Aqua Cat vs Nekton Pilot

[zippy]

I just returned from the Cay Lobos trip on the Rorqual.
This was our second trip on a Nekton vessal.

The problem that you observed with the hoses is attributed to the fact that both boats now have Nitrox which is something VERY new, in the past couple of weeks. They have their air fill hoses mounted to the backs of the benchs, and it is my understanding that they will do the same with the Nitrox when they have the chance. The hoses on the deck aree a short term anomaly, or so I am under the understanding.

As far as crowds are concerned, we have found much easier to wait ~10 mins. before we go down. With ~3.5 hours of morning dive time and 4.5+ hours of afternoon diving it was not an issue for us.

I've not been on the AC, so I can't comment on it, but I find the Nekton boats to be quite nice if a bit worn.

 

[Knavey]

Thanks for the info Zip..

Have you written up your trip yet and posted about it anywhere? I would love to read about it.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Knavey once bubbled...

Oh well, back to pining away while I wait for my trip to start. And feel free to post more about your trips...

From my log and journal:

"We've done two dives, one at Tuna Alley, the second at Victory Reef. We're off the coast of Cat Cay. The current has been strong, the first dive was miserable! Fighting the current was a lot of work! I was kicking like crazy and not going anywhere; after 7 minutes of that I was ready to quit. We finally found an area where we were sheltered from the current. We were almost to 1800psi, our pre-determined turn-around pressure, when we found the sheltered area. That meant we had to head back into the current after about 3 minutes of relief--UGH! The current was so bad we couldn't find the boat, we were swept off course. We ended up doing our 15 foot safety stop in the open water, kicking against the current trying to stay above a certain patch reef. We came up probably 50 yards from the side of the boat. We tried going under & swimming in but that was wearing me out so I signalled to go to the surface and swim there. My chest was killing me and my body was trying to say it couldn't breathe. I told myself I was breathing and forced myself to take slow deep breaths. We finally got on the trail line!

The second dive was better, we had to fight the current near the boat but once we got down MOST of the dive was in a much more manageable current. Missed the boat mooring again, found the one behind ours. We thought we were on the right one (we didn't know there were two) but when we ascended there was no boat! We did our safety stop on that line and during that time Bruce spotted the buoy on the end of the Nekton's trail line--it wasn't too far away from us so we swam to it as we surfaced from the safety stop."

A journal entry from that night read:
"Just came back from watching 6 people do the night dive. The "hang tank's" rope was jutting out at a 45 degree angle from the boat, that's how strong the current was! NO WAY I was going on that dive. Most people on the boat felt the same way. When you were looking over the back of the boat it looked like you were under way. The current passing under and beside the pontoons was churning a false wake!"

There you go Knavey, that was my first full day and night on the Pilot

 

[mchiapetto]

Ber Rabbit once bubbled...


"We've done two dives, one at Tuna Alley, the second at Victory Reef. We're off the coast of Cat Cay. The current has been strong, the first dive was miserable!

Wow Ber Rabbit! We leave in two more days to take a trip on the Nekton Pilot to the places you described in your log. When did the dives you described with the strong current take place? I hope we don't see any currents that strong.

 

[Knavey]

Weeee current. Oh boy!

I think like you I would have stayed in the boat. I only have a couple of dives in current, and didn't really enjoy them that much. Too much work for little return. I am all about little work for too much return.

I suppose it is all about timing...sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't. Still, overall, most of the posts so far have been positive, so if you have couple of bad dives in the course of 20+, I think that would be fine with me.

 

[Phil]

Zippy,

Just a slight correction to your post this afternoon. You were correct about the hoses on the Rorqual, the Nitrox hose was the only one on the deck..... however, on the Pilot, both the Nitrox and the Air hoses run on the deck....
When they built the Rorqual they redesigned the deck so the Air hoses ran up behind the tanks...
On the Pilot, both Air and Nitrox ran on the dive deck...... and it was a challange not to trip or hook a fin !

Phil

 

[Knavey]

Did they offer Nitrox classes on the Rorqual or did they only provide the service?

I suppose I can call them in the morning if no one knows.

Thanks,

 

[Ber Rabbit]

From the logbook:
"This was a nice relaxing dive! Not much current today so you could just float and look for critters. Saw a 3 foot Barracuda facing a brain coral that serves as a cleaning station. I think I got a good picture of him as he approached the camera. I went beside him, close enough to touch him if I had wanted to, and Bruce took a picture of us.
Saw some Tunnicates, most were clear with dark rings but we did see one red cluster.
We spotted four Pederson Cleaning Shrimp waving their tentacles wanting to clean something.
While approaching the boat we saw 2 Remoras harassing the divers doing safety stops on the hang bar, the Remoras are probably 2 feet long!

Dive #2
Saw some HUGE barrel sponges but nothing "new" this dive. There were now FIVE Remoras under the boat harassing divers on the hang bar! One of the guys was swatting like crazy while these things chased him around, it was hilarious!"

Ber

 

[zippy]

Knavey once bubbled...
Did they offer Nitrox classes on the Rorqual or did they only provide the service?

I suppose I can call them in the morning if no one knows.

Thanks,

I am not certain that they offer it, but I would feel confident that with all of the instructors on board that they will probably offer a course, I'd give a call.

 

[Knavey]

Signed up for Deep Dive and Rescue Diver courses.

Anyone think that is too much "work" to do during a vacation?