How should I prepare physically for a liveaboard week?

Build basic cardio fitness, practise buoyancy and air consumption locally, get a dive medical if required, sleep well before travel, and hydrate seriously from day one.

Four dives a day for a week is more physically demanding than most divers expect. You are carrying gear on a moving deck, climbing ladders in swell, and repeatedly loading your body with nitrogen. A few weeks of preparation makes a noticeable difference.

Fitness: moderate cardio — swimming, cycling, brisk walking — three times a week for a month before departure improves your air consumption and your recovery between dives. Core and leg strength help with ladder exits and finning against current.

Skills: if it has been a while, do a few local dives focused on buoyancy, trim and weighting. Divers who arrive over-weighted burn through air, miss the second half of every dive, and spend the week frustrated. Practise deploying an SMB too — most expedition itineraries require it.

Health admin: complete the operator's medical questionnaire early and get a physician's sign-off if any answer requires one. Sort out your medication supply, take seasickness prevention with you, and see a dentist if anything is due — a tooth problem at 20 metres is genuinely awful.

In the days around departure: sleep properly, avoid heavy alcohol the night before the first dive, and start hydrating before you board. Dehydration is the single most controllable risk factor for decompression illness, and boat life — sun, salt, air conditioning, coffee — dehydrates you steadily.