Does anyone have information on Liveaboards?

[cruzegirl]

Hi all,

I thought I read here before of someone having gone on a liveaboard diving cruise but now can't find the thread.... Has anyone gone on the Aggressor dive cruise or the Nekton dive cruise? I've gotten brochures but wonder what your personal experiences have been.... :p

[Hilary]

Hi Cruzegirl, I think you might be thinking of my recent trip report of my Nekton cruise to Belize in December. When we were faced with choosing between the Peter Hughes, the Aggressor and the Nekton boats, there were a few things that made the Nekton cruise much more appealing to us. Here are the things that we considered when making our decision:

 

1) Nekton boats are SWATH design and better for motion sickness issues than a traditional hull. This was very important to me as I have serious motion sickness problems and wear a patch on boats and airplanes. In Belize we had one afternoon/evening of a storm going through. After watching the Peter Hughes boat pitch and yaw horribly in the water while we ate dinner and felt very little motion, there is no question we made the right decision.

 

2) Nekton was almost $1000 per person cheaper in Belize than the other boats (Aggressor and Peter Hughes), and for that price savings, the idea of 32 divers vs. 18 seemed like an excellent trade off. In reality, we had 14 divers on our Nekton cruise, so the bang for our buck was huge.

 

3) Nekton is flagged US which means their boats go in for an extensive USCG inspection once a year. The Peter Hughes boats are flagged elsewhere, and the Aggressor boats are independently owned and flagged elsewhere, so not required to conform to USCG safety standards.

 

4) Nekton is owned and operated by Americans, and I like to support American businesses if I have a choice.

 

5) We really liked the layout of the Nekton boats in the brochure. After spending a week aboard the Pilot, we were extremely impressed with how easy it was to dive from her, the spaced she offered, how big the cabins were, the excellent food, the outstanding crew, and the comfort we felt the entire trip.

 

6) The Aggressor fleet offers a more upscale experience than the Nekton boats, but being pampered didn't seem like a priority for us. After doing the Nekton cruise, I can't imagine how much more pampered we would have been on the Aggressor boat, except that perhaps the alcohol would have been included. You have to BYOB on Nekton boats, which wasn't a big deal for us since we aren't big drinkers.

 

Daily life on the Nekton Pilot was very casual, which was wonderful. We didn't wear shoes for an entire week and the only time we were showered and dry was after our last dive of the day. The rest of the time we were in bathing suits/shorts and t-shirts doing an SI. Our cabins were kept impecably clean, the toilets were like regular ones (except they did have the standard marine toilet rules), the shower was a regular size, we had a queen sized bed, plenty of space to put our clothing (shorts and t-shirts), and there was always someplace to go to relax. The top deck is a huge sun deck where we would either relax in the sunshine or bubble-watch with the crew. There were 2 large camera tables on the middle deck, along with a salon and dining area to relax in, write in your log book, watch a movie, visit with folks, or read if you wanted.

 

Our days went like this: Get up at around 7am for breakfast. Dive briefing at 8am on the sun deck. "Pool open", diving until 11:45. First dive at 8:15. SI for a little over an hour to enjoy a warm cookie for a snack. Second dive at 10:30am. Lunch at noon, move to new site. Dive briefing at 1:00pm. "Pool open", diving until 5:30. Third dive at 2:00. SI for a little more than 2 hours to enjoy a snack if we wanted. Forth dive at 4:15pm. Shower and put on dry clothes for dinner. Dinner at 6:00pm. Naturalist/marine talk at 7:00pm. Night dive at 8:00pm (which we never did). Sleep. Repeat. (We could have done a dawn dive at 6:00am most mornings too, but never got up early enough).

 

One thing we found we loved on the Nekton boat was the Steel 95 tanks. Great bottom times and both of us took 6# of lead off our belts. I'd say that a computer is an absolute must for a liveaboard though to get maximum dive time. The dive deck is also fabulous. Go down the stairs, sign out on the wipe-off board, go down to the dive deck, gear up, then either giant stride off the side, or go down the wide steps into the water. After you dive, there are WARM showers and warm towels waiting for you, plus rinse tanks for your wetsuit. You hang your wetsuit on the awning on the sun deck, and my 5mil was almost always dry by my next dive.

