Florida Livaboard

[drrich2]

Just did the Juliet Sailing and Diving trip a couple of weeks ago. Caught the boat in Miami and dove for a week in the Bahamas.

Glad to see a review; on Scuba Board the Juliet is quite reputable but I don't see as many reviews of it as I'd expect. How many dives were offered your week?

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

My gal and I have been diving for a couple of years up here in Montana. We have been diving different lakes throughout the region and we have been enjoying that! However, the time has come to look into diving some salt water. We have been thinking about loading up our slide in camper and doing a cross country road trip to Florida then getting on a livaborard for about a week. I have found a few prospects on Google, but from what I've seen Florida does not seem to have as large of a livaboard diving market as some other diving destinations. Does anyone have any suggestions?

We did several Florida-based LOBs to the Bahamas early in our diving career. That was decades ago and most of the LOBs we traveled have been out of business for a long time, like the Crown Islander, Nekton, and the Sea Fever (I think the SF is out of business?) but a few are still going strong, like Blackbeards - a good option for a "no frills" very low budget LOB trip.

But I wouldn't attempt to give you any current advice about LOB boats based in Florida, I just wanted to mention that the waters around Florida and the Bahamas are quite cold in the winter IMO. Also that I frequently got bad seasickness when making the crossing from Florida to the Bahamas - although my stomach would calm down after a day or two and then I would stop vomiting.

Anyway, if you are thinking of doing an LOB in that area of the world, you might prefer traveling during the warm water seasons (but there may be greater risk of hurricanes) and you might want to fly to the Bahamas to board a LOB, if available, to try and avoid a deep-water crossing if you are prone to seasickness.

The Bahamas Aggressor, and the All-Star LOBs (Aquacat, Cat Pplau, and Blackbeards) all usually sail out of Nassau to the Exumas.

The Juliet sounds interesting to me, but mostly for their St. Croix trips, not Florida and Bahamas.

My memories of the diving in the Florida and the Bahamas are of abundant and varied fish life but the reefs were nice but not really spectacular, but we had many good opportunities to see sharks. Others can give you more recent information, have fun!

 

[Wookie]

We did several Florida-based LOBs to the Bahamas early in our diving career. That was decades ago and most of the LOBs we traveled have been out of business for a long time, like the Crown Islander, Nekton, and the Sea Fever (I think the SF is out of business?) but a few are still going strong, like Blackbeards - a good option for a "no frills" very low budget LOB trip.

But I wouldn't attempt to give you any current advice about LOB boats based in Florida, I just wanted to mention that the waters around Florida and the Bahamas are quite cold in the winter IMO. Also that I frequently got bad seasickness when making the crossing from Florida to the Bahamas - although my stomach would calm down after a day or two and then I would stop vomiting.

Anyway, if you are thinking of doing an LOB in that area of the world, you might prefer traveling during the warm water seasons (but there may be greater risk of hurricanes) and you might want to fly to the Bahamas to board a LOB, if available, to try and avoid a deep-water crossing if you are prone to seasickness.

The Bahamas Aggressor, and the All-Star LOBs (Aquacat, Cat Pplau, and Blackbeards) all usually sail out of Nassau to the Exumas.

The Juliet sounds interesting to me, but mostly for their St. Croix trips, not Florida and Bahamas.

My memories of the diving in the Florida and the Bahamas are of abundant and varied fish life but the reefs were nice but not really spectacular, but we had many good opportunities to see sharks. Others can give you more recent information, have fun!

Yup, about the only boat making crossings any more are Juliet and Dolphin Dream, and I forgot earlier Jim Abernathy's Shearwater. After 9/11 it just got too hard (and expensive) to clear in and out with a US flagged vessel.

Sea Fever (which the Spree and Fling were patterned after, Gary Rinn and Tom Guarino were early good friends) has gone on to be the Son Worshipper, and it ran some treasure trips in the DR at one time. I am friendly with Tom and have all of his mooring sites in the Bahamas. Tom put in a lot of moorings in the Bahamas.

But don't discount the Juliet's Bahamas trips. They run down the Santaaran Channel, to places not visited since Nekton was running trips. I also have those mooring locations, and when I go by myself, just me and Mel, that's where we go. Some of the best diving still in the Caribbean. Then, of course, to Cay Sal and home again.

