfortable.
Of course, the big question on everyone's mind when living aboard a boat is: will I get seasick? Whether you do depends largely on your constitution, but this yacht is fitted with a stabilizer fin system — essentially a set of side fins mounted underwater that automatically adjust up, down, and sideways when encountering waves, dampening the boat's motion. According to the data, the system can stabilize the vessel by up to 75% at anchor and by as much as 85% while underway!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09QHIy3WLeE
Start watching from the 25-second mark to see the stabilizer fins in action underwater.
Diving Activities Available on the Liveaboard
The yacht is equipped with an array of high-tech gear, including a thermal imaging camera for night navigation, a fish finder, and an underwater sonar system. When we descended on the Venice Wreck off Xiaoliuqiu, we used the sonar to pinpoint the wreck and drop right onto it — a significant boost to dive safety!
Speaking of diving, let's watch the footage Ming-ge shot for us at the Venice Wreck off Xiaoliuqiu (remember to set the resolution to high)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8971KE4u_o&feature=youtu.be
After each dive, you can rinse off with fresh water directly on the stern deck — and it's warm water, too. That detail alone won the Editor's heart completely!
The rinse station on the stern deck
Between dives, don't forget to take in the beauty of Taiwan from a whole new perspective!
A rare view of Kaohsiung Port's night skyline from the sea
Arriving at Xiaoliuqiu a different way
This yacht is undeniably a shot of fresh energy for Taiwan's dive-tourism industry, inviting us to see diving in a whole new light. For example, foreign visitors who want to dive in Taiwan are often most concerned about transportation to dive sites, accommodation, and meals. Shore diving, which they may be less accustomed to, can also be off-putting. A liveaboard product occupying a distinct market position could cater to a very different segment of visitors.
In the first half of 2018, Monterey Yachts was still working out the most suitable operating model — route planning, logistics and resupply, partnering with dive guides, and pricing strategy. None of that, however, was their biggest challenge. The greatest obstacle to promoting liveaboard diving in Taiwan turned out to be an unlikely enemy: the Taiwanese government itself.
You Have to Clear Customs Just to Go to Sea!
It will come as no surprise to most people that in Taiwan, going to sea requires notifying customs. For anyone who has lived abroad, this is almost inconceivable. The regulations are riddled with baffling restrictions. For instance, vessels registered as recreational fishing boats (the category under which most dive boats operate) are bound by strict same-port-in-same-port-out rules. Even a brief stop at another port for rest is strictly prohibited — and if you set foot on land, the coast guard (the "little orange" officers) will come looking for you.
Yachts registered under the yacht licence face even more complications: they are barred from commercial and fishing ports and must instead compete for the scarce berths in dedicated yacht marinas. If you plan a yacht voyage and apply for permission to enter and exit different ports, the process is not only bureaucratically cumbersome but may also be met with all manner of bizarre refusals.
Checking in with the coast guard is a mandatory step before heading out to sea.
Houbihu Harbour, for example, rejected the vessel on the grounds that the water was too shallow for boats above a certain length — but is that really the truth? In reality, local residents simply don't welcome outside vessels, and the local management authority turns a blind eye to existing regulations and invents excuses to refuse entry.
Fixed-schedule liveaboard diving depends on reliable, consistent itinerary planning. Future routes could depart Kaohsiung, call at Xiaoliuqiu, Kenting, Green Island, and Orchid Island, completing a southern Taiwan island-hopping circuit. If even the most basic multi-port entry and exit procedures are subject to constant obstruction — and docking comes down to luck or the mood of whichever bureaucrat is on duty — the professionalism of the liveaboard product is severely undermined. For a government that loudly pledges to promote marine tourism, this is nothing short of a slap in its own face.
Even docking at Xiaoliuqiu hit a bureaucratic wall.
Does Liveaboard Have a Future in Taiwan?
A pleasant surprise on this trip was discovering that one of the guests was none other than the chairman of Monterey Yachts and president of the Taiwan Yacht Industry Association, Mr. Gong Jun-hao. When we ran into the string of bizarre government restrictions during the journey, we couldn't help but ask him why Monterey was still willing to push forward with this endeavour.
Mr. Gong said: "Because Taiwan's underwater world is truly beautiful — we have incredibly rich resources that are being neglected or damaged time and again. Perhaps by taking this step today, we have a chance to challenge the government's outdated way of thinking. And perhaps someday, we can let more people see the beauty of what lies beneath Taiwan's waters."
At this moment in time, running a liveaboard programme in Taiwan is almost impossible to break even on — let alone recoup the enormous cost of building the yacht itself. But if the conversation and pressure can be sustained, a new chapter may yet be written.
Perhaps it was fate: when we dived a fish-cage site off Xiaoliuqiu, we found a sea turtle that had been hooked by an abandoned fishing hook, hanging quietly at the bottom of the cage. If we can give more people the chance to rethink their relationship with the ocean, perhaps the sea will mean something to us beyond a source of protein.
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