 

We loved our Nekton cruise so much that we plan to do a NW Bahamas trip next year with them. If you have any questions, please ask...I'm happy to answer.

 

Oh yeah, I am in no way implying or saying that there is anything wrong with the Peter Hughes or Aggressor liveaboard fleets, no criticism implied or inferred. I am simply explaining why we chose the Nekton cruise and our experiences aboard.

[bruce-r]

I've only done cold water liveaboards, so my information might not interest you.

 

I'd definitely consider going on a Nekton cruise or Aggressor if I had a sudden financial windfall. Under no circumstances would I go on a Peter Hughes boat.

 

One other you might consider is the http://www.cuanlaw.com Not as much diving, but plenty of other activities and the food is first class from what friends have told me.

[cruzegirl]

Thanks Hilary & Bruce-r for the information .... I'm really leaning towards the Nekton cruise for next year.... Too many trips already planned financially for this year..... lol.... I like what they offer....

[Hilary]

Cruzegirl, Which itinerary are you thinking of?

 

I totally forgot to say in my original (long) post that after doing a liveaboard, I can't see myself on a regular cruiseship anytime in the near future. Although there are a lot of things I love about regular cruises, the intimacy and informality of the Nekton cruise was unbeatable for us. We felt extremely well taken care of the entire week, and because of the familiarity we developed quickly with the crew, we never felt uncomfortable asking for service of any kind. Yeah, we're hooked.

 

Oh yeah, and on a very personal side note, I agree with Bruce...we'll never book a trip on a Peter Hughes vessel.

[scubaran]

Hi,

 

Just to add another opinion... I did the Aggressor in Belize in Oct, 2004. I'd second everything said about the liveaboard on the Nekon...

 

We had 10 divers on a boat that held 20. Each person had their own staging area on the dive deck (even filled your tank connected to your BC) with hangers and storage lockers where you staged. Warm showers with someone wrapping a warm towel around you as soon as you stepped out of the water. Free beer, wine and soda. Good sized room with separate toilet and shower, plus TV (for viewing my pictures at night from my camera or stand alone disk drive). Wonderful American captain and international crew. 5 dives a day as described (did all the night dives, talk about different animals on the reef). No seasickness though we had 7 days of sunshine (rained on the way out and the way in but never on the reef). A sundeck with hot tub and b-b-q grill. Lots of new and old friends to discuss diving. Definitely the only way to go for divers. I had like to try a Nekon as well. I had absolutely no complaints about the Aggressor folks (we were supposed to orginially go to Grand Cayman but the hurricane had struck and the Aggressor folks even got someone on the ground in GC to speak with the government about our 10 people coming in but ultimately the airlines wouldn't go so the Aggressor folks pulled the crew out of their scheduled downtime to get us on the Belize Aggressor, really great people all around). I think whether you go with Aggressor or Nekon you won't go wrong and wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

 

Randall

[cruzegirl]

Thanks for all the information everyone.... I appreciate it.....

Hilary,

I'm thinking of the Cayman Islands or Northern Bahamas itinerary for next year.... I'm excited... But how do you think it would be for a single diver?? No buddy!!.... I'm buddyless as my previous buddy has a boyfriend right now....lol......oh ce la vie.......:rolleyes:

[bruce-r]

Thanks for all the information everyone.... I appreciate it.....

Hilary,

I'm thinking of the Cayman Islands or Northern Bahamas itinerary for next year.... I'm excited... But how do you think it would be for a single diver?? No buddy!!.... I'm buddyless as my previous buddy has a boyfriend right now....lol......oh ce la vie.......:rolleyes:

A liveaboard is ideal for a solo traveler/diver as long as you don't mind possibly sharing a cabin with another female (or male if you are male). They don't charge a single rate if they don't find you a cabin mate.

