Trip Report Juliet Liveaboard to Bahamas (May 22-28, 2021)

[Trailboss123]

 

[Trailboss123]

Greek Salad Lunch-- Shrimp, crab cakes, pita bread and all the fixings.

 

[Trailboss123]

Night Life on the Juliet.

 

[Trailboss123]

Sharks

 

[Trailboss123]

Man, I gotta hang with you! Thanks for posting TB...you may want to change your screen name to TrailBlazer!

I might, if my Portland Trailblazers can win this NBA playoff series against Denver.


Good to hear from you @flyboy08

 

[Centrals]

Another diving trip report!!!! What can I say?
And I am still stuck at home for well over an yr.
The series is even at 2:2 so 3 more to go! Good luck.

 

[Trailboss123]

I may have missed it if you addressed it, but how was the fire safety? Briefing? Drill? Escape routes?

Great questions @Lorenzoid
You didn't miss it and I did not address it and I should have.

Fire safety was very good in terms of having plenty of fire extinguishers positioned throughout the boat.
Overall boat briefing was OK to average.
There was no drill and no mention of escape routes.
I made a point of finding escape routes on my own and they exist and are adequate, but they were not covered in the briefing.

We were briefed to not charge any electrical devices in our cabins, if we were not present.
Overall, I feel that there is a lot of room for improvement in this area.

That being said, they are very open to suggestions for improvement and I will be making some.

 

[drrich2]

As an example: the group that went out on the trip prior to ours only had a couple of days of diving in the Bahamas and had to return to Miami prior to the seas getting really rough and making the crossing more tenuous than the Juliet wanted to subject their patrons to. That 6 day trip turned into a 2.5 day trip.

Which leads me to wonder what times of year give the best and worst odds of a successful 'dive all the days' trip. They do some other destinations besides the Bahamas; I wonder if that's part (or all) of why?

Thanks for the added notes on food (crab cakes and shrimp look like a winner to me) and solo and guide issues. Scuba Board's membership varies from 'I love mentoring newbies' to 'No thanks to instabuddies,' so I imagine that'll come in handy.

One thing that looks a little different on the Juliet's website vs. some other live-aboards is the issue of charters. Many weeks on their calendar list some organization's name, so I presume it would be needful to contact that charter organizer and book through them?

 

[Trailboss123]

TB, congratulations on the official DRRich2 Scubaboard seal of approval. It is the gold standard we all aspire to so wear your blue ribbon with pride!

The Juliet is hard enough to get on, I'm afraid your report will make it even harder. I was actually considering not doing my annual Cozumel Day of the Dead trip and trying to get on , but the available dates never worked out. I did reach out with a couple of questions regarding flight arrival time (12:30 is fine even though their website says noon) cabin assignments (select your cabin at booking) and first responder discounts (nope). The response was with in An hour of sending an email.

I also looked at a blackeards guys trip, but the airfare to Nassau compared to Southwest to Miami makes the Juliet an easy choice for us. I don't understand why there aren't more liveaboard based out of southern Florida.

Great report, thanks for taking the time to bring us along on your trip! I think of you every time I drive by Sids in El Reno. Hope that's not what made you vegan!!

Thanks again,
Jay

No-- Health reasons

Which leads me to wonder what times of year give the best and worst odds of a successful 'dive all the days' trip. They do some other destinations besides the Bahamas; I wonder if that's part (or all) of why?

Thanks for the added notes on food (crab cakes and shrimp look like a winner to me) and solo and guide issues. Scuba Board's membership varies from 'I love mentoring newbies' to 'No thanks to instabuddies,' so I imagine that'll come in handy.

One thing that looks a little different on the Juliet's website vs. some other live-aboards is the issue of charters. Many weeks on their calendar list some organization's name, so I presume it would be needful to contact that charter organizer and book through them?

I cannot speak to why they reposition over the winter and early spring. It may be weather or it may be some other preferences.
I have found "charters" to be pretty much Standard Operating Procedure and therefore the need to book through them on boats of this size.

Dive shops or dive groups will book out a week well in advance to ensure they have the boat when they want. But, they may have some openings and you can contact them to get a spot.

 

[lachica]

Many weeks on their calendar list some organization's name, so I presume it would be needful to contact that charter organizer and book through them?

That is how I got my spot this summer. I looked for a single slot, and contacted the group organizing the charter.