pigletfish
Contributor
My husband and I took the Nimrod Explorer trip to the Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef from April 5th-11th. It was our second liveaboard experience, the first being a Komodo, Indonesia trip on the Mermaid in August 2003.
In retrospect, I see that we were naïve in one very key area as we booked the Nimrod trip: it never occurred to us to ask if the dives were guided. As it turns out, with up to 18 divers on board (17 on our trip), the Nimrod puts only one DM in the water on each dive. I personally did not feel comfortable with this. It seemed unsafe to me, diving as we were in open seas with some challenging conditions. I also felt we missed some interesting critters that a DM experienced with the sites could have pointed out to us. So, before I go into any further detail, I will start by saying that I do not recommend the Nimrod Explorer unless 1) you are a confident diver (swimming in current and surge, navigating in so-so visibility, etc), and 2) you like to explore independently without a DM in sight.
Here are the things I liked about the trip:
1) Pretty reefs with healthy and plentiful marine life, both macro and pelagics
2) Cool shark dive at Osprey Reef
3) Water temperature was in the low 80s F aahhh!
4) The 6 staff members on board were friendly and fun. Laurene in the Cairns office was also very nice and really went out of her way to help us when we needed to change our dates (we were originally booked on the trip leaving 2 weeks earlier).
5) We were booked with a great group of divers, which also made the trip more memorable and fun
Favorite dive sites: Pixie Pinnacle, Clam Garden, and Steves Bommie (all in the Ribbon Reefs).
Favorite critters seen: cuttlefish at Clam Garden, leaf scorpionfish at Andys Postcard, potato cod at North Horn (the shark dive), and anemonefish (seen on many dives, but especially loved the real clownfish seen at Clam Garden). We also saw schools of barracuda at Pixie Pinnacle and lionfish on a few occasions.
Here are the things I didnt like so much about the trip:
1) One DM for up to 18 divers (see above)
2) The visibility was not great, generally only 30-70 feet. (Underwater navigation skills are a must, because you quickly lose sight of the boat/mooring rope).
3) We spent 4 out of 6 nights making rough sea crossings, plus the boat swayed like crazy during our two days out at Osprey Reef. Seasickness was terrible for some people, and sleep was hard to come by for almost all of us. Several meals had to be eaten while the boat was motoring.
4) Conditions changed rapidly. At one site (not a drift dive), the current became so strong that divers were clinging to the reef and surfaced after about 20 minutes. The Nimrod then drove around looking for a better spot for the night dive but couldnt find one. We ended up back at that site, and only two divers dared to make the night dive. On the last day, we motored around for 6 hours looking for a suitable spot for a final dive. The dive became a night dive, at a spot we had not dived during the day, and we were warned that the conditions werent great. No thanks again only a couple of divers went in.
5) At the end of drift dives, you surface and wave your flag until spotted, then the dinghy comes out and tows in up to six people at a time, hanging onto ropes off the end of the dinghy. On yet another dive where conditions had deteriorated, the surge and current were quite strong at the surface, and it took 10 minutes for the dinghy to reach us. We were the last divers to grab the ropes, so we were at the end. Given this distance, the rough conditions, and some general confusion, I was not able to hand my camera up before the dinghy zoomed off toward the boat. My external flash was ripped off my camera and lost. My question is there a reason why a zodiac cannot be used? Being towed in by dinghy is not my idea of fun.
As for the boat itself, it is clean and comfortable, but somewhat small. (Our only comparison is the Mermaid, which held only 12 divers but had about 3 times as much common space, as well as a larger crew). The Nimrod was fine for 6 days, especially since we enjoyed the company of our fellow divers. A sun deck would have been nice, though. The beds were short my husband slept diagonally in our double, and some of the guys with twins ended up sleeping in the lounge so they could sprawl out more comfortably. I appreciated the happy accommodation of my vegetarian diet, but heard some grumbling from others when some of the meals ended up being vegetarian for everyone. (Hard core carnivores take note). In my opinion, the food was good and plentiful.
Overall everyone on board seemed to enjoy the trip, and of course everything is a matter of personal tastes and preferences. My main goal in this post is just to let people know what to expect, so they can make their own decisions. I am glad to have had this experience, but wont rush back to Australia anytime soon. I would return to Komodo in a heartbeat, but of course there are still so many other places to visit as well
Happy diving!