[cruzegirl]

Very cool Bruce... I don't mind sharing at all.... Very cool.....

[Hilary]

Yeah, it's really neat that the liveaboards don't function like regular cruise lines where everything is double occupancy. :) There were 2 singles on our trip to Belize (one male, one female) and they both had their own cabins. They got buddied up to dive, but also had the option of diving with one of the crew. The crew is always more than happy to be someone's buddy or guide.

 

If you love to dive, this is the ultimate vacation! Keep us posted as to what you decide for booking....you never know if we'll be on the same boat. :)

[cruzegirl]

Hey Hilary,

I am so looking forward now to the Nekton cruise.... But that will be next year... Unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery yet.....lol........ but I'm looking at the northerm Bahamas and/or the Cayman Islands..... Are you interested in any of those?? Glad to hear there were singles.... I'm alot more careful of who I'm buddied with after a dive a couple of weeks ago.... Got buddies with 2 guys.... One of them was great but the other, not so good... He was so entranced with his photography that he didn't keep up, we kept having to wait for him wasting our air.... And then we got caught in kelp on the surface but he wouldn't move because of the camera.... and wasn't weighted enough to get back down to get through the kelp to get to the boat... The dive master had to come get us.... I couldn't leave him..... crazy......I won't dive with him again unless it's without a camera... I take photos too but clip the thing to your BC and let's go.......lol...... oh well.....live and learn..... So, yes, I'm looking forward to diving out there.... And maybe some snorkeling too.. it mentioned shore excursions in the booklet.... Are there shore excursions? Didn't mention types, just a quick line about doing this while someone goes to a shore excursion......hmmm...

[Hilary]

We're going to likely do the June 30, 2007 NW Bahamas trip next year. We love the idea of the Caymans (and may do it someday), but the cruise is more expensive, as is airfare, so the cheaper departure out of FLL is more attractive.

 

One great thing on the Nekton boats is if you don't have a compatible single to buddy with, one of the crew will always step up. This happened on our Belize trip with one of the singles being a photographer and doing exactly what you described above (sans kelp experience). The other got tired of waiting and eventually buddied up most of the time with a crew member. Photographers should never be buddied with anyone but another photographer IMO.

 

From what I understand there's a shore excursion option to Bimini mid-week. I don't know if there is more than that offered since in Belize our one shore option was Half Moon Caye to see the Boobie birds. My husband and I chose to stay on board and dive. The shore trip was described as "birds, bird poop, and lizards", which we heard it was! Not our cup of tea. Knowing my husband, when I ask him if he wants to go ashore in Bimini he'll say "heck no, we're here to dive!". <LOL>

 

If you go to the NW Bahamas itinerary page on the Nekton website, there's a trip report from someone who has done it. It sounds like a great trip, and very similar to what we experienced in Belize (except the diving...Belize is wall diving). I like that the Bahamas diving profile is one that will easily be done on air, since although Nitrox is a great option, it's an expensive one because of the type of compressor they use. Even in Belize where you can do a lot of deep diving, we dove air and didn't miss a dive....we didn't even put our computers into the yellow more than once.

 

Quite a few folks snorkeled only on our last day since they had early flights and couldn't dive, and nobody used the kayaks the entire week. A couple of the crew members would swim around the boat for exercise, but we just dove as long as there was light (we aren't night divers).

 

Although I don't agree that liveaboards are only for "hard core" divers (since we aren't), they are definitely for us folks that want a vacation solely devoted to diving for a week. So keep that in mind if you book so you won't be disappointed if you only get to step on solid ground once all week.

 

Oh yeah, and although the Nekton is billed as the "no seasickness" boat, it isn't. I mentioned in an earlier post that I have motion sickness issues (planes and boats), but I wore a Patch all week and needed it. When the storm came up, the boat was definitely moving, just much less than a traditionally hulled boat. My husband had zero problems and only 2 others that I know of took medication that night and everyone ate a hearty dinner, so that speaks highly to the stability of the SWATH design IMO.

