ECPaul
Contributor
As first timers on a liveaboard, we wanted to post a quick trip report about our recent experience with the liveaboard experience on the Nekton Pilot in Belize.
Our family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teens) have been diving for about 4 years, and decided to take a liveaboard trip over the Xmas holiday this year. A little bit of research on SB suggested that Nekton was a very good deal and we also were intrigued by the unique SWATH http://www.nektoncruises.com/Liveaboards/SWATH.aspx design of the boat.
After a most-of-the-day trip from Baltimore to Belize City, we were met by Nekton representatives in the small airport terminal and transported to a nearby hotel, the "Princess", to hang out for a couple of hours to wait for the other passengers to arrive. We got a quick dinner there.
We met Nekton reps a couple of hours later, were transported to the dock, and quickly introduced to the other passengers and the crew.
This was a surprisingly slow week, with a total of 7 passengers, including the 4 of us. We were actually outnumbered by the 10 crew members, who took excellent care of us. Now to the essentials:
The boat: Although this is arguably one of the strangest and most inelegant boat designs that you will ever see, it is arguably also one of the best possible designs for a scuba liveaboard. There are two reasons for this. First, the deck surfaces are enormous, so that even with a full load of 32 passengers it would never seem crowded. Second, the SWATH design makes for a super stable ride, even in relatively rough seas, which is always a good thing, whether you are prone to sea-sickness or not.
The crew: We were impressed with each and every member of the 10-person crew, from the Captain to the steward. Many were divemasters or dive instructors, so we were never lacking for expert diving assistance or guidance. All were friendly and super-service oriented.
The cabins: Comfortable and more than adequate, and each was equipped with its own shower/toilet/sink.
The food: Despite the prevailing theory that we can eat a lot more when doing 4 - 5 dives each day because of the increased caloric burn, I'm sure that I came home with a few additional pounds under my belt. Cold breakfast was set out every morning by 6 AM for the early risers, a hot breakfast followed at 7 AM, a fresh-baked-cookie break at 9:45 AM followed the first AM dive, lunch at noon, dinner at 6 PM, snacks until you went to bed. The bottom line is that none of us went hungry - ever!
The diving: In a word - great! The vis was always at least 60 - 80, and sometimes closer to 100. The coral was in great shape, and there was a nice mix of wall and more shallow patch coral diving. Water temps last week averaged about 78, and most of us did fine with 3 mm wetsuits. Very nice diversity of hard and soft corals, sponges (including some of the largest barrels to be found anywhere), tropical fish of all kinds, turtles, rays (eagles and sting), tunicates, and I even happened across my first dolphin while diving. Every day offered the possibility of up to 5 dives, comprising 2 morning dives, 2 afternoon dives, and an evening dive. I ended up with 4 - 5 dives most days. Tanks were steel 95s, which meant that I could carry a lot less weight than I usually do when diving with aluminum tanks.
Miscellaneous: In between diving we spent a lot of time just eating cookies, reading, downloading the photos that we'd just taken, comparing notes on what we'd seen on the last dive, and getting to know the crew and other divers a bit better - very relaxing.
Additional note - we saw the Aggressor and the Peter Hughes boats just about every day. It is clear that all three all do about the same itinerary, at least in Belize.
By the end of the week we were all fantasizing about staying on for another week - this was simply a great trip. Now we're thinking about doing the Nekton Bahamas trip next summer (early - before the hurricane season comes into its prime). The bottom line is that our decision to choose Nekton was a good one, although I honestly don't have any basis for comparison with any of the other liveaboard boats.
Our family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teens) have been diving for about 4 years, and decided to take a liveaboard trip over the Xmas holiday this year. A little bit of research on SB suggested that Nekton was a very good deal and we also were intrigued by the unique SWATH http://www.nektoncruises.com/Liveaboards/SWATH.aspx design of the boat.
After a most-of-the-day trip from Baltimore to Belize City, we were met by Nekton representatives in the small airport terminal and transported to a nearby hotel, the "Princess", to hang out for a couple of hours to wait for the other passengers to arrive. We got a quick dinner there.
We met Nekton reps a couple of hours later, were transported to the dock, and quickly introduced to the other passengers and the crew.
This was a surprisingly slow week, with a total of 7 passengers, including the 4 of us. We were actually outnumbered by the 10 crew members, who took excellent care of us. Now to the essentials:
The boat: Although this is arguably one of the strangest and most inelegant boat designs that you will ever see, it is arguably also one of the best possible designs for a scuba liveaboard. There are two reasons for this. First, the deck surfaces are enormous, so that even with a full load of 32 passengers it would never seem crowded. Second, the SWATH design makes for a super stable ride, even in relatively rough seas, which is always a good thing, whether you are prone to sea-sickness or not.
The crew: We were impressed with each and every member of the 10-person crew, from the Captain to the steward. Many were divemasters or dive instructors, so we were never lacking for expert diving assistance or guidance. All were friendly and super-service oriented.
The cabins: Comfortable and more than adequate, and each was equipped with its own shower/toilet/sink.
The food: Despite the prevailing theory that we can eat a lot more when doing 4 - 5 dives each day because of the increased caloric burn, I'm sure that I came home with a few additional pounds under my belt. Cold breakfast was set out every morning by 6 AM for the early risers, a hot breakfast followed at 7 AM, a fresh-baked-cookie break at 9:45 AM followed the first AM dive, lunch at noon, dinner at 6 PM, snacks until you went to bed. The bottom line is that none of us went hungry - ever!
The diving: In a word - great! The vis was always at least 60 - 80, and sometimes closer to 100. The coral was in great shape, and there was a nice mix of wall and more shallow patch coral diving. Water temps last week averaged about 78, and most of us did fine with 3 mm wetsuits. Very nice diversity of hard and soft corals, sponges (including some of the largest barrels to be found anywhere), tropical fish of all kinds, turtles, rays (eagles and sting), tunicates, and I even happened across my first dolphin while diving. Every day offered the possibility of up to 5 dives, comprising 2 morning dives, 2 afternoon dives, and an evening dive. I ended up with 4 - 5 dives most days. Tanks were steel 95s, which meant that I could carry a lot less weight than I usually do when diving with aluminum tanks.
Miscellaneous: In between diving we spent a lot of time just eating cookies, reading, downloading the photos that we'd just taken, comparing notes on what we'd seen on the last dive, and getting to know the crew and other divers a bit better - very relaxing.
Additional note - we saw the Aggressor and the Peter Hughes boats just about every day. It is clear that all three all do about the same itinerary, at least in Belize.
By the end of the week we were all fantasizing about staying on for another week - this was simply a great trip. Now we're thinking about doing the Nekton Bahamas trip next summer (early - before the hurricane season comes into its prime). The bottom line is that our decision to choose Nekton was a good one, although I honestly don't have any basis for comparison with any of the other liveaboard boats.
