That's sad... Is it still worth a LOB trip to the Bahamas?
Aquacat
- Thread starter Saniflush
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BDSC
Contributor
Exactly my experience a few years ago. Great boat, crew, food, etc. However, the diving itself was simply OK at best and quite poor in most areas. The reefs have been covered with this crusty like algae and hardly any fish at all in many areas. Really sad to see. I wish they did a different area as I would book them again but where they currently go, there are so many better places to visit.
Hoag
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It will be interesting to read @Saniflush 's "Trip Report". His trip will be wrapping up today, so he will have current info.
BDSC
Contributor
I hope things have improved. They explained that a number of years ago a disease pretty much wiped out the urchins in that area and sure enough you hardly saw any, even on night dives. Well the urchins feed on the algae and so you see where this is going. The algae exploded and covered the reefs and decimated them. Would love to hear that things are turning around.
coldwaterlloyd
Contributor
It is a good trip to take a family or non diving spouse as it is spacious compared to other liveaboards .
I would rate the diving as terrible other than the fact there are a lot of sharks that follow divers , the reefs were a depressing site and fish life goes with the territory .
If the boat was somewhere else it would be hard to get a spot . It is luxury compared to average boat .
The food is average .
Would I do it again ? Maybe , I really liked the boat , so much space and different areas to hang out
I would rate the diving as terrible other than the fact there are a lot of sharks that follow divers , the reefs were a depressing site and fish life goes with the territory .
If the boat was somewhere else it would be hard to get a spot . It is luxury compared to average boat .
The food is average .
Would I do it again ? Maybe , I really liked the boat , so much space and different areas to hang out
Hoag
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@coldwaterlloyd, how long ago were you on the Aquacat?
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Hi @Saniflush
I enjoyed your review but you did not say much about the diving. How long were your dives, what were the visibility and water temps? How was the health of coverage of the reefs from best to the not so good? What sea life did you see, numbers, size, diversity? Most importantly, how did your trip compare to other locations where you have dived? There is no information in your profile regarding your experience or where you have dived previously.
Thanks and good diving, Craig
I enjoyed your review but you did not say much about the diving. How long were your dives, what were the visibility and water temps? How was the health of coverage of the reefs from best to the not so good? What sea life did you see, numbers, size, diversity? Most importantly, how did your trip compare to other locations where you have dived? There is no information in your profile regarding your experience or where you have dived previously.
Thanks and good diving, Craig
Hoag
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Thanks for the trip report. How was the condition of the reefs? Are they bleached like some had commented or are they in pretty good shape?
OP
My apologies. Let me address some of that.
I have been bootleg diving off and on since I was stationed in the Philippines in 89 so I am not completely new but I also am pretty damn new as far as what I now think of as legitimate experience. (45 logged dives) I am not sure that I am the best to judge how well it compares to other dive sites. I will say that I feel like the reefs were in as good of shape as Cancun and Cozumel which is where I have some amount of recent experience.
My dives ranged from 35 to 55 minutes, obviously depending on depth and how fast I sucked my tank down. We were asked by the captain and dive master to call all dives at 1500psi and get on the boat with 1000psi. I tried to stay within these requested limits although there were a few times when I was in the 800 range getting on. Once we had made it through the first day or so and the crew realized that none of us presenting any immediate hazard to ourselves or them the issue of what was left in the tank never came up.
I was a little disappointed that we did not see any we did not see any "big stuff" off any of the walls but there was small stuff everywhere if you only looked. There also were lionfish EVERYWHERE! On one of the wall dives I stopped counting them at 10 and that was only 15 minutes into the dive.
I have been bootleg diving off and on since I was stationed in the Philippines in 89 so I am not completely new but I also am pretty damn new as far as what I now think of as legitimate experience. (45 logged dives) I am not sure that I am the best to judge how well it compares to other dive sites. I will say that I feel like the reefs were in as good of shape as Cancun and Cozumel which is where I have some amount of recent experience.
My dives ranged from 35 to 55 minutes, obviously depending on depth and how fast I sucked my tank down. We were asked by the captain and dive master to call all dives at 1500psi and get on the boat with 1000psi. I tried to stay within these requested limits although there were a few times when I was in the 800 range getting on. Once we had made it through the first day or so and the crew realized that none of us presenting any immediate hazard to ourselves or them the issue of what was left in the tank never came up.
I was a little disappointed that we did not see any we did not see any "big stuff" off any of the walls but there was small stuff everywhere if you only looked. There also were lionfish EVERYWHERE! On one of the wall dives I stopped counting them at 10 and that was only 15 minutes into the dive.
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