[cruzegirl]

Very good info. Hilary....Great having the chance to talk with someone who's done the Nekton cruise before.... When I go, it will be to dive..... I'm not interested in shore excursions but my friend from work and her boyfriend who got me into diving, they were interested too.... But she can't imagine being on the boat all week and not going on land..... Not from a sea sickness view but from a "there might be something else out there" view... lol...

I like the Bahamas trip for the same reasons... Both cost and ability to get there airfare wise.... Much easier........

I agree about the photo diver thing.... For the most part.... I dove last year w/my friend Julie and I was taking photos but I never lost sight of them.. Whereas this guy would stop and not keep up.... But we should have talked about that before we went down.... I know better for next time.....Got to pay attention..... Night diving I like as long as it's with a DM guide and not a beach night dive... Those are a nightmare......lol.....:eek:

I've never had a motion sickness problem until 2 weeks ago on the dive.... Been on that boat many times and nothing.. but that day, never sick but sure thought about it......lol.....

June sounds like a good time..... I was thinking May or June so who knows, maybe we'll end up seeing each other...... It all depends on when I can get vacation from work..... But very cool..... I'm excited.....

[Hilary]

You are more than welcome. It would be a hoot to go at the same time, but rest assured that no matter when you go, you'll make lots of new friends and have a GREAT time. :D

[cruzegirl]

Hey Hilary,

I have put the date on my calendar.. That would be cool to go and have some familiarity with someone on the ship.... lol... I dove in Hawaii on my own with no problem but to share is fun too.... Did you know that the Nekton cruises are listed on cheap tickets.com?? I was surprised.... Didn't know those were available there.......Pretty much the same price... Maybe a $100 difference... :)

[Hilary]

Well....you better put the week before on your calendar then too. <LOL> My husband and I are thinking about the Cay Sal Banks itinerary instead. We're intrigued by the diversity that Cay Sal offers vs the more traditional Caribbean diving that the NW Bahamas will be. Fortunately I'm not even thinking about booking yet, so have plenty of time to decide. ;)

 

Heck, let's be real...we'll likely do both itineraries eventually, this is just a matter of deciding which one to do first! :D

 

I checked out cheaptickets.com and not only are their prices the same as on Nekton's website, but they have outdated information. They list the Rorqual in the Bahamas in June when the Rorqual will be in the Caymans full time by then. We'll book directly with the Nekton folks since we'll get a repeat customer discount...plus they were so great to me with oodles of information about our Belize trip that I can't imagine going through a middle-man who likely will know nothing.

[bruce-r]

..... Photographers should never be buddied with anyone but another photographer IMO....

They would likely end up as 2 solo divers. In general, photographers make poor buddies. If you are looking for a buddy, find someone w/o a camera.

[cruzegirl]

Bruce-r

I hear ya.... I take photos too but trust me, I keep my buddy in sight... I won't dive with him again.... Alot of issues....

Hilary,

So are you guys interested in both itineraries or just the one? The Cay Sal Banks? Sounds good to me.... I'm game......:p ... I've cruise several times and lot's of boat dives..... I have no problem with boats, ships, etc... How is it being on the boat the whole week with no land time?? I think it would be fine but I mention it to people and they're like, "I wouldn't do a liveaboard due to the whole week on a boat".. I don't see the issue but I've also never done a liveaboard that long...

[Hilary]

I've done a lot of regular cruising too, and I have to frankly say that I thought the Nekton was the most relaxing trip I've ever taken....by far. We actually considered staying on board another week we enjoyed it so much. :D The things we particularly loved about the Nekton cruise was the informality. "Dressing for dinner" meant that we actually showered and wore underwear. Since we don't night dive, we would shower after our last afternoon dive and put on "real clothes" (shorts/t-shirt) for dinner and the evening. We didn't wear shoes for an entire week, and spent all of our time either eating, sleeping, diving, or on a surface interval. During the SI we sat in the hot tub, layed in the sun, took a nap, hung out with the crew, talked with other guests, wrote in our log books...you get the idea. We had the opportunity for "land time" and chose to stay on the boat since there really was no reason to get off.

