Aqua Cat... Any experience or suggetsions?

[Talon]

I'm doing the Aquacat next summer and already counting down the days. Anyone have any experience with this live aboard? How did they enjoy their trip? Any suggetions to help me get the most out of my trip?

 

[DPJ]

Try a search on Auqua Cat. I have seen it mentioned in a few threads.

 

[EricJ]

I'm scheduled to go on the Aquacat in November! It will be the second live aboard trip for my wife and me.

On our first trip on the Aggressor, we dove air. We were the only divers on air and found our selves pushing the limits of on our dive computers a bit.

We will both be diving nitrox this time. I'd seriously consider getting nitrox certified before doing a live aboard.

 

[DocVikingo]

I'm doing the Aquacat next summer and already counting down the days. Anyone have any experience with this live aboard? How did they enjoy their trip? Any suggetions to help me get the most out of my trip?

Found this trip repoprt for you:

Part I

"Aqua Cat May 2004 Fantastic Voyage
by Ursela
Date: 2004-07-07
Location: Bahamas

I had been performing research over the last 1.5 years on available live-aboards to determine which might be the best. I was hoping to do something out of the Bahamas due to its close proximity to Florida, which is where we live. I noticed that not much detailed critique existed on the internet. So ultimately, based solely on gut feeling and the marketing propaganda, we chose the Aqua Cat Cruises out of Nassau. Boy were we pleasantly surprised; in fact, it was the best dive vacation that we have taken thus far. My trip report is a bit detailed as it was the type of report that I was hopeful for in making my selection. Hopefully it will help others.
Saturday May 8, 2004 (Day 1)

We flew on a direct American airlines flight from Orlando to Nassau. We arrived in the afternoon. After an uneventful passage through customs, we waited outside the baggage terminal and were greeted by the taxi valet representing the Aqua Cat. We loaded up and after a 35 minute ride arrived at the marina. We arrived a few hours prior to expected boarding, so we left our baggage on board as directed and ventured over to the Atlantis resort to kill time. Not having been at this resort previously, we were quite impressed with the amazing salt-water aquarium. It housed a diverse variety of fish life; from marching lobster, sharks, and goliath grouper to spotted eagle rays and one absolutely beautiful manta ray. We contributed our $20 to the casino, ate ice cream and ventured back over to the marina by 6:00pm where it was time to board.

We carried our luggage to our assigned rooms. Then we were asked to set up our dive gear at a desired location. This was a really nice feature. Each person remained at the same location all week. There was no need to swap gear from tank to tank as the same tank was simply refilled after each dive. A plastic container resided underneath the bench for storing fins, booties, mask, snorkel, anti-fog, underwater lights and other such things. A clothesline hung above for use in hanging wet towels for the day or wet bathing suits. A dry camera rack was provided in the center of the dive deck to ensure the safety in handling camera gear. Rods/hangers were present on each end of the dive deck for hanging wets suits after each dive. Two enclosed shower heads with hot/cold water were also on the dive deck. The showers were also a nice feature as a shower after each dive avoided the need to do so in the cabin. A single dry towel was provided to each person per day, although there existed extra in the event you may have needed two on a given day. Beach towels were also available. Chairs existed inside and out throughout the boat.

Dinner was served at 7:00pm and consisted of Bar-B-Que boneless chicken, burgers, salad, coleslaw and a variety of drinks. Soft drinks in the salon are available all the time. The dinner was tasty.

An orientation of the crew, boat and the expectations of the week occurred at 8:00pm. Crew consisted of Captain Ron, 1st Mate Gavin, Dive Master Lars, Murphy, Rob and Gabriel, Engineer Brett, House Mouse, Chef Jeff amd Sous Chef. Rob was also the videographer and all dive masters participated in still photo generation. Crew members were a mix of nationalities to include Canada, South Africa, Sweden and America.

For physical capabilities and layout of the vessel, it is probably best to refer to the Aqua Cat web site to give it fair justice. We were very pleased with the size and layout. The Aqua Cat also has a 27? boat named the Sea Dog used for excursions to land.

