Nekton Rorqual 7/25/09 - 8/1/09

[DiveMaven]

It was the other Guests that were on the boat. The ones i refer to were the worst divers in history, they would lay on the reef, kick the coral, break coral and sponges off because they wanted there picture. It got so bad that on a night dive i was looking at a octopus while 4 feet off the bottom and they just swam up and hit me in the face with their first stage, didn't even bother to stop and just kept going as if nothing happened. I mean if they were beginning divers i could let it slide but through all their bragging i i found out they had hundreds of dives and very expensive cameras and made me cry to think of the hundreds of reefs they have demolished.

OMG, that sounds EXACTLY like the group that was on our NW Bahamas trip a few years ago!! Please tell me they weren't an older group from NJ! Was one of them named Herb?

 

[Shasta_man]

My trip also had "experienced" divers that harassed wildlife and thought nothing of destroying the area in the quest of a poor picture. In fact, the trip video for purchase included part of their harassment episode I witnessed. Imagine my surprise when I saw it after returning home. On a night dive under the pier, I came upon a whole group of divers milling about, chasing around a few fish. The divers in question had discovered a octopus holed up in debris. One diver gestured "give it to me" to the other. A snorkel was handed across and diver #1 started using it to poke and prod the octopus out of his hole. Disgusting. I swam in and waved at them to stop. I as well as others reported this conduct to the captain. He was appalled and said he would speak to them. No visible outcome. Their own descriptions of other encounters indicated more harassment.

To be clear, here's the rules of diving I use: NEVER chase and corner the critters - close to a discreet distance and enjoy their beauty, get your shot if appropriate and leave them alone; if they don't come out of the hole, THEY DON'T COME OUT OF THE HOLE. On a subsequent dive, I hid for five minutes in the dark, lights off, for a wary octopus to leave his hole, and was eventually rewarded with cool video of him watching for danger then free swimming. NEVER touch the critters, OK sea stars, cucumbers you can gently touch, otherwise leave them alone and enjoy their beauty; NEVER dismantle the reef or break any coral, fans, whips, whatever, staying away the distance your buoyancy skills allow (BTW, good bouyancy makes checking this stuff out and generally your diving sooo much easier, including air consumption)

Another dive. waited for another "experienced" diver, who didn't deign talking to lowly me during the trip, to finish shooting a seahorse. Then he turned and whoosh, silted the place out with kicked up white sand. What seahorse?

Same experience as Winguric on taking turns checking stuff out. Hovering what I thought was on the bottom checking something out when suddenly another diver obliviously appears underneath me. I just shoved them by the tank out of the way, them giving me this startled look. We have the whole damn ocean here! The same guy would drift into you and make no effort to move away. I find that can happen a lot. Always people that just bull their way through, their bouyancy sucks, their awareness sucks or they're just plain arrogant. The people in their group all know they're like this but nobody does anything. By the end of the trip, you're ready to shove these guys into next week over the slightest bump. I started diving thinking people dove as a team and were considerate of the critters but I've found that's not the case at all with too many.

 

[robint]

it happens everywhere, not just on the Nekton. I was just in Cozumel this past March and saw some of the worst divers ever in my 400+ dives. One lady used the coral to pull herself along on her dives. Seriously! I hope she got stings all over both hands. We only did 2 days of diving with her and her husband, not much better, and she did it every dive right in front of the DM who said NOTHING to her. There was another couple who came flying at us every time I would signal my hubby that I found something for him to photograph. The wife crashed into me or him over and over... we both finally shoved her back really hard and she looked at us like we were crazy. Duh!

That is one thing I hate about diving with a group and DM... there is always a numbskull or two in the group!! Our experiences on liveaboards have been MUCH much much better than otherwise. On our Nekton trips, we rarely every even saw other divers, or only at the end of the dive right under the boat.

 

[Wookie]

all the drug tests came back clean. way to go for a drug free crew! John Dixon has been out on the Pilot all this week due to the pilot losing both engines (this is not the first time this has happened) the pilot also lost the entire dive deck during a reposition, which is whats going to happen on the rorqual if they dont get the hydrolics fixed. They've been working on those for months. the engineer gets them fixed "good enough" and then they break again in a couple weeks and the crew has to stay up all night to help. Kris is very good at "looking busy" we actually wouldnt see him for days cause he was always sick. guess thats what you get when you hire someone who has no previous engineering experience. Get what you pay for i guess lol.

I guess I'm not too sure of your motivation here in bringing us this news, since you seem to be hiding behind a screen name, but you've outed the pilot for losing both engines, you've trashed both boats dive decks, and sullied the reputation of the engineer. You claim to know something about the drug test results, yet any company in the United States that even alludes to the results of testing is in such serious trouble that I can't imagine the only person in the company that knows the results of negative tests would tell you. That's right, only one person knows the results of testing, unless somebody pops positive. That person is not John Dixon, unless he administers the program himself.

A US flagged liveaboard is under such stringent drug testing rules, the company can't even say "never had a positive result". The Coast Guard is really cracking down on drug testing programs. Mine was audited 3 times in 2007, twice in 2008, and twice this year so far, but the year isn't over yet. Annual COI inspections are accompanied with a drug testing mini-audit.

I own a US flagged liveaboard. I have a drug testing program. I am the captain, and the president of the company. I authorized the program, and am the responsible party. With those qualifications, I am not allowed to know when a test is due, or for whom, or the results of the test. Only the program administrator knows those things.

