Nekton Rorqual PR/St Croix Quick Report

[Shasta_man]

Just returned from the trip. I will write a MUCH more detailed report of pros/cons within the next week or two.

I'm writing this so these will be my opinions, not necessarily matching anyone elses. To frame my comments, I have been on a few liveaboards in the Pacific, my interest is in seeing the beautiful underwater life as is, not technical statistics, am reasonably comfortable in the water and travel from California. This was my only Caribbean dive experience so I have no comparison to other Caribbean sites or basic weather.

Here is a summary:

- Overall: Enjoyed the trip. Glad I went.
- Boat was more than adequate though "dive directly off the boat" and with no local guides means tradeoffs. I think I prefer diving off skiffs and having guides to get max benefit from your time.
- Diving experience ranged from OK to pretty darn good.
- One day spent on advertised trip destination St Croix North side, with rest on West side. Group decided to stick with St Croix as PR diving was going to be iffey due to weather.
- Based on common sense, anecdotal info and position of St Croix island as well as Vieques, I think Nekton's focus of the trip destination is misleading. It appears to me that the areas they focus on will always be subject to tough weather making accessing them a somewhat rare situation. That's not at all how it is positioned in the literature. It should be "Trip to St Croix West side, with potential access to North side". Vieques sites are all open ocean so they are all tough. That would be a much more fair representation to decide where to spend my money. Diving right off the boat means you must be able to anchor on the site rather than in a sheltered area and take the skiffs momentarily into the rough water to dive.
- Land: area in very poor state. Everyones property in poor state with random piles of debris and trash. Not point of the trip though.

Would I go back? No.

Why? Crew and boat OK though I prefer different liveaboard style. For my location, too much time and effort to get there and, for money spent, general diving quality better elsewhere.

Oh yes, forgot to mention: They must anchor off the city every night according to St Croix rules. Part of my liveaboard experience is anchoring in different spots. However, issue was that they held outdoor concerts every night this week from 9:00 PM -> 3:00 AM. Yes, 3:00 AM. 100 MPH Caribbean bass beat clearly felt on the side of the boat. Exhaust yourself by diving.

More later.

 

[robint]

wow, thanks for your report. It definitely seems that the diving around St. Croix is going to be limited in winter due to weather...
Pictures? How many divers? Food? What did you see? More, more, more!

Funny you say you like the way they dive off the liveaboards in Pacific better, i.e. off a skiff with dive guide. We just did our first liveaboard trip like that, to Palau on Eco Explorer, and yes it was nice in some ways..... but I much prefer diving off the back of the boat, my own dive time, my own dive profile. Although the dive guides are necessary in Pacific with currents and navigation issues, finding boat, etc. I never felt like we needed that when diving off the Nekton in the Caribbean. The diving is very tame compared to Palau!
We have also done liveaboard diving off Calif and no DM gets in the water there, ever, unless someone dies and they have to retrieve a body. Divers are told they need to learn to navigate alone or they don't need to get in the water. I felt like the diving in Palau was a bit "babysitting" for that reason. Just a matter of preference I guess. I am glad we had them in Palau but don't think I want them most places we dive. As photographers, me and my hubby tend to move slowly and if we find something of interest we may spend the entire dive in one area -- dive guides don't like that.

Anyhow, thanks for letting us know your opinion of the diving!

 

[Shasta_man]

Yes, more information will come in a comprehensive report. I intend to discuss the issues in further detail to see the pros and cons of what I encountered. There isn't a right or wrong but it can mean different experiences.

Without going too far into it yet, navigation isn't my primary concern with diving directly off the boat. It's that I've found that dive guides will know the area well and know the creatures well. The guide can take you right to the creature you want to find or identify unfamiliar creatures. If you are very experienced you know what to look for or what you're seeing. If not, then you are missing some of the experience you could be getting. It's not right or wrong, just a consequence of that method.

I understand the I dive when I want to. I like that. However, I got both on the Bilikiki for example. They had set times to dive but you dove literally a hundred feet away off the skiff. Miss the group? No sweat. They'll be back in a minute to drop you in over the same site. Come up when done and you were easily transported back to the ship. No energy or time spent swimming back. I always navigated back to the boat. With the lower viz, it was navigate back and then look for the dark spot or just listen for the compressor. That was another strange thing. The compressor was loud underwater. Not the tranquil dive setting. Not wrong just a type of experience.

