Anyone knows about Nekton Cruises?

[Caver95]

Just remember if the crew gives you great service, show it and give the crew a great tip. the diving is great too.

 

[greg454]

"Can you dive as much as you want??? Look at your dive tables and figure out how you can fit five dives a day in."

---Dive tables was the hardest part of my SDI OW certification. I'm assuming I can spend an hour or two between dives, to release the nitrogen.

By the way, I saw that Nekton has a nitrox class, among others. Do you recommend classes on a dive boat?

 

[diversteve]

"Can you dive as much as you want??? Look at your dive tables and figure out how you can fit five dives a day in."

---Dive tables was the hardest part of my SDI OW certification. I'm assuming I can spend an hour or two between dives, to release the nitrogen.

By the way, I saw that Nekton has a nitrox class, among others. Do you recommend classes on a dive boat?

The divedeck opens up around 8-8:30 and closes around 11:30-11:45. Then usually the boat moves and it re-opens sometime around 1PM and closes again around 4:45-5:30. During that time you can dive as many times as you safely can. So you can spend the required time off-gassing between dives.

On our trip - granted there was only one person being certified - the instructor did the classwork in the morning then did the required dives in the afternoon. So you'll burn dive hours taking the class - although the Nitrox class would probably be pretty quick.

I'm not a nitrox diver, but I'd assume that if you had problems with dive tables, you might have problems with Nitrox, it's mostly all calculations - the breathing part is easy

Personally I'd do the class at home and get a referral for any needed dives while on the boat. There is a limited number of Nitrox spaces available also, if you talk the the office people, they'll tell you 10, but my buddy and two others were told on the boat that it would be no problem to accommodate them, as I recall the DM said above about 15-16 it gets inconvenient for them - mostly because they have to do all the live fills between dives, you never change tanks on a Nekton boat.

To take full advantage of the dive opportunities on a boat like Nekton, I'd recommend getting a computer if you don't already have one. It will allow you to dive more aggressively(closer to the limit) - yet safely - than the tables will.

 

[dolphinfish]

How easy is it to exit the water? Does the elevating dive platform make it very easy? I sometimes have difficulty hiking it up a dive ladder with weights & gear on, esp. if the water is choppy.

 

[diversteve]

Just answered this on the other thread.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=148617&page=3