 

You know, I think one reason that happened was because we didn't have any expectations of land excursions like we do on a big cruise. The whole purpose of us going was to spend a week on the 2nd longest barrier reef in the world (Belize) and dive. When we do the Bahamas (either Cay Sal or NW Bahamas), we'll do the same thing...stay on the boat and dive, but I'm sure the Nekton folks have a land day they'll offer at least once.

 

You can't even believe how liberating it is to show up for a week long cruise with 2 pairs of shorts, 4 t-shirts, underwear, 3-4 swim suits, a sweatshirt/warm coverup, a pair of sweat pants, sunglasses, sunscreen, and a hat. I wore my hair in a ponytail all week. Nobody did their hair or makeup and nobody locked their cabin doors. Our cabins were spotlessly cleaned every morning, the food was very good, and we felt a sense of community on the boat. Everyone was courteous, the staff was there to help you out in anyway you needed, yet you had the privacy of your cabin if you just wanted to be alone. There's no TV and no radio, but you don't miss it. We took our portable DVD player and a bunch of movies and each night would go back to our cabin and watch a movie and relax together to have some alone time.

 

We're actually interested in the both itineraries at this point, but now leaning toward Cay Sal. There are 2 reasons for that, the dates for Cay Sal are going to be slightly better for us, and the diving in Cay Sal is more diverse (I hear). The NW Bahamas itinerary is basically long, shallow diving, which we love, but I keep hearing it's a couple of wrecks with reefs the rest of the time. Cay Sal offers diving on the blue holes, which will give us the opportunity to dive with sharks and see some of the larger pelagics. The blue holes will combine wall diving with shallow reef diving, and the ability to go deep or stay shallow. We really enjoyed dropping down on the walls in Belize to 80-100 feet, working our way along and up the wall, then coming back to the boat on the top of the reef, basically doing an extended safety stop. The blue holes work the same way as walls do, making navigation easy and rather "no-brainerish"...which is nice. :) Cay Sal is well known for its shark diving...not shark feeding type of diving, but actually diving with the Caribbean Reef sharks.

[scubaran]

They would likely end up as 2 solo divers. In general, photographers make poor buddies. If you are looking for a buddy, find someone w/o a camera.

 

Hi,

 

I'm a big photographer (not just in size either :)) but I agree, if you are going to do photography you should not do two solo dives but team up with your dive buddy. Like it's been mentioned, you should set some ground rules for diving before you get in the water (plan your dive then dive your plan) but I find if I talk to the person I dive with they generally like having someone "document" their dive (plus I offer to send them a CD of the pictures I take as compensation for diving with a photographer). I have to say, I hear more good things about diving with me while I photograph. Like, "I would have swam right past that xxx creature if you hadn't stopped and pointed it out before you photographed it" or "I never knew that was the hand signal for xxx fish" or "how did you know the name of that fish and that it would react that way" type of stuff. One of the reasons I took up photography was it taught me to "look" at the reef not just swim through it. Plus with my photography site I make sure I use the right name for the creatures and I do a lot of research in fish habits and how they react to divers (some fish I couldn't get a picture of for years until I read up on how to approach them and learned how to keep them comfortable while I took their pictures - you'll notice on my site the later pictures get closer and closer to the subjects than the early pictures). Anyway, a photographer's point of view.

 

Randall

www.randallgamby.com (my photo site)

 

P.S. I'd like to do another live aboard next year as well, problem is my wife doesn't dive (which is why I'm on a cruise ship again this spring).:)

[cruzegirl]

Well Randall, you hit the nail on the head.. Key point.... Talk about the dive more before hand.... Which we did but didn't realize how much of a novice that person was ... I'm a novice too but if we had said, you keep up with us or signal us if you want to take a pic and such, it would have been different.. But he was someone who was so worried about his camera, he couldn't swim in the kelp on the surface.. He wouldn't move... And your right about taking photos encourages one to "investigate" and search out more.. I definitely felt that way last year when taking more photos.... I still do photography but just wanted to get back a few dives first so I wasn't rusty....In fact, I'm diving in Acapulco in April and doing my photography course there.... :) That's a shame your wife doesn't dive......

