Always be close to the water: that’s one way to ensure you get the most from your SwimTrek adventure! Liveaboard trips keep you within leaping distance of the big blue at all times. With a selection of beautiful vessels, moored and ready in locations around the world, you can enjoy unique swimming experiences in pretty much uncrowded waters. Expect flexible itineraries, cabin accommodation and fresh on-board meals. While you cruise between swim spots in the rocking arms of your very own sea chauffeur, directly connected to the seascape around you.
This is a rare and unique component of swim travel that we’ve found to be infinitely rewarding. Every one of our liveaboard swimming holidays offers a new world to explore. Each has its own charm, challenges and unforgettable treasures. And, of course, they all whisk you off to discover different once-in-a-lifetime swims that are only accessible by boat.
This is your simple guide to getting the most from your time on one of our liveaboard adventures.
So, what is a liveaboard?
It’s like a dive boat, really – so if you’re a scuba diver and you’ve been out on multi-day excursions you'll likely know how this works. Only with SwimTrek Liveaboards the main focus is swimming - all the coolest places from creative new perspectives. The trips are also centred around life onboard one of our multi-purpose vessels, from which you'll launch every activity of your holiday. It’s your hotel, your safety line, your lounge, your restaurant and your entry point. It will either be a yacht or tall ship purposefully built for these types of excursions and able to accommodate additional activities like diving and paddle boarding.
Where can you go?
SwimTrek run liveaboard trips to a variety of exotic locations around the world. Here are a few of our highlights:
Our most popular liveaboard adventure takes you to the Maldives and the pristine reefs that edge this island nation. You’ll also have a chance to disembark and explore the islands on several evenings, seeking out the tasty delights of a Maldivian barbecue. (8 days/5 km swims)
Journey to some of the world's most beautiful natural sites and most wildlife-rich coral reefs in the Red Sea, Egypt. Take in the stunning contrast of turquoise seas washing against desert cliffs and islands! (8 days/4km swims)
Head back in time to the seemingly prehistoric eastern reaches of Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Walk in the swaggering footsteps of the resident dragons and swim in tropical waters scattered with sand-coloured islands. (8 days/4km swims)
Travel to the sunlit Seychelles and swim alongside the granite beaches of 115 islands of varying sizes. Don't forget to look for all the unusual plants and animals native to this far-flung corner of the world! (7 days/5km swims).
Embrace the raw scenery of the Outer Hebrides and roam around the 10 islands that make up the region's southern section. You can even try your hand at crewing the traditional tall ship - a 102-foot beauty called the Lady of Avenel. (7 days/4km swims)
Find the magic of the famous Isle of Skye on this Scottish escape, with huge, serene lochs and scree-scarred mountains, as you get to know the Small Isles of Rum, Eigg and Muck. (7 days/4km swims)
Follow the rugged coastline of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, island-hopping and admiring the almost tropical scenery from your Brigantine square rigger tall ship - you might forget you're still in the British Isles! (7 days/5km swims)
- Dive deep into the Donegal Atlantic Way and experience Ireland’s wildest vistas, shaped by the raw force of the world's second largest ocean. (7 days/4km swims)
5 Reasons You’ll Love Your New Life Aquatic
5. You couldn’t be closer to the action
Everyone talks about beachfront living, but what about camping right there in the saline grip of the ocean itself. Floating on new waters, wrapped in the wild sights and sounds and smells around you, you’ll be right up close to the natural history of each location you visit. And with that closeness, you’ll also enjoy an unbeatable proximity to the water, with views to the misty offing after every swim. Fill your lungs with the sea breeze and listen to the caw of seabirds as fish jump and dolphins spin around you. Whether you’re drifting or anchored, sleeping at night or pawing through the waves, this is as close to the action as a holiday gets you.
4. It’s a chance to reset!
Everyone wakes with the sunrise and sleeps as it goes down and casts its changing light over the water. There's new excitement with each passing day and all the fluctuations of nature, depending on where you’re anchored. This is an adventure, after all, so you can forget the shackles of landlocked life and dried-up worries and escape domesticity like a veritable Ulysses, searching island coves and bays and spending nights on the water - a perfect way to sink into your new maritime lifestyle.
3. Your course isn’t always set
There’s no freedom quite like being out on the fingertips of the elements. You'll have the space and time to go with the current and sail off in search of new places and different views and perspectives. Follow coastlines shouldered by mountains and pass the hours watching schools of fish and other wildlife and unexpected wonders that come at you from all directions. Don't worry - liveaboards aren't just about the swimming and there'll be time to let the compass trail and find room to breathe and think and relax.
2. You can reach the most remote places
So much time on the water allows you extend your capacity for navigation, reaching lesser-known swim spots and sites of interest you might’ve otherwise missed - all those caves and submerged treasures kept hidden and tucked away behind boulder-strewn coastlines. SwimTrek swim routes are all specifically chosen to take you to rare places and truly remote locations, like the unspoilt reefs of Egypt's Siyal Islands.
1. It’s the best way to encounter marine wildlife
Liveaboards give you ample opportunities to meet the fantastic marine life still in abundance in many of these places. Whether we're talking blue spotted rays and Napoleon wrasses in Red Sea or seals, dolphins and porpoises in the waters of the Hebrides. On some of our warmer trips, you'll be privy to schools of fish and coral towers and entire submerged universes of small lives, undisturbed by the busy workings of humans above. You'll get to dive down as you swim or watch between strokes, sighting the flora and fauna that congregates on the doorstep of your floating hotel.
Ask A Guide: What was your highlight from the Red Sea Liveaboard?
Ben: This is THE trip for crystal clear waters and marine life, the reefs are said to be some of the best in the world! Sleeping under the brilliant stars and the Milky Way above will be a big highlight to me, and not to forget swimming with dolphins! The swims, the wildlife, the crew, the food, the location make it a unique and memorable experience which personally I think, make this destination hard to beat!
You can learn more about each of our liveaboard adventures by visiting our liveaboard holiday page.
*Trekker note: If you suffer from seasickness we cannot guarantee you will not experience it during our trips. However, our liveaboard vessels are large yachts used to minimise the effect of continuous water movement. You'll also have plenty of access to open sea air, as well as the guides' ‘help yourself’ pain relief boxes, which are full of helpful remedies. In addition, we would advise bringing anti-seasickness bracelets, patches and tablets if you have them.