I'll give my experience and what the pros and cons are of that both for experienced liveaboarders and people interested in it. The choices they make and methods used dictate the experience you get from little things to big things. The connection between those things isn't always obvious.

 

[robint]

Without going too far into it yet, navigation isn't my primary concern with diving directly off the boat. It's that I've found that dive guides will know the area well and know the creatures well. The guide can take you right to the creature you want to find or identify unfamiliar creatures. If you are very experienced you know what to look for or what you're seeing. If not, then you are missing some of the experience you could be getting. It's not right or wrong, just a consequence of that method.

I perfectly understand what you mean as this was your first Caribbean experience and the creatures are different from Pacific. I have the exact opposite experience! We have been diving for years in Fla, Coz, and rest of Caribbean so we are very familiar with the fishlife. On the other hand, we have only 2 tropical Pacific trips, Kona and Palau, and if we didn't have a dive guide for those, I may not have seen even 1/4 of the stuff I did see. BUT I found both locations that the dive guides tend to rush me..... I can't shoot video effectively if I have to constantly catch up with the group because I stopped for a minute or two. It's just different kind of diving experience!

 

[ShanaLyns]

My husband and I are thinking of booking a week on the Nekton Rorqual to Medio Reef in April. I'm really interested in hearing what you've got to say about the boat, staff, etc.

I do hope you post your report.

 

[Shasta_man]

ShanaLyns, I will definitely be posting. Hearing real experiences helps decide whether it fits YOUR idea of diving/travel. The board helps me so I try to do the same.

BTW, while I can make no guarantees, people were booked on this trip right up to literally the day before.

Robint: you've already come to understand part of my message (if you will dive on one spot all day, guides might not be the right thing for you). I just add that there can be degrees within guides. Our Palau experience was mostly great and it wasn't the dive guides that hurried us, it was the current! As you know! Which was what makes it the great dive area it is. My point in presenting my info is that you don't know that you're missing anything until you know the flip side, as you've found. Then you can decide if it matters.

Anyhoo, we're on the same page. Back with the trip report soon.

 

[robint]

ShanaLyns, I will definitely be posting. Hearing real experiences helps decide whether it fits YOUR idea of diving/travel. The board helps me so I try to do the same.

BTW, while I can make no guarantees, people were booked on this trip right up to literally the day before.

Robint: you've already come to understand part of my message (if you will dive on one spot all day, guides might not be the right thing for you). I just add that there can be degrees within guides. Our Palau experience was mostly great and it wasn't the dive guides that hurried us, it was the current! As you know! Which was what makes it the great dive area it is. My point in presenting my info is that you don't know that you're missing anything until you know the flip side, as you've found. Then you can decide if it matters.

Anyhoo, we're on the same page. Back with the trip report soon.

glad you got what I was trying to say.
It's funny though, when we got back from Palau one of the first comments I made to my hubby is that I can't wait to be on the Nekton again and go dive without a guide! It was the ONLY negative for me about the whole Palau experience.... Ron and I both felt rushed (when we weren't hooked in on the reef). The dive guides completely control the dive times, when you drift, when you hook in, when you go up.... I just missed the dive freedom I got with the Nekton experience.

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Based on common sense, anecdotal info and position of St Croix island as well as Vieques, I think Nekton's focus of the trip destination is misleading. It appears to me that the areas they focus on will always be subject to tough weather making accessing them a somewhat rare situation. That's not at all how it is positioned in the literature. It should be "Trip to St Croix West side, with potential access to North side".

Shasta_man- This comment caught my eye when reading your report because we had a somewhat similar thought about our trip on the Pilot 12/15-12/22 in Belize. On their itinerary they say you will get a full day of diving on the last day (Friday) and then they head back to port during the night. Instead they actually only let you dive 2 morning dives and then they head back to port and you spend the whole night sitting in port on the boat. Had we known this, we would have just gone home that Saturday. Instead we booked a hotel room for one night in Belize City which was kind of a waste. In all actuality, we didn't get to dive at all on Friday on our trip but that's a whole other story. You are right though, things either aren't up to date or are misleading.