Our cabin was number 1 and located next to the maintenance rooms and main entrance to the cabin area. Our room had 4 beds, although we only made use of 2 as it was just my husband and I. A large window was present next to each bed. Drawers for storage existed underneath each bed and then open storage underneath that. In addition, hanging closets with hangers and more shelving existed. The bathrooms were more sizable than the average large cruise ship variety and included a sink, toilet and shower as well as hair dryer. Not that one?s hair could ever dry on this trip?.more on that later. We were please with the cabin although we would have preferred a king size bed, which were available in other cabins. Also, the noise from the main cabin entrance door or machinery from the maintenance room were at times an annoyance. Over time though, one even got used to that and it was just fine. There were a number of mornings at the end of the trip where the toilet pumps were not functional. They were always working again by breakfast. We were not sure of the rationale for this problem but people did not make a big deal about it.

We had 22 passengers on board. Careers ranged diversely from real estate moguls, English school teacher, retired police officer, to engineers, a window salesperson, and instructor/pilot. Passengers were from the US, Canada and UK. Most divers appeared experienced and comfortably got into their gear and maneuvered within the water and back on board. There were only a few newer divers but other than requiring better skills at buoyancy, were great and did not hinder anyone else. Everyone could get into and out of the water at their own pace.

Sunday May 9, 2004 (Day 2)

The Aqua Cat left at 5:40am. As an overall statement for the week, due to the strong wind conditions, the water conditions were very rough on the venture out to the Exumas. While in the Exumas, calm waters were sought as much as possible. The exposure to the typical reefs planned were altered for the comfort of the passengers ? this meant a lot more shallow dives than is typical. This was fine with us and most others because it meant a lot more bottom time. Being someone with serious motion sickness problems, there were some moments that the dosage of Dramamine was not as effective. I finally altered to a more frequent but less dose method and this helped tremendously. There were a few others on board who tried the electrical stimulus to the wrist method and were not happy campers (or in this case, divers). There was one dive that we called ?Navy Seal? training as the skill for getting back on the boat due to the high seas was definitely put to the test. Even then, for someone like myself with only 80 total dives, this was a great learning experience.

Prior to each dive, attendees were asked to meet in the salon for a detailed dive brief. The briefing described the underwater geography as well as expected fish life visible. Any special entry, underwater or exit directions were provided.

5 scheduled dives were planned for this day.
Dive #1 ? Flat Rock Reef
Dive #2 ? Jewfish Wall
Dive #3 ? Crab Mountain
Dive #4 ? Crab Mountain
Dive #5 ? Flat Rock Reef (Night Dive)

We skipped Dive #2 and went on the excursion to Leaf Cay Beach to see and feed the native Rock Iguana. It was quite humorous as the Sea Dog approached how all the 1-3 foot iguana would scurry to the water?s edge, awaiting food. We were advised of the procedure for feeding them (which in our case was stale bread) but some people were still nipped in the finger. It seemed that their vision was not the best when the food was dead on. It was fun to feed them and to watch others.

We did not dive, Dive #4.

We have dove all over Florida, Cozumel and Roatan and while these places are cool, the fish life and coral here were more pristine, more colorful and had more varieties. We documented all of the fish seen per day. The highlights for this day were the fairy basslets, intermediate gray angelfish, redlip blenny, sand diver, ruby brittle star, sea thimble jellyfish. Fish of the Day went to the Queen Triggerfish and the Yellowline Arrow Crab. The usual morays, stingray, parrot fish, snapper, jacks, barracuda to name only a few were abound.

Monday May 10, 2004 (Day 3)

5 scheduled dives were planned for this day.
Dive #1 ? Shroud Wall
Dive #2 ? Wax Cut Drift
Dive #3 ? Shark Feed at Amberjack Reef
Dive #4 ? Amberjack Reef
Dive #5 ? Amberjack Reef (Night Dive)

[Continued]

 

[DocVikingo]

No excursions were scheduled today.

