Nekton - StCroix - Puerto Rico

[5166narda]

Going on this boat in a couple weeks, anyone been on it recently and if so, what did they think? Any ideas on what to do with the down time at StCroix?

 

[Onewolf]

Going on this boat in a couple weeks, anyone been on it recently and if so, what did they think? Any ideas on what to do with the down time at StCroix?

Since this is the last week for the Pilot in St Croix I assume you will be on the Rorqual?

I just got off the Nekton Pilot (St Croix) on Saturday (4/11). The crew was ok (even though there was an abundance of really 'new' faces). The diving was so-so (as expected in St Croix). Water temp according to _my_ computer was 77-79 at the surface and as low as 72 at the bottom (95 feet). Of my 4 previous Nekton trips (NW Bahamas, Southern Bahamas, Belize twice) this would easily be the lowest ranked based just on the 'average' diving.

Not sure what you mean by "down time at St Croix". Are you referring to the afternoon/evening when the boat docks at the Frederiksted Pier and you could be diving the peir? That's the only time you might set foot on St Croix. The pier was one of the few highlights of the trip diving wise.

 

[5166narda]

Thanks for the information. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but good to get a heads up. We have done Nekton in Belize and it was wonderful, hoping for a similiar experience.

 

[Shasta_man]

I share Onewolf's opinion. Teh boat will be adequate but unless they get around to the North side of St Croix, it will be just OK diving. The pier dive is pretty cool from the point of view of seeing lots of octopus and lobsters and eels, but it's also a manmade debris area so not quite the same as a reef.

Yes, there is no downtime in St Croix except one day when you're connected to the pier. I also didn't like being anchored off the city every night (govt rule).

 

[Onewolf]

Here's a link to a photo album from our Nekton St Croix trip.

April 2009 -- Dive trip on Nekton Pilot to St Croix

I've been too lazy (and busy) to finish an official trip report, but I will try to get it posted by the end of this week.

 

[Scubasw]

Awesome Pictures OneWolf. I'm booked on this trip first week of August. The vis in your photos looked over 100 ft. Looking forward to my trip and your full trip report.

 

[Onewolf]

Awesome Pictures OneWolf. I'm booked on this trip first week of August. The vis in your photos looked over 100 ft. Looking forward to my trip and your full trip report.

What's funny/sad is that my carry-on rolling bag with all of our UW photo equipment (2 housings, 4 camera bodies, 3 strobes, arms, lenses, etc) took a tumble in an airport shuttle van on the way to Puerto Rico. On the first dive I subsuquently discovered that the plastic gear inside my Tetra 5050 housing that enables control of the shutter speed and f-stop had broken so for the entire week I was unable to adjust the shutter speed/f-stop other than within the confines of several preprogrammed 'my settings' configurations. Later on I discovered that it also knocked loose the battery holder mount that powered the ROC TTL which explained the complete lack of strobe on 1 dive and the flaky strobe on a couple.

The vis started out around 80' but by the end of the week it was more like 40'. On Thursday morning when we dove the 'Shallow Wrecks' site, vis was 30' at most.

 

[5166narda]

thanks for the pics. Any advise on downtime waiting for the shuttle. We land at noon and they do not pick us up till 3pm. We do not travel very light and were just wondering?
Can not wait to dive.

 

[robint]

Great photos! Vis looks pretty good. Love all the topside ones too.
Sucks about the broken housing though. That is why I always insist on holding my carry-on bag on my lap - if anything happens to it, then it is all my fault. Did you get it repaired?

 

[Onewolf]

Great photos! Vis looks pretty good. Love all the topside ones too.
Sucks about the broken housing though. That is why I always insist on holding my carry-on bag on my lap - if anything happens to it, then it is all my fault. Did you get it repaired?

The battery mount was temporarily fixed with super glue on the Pilot (worked great) and then soldered when I got home. The replacement gear set from Light&Motion arrived today and I will be installing it shortly.

In addition to the rolling bag carry on with all the UW photo equipment, my wife and I carry on a large backpack that contains our notebook computer, regulators, dive computers, and misc computer parts. In addition I carry on a Lowepro Micro Trekker 100 which contains my Canon 50D, EF-S 10-22 lens, EF 24-105L f4 IS, and EF 100-400L. So there's not much room on my lap. I assumed that the stuff in the UW photo gear rolling bag was fairly safe as it's made several overseas trips with no previous issues (even once when I had to check it :shocked2: ).