First Liveaboard (Blackbeards) - What to expect?

[manni-yunk]

Website says that fishing between dives is allowed and encouraged!

It also says that the Hawaiin slings are onboard - do they let you shoot fish, for dinner, with the slings?

 

[Kingsley Zissou]

The short answer is yes, you will get to try to shoot fish with the slings.

I say try because it is not as easy as it they make it look.

I went on the Pirate Lady in October. I did not personally stick any fish (not for lack of trying) but I did get to assist them in the water. We brought back triggerfish, amberjacks, lobster and loinfish (all delicious by the way).

The crew is very patient with newbies and let me try as many times as I wanted, but at the end of the day I was more interested in getting more fish on the boat so I handed the spear over to the guys who could get it done. I learned a bunch about free-diving from captain Pancho and dive master Mark. In the week onboard I went from barely being able to reach the bottom at 20' to being able to stay on the bottom for over a minute.

 

[Robert B. Rubenstein]

Yes:
They will allow you to use the slings. (Free Dive Only) When we were on board the Morning Star in August 2010, it was Lobster season and several were taken. Also one fellow caught a baracuda off the stern.
Bob in Arkansas

Honduras bound in June! CoCo View Resort.

 

[MAKO_80]

Long over due but here it goes. You get to the boat and the crew will either have you board or have you set your gear on the dock. Relax its safe! Right across the street there is a shopping plaza with a starbucks and stores incase you forgot something. You board the boat and they take you below and you show your dive card and fill out some paperwork. only takes 10 min. Then you are all set to move in. They give you your cup and nametags point you to your bunk and you can start unpacking or getting your dive gear ready. What ever you want to do. no rush! The crew is very laid back and as far as they are concerned its your boat now. The captain will give his boat briefing and your off! I was on the pirates Lady with pancho (very cool guy)! you want to steer the boat knock yourself out. Want to help with the sails. always welcome! they have speakers on the boat so if you have a IPOD you can plug in and relax on deck with music. He will try to get a dive in the first day while you make your crossing to the exumas. Now a lot of people were concerned about food. You will get lunch and dinner the first day then 3 meals a day with snacks in between. You are not going to go hungry. If you want a sandwich or something right now just go to the galley and make one. The cook ususally brought us homemade muffens for us to snack on. The crew are very relaxed and are there to make you happy. The food is terrific and I never saw one person complain. The bathrooms or heads whatever you want to call them are tiny and It takes a little bit of time to figure out the head if you have never worked one. The rooms suprised me in that the beds were huge. I was in the forward cabin and I could roll over once. The beds were soft and the AC was almost to good.haha To be honest you really don't need a lot of clothing. You will be in and out of the water 5 times a day. We did a night dive every night. Your second day will start with the breakfast bell eat dive lunch eat dive dive dinner dive. They said they didn't want people past 130ft and you monitor your own dive profiles. Now on to dive operations. Ok understand this the dive master usually will dive as well with a saftey diver on the boat. If you want a guided dive here is the secret...ASK! They are more then welcome to go with you if you are nervous or just want them to show you the reef so you don't miss anything. Doesn't cost extra or anything so please ask. They mention this your first day but some people didn't feel like paying attention and never knew even though some other divers had went with the dive master all week. So you know, everyone but the cook is a dive master so don't worry if one is taken the captain will join you if you want. They will help you on to the boat and to sit down. The best part of the trip was the relaxing seas and the friendly crew. They are not anal about anything like you shouldn't be up here or you can't go there or do that...ect ect Like I said its your boat to. Very relaxed. The crew makes about 50$ a week and they live on the boat. They make money on tips so they want you happy. they say 150$ is average I gave them 200. They will give you an envelope when you board and you can put your tip into that at the end of the week or the take credit cards. They won't bring it up again the envelope is just to make it easier for you and so they can thank you. Some people got the idea it came off pushy. I had a great time and never heard the word no the entire trip. I will save the dives for another post but I have a great story to tell first if you are still not convinced. It was about 11pm and me and my friend were still up sipping on some rum punch talking with the crew when we came past the cat Ppalu which is a catamaran owned by the same company and they are always messing with each other. The captain says hey you guys wanna mess with her. Hellz yeah. It was a very good operation if I do say so myself. The captain cut the engines and the crew went off in the dinghy. I was asked if I wanted to be on the boarding party but I was already pretty well off on rum punch. The Ppalu was anchored and a easy mark. The drifted up to it screwed with there anchor so that they would have to send a diver down to fix it before the shoved off the next morning. Pancho said it would only take them 15min to fix. Liberated a bottle of vodka and Hoisted a pirates flag so the next morning they would know who did it. The crew came back and we divided the plunder of vodka with lemon shots. 5 of us finished a gallon in 10 min.haha I am telling you if you like fun and don't mind the basics its a great trip. I went 3rd week of october and me and my friend are already trying for May to go back. If anyone has any questions let me know