Dive #1 was a very incredible wall. Wax Cut Drift as well as subsequent drift dives were awesome and my overall favorites. Cut dives were dives whereby the boat drops you off shortly before the waterway between two cays (small islands), whereby given the correct tidal condition, the current cuts through quite rapidly. Each diver, with a negative buoyant BC, steps off the boat following the other. A head diver master and a shepherd ensure that all passengers make it back on board safely. Most notable on these drift dives (and quite different from FL or Cozumel drift dives) are the incredible corals; their size and color. Just fantastic. The abundance of marine life on these dives though are far less however than the other non-drift dives. Of course watching everyone attempt to gain their buoyancy on this one (myself included) was quite entertaining.

Dive # 3 was our first shark feed. We have been on numerous dives with Nurse Shark present but other sharks were something that I have been fearing but knew a fear I definitely wanted to face. This event was orchestrated quite well. During our dive brief, we were asked to proceed down to the sandy area surrounding the mooring pin. We were asked to kneel and stay in place until the chum-sickle was pulled into the water and tied into place. Then, we could proceed up to a distance near the sharks but at a comfortable level. We were asked not to closely approach/touch any sharks. Most divers stayed at a safe distance. Some divers lay down on the sand, not wanting anything to do with the frenzy. About 15-20 Caribbean reef sharks, 6-8 large groupers, horse-eye jack, triggerfish and other little guys joined in on the frenzy. It was exciting, especially when one was in the path of a given shark?s figure eight feeding pattern. There were definitely moments of concern. I had planned that if a shark got too close, I would smack him in the nose with my camera, or otherwise, snap away with the camera for that up-close shot. Needless to say, there were many great shots and no broken noses. After the feeding, divers were informed that teeth could be found at the base of the mooring pin and sure enough, one diver had found 2 very small (maybe .5 inch) white teeth. The sharks were present both before the chum-sickle was in the water and lingered around after as well. A very cool experience indeed.

I did not dive Dives #4 and #5.

The sharks were the Fish of the Day. Some of the other fish seen during the dives of the day included nurse shark, southern stingray, queen angelfish, flat needlefish and just amazing coral on Dive #2.

Tuesday May 11, 2004 (Day 4)

4 scheduled dives were planned for this day.
Dive #1 ? Drift Dive Coral Cut
Dive #2 ? 3 Fingers
Dive #3 ? Hammerhead Reef
Dive #4 ? Hammerhead Reef (Night Dive)

We did not dive Dive #4.
Excursions scheduled for today included a trip to the Exuma Land & Sea Park. The Sea Dog headed over. Two dogs greeted us at the dock. It is customary to bring treats for the dogs and they enjoyed the hamburgers and love from the passengers. Up the dock steps is the visitor center; a rustic building stocked with T-shirts and other minor souvenirs as well as a bunch of VHS movie rental selections for those boats docked in the cay for a while.

We proceeded on a brief hike across the wet sandy/scrub terrain to Boo Boo Hill. The hill had wooden remnants from visitors signifying either their family or vessel name and the year of their visit. We checked several blowholes but they were not operational at the time. The view from Boo Boo Hill was quite beautiful. We journeyed back to the bottom of the hill and had our picture taken with the bones of a large sperm whale. We snorkeled around the dock in hopes of seeing the Lemon Shark that hangs out here but no luck until we were already driving off. Fish here were limited to a beautiful queen triggerfish and some horse eye jacks.

Once again, many fish were seen today. The fish highlights included a very large nurse shark with 3 remoras, yellow stingray, juvenile 3-spot damselfish, tiger tail sea cucumber. The Fish of the Day was the Ocean Triggerfish.

[Continued]

 

[DocVikingo]

Wednesday May 12, 2004 (Day 5)

4 scheduled dives were planned for this day.
Dive #1 ? Hammerhead Reef
Dive #2 ? Highbourne Cut Drift
Dive #3 ? Basket Star Reef
Dive #4 ? Basket Star Reef (Night Dive)

Excursions scheduled for today included a beach/snorkeling trip in search of Sharks and Rays. We skipped one of the dives to avoid rough water and took the sea dog out on a search for sharks and rays. We entered a cove and saw the silhouette of 2 sharks. Groups of snorkelers dove in to try to see them underwater, we would then move the Sea Dog around to corral the shark and more snorkelers dove in. My husband came within 15 feet of them but given the murky water in this area, was not able to clearly identify them. A spotted eagle ray was seen as well. A bright reddish-orange sea star was seen here as well as a spotted sea hare. On another snorkel location, a flamingo tongue was seen.

