Instant Reader Report
on Nekton Rorqual / [same] in
Bahamas / Southern on
2003/03
by
Bob & Carolyn Smith , MA, USA
Report Number 030315162454516

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 New England, Bonaire, Red Sea, Florida Keys 

Dive Conditions

130' maximum; look for boat at 1000 psi, return with minimum of 500 psi;
first alcoholic drink is last dive for the day  

[None]  

Overall Rating

This was our first liveaboard experience, and we were impressed.  Everyone
associated with Nekton, including office personnel, worked hard to make
this a quality experience.  The Rorqual crew were safety and
environmentally conscious, and paid attention to their guests' needs and
desires.  They all work well as a team and appear to enjoy their jobs. 
The cabins were roomy, the beds comfortable, with plenty of hot water for
showers.  The entire boat was kept immaculate, despite obvious signs of
wear and tear.  The food was very good and plentiful.  There were no soft
drinks on board, but water, punch, juice and iced tea were always
available.  The dive deck was well laid out, although it could get crowded
if everyone was suiting up at the same time.  Setting up your gear once for
the week and not having to lug it anywhere except 2 steps to the edge of
the boat, in our opinion, is the ultimate in luxury for a diver!  All the
photographers seemed pleased with the setup for cameras, slide developing
was available, and there was a fun photo contest for slides and digital at
the end of the week.  

Diving varied in quality from poor to terrific, depending on the site.
Some repeat divers had requested new locations, and the captain was trying
to accomodate them by exploring new sites, which turned out to be generally
disappointing.  When he abandoned the search and returned to the sites he
knew, diving improved dramatically.  There was a great variance in
topography from walls to caverns, swim throughs, sandy bottoms with large
coral mounds.  More green alagae than we expected covered the hard corals
at several sites.  We saw several black tip sharks, large Nassau groupers,
a couple of large barracudas.  Lots of beautiful Queen, Gray and French
Angels and other tropicals.

We are now liveaboard fans and will definitely return to the Nekton, as
well as try out others.


 

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