Nekton Liveaboard - Sal Cay Banks, Bahamas

[scubamgb]

Hi everyone:

Looking for some current information / feedback from anyone who has been on the Nekton - Sal Cay Banks trip.

I would like to take this trip Aug 18-25 --- yes, I know its hurricane season -- but aside from that I wanted to know what the diving is like, how is Nekton as a liveaboard and as a solo traveller, is it a suitable trip - meaning will I find dive buddies to dive with??? Do the DMs and instructors dive with you if you don't have a buddy???

Any info/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Desert_Diver]

Hi everyone:

Looking for some current information / feedback from anyone who has been on the Nekton - Sal Cay Banks trip.

I would like to take this trip Aug 18-25 --- yes, I know its hurricane season -- but aside from that I wanted to know what the diving is like, how is Nekton as a liveaboard and as a solo traveller, is it a suitable trip - meaning will I find dive buddies to dive with??? Do the DMs and instructors dive with you if you don't have a buddy???

Any info/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I have never done the Cay Sal trip but I have done NW Bahamas and Cayman Islands with Nekton. I was favorably impressed both times. I did both trips as a single. One time I got a roomate, one time I ended up in a cabin alone. Dive buddies are not hard to come by. I did occassionally dive with a crew member as buddy. I never skipped any dives for lack of a buddy.

I think the Pilot is the Cay Sal boat and Captain Ephy does a great job. The crew was friendly and extremely helpful. If you have questions prior to your trip, call Nekton on their toll free number and ask to talk to Pam. She has infinite patience and is a font of good information.

I have never done a Nekton cruise during hurricane season so I can't answer any questions. I think I remember hearing that dive locations and cruise destinations might change without notice due to weather, but I would check with Pam to get the straight dope.

Do it. You'll have fun.

Dive safe,

Art

 

[Darnold9999]

Have done 3 Nekton trips. Not Sal Cay however. The Nekton boats are purpose built dive platforms. GREAT to dive from. Have gone as a single all three times and have had no trouble finding a buddy, and if you want one of the crew to dive there is always one available. Nobody misses a dive for lack of a buddy.

Crew treat you very well, plenty of good food - not gourmet but good. Rooms are large for a boat and lots of space on the boat to spread out so it isn't cramped. The top deck is huge - the entire width of the boat and almost the entire length. Two camera tables with compressed air if you want it.

Re hurricane season - this is the boat I would want to be on in rough weather. The design makes it very stable in rough weather.

Can't recommend it enough.

 

[Trwmodela]

I have done two Nekton trips (Cayman Islands & Belize) as a single diver. My next is NW Bahamas on the Rorqual for the week of Sept. 15th. You will not have any problem finding someone to buddy with on Nekton. Every dive site also has a DM assigned to buddy if necessary. The crew loves being asked to dive as it gets them out of work on the boat.

I am going again in peek hurricane season as I did last year in the Cayman Islands. The weather was perfect the entire week.

Use caution you will fall in LOVE with the Nekton style of cruise diving. Their vessels are diving machines! :14:

Cay Sal Banks is next on my Nekton list after the NW Bahamas.

 

[diversteve]

I did the Cay Sal trip last summer with my buddy. Posted sort of a review here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2651283&postcount=5

robint did a better job than I did:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2657376&postcount=8

Finding a buddy is no problem, we dove at various times as 2,3,5,6 and once 10 divers. There was a single woman on our trip, she buddied with us most of the week.

By the end of the week, I also dove by myself after my buddy blocked up his ear. With a couple exceptions the Cay Sal trip is pretty easy and can be kept to pretty shallow diving if desired.

Hope you like diving with sharks, there's a lot of them...

If you're solo and the boat is pretty full, you share a room with another diver of the same sex unless you pay the 50% additional single charge.

My best tip is bring a 10' extension cord if you want to charge/run anything in your room. The power is on the sink on the opposite side of the room from where you'd logically store things. (the windowsills)

 

[DiveMaven]

We're literally sitting at the airport waiting for our plane home from our back-to-back Bahamas trip on the Nekton Pilot.....we just finished the Cay Sal itinerary.

We had an excellent trip and would recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in shark diving at all. Not only did we see many Caribbean Reef Sharks at the Big Hole, but we actually dropped in on a Hammerhead cruising by on our last dive site of the trip!

You would have no worries about finding people to dive with and the DM's are always 100% ready and willing to dive with you if you can't find a dive buddy. We had a single friend join my husband and I, and after the second day he had found someone to dive with and ditched us.

If you want more specific information, please don't hesitate to either ask in this thread, or PM me if you'd like.

 

[Rick Patterson]

My wife and I did the Cay Sal trip two years ago in August. There were three others on the boat as I recall that were traveling solo. There never seemed to be any problem for them to find a buddy and on one or two dives they tagged along with us. The diving was a bit on the deep side especially near the blue holes, so be advance certified. The trip was very nice and the crew was excellent. There is always at least one DM on the deck that can buddy up with you and dive and they seemed very happy to be in the water diving with a guest rather than having to do one of the million other thing that needs to be done onboard. I do remember tat we had a particularly hot week and when I looked at my video from the trip I did shoot the thermometer and it was at about 107F in the shade on the sun deck. Our rooms were all warm until the sun went down, because the AC could not keep up with the heat of the day. The water was much cooler though, hmmmm time to dive! There was virtually no wind for the week and the ocean was as flat as glass for five strait days. Be prepared for a very warm trip. Also pack a snorkel to swim over to the island and explore a little bit on one of the days. They moored close to a deserted island one day and it was pretty cool after the diving at that site to swim over and walk on the island for a little bit.
Enjoy the trip and be safe.
Rick

 

[scubamgb]

WOW!!!! Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. I am pretty much sold on doing my first liveaboard with Nekton!!!

Just was curious to know how many of you dive Nitrox on your liveboard trips??? I am not Nitrox certified but was thinking to do it on the Nekton trip as there are multiple dives over multiple days involved. All my diving experience has been 2 tank AM or PM dives - not 3-5 dives a day for almost 5 days. Would you advise diving a liveboard trip on Nitrox??

Again - thanks to all SB posters for their info and feedback!!!!!!

 

[robint]

go for the Nitrox! On our trip we found that we were up for every dive, the air divers tended to skip dives to nap very often. When we were are chatting the last day, we found that the nitrox divers had more dives and longer dives (since shorter surface intervals to keep computers safe). By the last day, we were still ready to jump back in as soon as the "pool" opened. Many people say that there is no difference in the way you feel after a week of diving nitrox........ I say bull.

robint

 

[Ed Jackson1]

I agree that nitrox is the way to go.

I've done four trips with the Nekton and loved them all. I would not recommend Cay Say Bank for the first timer though. It's fun but it does not have the great visibility of Belize, the Caymans, or the NW Bahamas. The Blue holes tend to be a little murky.