robint
Contributor
Trip Report - Nekton Rorqual, Medio Reef itinerary, April 19-26th, 2008
Our full report with photos is here: http://www.rnrscuba.net/NektonRorqual_TripReport.html
a summary of the week:
It was a fantastic week of diving on the Nekton Rorqual. This was our 2nd trip with Nekton, last trip was 2 yrs ago on the Pilot.
Both boats are really the same as far as the guests are concerned. Rooms are big by boat standards with a private bath in each, plenty of storage under bed for luggage, and an open mini-closet with shelves for clothing, toiletries, etc. Each room as electrical outlets for charging batteries if you don't want to do that out in salon. We usually charged batteries in the room during mealtime and Ron charged his laptop out in salon in the evening while reviewing the day's photos.
Saturday night the boat left harbor a little bit late as they were still trying to get the new nitrox compressor installed and running. It just wasn't to be, so the boat left harbor and we were off on our adventure.
Day 1 (Sunday) was the same schedule that the Cay Sal itinerary does - Tuna Alley and Victory reefs. However, instead of doing a night dive there, Capt Tucker decided to go ahead and shoot for a long overnight run to get us down to Medio Reef area Monday am.
Days 2-4 (Mon-Wed) We did all our dives in the Medio Reef area where only a 2 pins had been put down. A few crew members along with Tucker went out each morning in one of the skiffs to dive and decide on new pin locations. Once a new site was found, they would put down a pin to be used by us the next day. This was great! We got to dive virgin sites and we actually got to vote on names for them. Diving was fantastic and water was clear - 80-100' vis at each site.
Day 5 (Thurs) The boat moved over to Cay Sal Bank to dive 2 of the Blue Holes - Big Hole and Silversides. Big Hole is known for its shark population and it didn't disappoint. We had a good dozen reef sharks with us for each dive, circling around and eyeing each diver. Very cool! After the second dive at Silversides the boat left for a long overnight run back to Bimini.
Day 6 (Fri) Unfortunately, the wind we had experienced was part of an ugly weather front moving off Fla coast. An ugly headwind made the ride very rough, as in everyone was green rough. After bouncing along into a stiff headwind for several hours, the crew realized that progress wasn't being made as it should and the boat engine was shut off to fix a stearing problem. We ended up not arriving at Bimini by breakfast as planned. We did get in a few dives at Hawksbill, however, even with the ugly wind blowing.
All in all, the Medio Reef itinerary is excellent. There were gorgeous reefs in that area, plus great fishlife and diversity. We even discovered that it must be a nursery for sharks and we encountered dozens of groups of baby sharks each day at different sites. One group we counted 42 babies!
There were also turtles on every dive and many mating couples at the surface. Current was non-existent at most sites, also. This is a great itinerary for new divers as well as more seasoned divers. And for photographers and videographers (like me and Ron) - this itinerary is Paradise!
The full report has more details and photos.
For all the trip photos go here: <FONT FACE="kRISTeN ITC">Photos
I think everyone enjoyed the trip. We had only 17 guests and over half of those are return Nekton divers. A few of the guests had been on other liveaboards and all said they are fans of the Nekton now because of the larger boat, the fantastic crew, and the more casual atmosphere. We had a great time and will return.
a few photos:
robin
Our full report with photos is here: http://www.rnrscuba.net/NektonRorqual_TripReport.html
a summary of the week:
It was a fantastic week of diving on the Nekton Rorqual. This was our 2nd trip with Nekton, last trip was 2 yrs ago on the Pilot.
Both boats are really the same as far as the guests are concerned. Rooms are big by boat standards with a private bath in each, plenty of storage under bed for luggage, and an open mini-closet with shelves for clothing, toiletries, etc. Each room as electrical outlets for charging batteries if you don't want to do that out in salon. We usually charged batteries in the room during mealtime and Ron charged his laptop out in salon in the evening while reviewing the day's photos.
Saturday night the boat left harbor a little bit late as they were still trying to get the new nitrox compressor installed and running. It just wasn't to be, so the boat left harbor and we were off on our adventure.
Day 1 (Sunday) was the same schedule that the Cay Sal itinerary does - Tuna Alley and Victory reefs. However, instead of doing a night dive there, Capt Tucker decided to go ahead and shoot for a long overnight run to get us down to Medio Reef area Monday am.
Days 2-4 (Mon-Wed) We did all our dives in the Medio Reef area where only a 2 pins had been put down. A few crew members along with Tucker went out each morning in one of the skiffs to dive and decide on new pin locations. Once a new site was found, they would put down a pin to be used by us the next day. This was great! We got to dive virgin sites and we actually got to vote on names for them. Diving was fantastic and water was clear - 80-100' vis at each site.
Day 5 (Thurs) The boat moved over to Cay Sal Bank to dive 2 of the Blue Holes - Big Hole and Silversides. Big Hole is known for its shark population and it didn't disappoint. We had a good dozen reef sharks with us for each dive, circling around and eyeing each diver. Very cool! After the second dive at Silversides the boat left for a long overnight run back to Bimini.
Day 6 (Fri) Unfortunately, the wind we had experienced was part of an ugly weather front moving off Fla coast. An ugly headwind made the ride very rough, as in everyone was green rough. After bouncing along into a stiff headwind for several hours, the crew realized that progress wasn't being made as it should and the boat engine was shut off to fix a stearing problem. We ended up not arriving at Bimini by breakfast as planned. We did get in a few dives at Hawksbill, however, even with the ugly wind blowing.
All in all, the Medio Reef itinerary is excellent. There were gorgeous reefs in that area, plus great fishlife and diversity. We even discovered that it must be a nursery for sharks and we encountered dozens of groups of baby sharks each day at different sites. One group we counted 42 babies!
There were also turtles on every dive and many mating couples at the surface. Current was non-existent at most sites, also. This is a great itinerary for new divers as well as more seasoned divers. And for photographers and videographers (like me and Ron) - this itinerary is Paradise! The full report has more details and photos.
For all the trip photos go here: <FONT FACE="kRISTeN ITC">Photos
I think everyone enjoyed the trip. We had only 17 guests and over half of those are return Nekton divers. A few of the guests had been on other liveaboards and all said they are fans of the Nekton now because of the larger boat, the fantastic crew, and the more casual atmosphere. We had a great time and will return.
a few photos:
robin
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