kimbalabala
Contributor
Ok, I'll admit it up front - I'm a sissy - I like to look "presentable" on occasion - I like a little bit of privacy. Got that out of the way ...
Last week we were on the Morning Star. Our captain was Brandon, cook was Aileen, dive master was Christy, other crew were Carliss, Tim and Wade. About the crew ... Christy gave great dive briefings, Aileen made more food than we could consume, the captain was always ready to share fun facts and chat about just about anything from marine stuff to music. Carliss, Tim and Wade were very helpful in getting me back on the boat! The boat's major failing (in my opinion) is that there's just no place to grab hold when you're getting out of the water and back on the boat. On the right there is the rope that is the tag line (where some boats have a diagonal rail to grab), nothing on the left at all, and then there are the horizontal rails on deck (once you get that far). I'm 5' 1", weigh 120 pounds and I'm 52 years old and I'm not in as good of shape as I thought - so I really had a hard time climbing those steps (7 or 8) out of the water - especially when we had some rocking and rolling going on (which was a good deal of the time). But the crew worked with me and we decided they'd just grab me and hoist me out if/when I had difficulty and it worked fine. I took full foot fins and regret that - I think it would have been easier if I'd had my boots instead of just socks.
This particular boat was one of those referred to as "camping at sea". My husband and I slept in the galley area - which was more roomy but provided less privacy. I did a lot of my changing in my bunk rather than wait for the changing area to be available. My understanding is that there are pros and cons with sleeping in each of the areas. I'm not unhappy with where we were - we had plenty of space and that was nice.
Vanity ... feel free to make fun of me or think how idiotic I am, but I don't think I'll ever do a vacation where I have to look like crap for 7 straight days again!! There wasn't a single opportunity to even dry my hair and look "good" for 10 minutes!! I know I'm not supposed to worry about that stuff - but I really look bad with no makeup and my hair plastered to my head. Also, because it was unseasonable chilly and windy we all ended up wearing our long sleeves and pants pretty much every day - and most of us had only brought one pair of pants - so I lived in the same clothes (when I wasn't diving) for 7 days. It would have paid to check the weather, including the predicted wind directions and speed (if it can be predicted accurately).
It was loads of fun to see sharks and NOT be on a shark dive! By the time that the shark dive came around I had seen so many sharks that it was nearly "old news" - but it was still fun to see so many in one place. The "washing machine" was lots of fun - and I got slammed into the walls a couple of times (not hard - no damage) and tumbled around a few times. The reef in the washing machine area is really healthy and pretty. There were some dives that the reef was pretty beat up - and we're not sure if it's because the lion fish have eaten so much of the young fish or if it's hurricane's or what. These areas are far enough away from main ports that I don't believe it's because divers have damaged it.
All in all, the diving was good. We didn't do the night dives mostly because we were too cold and too old (but there were older people diving at night - wait a minute, I think we really were the oldest there!). We also sat out the last day to let our gear dry (that was the day they did the Blue Hole and some people saw some pretty cool stuff - shark, turtle, wray). I'm glad we experienced Blackbeard's but I'm not sure I'm up for a second time around. There was one woman who was doing her 13 or 14th trip with them!!! It was a good experience.
Last week we were on the Morning Star. Our captain was Brandon, cook was Aileen, dive master was Christy, other crew were Carliss, Tim and Wade. About the crew ... Christy gave great dive briefings, Aileen made more food than we could consume, the captain was always ready to share fun facts and chat about just about anything from marine stuff to music. Carliss, Tim and Wade were very helpful in getting me back on the boat! The boat's major failing (in my opinion) is that there's just no place to grab hold when you're getting out of the water and back on the boat. On the right there is the rope that is the tag line (where some boats have a diagonal rail to grab), nothing on the left at all, and then there are the horizontal rails on deck (once you get that far). I'm 5' 1", weigh 120 pounds and I'm 52 years old and I'm not in as good of shape as I thought - so I really had a hard time climbing those steps (7 or 8) out of the water - especially when we had some rocking and rolling going on (which was a good deal of the time). But the crew worked with me and we decided they'd just grab me and hoist me out if/when I had difficulty and it worked fine. I took full foot fins and regret that - I think it would have been easier if I'd had my boots instead of just socks.
This particular boat was one of those referred to as "camping at sea". My husband and I slept in the galley area - which was more roomy but provided less privacy. I did a lot of my changing in my bunk rather than wait for the changing area to be available. My understanding is that there are pros and cons with sleeping in each of the areas. I'm not unhappy with where we were - we had plenty of space and that was nice.
Vanity ... feel free to make fun of me or think how idiotic I am, but I don't think I'll ever do a vacation where I have to look like crap for 7 straight days again!! There wasn't a single opportunity to even dry my hair and look "good" for 10 minutes!! I know I'm not supposed to worry about that stuff - but I really look bad with no makeup and my hair plastered to my head. Also, because it was unseasonable chilly and windy we all ended up wearing our long sleeves and pants pretty much every day - and most of us had only brought one pair of pants - so I lived in the same clothes (when I wasn't diving) for 7 days. It would have paid to check the weather, including the predicted wind directions and speed (if it can be predicted accurately).
It was loads of fun to see sharks and NOT be on a shark dive! By the time that the shark dive came around I had seen so many sharks that it was nearly "old news" - but it was still fun to see so many in one place. The "washing machine" was lots of fun - and I got slammed into the walls a couple of times (not hard - no damage) and tumbled around a few times. The reef in the washing machine area is really healthy and pretty. There were some dives that the reef was pretty beat up - and we're not sure if it's because the lion fish have eaten so much of the young fish or if it's hurricane's or what. These areas are far enough away from main ports that I don't believe it's because divers have damaged it.
All in all, the diving was good. We didn't do the night dives mostly because we were too cold and too old (but there were older people diving at night - wait a minute, I think we really were the oldest there!). We also sat out the last day to let our gear dry (that was the day they did the Blue Hole and some people saw some pretty cool stuff - shark, turtle, wray). I'm glad we experienced Blackbeard's but I'm not sure I'm up for a second time around. There was one woman who was doing her 13 or 14th trip with them!!! It was a good experience.
