Bahamas Liveaboard Suggestions?

[Diver Lori]

Keep in mind Blackbeard's is like camping on the water...not a lot of privacy and very close quarters. But it is an awesome value.

 

[divengolf]

Before you go with Nekton, I'd carefully review postings on SB and Undercurrent. They certainly have had their problems in the past couple years. Seems that people either love 'em or hate 'em. Not much in between.

I've never done a Nekton trip, although I considered their Belize boat a couple years ago. But you get what you pay for.

I'm not pro or con. Just check Nekton out so you're not surprised.

 

[robint]

If you could only do one of the two listed, which would you reccomend for someone's first LA trip??

Both are excellent and do the same dive sites with the exception of 2 days. Cay Sal tends to be a bit more advanced diving on those days. Medio tends to be more mellow. So it depends on the diver and their comfort level diving. The dives at the Blue Holes can be deep if the diver wants, or shallow staying up by the rim (where most of the fish are anyhow). We always went deep for a few minutes then back up to the rim area and under the boat for the rest of the dive, getting in around an hour usually. Cay Sal also does a couple of high-intensity drift dives that average 100' depth. Really ripping current, flying through the water deep, it is really wild but the whole dive is safe and done in small groups with the DMs leading and following the people with markers for the boat. It is fun but not for beginners as you are deep. One of the reasons for the dive is that hammerheads and whale sharks are sometimes seen in the area - we didn't see any but enjoyed the dives anyhow! There are a couple of shallow sites also and the night dive at Playground (only about 25-30' deep) is one of my all time favorite night dives!

Medio spends only 1 day at the Blue HOles, hitting the Big Hole where there are tons of sharks, and then the afternoon at a site closeby. Those are the only true deeper dives on the Medio trip, or at least the only ones when we did it last year. Most of the Medio reef dives are 40-60' depth scattered coral areas.

Both trips leave Ft. Lauderdale and travel down the same path stopping at sites south of Bimini on the way down, then same path back up towards Ft. Lauderdale on the way back. That is where both trips do the same dives. So the first day and last day of the trips are virtually the same dives. They are decent dives but not the highlight of the trips.

I hope this helps you understand the differences in both trips. I recommend them both as they BOTH have lots of great diving!
I would not recommend the Cay Sal trip for anyone fresh out of OW class. It might be too advanced for them. Other than that, I would pick the trip that fits your schedule the best!

robin

 

[HuaGirl]

Awesome suggestions.. I am always up for an adventure and LOVE to see new things and dive new areas! It looks like I'll have to weigh the pros and cons and see how they pan out...

Thanks everyone! I am really enjoying ScubaBoard

 

[muzicgirl]

My vote goes with aquacat...I am looking forward to my second aquacat trip in feb. 2010...it was really nice, great food, great people, great diving, amazing boat...

 

[BigJimDiver]

I just returned (2 weeks ago) from a week aboard the Aquacat with my son . I have done a fair amount of resort based diving in my day, but this was my first liveaboard trip. 25 dives over 6 days, and I can't say enough about the crew, the boat, the diving, and the overall experience. Boat was super stable, food was fantastic, and the crew couldn't do enough to make the trip fun. Enough good humor while still keeping their eye(s) on the ball and keeping it safe. My 13 y.o. son did his final open water dives for his certification with them, and they did a great job of not just going through the checklist but really working him on his skills, teaching him a bunch extra throughout the week even after he was finished with his certification, discreetly keeping on eye on him, giving him constant positive reinforcement, and overall giving him a phenomenal start to his SCUBA life. It is a bit more $$$ than other operations, but I have to say I think it was worth every $0.01. There are many, many more places I want to go, but I am going to have a hard time not going back there next spring.

 

[WOODMAN]

We have tried just about every Bahamas based liveaboard there is (or was), from the tiny (the 6 passenger Easy Going from Paradise Charters), to the unusual (the 12 passenger Juliet, which is a converted motor schooner with a few unique features), to the big and luxurio$ ( the now departed Explorer II), and others, such as the Nekton boats and the funky Cat Ppalau. We never did get onto the Aquacat (too expensive) or onto the Blackbeard boats (camping at sea?!?:shocked2, but we hit most of the others, including the ill-fated Shearwater out of West Palm Beach. We even did the Bottom Time, which last I heard was sitting on the bottom in about 20ft of water off Fort Lauderdale... As you can see, there is a lot of variety. These boats all have their unique personalities, and costs vary widely. However, as the old saying goes, you usually get what you pay for. Nowadays, I tend to gravitate toward the southern Bahamas boats, such as the Juliet, or the Nekton boat going out to the Cay Sal area. Some of my most remarkable Bahamas diving has come from the Cay Sal banks. Ah, the memories...
But, I digress. You will have to figure out what you want, and how much you can spend, and then go from there. Do your homework, and as you learn more you can start asking more specific questions and narrow things down. We are here to help, if we can. I wish you luck. Woody

 

[RobinG]

My husband and I did the Nekton a couple of years ago and won't do another. I do not understand why people say it is built for diving. You cannot get to your gear on the back platform when the boat is underway, and when it's not it is a zoo (and that with fewer than a full complement of divers). Several times I thought I was going to get knocked into teh water by someoen swinging their tank around as they groped for fins, etc. I could never get back to rearrange my gera--not sure if everyone is the same as I am but when I get a new piece of kit I dive with it and then sometimes have to rearrange it. Total pain.

The dive platform is raised and lowered hydraulically and the cables are covered with grease -- yet they are placed in a way that makes them natural handholds as you climb up the stairs. Everyone jokes about the bucket of degreaser nearby. I didn't consider that a funny joke--shows me there is a design problem. You gear up ont eh top deck, so you hike up three flights of steps and down for each dive. And no where out of the sun to don and doff gear. Some friends also went last year and said they were miserable. No place to hang out OUT of the sun except their room and the small lounge in the eating area.

I've been on Dancers, Aggressors, Blackbeard, dive boats in the Maldives--I'll take the Aggressors any day. Might try another boat next month but it won't be a Nekton.

Robin

 

[ncchuck]

I worked on the Nekton for a short time and totally agree with the previous post. The boat just isn't that great for diving and it holds too many people (34). It's really not well made and the electrical and mechanical systems are not very modern. There were many outages of various systems while I was there. When I was aboard the crew was mostly new people (extremely high turnover) and they didn't really know the dives sites at all and in fact rarely went into the water to help you spot things. They have great pre-drawn plans for each site however so the briefings were pretty good.

I've been on 7 other liveaboards (one twice) and Nekton rates at the bottom of my list I'd try again.

 

[highdesert]

We have not done a Bahamas liveaboard, so I can't vouch for any operation, but we're considering Explorer Ventures.

Explorer Ventures: Caribbean Explorer I, George Town, Exuma

I've had numerous e-mail exchanges with them. They sound very professional, they've been around awhile, and if you do a search you can find favorable trip reports about them.

Worth learning about anyway ...