 

[KathyV]

Yup, about the only boat making crossings any more are Juliet and Dolphin Dream, and I forgot earlier Jim Abernathy's Shearwater. After 9/11 it just got too hard (and expensive) to clear in and out with a US flagged vessel.

Sea Fever (which the Spree and Fling were patterned after, Gary Rinn and Tom Guarino were early good friends) has gone on to be the Son Worshipper, and it ran some treasure trips in the DR at one time. I am friendly with Tom and have all of his mooring sites in the Bahamas. Tom put in a lot of moorings in the Bahamas.

But don't discount the Juliet's Bahamas trips. They run down the Santaaran Channel, to places not visited since Nekton was running trips. I also have those mooring locations, and when I go by myself, just me and Mel, that's where we go. Some of the best diving still in the Caribbean. Then, of course, to Cay Sal and home again.

Thanks for the info! We had a blast diving with Tom Guarino on the Sea Fever in the Exumas. We were originally planning to leave from Miami to dive the Cay Sal Bank, but it was during a time when tensions were very high between the US and Cuba, and there were refugees trying to get over to the US, and so he moved the boat to Nassau and we dived the Exumas instead - and it was a great trip.

When I mentioned the Juliet and St. Croix, I was mostly thinking of my tendency to get seasick during deep water crossings, and I know that they board from the Fredricksted pier in St. Croix so that sounds good for me.

I guess that I am just delicate or something! We looked at the Spree several times and it appeared to be a great LOB with lots of positive reviews, but I recall that there was a Cat serving as a member of your crew (a very beautiful cat BTW) but I am highly allergic to cats; so we never made a trip on the Spree.

 

[Wookie]

Thanks for the info! We had a blast diving with Tom Guarino on the Sea Fever in the Exumas. We were originally planning to leave from Miami to dive the Cay Sal Bank, but it was during a time when tensions were very high between the US and Cuba, and there were refugees trying to get over to the US, and so he moved the boat to Nassau and we dived the Exumas instead - and it was a great trip.

When I mentioned the Juliet and St. Croix, I was mostly thinking of my tendency to get seasick during deep water crossings, and I know that they board from the Fredricksted pier in St. Croix so that sounds good for me.

I guess that I am just delicate or something! We looked at the Spree several times and it appeared to be a great LOB with lots of positive reviews, but I recall that there was a Cat serving as a member of your crew (a very beautiful cat BTW) but I am highly allergic to cats; so we never made a trip on the Spree.

I am not offended. That's why she was on the front page, so those allergic could have fair warning. Something to think about Juliet (and I'm not pushing the boat, but it is awesome diving) is that she is far more massive and heavier and has a huger keel than a crewboat.

 

[Johnoly]

..., the Makai sleeps 12 in luxury. ...

Wow, that is way too nice of a boat for me..........Playmate is more my comfort level.
But a great business model to cover both the pampered and the do-it-yourselfer. He's got both ends of the market covered.

 

[Wookie]

Wow, that is way too nice of a boat for me..........Playmate is more my comfort level.
But a great business model to cover both the pampered and the do-it-yourselfer. He's got both ends of the market covered.

And, he owns Makai. Doing what he always wanted to do. He is the hired help on Playmate. He walks a fine line....

 

[Jano]

.....

There is a thread on Florida Liveaboards that is quite comprehensive, but to summarize, you have the Ultimate Getaway out of Fort .....

I have searched for this thread but have not had any luck. Any chance someone could point me in the right direction?

Thank you everyone for all the info! It seems like maybe options are a bit limited but there are still options available. Juliet really does seem like a great value, and a deep water crossing actually sounds like a lot of fun to me, but a thought that comes to mind is how much potential dive time is used in making the crossing there and back again at sailing speeds vs an engine powered vessel?

 

[Wookie]

Liveaboard dive boats based in Florida

 

[AdivingBel]

how much potential dive time is used in making the crossing there and back again at sailing speeds vs an engine powered vessel?

The Juliet is "engine powered." It only sails when it wants to...