Nekton Pilot Aug. 29 - Sept. 5 Northwest Bahamas

[hpuhr]

Hello Doug and Donna, am sorry I missed you, but I was overdue for vacation - was onboard for 13 weeks straight - was running on fumes on the last few weeks...

We had our last charter this past week - left Fort Lauderdale today and are on our way to Port St. Joe to bring the boat to shipyard...

Hope to see you again sometimes...

Be happy and safe diving.

Heike

 

[rigdiver]

We took it easy and only did 21 dives (We skipped most of the night dives, and enjoyed sipping on wine with dinner). Yes, Elie was there, and seemed to be fitting in nicely.

Elie was great in my book. Very attentive. All the crew was great on the Monkey diver trip. Maybe CCR types are just not as high-maintenance

 

[DebbyDiver]

Elie was great in my book. Very attentive. All the crew was great on the Monkey diver trip. Maybe CCR types are just not as high-maintenance

I am extremely LOW maintenance as were the majority of my fellow passengers. My problem with Elie is that he whined like a baby the last few days of the trip about how hard he had to work. The rest of the crew was just taking it in stride. He was all waah waah waah. I'm glad he is starting to acclimate, I really liked him until the whiny crap started.

 

[Shasta_man]

Glad to hear the trip went well for you, Doug

Too bad you missed the night dives. We did a couple including under the pier. First one I skipped and one lady came back from the dive completely messed up with bigtime jellyfish stings. She dove in her bathing suit and they wiped her arm and her leg and on her face. She was throwing up and shaking. I was determined to enjoy a night dive so next night a few of us went. The diver before me barely was gone before I was in. I think I didn't hit the surface at all for how fast I submerged. Then I got down and turned and looked and it was black as coal, because the crew forgot to drop the strobe or glowsticks to mark the boat. First group I came upon just kept going deeper and that's not how I wanted to spend my air so I found a shallower group who included my original "buddy". Saw some cool eels, etc out hunting. While hanging on the hang bar at the end my buddy watched a jelly zoom out of the dark and zap him in the hand. I did the blast with bubbles to make a hole and, as slowly as possible, rocketed out. The pier was easier and we saw lots of octopus and lobsters, but I didn't spend any time on the surface coming out!

 

[robint]

Glad to hear the trip went well for you, Doug

Too bad you missed the night dives. We did a couple including under the pier. First one I skipped and one lady came back from the dive completely messed up with bigtime jellyfish stings. She dove in her bathing suit and they wiped her arm and her leg and on her face. She was throwing up and shaking. I was determined to enjoy a night dive so next night a few of us went. The diver before me barely was gone before I was in. I think I didn't hit the surface at all for how fast I submerged. Then I got down and turned and looked and it was black as coal, because the crew forgot to drop the strobe or glowsticks to mark the boat. First group I came upon just kept going deeper and that's not how I wanted to spend my air so I found a shallower group who included my original "buddy". Saw some cool eels, etc out hunting. While hanging on the hang bar at the end my buddy watched a jelly zoom out of the dark and zap him in the hand. I did the blast with bubbles to make a hole and, as slowly as possible, rocketed out. The pier was easier and we saw lots of octopus and lobsters, but I didn't spend any time on the surface coming out!

that sounds like sea wasps! They are attracted to light and usually an issue at night around full moon. They are highly toxic. We arrived on Bonaire once right after a full moon and were told not to night dive for a couple of nights for that reason. We went down to dock that first night and saw a guy get out of the water with a big red whelt all the way across one of his legs, it was ugly! He was wearing a shortie and he was almost in tears from the pain. Just another reason to always wear a full suit!!!

robin

 

[Shasta_man]

You're likely correct Robin. They liked to hang around just under the surface. The lady I spoke of missed dives the next day too. Fully agreed on the fullsuit as you mention due to experiences with little jellies, etc zapping you or even getting pushed into things due to current or idiot divers. If you get hot, just scoop some water in. Hopefully without jellies!

 

[cappyjon431]

that sounds like sea wasps! They are attracted to light and usually an issue at night around full moon. They are highly toxic. We arrived on Bonaire once right after a full moon and were told not to night dive for a couple of nights for that reason. We went down to dock that first night and saw a guy get out of the water with a big red whelt all the way across one of his legs, it was ugly! He was wearing a shortie and he was almost in tears from the pain. Just another reason to always wear a full suit!!!

robin

You are quite correct Robin. We had a few divers stung on the Pilot so badly that they could not dive for a couple of days after the stings (they had been stung on the upper lip, a very sensitive place and a place where swelling often impedes the ability to comfortably put a regulator into the mouth). I have been hit a few times and it is not pleasant.

When I was on the Pilot we purposely left the strobes and glow sticks OFF the hangbar and left the dive deck lights turned off as to not attract the beasties when we knew we were in an area that had a lot of them.

 

[diverdoug1]

We tend to skip a lot of the night dives, because my wife is very sensitive to sea wasps (one small sting will give here nausea and a fever). BTW we just got back from a week on the Aquacat and had a great time as well.