Puerto Rico/St. Croix on the Nekton Rorqual

[osufhorn]

The west side of the island was reasonably clear, and under the pier was just fine 80-100', out further on the west side it went down to 60' and when we went around the north side it dropped to 15-20', however that was all due to surge from the tropical depression, so I'm sure it's fine now.

 

[Ed Jackson1]

I just got back from the St Croix trip. We had a great time. The bridge is great for photos. Here are some pictures I took. The one of the arrow crab won the weekly contest.

Captain Nelson told us that the boat is using one engine, but the other one is not broken. He said it has some problems so he is trying not to stress it by running it all the time. He does use it for docking. Nelson seemed disturbed that people thought he was doing something unsafe. I believe him and know that he would not put the guest in jeopardy. He is a captain and not a businessman. If he thought the boat was unsafe, he would never leave the dock.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010597.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010616copy.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010632.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010644.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010668.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010673.jpg

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http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0011037.jpg

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0011035.jpg

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http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb223/EdJackson1/St Croix Best 2007/M0010702.jpg

 

[robint]

Great Photos Ed! I particularly love the pink seahorse, the crab, the frogfish with lure out, and the seafan with all the flamingo tongues on it. Wow! Great job. Even if their weren't big critters, it looks like you hit the motherlode on small ones!!!

Thanks for posting your impressions of the trip also. It's nice to hear more than one assessment of an itinerary. Are you planning a full trip report?

robin

 

[osufhorn]

Great pictures! Glad to hear you had a great time. Like I said, I suspect with good weather this is a geat itinnerary. I also hope my comments weren't misconstrued. I never felt unsafe and don't think that Captain Nelson or the crew could have done any more to make the week enjoyable. However, I was dissappointed in what seemed to be a lack of support from the company for the crew.

 

[Trwmodela]

Ed Jackson....amazing photos thanks for posting.

 

[kelly7552]

Ed, OSUFhorn and all,

I just got back from the Rorqual on the christmas cruise. I took my two kids (14 & 16) and we had a great time. A few comments, We tried but never made it to the North of the USVI because the sea conditions and wind made it too rough. As a result, this trip was all about the West side of the USVI. We had 40-60 vis. except for the Pier which was close to 100 foot visability.

The Nitrox was still not working, in addition the night diving strobe was flooded and they were waiting for repair. We were able to work around this by placing Cyanamide sticks on the anchor line. Worked great for every night dive!

Captain Nelson was off for Christmas, so we had a crew member captain the boat. He was competent and I felt like we were in good hands. The crew was excellent and they made the trip fun. Come on, what could be bad about 5 dives a day?

This itinerary was probably not something I'd do again, unlike Belize on the Pilot which I did in February, this was good diving but not "to die for". Although, we saw some memorable sights like Seahorses, Flying Gunards, Porcupine fish, File Fish, spiney lobsters, sting rays, turtles, flounders, etc. etc. etc.

The best dive sites were the Fredricksted Pier, and sites Alien Nation, Sprat Hall. We saw 5 wrecks at 2 sites in Bulter bay. I'm not a great wreck person but I'm sure they were great! I had a close encounter with a turtle which was really fun. Two guests had a dolphin encounter, where two dolphins circled them left and returned a few times. They were thrilled and got the encounter on Film and pictures.

I can't speak well enough about the crew, they were fun, professional and they were easy to be around. When we needed a dive partner, we had enthusiatic responses from the crew. My son had specific dietary restrictions and the cook did an outstanding job for him.

This itinerary might be outstanding if the boat can reach the north coast, then it might be repeatable, but I beleive the prevailing winter winds make the north coast unreachable.

All in all we had a great time, with the caveat that I would have preferred to dive Nitrox.

I have some pictures from our trip (warning a lot of pictures )

USVI Nekton Diving



-Bill

 

[divingmedic]

It seems my assessment was not far off from osufhorn. But then again we were on the same trip and did not realize it.

 

[bperrybap]

Hi everybody,
My wife and I were on the Dec 15-22 trip with Ed. It was a fun week of diving with a great group.
I'd agree with Ed's comments and that Nelson was genuinely interested in keeping
us informed.
There were some pretty good photographers on board this week as evident by the
photo contest photos.
Here is a link to a WEB trip report my wife put together.
Bill and Terrie's PR StCroix Nekton Trip

--- bill

 

[robint]

Hi everybody,
My wife and I were on the Dec 15-22 trip with Ed. It was a fun week of diving with a great group.
I'd agree with Ed's comments and that Nelson was genuinely interested in keeping
us informed.
There were some pretty good photographers on board this week as evident by the
photo contest photos.
Here is a link to a WEB trip report my wife put together.
Bill and Terrie's PR StCroix Nekton Trip

--- bill

Nice trip report Bill and Terrie! I hope the Nekton decides to extend the dive season for this trip as it seems Winter weather is not the best for all the dive sites of St. Croix. I bet this would be great in March-April...I am still contemplating doing this itinerary eventually.

 

[Shark Whisperer]

I am heading out on the Rorqual in April...it's a couple of months away, but after reading the current posts, I'm a little worried on what's going on. Any updates?