WOODMAN
Contributor
Well, we just got back from a dive trip with the Juliet, and I have to say, this was a little different from what I expected. We have been with the Juliet before (reference my previous trip report here for details-) and despite her quirks, we have always had a special fondness for this operation. For those who are unfamiliar with her, she is a 3 masted sailing motor schooner (did I get that right, John?) which was originally built in Australia for the merchant cargo trade in the south pacific and Antarctica. John Beltramo obtained her and converted her to a dive yacht several years ago, and her exploits have been well reported here. She normally runs week long charters out of Miami (or thereabouts) and runs out into the northern Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and other related areas, except for the wintertime, when these areas become less comfortable to dive. He then "repositions" the boat down to Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos island group, and operates his week charters out of that area until late spring, when he brings the boat back up to Miami. The repositioning cruises are different from the usual ones, as they are 10 days long and involve covering a lot of open ocean in order to get her to her new port. I knew all this going in, and expected to get in a lot of diving during the day, while we hopped from one part of the Bahamas to the next on our trip down to Provo, with most actual distance being covered at night while the boat motored for long stretches. At least, that was the plan.
What we didn't count on was the weather being against us. We had a stiff East wind in our teeth virtually the entire trip, and this resulted in 2 problems. First, it slowed us waaay down, with our speed being cut in half for most of the trip. This meant more sailing and less diving in order to make our scheduled arrival in Provo. (Rats!) And secondly, this also meant rough seas and a very unstable ship for almost the entire trip. I suppose I am a spoiled landlubber, but holy cow- I felt like I was auditioning for a part in the next "Master and Commander" movie! That boat was in constant motion, with rocking back and forth, from side to side, and up and down. We rapidly learned not to move without hanging onto something, and got pretty good at slithering against walls and along rails. We really didn't have much problem with seasickness, (which really surprised me!) but we got beaten up pretty good. I would be lying in bed, for example, and a particularly nasty wave would hit us and shake the boat enough to actually lift me a few inches off the mattress and then slam me back down again. I have to admit, that got old pretty quick, and we didn't sleep particularly well at night. The crew did what they could, and tried putting up sail to help stabilize things, but we had to keep on trucking right into that wind and those waves, which pretty much negated their efforts. Even at the dive sites, the boat was rocking considerably, and exiting the water onto that metal stairway mounted at the side of the ship became an exercise in precision timing. Luckily, no-one got hurt on that ladder, but we certainly had a few close calls. And my heart goes out to our chef Will, who managed to produce superb meals in spite of severely adverse conditions. I don't know how many times we heard a massive clatter from the galley as a particularly wicked wave suddenly threw us about, and I wouldn't want John's bill for replacing broken crockery and such.
And how was the diving? Actually, pretty good. We ended up getting only 23 dives in, although we had hoped for more on a 10 day cruise. We did a couple of dives around Bimini and then Andros island, and then motored over to New Providence for a short shore leave and a night's mooring in Nassau harbor, but here again the fates conspired against us. We were working our way around in the harbor to line up for our dockage, when we got caught on an uncharted high spot in the center of the harbor which effectively grounded us on that 9 foot deep keel of ours. Despite heroic efforts from the entire crew, we couldn't get loose from that area until after midnight, and that put paid to our shore leave. Oh, well, we continued on past Highbourne Cay, and Eleuthera, and then down past Little San Salvador and Conception island. We motored past Rum cay and spent a couple of dives on the rarely visited Hogsty Wall. We finally got down to West Caicos island late on Dec. 4th, but only had time for a night dive here and then 3 dives squeezed in the next morning in the same place before our time ran out. Pity, as this was some of the best diving of the trip. And of course, once we got to West Caicos the wind died down and things smoothed out. Naturally. We flew out the next day, glad to be on solid ground again, but still strangely sad to see the trip end. Please don't get me wrong- I really like the boat, and the crew was superb, as usual. Rudy was captain for this trip (John was off on other business) and I don't envy him some of the decisions he had to make on this trip. The boat is fantastic for hopping around islands and finding sheltered coves for night moorings, but lengthy open ocean travel in unrelenting rough seas is not something I would recommend her for. Will I go back? Most probably, although not for that "repositioning" business. Once was enough for that. Woody
What we didn't count on was the weather being against us. We had a stiff East wind in our teeth virtually the entire trip, and this resulted in 2 problems. First, it slowed us waaay down, with our speed being cut in half for most of the trip. This meant more sailing and less diving in order to make our scheduled arrival in Provo. (Rats!) And secondly, this also meant rough seas and a very unstable ship for almost the entire trip. I suppose I am a spoiled landlubber, but holy cow- I felt like I was auditioning for a part in the next "Master and Commander" movie! That boat was in constant motion, with rocking back and forth, from side to side, and up and down. We rapidly learned not to move without hanging onto something, and got pretty good at slithering against walls and along rails. We really didn't have much problem with seasickness, (which really surprised me!) but we got beaten up pretty good. I would be lying in bed, for example, and a particularly nasty wave would hit us and shake the boat enough to actually lift me a few inches off the mattress and then slam me back down again. I have to admit, that got old pretty quick, and we didn't sleep particularly well at night. The crew did what they could, and tried putting up sail to help stabilize things, but we had to keep on trucking right into that wind and those waves, which pretty much negated their efforts. Even at the dive sites, the boat was rocking considerably, and exiting the water onto that metal stairway mounted at the side of the ship became an exercise in precision timing. Luckily, no-one got hurt on that ladder, but we certainly had a few close calls. And my heart goes out to our chef Will, who managed to produce superb meals in spite of severely adverse conditions. I don't know how many times we heard a massive clatter from the galley as a particularly wicked wave suddenly threw us about, and I wouldn't want John's bill for replacing broken crockery and such.
And how was the diving? Actually, pretty good. We ended up getting only 23 dives in, although we had hoped for more on a 10 day cruise. We did a couple of dives around Bimini and then Andros island, and then motored over to New Providence for a short shore leave and a night's mooring in Nassau harbor, but here again the fates conspired against us. We were working our way around in the harbor to line up for our dockage, when we got caught on an uncharted high spot in the center of the harbor which effectively grounded us on that 9 foot deep keel of ours. Despite heroic efforts from the entire crew, we couldn't get loose from that area until after midnight, and that put paid to our shore leave. Oh, well, we continued on past Highbourne Cay, and Eleuthera, and then down past Little San Salvador and Conception island. We motored past Rum cay and spent a couple of dives on the rarely visited Hogsty Wall. We finally got down to West Caicos island late on Dec. 4th, but only had time for a night dive here and then 3 dives squeezed in the next morning in the same place before our time ran out. Pity, as this was some of the best diving of the trip. And of course, once we got to West Caicos the wind died down and things smoothed out. Naturally. We flew out the next day, glad to be on solid ground again, but still strangely sad to see the trip end. Please don't get me wrong- I really like the boat, and the crew was superb, as usual. Rudy was captain for this trip (John was off on other business) and I don't envy him some of the decisions he had to make on this trip. The boat is fantastic for hopping around islands and finding sheltered coves for night moorings, but lengthy open ocean travel in unrelenting rough seas is not something I would recommend her for. Will I go back? Most probably, although not for that "repositioning" business. Once was enough for that. Woody