 

[Mossman]

The Ppalu was anchored and a easy mark. The drifted up to it screwed with there anchor so that they would have to send a diver down to fix it before the shoved off the next morning. Pancho said it would only take them 15min to fix. Liberated a bottle of vodka and Hoisted a pirates flag so the next morning they would know who did it. The crew came back and we divided the plunder of vodka with lemon shots. 5 of us finished a gallon in 10 min.haha I am telling you if you like fun and don't mind the basics its a great trip. I went 3rd week of october and me and my friend are already trying for May to go back. If anyone has any questions let me know

So the one boat doesn't keep a night watch and your boat had crew that shared a gallon of vodka before retiring for the night? Sounds like a really safe operation.

 

[MAKO_80]

it really is and I don't want to give that impression. the other boat was awake but in the main salon. No they dont keep a night watch. niether does blackbeards. they have all the alarms right inside their quarters. we were anchored maybe a mile from them the water was like glass. no real danger that i saw. as for the gallon I was pretty lit so it could have been a half gallon and prob was 10 min for a gallon would be impossible.haha like i said we went though it pretty quick. they got a buzzed at least. as for them being drunk if they were they wore it well. I know they were not wrecked like me that is to say. there were members of the crew who were already in bed so if something were to happen i have no doubts we would have been fine.

 

[MAKO_80]

To the fishing question. they always have lines in the water beetween dive spots being pulled behind the boat. If they hook one and you want to reel it in they welcome it. They want you to have a good time and they do it ALL the time.haha They have about 20 or so slings that I saw on the boat and if you want to free dive and spear knock yourself out. Fish,lobster,crab what ever you want. The cook will try to cook it if its big enough. If it isn't they use it for chum.

 

[bkotheimer]

Back to the alcohol... if you have anything to drink with dinner, is your dive day over? i.e., can't do the night dive if you had a beer with your meal?

 

[MAKO_80]

I doubt they would say anything over a beer. I mean the beer is on tap and you have a mug. They don't go sniffing your drinks. They say your dive day is over but they don't check you. I mean there is alot going on and everyone is an adult. Now if you have a few yeah they might say something but I never saw a problem. So go ahead until someone says something. They are really cool and again they want you to have a good time just don't sit next to someone and tell them your drinking you know? Man I can't wait to go back what a great time, its like one big family. One of the guys computer flooded and I loaned him my backup just because everyone gets tight like that and you want everyone to be able to dive with you. P.S. the make rum punch every night. drink all you want and If you drink it all they will make more pronto. The captain said they have more booze then anyone could ever drink. You want to make your own mixed drink just grab the bottle. The booze isn't locked up just go to the galley and make it. I am telling you its a great time the are not nazi's about anything. Run out of vodka! just tell one of the crew and with a smile they will go grab a few more bottles. If you wanted to take a bottle back to your room do it. They have tons and really don't care. Just be sober the next day. hungover is allowed.HAHA On my trip me and my friend were really the only ones drinking. I know I make it sound like a booze cruise but 5 dives a day wears you out. I mean as soon as you start drinking you feel the entire day catch up with you.

 

[oreocookie]

The way I read Mako's posts sounds like the booze is just flowing all the time. Maybe this depends on the group of people on board in any given week. If people express (or the crew senses) that people want to drink, maybe the alcohol comes out a bit more. During my week on the Pirate's Lady in August, there wasn't much mention of alcohol at all, other than mentioning that if you wanted some, it was there and about bar nights (we had an extra one because of bad weather). I only noticed a couple of people drinking at night but most went to their bunks fairly early anyway, and rum punch was only put out one night that I was aware of.

My perception of the crew was that they explained the rules (depth, drinking, etc) and expected you to follow them, but they weren't policing anything. There was a fair amount of "I went to 130', wink wink nudge nudge". (One guy showed me his computer after a dive, max depth was 213') They expected people to be responsible for themselves, so there was no computer checking or drink smelling, but they definitely did not come across as a bunch of drunken sailors either.