Nekton Pilot to Cay Sal Bank August 22-29: anyone from here going?

[DebbyDiver]

Yes indeed I'll be posting some. Maybe you and Tim and any of the other folks going on YOUR trip would like to meet for beers or dinner one night and I'll bring the laptop so you can see more than what I'll post on here.

I think my max depth was 127 but y'all will be going a LOT deeper with your rebreathers. The Blue Holes are 300-400' deep. The blue holes seem to be between (if memory serves me correctly) between 25' and 60' at the rim, depending on the hole.

Once I unpack and get out my logbook I'll tell you some MUST DIVE spots that you need to request from the captain! One that is not such a pretty dive site was maybe the BEST dive because of the animal life!

We saw sharks, HUGE HUGE HUGE lobsters, big huge crabs, way too many lionfish, fish fish fish everywhere. It was a great experience and probably half of the folks onboard were repeat customers not just of the Pilot but also of that itinerary.

The boat is a bit shabby and showing its age, and the crew was down by three so the crew was REALLY working very, very hard. Food was good and plentiful and the cabins are small but beds are comfortable and you have your own a/c unit. My only complaint all week is that I had the roommate from hell but if that is my only complaint then it was a pretty good week! I just spent all of my non-sleeping time hanging out with the NICE people onboard.

I just don't know what y'all are going to do with your RBs and spare bottles because the dive deck really is crammed. I timed my dives so that I didn't personally feel crammed, but the gear was packed in solid.

 

[jdpm3]

Debby - it was great to meet you and thanks for turning me on to Scuba Board. I am going to start working on my pictures today. That should take a while since we were able to take so many. The trip was great and I hope we get to dive with you again...

Jeff Phillips

 

[cappyjon431]

So nice to hear that it was a good trip. After hearing all the negative drama on other threads it is nice to hear the experiences of guests who have been out on the boat recently. Looking forward to pics and trip reports.

 

[robint]

So nice to hear that it was a good trip. After hearing all the negative drama on other threads it is nice to hear the experiences of guests who have been out on the boat recently. Looking forward to pics and trip reports.

ditto! After all the negative postings lately it is nice to hear something good. I am looking forward to your trip reports and photos! We really loved the Cay Sal Bank itinerary when we did it back in 2006 and hope to do it again sometime.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Thanks for the info Debby!

When you get your pictures together, definitely let me know, and I'd love to get together, hear some of your stories from the trip, see the pics and share a cocktail.

With regard to room on the dive deck, I don't think it's going to be too much of a problem. We were on the trip last year, and it worked out ok. Each rebreather takes up less space than a set of 80s, and our pony bottles fit comfortably in the cubicle underneath our spot.

Also Debby, keep in mind that last year, I was generally only doing two dives a day. Because I can stay down longer with the rebreather, my average dive was 2+ hours each, so one long dive in the morning and one long dive in the afternoon worked out great for me. Also, on the shallow dives, I was doing 3+ hour dives. So consequently, less dives each day, makes a little less room on the dive deck more bearable, and your generally not in too much of a hurry to get on the dive deck.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Debby - it was great to meet you and thanks for turning me on to Scuba Board. I am going to start working on my pictures today. That should take a while since we were able to take so many. The trip was great and I hope we get to dive with you again...

Jeff Phillips

Jeff it was wonderful diving and hanging out with you and Tracy!!!! Please come on over to the Florida Conch section of ScubaBoard...I see lots of diving together in our future!!!

Thanks for the info Debby!

When you get your pictures together, definitely let me know, and I'd love to get together, hear some of your stories from the trip, see the pics and share a cocktail.

With regard to room on the dive deck, I don't think it's going to be too much of a problem. We were on the trip last year, and it worked out ok. Each rebreather takes up less space than a set of 80s, and our pony bottles fit comfortably in the cubicle underneath our spot.

Also Debby, keep in mind that last year, I was generally only doing two dives a day. Because I can stay down longer with the rebreather, my average dive was 2+ hours each, so one long dive in the morning and one long dive in the afternoon worked out great for me. Also, on the shallow dives, I was doing 3+ hour dives. So consequently, less dives each day, makes a little less room on the dive deck more bearable, and your generally not in too much of a hurry to get on the dive deck.

Adrian, are you going to be in town next weekend? I'm starting to set up my weekend dives now and yes I'll have pics ready for showing by then! Let's see when Tim is available too and anyone else local you know who is on your trip. Thanks for explaining about how the rebreathers fit, you are right that you won't have any problems. You are going to have such a blast, just make sure you bring a whole bunch of big media cards!!!

 

[tltracy]

Debby... glad to hear you had a great time. I did too when I was on the boat twice before. I would love to see your pictures, not sure if you post them here or FB but I'd love to see them.

I wasn't thinking the Saturday when they canceled my trip... I should have reschedule to next week with you and H2O Gal. I didn't have my head on straight until Wednesday but by then it'd have been pushing my luck with the boss.

So I've requested a refund from Nekton and we'll see if they ever respond to my emails... probably have to start putting together a terse letter

 

[DebbyDiver]

Theresa, I'll post a few of them online but there are so many, I'd love to get together for a beer or lunch or dinner or something some time and share them!

I hope you get some satisfaction with them. I also hope they get the boat back into pristine shape and continue successfully. I really, truly had a great time and the staff busted their butts for us and were so friendly.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Adrian, are you going to be in town next weekend? I'm starting to set up my weekend dives now and yes I'll have pics ready for showing by then! Let's see when Tim is available too and anyone else local you know who is on your trip. Thanks for explaining about how the rebreathers fit, you are right that you won't have any problems. You are going to have such a blast, just make sure you bring a whole bunch of big media cards!!!

Debby, I will definitely be in town next weekend, so keep me posted - thanks!

As far as media cards, I'm currently using a 16GB card, which even with my 12 MP Canon, I believe I can still store a few thousand pics, so I should have no problem with capacity. Either way, I'll definitely take a laptop with me, and I always download my pics at the end of the day, that way, even if I have a problem with my memory cards, they're on the computer.

BTW, last year between topside and underwater pics, I took something like 1500 pics!

 

[SFLDiver3445]

I wasn't thinking the Saturday when they canceled my trip... I should have reschedule to next week with you and H2O Gal. I didn't have my head on straight until Wednesday but by then it'd have been pushing my luck with the boss.

So I've requested a refund from Nekton and we'll see if they ever respond to my emails... probably have to start putting together a terse letter

Tracy, doesn't Nekton have a no refund policy? Last year when I booked with them, they verbally told me I could reschedule if the trip got canceled, but no refunds. I took a chance and didn't get the trip insurance last year, however, this year I decided to go the insurance route, that way, I would have no problems.

Adrian