Dives were once again fantastic. Highlights from today included a large spotted drum, scarlet striped cleaning shrimp, leopard flatworm, a school of 16 gray angel, blue-nosed trumpet fish, barred hamlet, and southern sennet. The Fish of the day was a tie between the leopard flatworm which was about a foot long cruising on the sand out in the open and the 16 gray angel seen at the end of the Highbourne Cut Drift dive.

Thursday May 13, 2004 (Day 6)

5 scheduled dives were planned for this day.
Dive #1 ? Lobster No Lobster
Dive #2 ? Flat Rock Reef
Dive #3 ? Washing Machine Cut
Dive #4 ? Washing Machine Cut (Take 2)
Dive #5 ? Barracuda Shoals (Night Dive)

No excursions were scheduled today.

Dive #2 and #4 were not dove. The highlight today was Washing Machine Cut. The focus on this dive was not to view the marine life, but to ride the washing machine. For this dive, water moved rapidly between 2 land cays. In addition, due to tidal activity, water also moves along one side of the cay, colliding with the water moving through the two cays. This causes a water vortex. The procedure for this dive was for each diver to jump in after the prior diver, immediately swimming and remaining 1-2 feet from the terrain surface. Once the washing machine area is hit, the terrain immediately drops down from 23 feet to 58 feet. If caught properly, a diver has the potential for getting sucked into the 58 foot hole, get swirled around (like a washing machine), and to be spit back out and swirled around on the way out. On the first washing machine dive, only the lead dive master and me following close behind him caught the swirling effects of the dive. All other divers were up too high and missed it completely. Washing Machine Take 2 resulted in more divers experiencing the cut. I sat out the second attempt and rode on the Sea Dog to watch the show from the surface. The visibility is very clear despite the strong current.

Many of the same beautiful fish today. Fish of the Day was the turtle at the surface right before the afternoon dive.

The evening concluded with the Captain?s Cocktail party and dinner. Afterwards, the crew presented a slide show of key pictures taken during the week as well as a video. These pictures and video were later made available for purchase. Also included were the opportunity for passenger slide, digital photo and video contest entries with awards determined by passenger round of applause. Two nice slide tables were present in the salon for viewing of passenger or crew slides. E-6 processing was a service offered onboard and this was very handy to determine after a roll had been shot, what went wrong.

Friday May 14, 2004 (Day 7)

2 scheduled dives were planned for this day.
Dive #1 ? Barracuda Shoals
Dive #2 ? Lost Blue Hole

This was the last day so dives were limited to two prior to the return to Nassau. Based on passenger vote, it was determined that we would dive Barracuda Shoals again and then head into rough water. This ended up being a good choice as the visibility at Lost Blue Hole was really bad. We had heard from other divers that Lost Blue Hole is incredible when visibility allows one to look into the hole and across the hole from one end to the other. Today was not one of those incredible moments. Instead, three of us ventured into the depths of the hole as a group with barely a reference for whether one was proceeding up or down except for the indications on the dive computer. After about 90 feet, the experience was more frightening due to the lack of any visual reference and I headed up. My buddies followed slowly, also having felt no excitement or reward for this particular dive. It turns out that the best diving was around the perimeter of the hole at 23 feet as the limited fish life was very accustomed to divers and actually approached the camera for pictures. A frolicking pair of gray angels chased each other?s tails for a solid minute but unfortunately the divers with the video camera were looking in another direction and missed this moment.

We docked in the afternoon and had dinner in Nassau with another dive couple. Access to restaurants are in abundance and taxi service is very convenient. Dinner costs can be quite high.

Meals

Meals were quite good (not super gourmet, but definitely way above average). Breakfast was typically served at 8:00am and included things such as cereal, bread, cheese omelets, sausage, oatmeal, French toast, bacon, pancakes, coconut/almond muffins, ham, chocolate turnovers (awesome), apple muffins and fruit. Eggs cooked to order were always made available at breakfast. Variety of juices, milk, tea and coffee were available. All bakery items were freshly baked.

