Diving with Sea Fever Diving Cruises in
Barbados/Cay Sal Banks, Victory Reef in 2004/06:
an Instant Reader Report

 Cozumel, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Roatan, Grand Turk, Hawaii, Truk,
Southeast Florida, New York, Massachusetts 

Dive Conditions

Please be back on the boat with 500 PSI; please stay above 130 feet.  

Rinse tank, and spacious camera table provided.  I especially liked the
small air tank available for drying lenses and blowing away those pesky
drops of water.  

Overall Rating

Excellent dive operation - very safety oriented, but they didn't "hold
our hands." We were treated as responsible divers.  They did not
restrict the length of our dives, or the depth, other than a request to
stay above 130 feet and return to the boat with 500 PSI.  The crew was very
responsive to topping off tanks.  The Sea Fever is using steel 80s and 95s,
which allows for very light weightbelts.  The captain was very responsive
to our group's special requests, such as a 5:30AM dive, and a crew member
was always available if a single diver wanted to do a night dive.  Captain
Red definitely understands the meaning of good customer service!

The food was excellent, and there was plenty of it.  Not gourmet, just
good eating, especially the ribs, burgers, chops, and freshly baked bread. 
The cook even baked a cake one night for us to hold a birthday celebration
for members of our group.  Breakfasts were not cooked to order as on some
other boats, but the variety was good.  Snacks were generally of the trail
mix and bagged candy variety.  Wine is available at dinner and is included
in the charter price.  At the start of the cruise, each diver on the boat
is given a mug labeled with his or her name, and there are pegs next to the
ice machine for storage; a good system.  We were encouraged to drink lots
of water.  They were very responsive to special dietary requests.

The cabins are small, but adequately ventilated.  The top deck has lots of
furniture for lounging and catching rays, but is not covered to protect
against sun exposure.  One member of our group rigged a sunshade with a
tarp and bungy cords.  The crew advised that a permanent sunshade is on the
drawing board, and may be installed this winter.  

The diving was very good; because of the remote location of the Cay Sal
Banks, the reefs looked extremely healthy, and the visibility was generally
very good.  We did a mixture of anchor and drift dives during the week.  We
were given an opportunity to go ashore at Elbow Cay to explore the
abandoned lighthouse and derelict structures.  Victory Reef, south of
Biminii, is very long (several miles), covered with lush coral growth, and
contains numerous crevices that hide turtles, sharks, lobsters, ets.  We
saw lots of Sargassum Triggerfish here.  During the week we saw several
sharks, numerous large midnight and rainbow parrotfish, and some very big
lobsters and crabs, along with the usual tropical reef critters.  All in
all, a very, very good trip!

 

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