Instant Reader Report
on Shear Water - Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures / [same] in
Barbados / West End-Grand Bahama on
2003/02
by
Steve & Kathie Payne , IN, USA
Report Number 030215225551385

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Send an email to the author of this report

 Florida, West Palm - Key West; Mexico - Cozumel, Cancun, Akumal; Dominican
Republic - Punta Cana - Catalina Island 

Dive Conditions

None   

Camera Table inside Salon; Jim Abernethy is world class photographer and
makes certain photographers have more than adequate space and facility -
also great at helping with repair or adjustments.  Always crew on back of
boat to hand down or take up equipment prior to/after dive.  

Overall Rating

The best dive trip we have ever taken; this was our 8th trip on the Shear
Water - we began diving on this boat with its prior owner - Gold Coast
Charters.  Capts. Mike Walker and Kurt Dix remain from those days and the
new staff is equally wonderful - although we really miss Mike's Dad, Bill,
in the office.  Jim & Anna Abernethy have done ALOT of cosmetic work on
the boat - refurbished the salon, refinished the wookwork, added linens and
towels (had to bring your own when it was Gold Coast,)updated the heads. 
Our group included a friend of our son; these were his first post
certification dives and the crew was wonderful in helping him become
comfortable and a pretty good diver over the course of the 10 dives.  Now
for the diving.  We actually hate this word, it is so overused, but we
agree that it is exactly the right word for this - AWESOME.  This was a 4
night/3 day trip, the cost was $695 plus $30 departure tax.  This includes
everything (but please don't forget to tip!)  First dive was at Sherwood
Forest.  This is always a good dive site for sharks and we weren't
disappointed.  Also wonderful corals, fans, sponges, tropicals and great
macro-photography site - beautiful Shy and Indigo Hamlets, Butterfly fish
and a perfect Jewelfish.  Next we dove a site named Tora-Tora-Ramora. 
This was so nice that we dove it again.  The captain asked if we wanted a
night dive and we all agreed that we were too tired so he headed back to
Sandy Key to tuck us in to completely calm flat waters for the night.  The
next morning, we first dove a blue hole and then the wreck of the Theo.  I
didn't get to spend too much time on the hole as my "new dive
buddy" wasn't comfortable yet with descending down into it.  But it
was really neat from the top.  This was our first dive on the Theo and we
will go back.  This wreck presented great opportunities for safe
penetration.  It has a terrific profile, the prop is intact and there is a
plethora of marine life on the ship.  The dive on the Theo was followed by
a shark feeding dive at Shark Junction.  Jim Abernethy and Mike Walker
sent down a sealed milk crate with bait to a flat sandy area directly
underneath the boat.  Then we dropped down and sat there in awe.  Sharks
everywhere - large, 6-8' Caribbean Reef Sharks, at least 20. Also at least
a half-dozen Grouper in the 40-60 lb. range - they were quite friendly and
not the least bit worried about the sharks.  They parked themselves in the
sand with us and watched the show.  Our new diver and I went for a brief
tour of the coral heads and found a Grouper parked at a cleaning station. 
We watched that for a bit while my husband stayed back taking photographs
of the sharks.  The highlight of the trip was the last dive day.  We dove
Jew Fish Mountain first - there was a Tiger Shark just at the periphery of
the visibility; it worked its way into about 50 feet but then headed back
out.  Then came the 10' Hammerhead.  It darted in and left, too.  This was
followed by the 8' Bull Shark.  This doesn't even take the Reef Sharks into
account, and there were at least a dozen, some 7-8'. The next dive was only
about a mile and half away - El Dorado.  There we were visited again by the
Bull and Hammerhead Sharks.  I was putting my new diver back on the boat
when the Hammerhead came in - CLOSE.  It took me 248 dives to see one - he
saw one on his 7th dive.  He was almost out of air, but I still had 2000
psi; I descended again and sat on the bottom as Jim and Mike took both
still and vidoe photography of all the activity - Sharks everywhere, the
Hammerhead swam directly over my head - I could have reached up and rubbed
its belly, but didn't.  There were beautiful lush corals, fans, whips,
large and small fish, turtles, even a Spanish Dancer nudibranch. 
Everything was absolutely pristine and perfect.  We followed this dive
with a trip to the White Sand Flats where we found the Wild Spotted
Dolphins.  We snorkled with them for about an hour and a half.  There were
more than a dozen; at one point we were joined by a couple of Bottlenose
Dolphins, but they didn't stay.  The Spotted Dolphins stayed to play and
imitated the divers who were using the DPVs - arching and flipping in the
water.  We finished the trip with a late afternoon and night dive on the
Sugar Wreck.  It is just like diving in an aquarium.  Fish so thick you
cannot see the wreck - and they don't even move out of the way.  Baracuda
stacked in rows and it's only 20 feet deep. There used to be several
turtles on the wreck everytime we dove it, but we only saw one on this
trip.  But there were beautiful fish everywhere, crabs, eels, lobster,
shrimp, blennies in the sand and crevices - every small fish you can
imagine.  Orange cup anemone on the night dive were just gorgeous.  This
was simply the most wonderful dive trip.  Mike, Jim, Kurt and cook Kerrie
made this an experience that will be hard to surpass.  Our new diver will
certainly have wonderful dives to compare with his future experiences. I'm
already planning the 9th trip!
 

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