In retrospect, I see that we were naïve in one very key area as we booked the Nimrod trip: it never occurred to us to ask if the dives were guided. As it turns out, with up to 18 divers on board (17 on our trip), the Nimrod puts only one DM in the water on each dive. I personally did not feel comfortable with this. It seemed unsafe to me, diving as we were in open seas with some challenging conditions. I also felt we missed some interesting critters that a DM experienced with the sites could have pointed out to us. So, before I go into any further detail, I will start by saying that I do not recommend the Nimrod Explorer unless 1) you are a confident diver (swimming in current and surge, navigating in so-so visibility, etc), and 2) you like to explore independently without a DM in sight.
Here are the things I liked about the trip:
1) Pretty reefs with healthy and plentiful marine life, both macro and pelagics
2) Cool shark dive at Osprey Reef
3) Water temperature was in the low 80s F aahhh!
4) The 6 staff members on board were friendly and fun. Laurene in the Cairns office was also very nice and really went out of her way to help us when we needed to change our dates (we were originally booked on the trip leaving 2 weeks earlier).
5) We were booked with a great group of divers, which also made the trip more memorable and fun
Favorite dive sites: Pixie Pinnacle, Clam Garden, and Steves Bommie (all in the Ribbon Reefs).
Favorite critters seen: cuttlefish at Clam Garden, leaf scorpionfish at Andys Postcard, potato cod at North Horn (the shark dive), and anemonefish (seen on many dives, but especially loved the real clownfish seen at Clam Garden). We also saw schools of barracuda at Pixie Pinnacle and lionfish on a few occasions.
Here are the things I didnt like so much about the trip:
1) One DM for up to 18 divers (see above)
2) The visibility was not great, generally only 30-70 feet. (Underwater navigation skills are a must, because you quickly lose sight of the boat/mooring rope).
3) We spent 4 out of 6 nights making rough sea crossings, plus the boat swayed like crazy during our two days out at Osprey Reef. Seasickness was terrible for some people, and sleep was hard to come by for almost all of us. Several meals had to be eaten while the boat was motoring.
4) Conditions changed rapidly. At one site (not a drift dive), the current became so strong that divers were clinging to the reef and surfaced after about 20 minutes. The Nimrod then drove around looking for a better spot for the night dive but couldnt find one. We ended up back at that site, and only two divers dared to make the night dive. On the last day, we motored around for 6 hours looking for a suitable spot for a final dive. The dive became a night dive, at a spot we had not dived during the day, and we were warned that the conditions werent great. No thanks again only a couple of divers went in.
5) At the end of drift dives, you surface and wave your flag until spotted, then the dinghy comes out and tows in up to six people at a time, hanging onto ropes off the end of the dinghy. On yet another dive where conditions had deteriorated, the surge and current were quite strong at the surface, and it took 10 minutes for the dinghy to reach us. We were the last divers to grab the ropes, so we were at the end. Given this distance, the rough conditions, and some general confusion, I was not able to hand my camera up before the dinghy zoomed off toward the boat. My external flash was ripped off my camera and lost. My question is there a reason why a zodiac cannot be used? Being towed in by dinghy is not my idea of fun.
As for the boat itself, it is clean and comfortable, but somewhat small. (Our only comparison is the Mermaid, which held only 12 divers but had about 3 times as much common space, as well as a larger crew). The Nimrod was fine for 6 days, especially since we enjoyed the company of our fellow divers. A sun deck would have been nice, though. The beds were short my husband slept diagonally in our double, and some of the guys with twins ended up sleeping in the lounge so they could sprawl out more comfortably. I appreciated the happy accommodation of my vegetarian diet, but heard some grumbling from others when some of the meals ended up being vegetarian for everyone. (Hard core carnivores take note). In my opinion, the food was good and plentiful.
Overall everyone on board seemed to enjoy the trip, and of course everything is a matter of personal tastes and preferences. My main goal in this post is just to let people know what to expect, so they can make their own decisions. I am glad to have had this experience, but wont rush back to Australia anytime soon. I would return to Komodo in a heartbeat, but of course there are still so many other places to visit as well
Happy diving!
