Ken -
Beautiful pictures and nice report. My husband and I were on the trip just prior to yours, and I absolutely adored the crew - they were truly the highlight of the trip for us. We were fortunate enough to have excellent conditions at The Boiler - we had "open boat" dives there that were phenomenal. Lots of manta interaction, though it sounds like you guys had better luck wth the sharks. We skipped a dive the last day and waited for Camila, from the crew, to get her break so that we could go find some mantas with her...we found a few very interactive rays, and she was entranced. What a wonderful sight to see - she told me beforehand that mantas were her favorite creature, we were so happy we were able to share it with her, as your trip was her last on the NE.
As an aside, I loved the boat/crew so much that I signed on for the Channel Islands trip in a few weeks - more expensive than day boats, for sure, but I'll be going it alone for the week and didn't relish the thought of being in a dorm by myself (well, NOT) for a week. I will be sharing a cabin with a mystery woman! I have been putting off the CI's since I moved out here last year because I didn't want to do a day trip wtih the drive up/back and the overnights never worked out for us. So, I finally jumped in with both feet - I'm poor but very excited!!
At any rate - just wanted to say, we totally concur with your report - great boat, great diving out there - the only true drawback was the tinny!!! I slipped a few times on that thing with a heavy Faber on my back - no, thank you....after that, we waited for the Zodiac.
Allison
