Juliet trip report (Page one)

[Dive-aholic]

I emailed about paying for Nitrox in advance of the June 10th trip and slipped in the question about the unlimited diving .
It sounded like they didn't even realize that the website used the word unlimited and that they were limiting the dives.

I think we'll be fine. They are very nice and helpful.

This has been some serious thread hijacking. This was supposed to be a trip report .

BTW, what did they say about paying for the nitrox in advance?

 

[Dive-aholic]

We soooo need to go diving together. I've been known to distribute my sleep during SIs so that I can do a dusk dive, a night dive (or 2) and a dawn dive.

Midnight dives should be a norm!

 

[Dive-aholic]

Our Nekton cruise earlier this year offered a dawn dive and a night dive just about everyday, so you could easily get 6 dives a day if you wanted. Their policy was that the dive deck was open from 8:00am to 11:30, then 1:00 to 5:45, then again for a night dive at around 8pm. During those times you could dive as much as you wanted. The dawn dive was by sign up at 6:30am, but if you didn't sign up you could join the group as long as someone signed up.

The Juliet is different. We dive right off of her. There aren't any smaller boats going out to the dive sites. I chose this charter for that reason - we don't have to wait for the boat to go out.

 

[scubamickey]

BTW, what did they say about paying for the nitrox in advance?

We can pay in advance, either by email or phone. Just give them your credit card number.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Thanks. I'll call them Monday.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Okay, here's the official word from Captain John in response to my e-mail:

This is John Beltramo. I am the owner and captain of Juliet. Since your group has never been on Juliet, I’d like to explain how we run our charters. Our itineraries are completely flexible and cater to the desires of the passengers onboard, within safety constraints of course. When the group arrives onboard, I discuss potential itineraries with the group. It is true that we typically do 4 dives a day, but this is not a hard and fast rule. We are different from many other liveaboards in that we offer a variety of activities aside from scuba diving, such as sailing, spearfishing, fishing, beach combing, and presentations given by a professional marine biologist. If your group would like to focus on just scuba diving, we can offer you 5 dives a day, which is what most of the major live-aboards offer. This of course would limit the time spent on other activities. In essence, it is your boat for the week, and we will spend our time doing what you all prefer to do. I can offer you as much diving as I deem safe. We are changing the wording on our web-site to avoid future confusion. This was an over-site on my part. I apologize for any confusion and am sure that we will all have a great time on your charter. Please let me know if you have any other concerns or questions. I look forward to meeting you in June.



Take Care,

John Beltramo

President

Juliet Sailing and Diving

I also called the owner of the shop that chartered the boat for our trip and he is supposed to be calling Captain John regarding the unlimited diving claim.

Our charter has enough divers on it that want to dive a lot. For anyone considering the Juliet for future trips, keep the itinerary in mind. I was thinking about doing the Turks & Caicos trip in a couple of years, but I'll only do it if I know the entire group and that they all want to dive, dive, dive!

 

[Pam_In_Paradise]

The Juliet is different. We dive right off of her. There aren't any smaller boats going out to the dive sites. I chose this charter for that reason - we don't have to wait for the boat to go out.

Hi Rob,
Just to clear up a possible misunderstanding. At Nekton the diving is done off of the boat. What DiveMaven was referring to in the quote that you included in your post is that in addition to the normal dive deck hours in the morning, afternoon and night, the Captain will, on occasion, offer dawn dives as well. The reason for having the sign up list is that he has to modify the crew schedule to allow for dive deck/bubble watcher crew for an extended period of time for that day. Hope that helps...Happy Diving!

 

[scubamickey]

I also called the owner of the shop that chartered the boat for our trip and he is supposed to be calling Captain John regarding the unlimited diving claim.

Our charter has enough divers on it that want to dive a lot. For anyone considering the Juliet for future trips, keep the itinerary in mind. I was thinking about doing the Turks & Caicos trip in a couple of years, but I'll only do it if I know the entire group and that they all want to dive, dive, dive!

Good work! Resistance is truly futile .
We definitely want to dive, dive, dive. Beachcombing just won't cut it as a replacement. I am glad that Capt John is so flexible. I'm also glad that we lucked out and ended up on this particular charter with the "long-hose Borgs". It will definitely be a lot of fun!

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Thanks for the Great description of your trip Woodman. Is the Airhog Card a Padi cert? How many dives? LOL LOL Thanks again, My wife and I have been debating a liveaboard and I am researching....

 

[ChristineH]

Thanks for so much information on the Juliet, I am planning on making reservations for July. Now I know I will have to bring other divers with me so we can make sure we dive,dive, dive. One question, is there anything you didn't bring with you that you wish you would have when staying on a live aboard? This will be my first time. Thanks.