Hilary,

Ok, you have me wanting to go NOW........lol..... Like I said, I don't feel I would have a problem with the liveaboard....... Just those comments made me wonder if anyone else had a problem with not getting land time... If I go on this, I'm there to dive.... Otherwise I'll go on a regular cruise for the other stuff.......:D I go to Acapulco in April.... Can't wait for that......

[scubaran]

Well Randall, you hit the nail on the head.. Key point.... Talk about the dive more before hand.... Which we did but didn't realize how much of a novice that person was ... I'm a novice too but if we had said, you keep up with us or signal us if you want to take a pic and such, it would have been different.. But he was someone who was so worried about his camera, he couldn't swim in the kelp on the surface.. He wouldn't move... And your right about taking photos encourages one to "investigate" and search out more.. I definitely felt that way last year when taking more photos.... I still do photography but just wanted to get back a few dives first so I wasn't rusty....In fact, I'm diving in Acapulco in April and doing my photography course there.... :) That's a shame your wife doesn't dive......

 

 

Hi,

 

Yeah I agree but I also don't want to be a photo snob. It's always a good ideal to talk to the person you dive with regardless of what you want out of the dive (mine's just more single minded). I usually use almost the entire time going to a dive site to get aquanted with my new dive buddy (and maybe to do some assessing of their skills (like can they do the kelp crawl)). I see too many divers who wave at their new dive buddy then go about playing with gear, looking at the horizon or going in the bow to get some rays. I always remember I may have to rely on this person if I have problems at depth which is never the time to find out the competency of your buddy's abilities. :) Case in point, while I was diving in Key West last month I had to save my buddy from drowning when he got to the surface because he was diving outside his dive profile and ended up at the end of the tag line of the boat exausted in 1-2ft. waves (had to get him to inflate his BC and grab him by the tank and surface swim him to the boat). Makes you aware of what would have happened if I was in his place and he had to get me back (BTW, I'm doing my rescue diver course work in May due to this incident (if I have to save someone might as well be certified to do it - did my CPR refresher course last night at the Red Cross)). ;)

 

Randall

[Hilary]

Cruzgirl, it's great that you're going to get your photography specialty done...that should make for better photographs on your dives! Sorry to make you want to go "now", but frankly that's how I've felt since the last day of our Belize trip. ;) I used to be addicted to cruising, now I fear I'm addicted to liveaboards. <LOL>

 

Randall, Great reminder about why taking rescue is so important. My DH and I have it scheduled for December when we're in Maui since we both feel it's such an important class for not only our own safety, but for eachother's. Both of us have our First Aid/CPR refreshers next week, so it'll be nice to have that long out of the way.

 

We're heading to Maui in April for a short trip and definitely looking forward to diving everyday there. We have a timeshare on Maui so go at least once a year, this year twice. :)

[cruzegirl]

Oh my ..... What a day yesterday.... Went and saw the rendezvous with Queen Mary 1 and Queen Mary 2 in Long Beach... Awesome.... very emotional.... Gives me chills....

I can imagine getting addicted to liveaboards.... especially if it's in those areas of the Caribbean.... How cool... Can't wait to do the Photography class.... Considering the rescue class too.... Especially after my dive buddy incident.....Not only due to him but I wasn't sure how to handle it either. We'll see... And a time share in Maui.... how cool.... Loved it there when I went on my Pride of America cruise last year.... So many trips and so little time/money......lol....:rolleyes:

[Hilary]

Keep in mind that liveaboard reservations aren't like regular cruise ones. You're definitely much better off booking directly. You don't have to book more than about 6 months in advance. Prices don't vary and there aren't any variable prices (like shore excursions, etc).

 

Cruzegirl, I'll let you know when and what we book so if you want to join us you can. :D