Lunch was served after the second dive of the morning. It included things such as tuna melts, deli sandwiches, salad, cottage cheese, fruit, varieties of soup, varieties of fresh-baked cookies, Pad Thai with cellophane noodles, cashew chicken, pork pot stickers, rice, many varieties of pizza (pepperoni, Hawaiian, sausage, cheese, olive/onion), peas, spinach/garlic/cheese quesadillas, soft tacos, BLT wraps, grilled ham/cheese, and corn.

Dinner was served around 6:00ish and included such things as Mahi Mahi with horseradish sauce, pork chops, green bean almondine, many varieties of salad, rice, marinated flank steak, sesame tuna steak, mashed potatoes, blueberry broccoli, salmon with cream sauce, sesame/peanut chicken, carrots with raisons, risotto with sun-dried tomatoes, scallop linquini, chicken with penne pasta, spaghetti with wine meat sauce, prime rib, shrimp, and fried vegetables. And then there were the desserts: white chocolate banana bread pudding, key lime pie, peach cobbler with ice cream, blueberries/strawberries in ice cream/filo basket, and strawberry cake.

Special diet issues were taken into consideration. Everything is freshly prepared.

Key message here is that if you think you are going to lose weight with all the diving?.hahaha, think again. With so many opportunities to eat and sample everything offered, you will gain weight. I gained 4 pounds.

Attire
I can not stress casual enough. I packed 3 pairs of shoes. Leave all but one pair at home. And when you do board the boat, the shoes are immediately left in the cabin until either a shore excursion (even that is optional) or your trip home. I packed way too many clothes. The same T-shirt was typically worn multiple times. This is due to the fact that you have only worn it an hour at most each time. All your time is spent in bathing suits, dive gear and the momentary time wearing dry clothes in order to eat a given meal. If anything to bring, bring at least 3-4 bathing suits. That way you can always put on a dry one and hang up the wet one to dry on the clothes line above your dive station.

Crew
Most of the crew was awesome. The head divemaster in particular (Lars) was fantastic. He was very personable, provided detailed dive briefs, was very safety conscious, and was very friendly and entertaining. All crew members had a great sense of humor with passengers and with each other. Murphy predominantly took the still photos on land and in the water and is very talented. Other dive masters took photos as well. This was the first week for Gabriel so he was still trying to learn the ropes of the boat. His attention needs to be on continued passenger attention ? meaning, provide the same level of support at the beginning of the trip as the end of the trip. Rob was both a dive master and videographer. Rob needs to learn more about some of the basics related to filming video. The video produced for purchase was actually quite poor. For example, music did not fade before a new one was started, motion jitter existed in a number of shots, saltwater haze was present on the lense during the beach scene causing fuzzy video and the passenger and crew text captions at the end were in a color that did not produce sufficient contrast with the background to easily read the text. Need better training or more practice or both. We did buy the poor video but only as a keepsake of our trip. Captain Ron and 1st Mate Gavin were outstanding in the safe operation of the Aqua Cat and Sea Dog. Overall, it was the crew combined with the diving opportunities that made this trip so awesome and thus far our best dive trip ever. Big thumbs up for the professionalism, experience and quality of service of this crew. We would do this again in a heartbeat."

Have fun.

DocVikingo

 

[Talon]

Doc,

THANKS for posting the thread!!!! Excellent read. I'm even more excited now about the trip!

 

[elease]

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we did the aquacat in july and it was fantastic. the diving was spectacular and i would do it again in a heartbeat!

here's a link to our photos from the trip. you can decided for yourself. don't let anyone kid you, the diving there is worldclass.

http://www.sjusa.net/nGallery

 

[Talon]

AWESOME PICS!!!! Thanks for sharing.

Michael

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we did the aquacat in july and it was fantastic. the diving was spectacular and i would do it again in a heartbeat!

here's a link to our photos from the trip. you can decided for yourself. don't let anyone kid you, the diving there is worldclass.

http://www.sjusa.net/nGallery

 

[elease]

i can't wait to do it again. it was the best experience i've had yet...by a long shot. i highly reccommend it!