I have no feelings toward the Nekton boats, they are neither competitors, nor clients, nor am I a customer, but I'm getting a little tired of folks hiding behind a screen name trashing the organization. I'm sure that they have their mechanical problems, all boats do. I'm sure they have crew issues, all boats do. The trick in this business is to manage your customers expectations. Not all boats are suitable for all guests. If you're looking for an Aggressor Fleet experience on a Nekton boat, you'll probably be disappointed. If you're looking for good value and great diving, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

So, 15 steps, I'm calling you out. Put up or shut up. Tell us who you are, and where you're getting your insider information, or crawl back under the rock you came from and let those who ride the boats post their experiences.

Frank Wasson
President, Spree Expeditions
Captain, M/V Spree.

 

[scubafanatic]

it happens everywhere, not just on the Nekton. I was just in Cozumel this past March and saw some of the worst divers ever in my 400+ dives. One lady used the coral to pull herself along on her dives. Seriously! I hope she got stings all over both hands. We only did 2 days of diving with her and her husband, not much better, and she did it every dive right in front of the DM who said NOTHING to her. There was another couple who came flying at us every time I would signal my hubby that I found something for him to photograph. The wife crashed into me or him over and over... we both finally shoved her back really hard and she looked at us like we were crazy. Duh!

That is one thing I hate about diving with a group and DM... there is always a numbskull or two in the group!! Our experiences on liveaboards have been MUCH much much better than otherwise. On our Nekton trips, we rarely every even saw other divers, or only at the end of the dive right under the boat.

...not to sound too elitest, but I tend to agree that divers on liveaboards tend to be of a substantially higher quality standard than the average resort type diver.....liveaboards attract the hardcore, experienced, professional diver who's there to dive-dive-dive, and who will get more dive experience in one week onboard than the average/typical resort diver will get in several years worth of diving!

 

[Desert_Diver]

...

I I own a US flagged liveaboard. I have a drug testing program. I am the captain, and the president of the company. I authorized the program, and am the responsible party. With those qualifications, I am not allowed to know when a test is due, or for whom, or the results of the test. Only the program administrator knows those things....

What is a program administrator? Is it the person who actually conducts the test?

I'm not quibbling or arguing, I just don't know anything about this subject.

Art

 

[Wookie]

What is a program administrator? Is it the person who actually conducts the test?

I'm not quibbling or arguing, I just don't know anything about this subject.

Art

The program administrator is designated by the authorizer (president or other officer of the corporation, (or "Operator" in USCG parlance)) to administrate the drug testing program. They use one of a few methods to draw names for randoms, or interface with the "consortuim", which is a group of small companies that get together and pay a fee for someone else to keep records, call names, etc. They are designated in writing, and they know all aspects of the program.

If someone pops, the captain is only told to remove the offender from his/or her safety sensitive position, not the reason. That doesn't mean they can't serve on the boat, just not in a safety sensitive position. Safety sensitive positions are any involving safety of the vessel or passengers. On the Spree, this does NOT include the Stewardess/Steward, unless they are a full time employee. The steward/stewardess has no duties in an emergency except to take care of themselves, as a passenger would. Most boats don't make a distinction, because the distinction itself is a PIA. You have to get the USCG to allow (in writing) a crewmember position to be non-safety sensitive. It's easier to test everyone.

I'll explain more later if wanted, I am summoned to breakfast.

Frank

 

[HouseofCards]

Being a crew member for 2 years I saw a LOT of the coral wrecking go on. It's very unfortunate and pains me to death to see it happen. It's kind of a tricky issue when it comes to reprimanding guests about this from a crew members stand point. On one hand they are destroying the reef and on the other hand they are directly putting money into my pocket. Some people get very offensive when you call them out on it as well. So I've found that the best solution to this issue is when other guests confront them about it. It's not that I just ignore the issue, usually I inform the captain and he makes the ultimate decision, but it's hard to not anger a paying customer by telling them their poor buoyancy or agressive camera tactics are harming the reef.

 

[chinacat46]

My worst experience with reef wreckers was in Milne Bay, PNG which has some of the most pristine reef I've ever seen till these people got there. There was a group of 12 from Indianapolis and 9 or 10 of them had cameras. I'd say 6 or 7 of them had no care at all about laying on anything to get a picture. I complained to the dive manager about it and he gave a talk to the whole boat(not calling anyone out) asking people to be careful, etc... Well of course the ones who were doing it just blew him off and continued laying on stuff. One woman layed down in some corallimorph which got thru her 3 mil suit in a few places and she got a nasty rash(way to go reef!). This took place at Tawali Resort not on a liveaboard.

 

[Shasta_man]

Unfortunately all of my bad experiences have been on liveaboards There have been good conscientious divers, but it hasn't been immune to bad divers for me. Only my personal experience here. It's a puzzling mix of people sometimes, with money to burn. Another guy on the Nekton trip liked to stick his strobe into all of the coral while trying to shoot something closeup. In the Solomons, one couple dove occaisonally, with the wife usually just swimming around the boat while we're anchored. In Palau, one lady did every dive with a death grip on the reg in her mouth the entire time, no joke. Her husband was renowned as the yo-yo, up and down the entire time. In Komodo, one guy didn't know what a Komodo dragon was, and his wife never ate anything but rice and bananas and looked like death warmed over. She hated the food, which was actually pretty darn good. And they left the boat to go to Vietnam! Talk about the last place to go if you only like Western food. HA HA HA...