Leaving the U.S.: Hubby and I left Atlanta Friday morning, June 2 and flew to Freeport, Grand Bahama. We flew on Delta and our flight was delayed an hour due to maintenance issues. We finally took off about 10:30 and got to Freeport about 12:00 but had to circle around the island for about 20 minutes due to a big thunderstorm right over the airfield. That was quite interesting to see as we got the aerial tour of Grand Bahama while half of it got drenched underneath a big gray cloud. It was raining when we landed, and of course, we exited the plane on the tarmac, but the airline had umbrellas for us to use to walk the 20 yards to the terminal
I thought that was a nice gesture. We cleared customs, got our luggage and got a cab to the Port Lucaya Resort and Yacht Club. The cab cost $20 from the airport. (We later met a very nice taxi driver named Queenie who we used for the remainder of the trip. She was generally a couple of dollars cheaper since we were Blackbeard passengers, and they use her service all of the time.)
Port Lucaya: We checked in to Port Lucaya Resort and Yacht Club. I thought this was a good deal, considering we were given the Blackbeard Rate which totaled $68 per night and we overheard some of the other guests at the resort paying $84 plus taxes per night. The resort was older and wasnt as nice as others like Our Lucaya and Pelican Bay, but it was clean and a place to stay and in a good location a good value for the price. That Friday was their Labor Day, so many of the shops were closed. The market vendors were open, however, so we strolled through there. We ate at Zorbas (Greek) for supper and watched the show in Count Basie Square at 9:30 p.m. with fire walkers, etc. (I was impressed. Wow that guy can limbo!) We took the opportunity to have some local food, like conch stew, and had a few daiquiris. My husband liked the Lucayan beer but only with a lime. He also liked the Kalik premium, too. We had the opportunity to shoot some good pictures of the area. We stayed here again Friday night after leaving Blackbeards at 10:00 on Friday morning. There was a refrigerator in the room, so we recommend going to the store and buying some soda and water and stocking up for the night (saves $$).
Blackbeards At Last..Morning Star: We went to bed, got up, checked out of the hotel, went to brunch at Georgies, looked around the marketplace for a bit, and then got a cab to Blackbeards. The fare was $5.00 per person. We met the crew upon arrival to the compound Captain Mike, Karen (first mate), May (Dive Master), Drew (Dive Master/Engineer), and Randy (Cook). They were great! We were shown our berth on the Morning Star. Luckily, there were only 11 passengers on this trip, so hubby and I got extra space, both the upper and lower racks in berth # 6. We shared the head with one other couple. Nice! We slept on the bottom rack together since it was closest to the air conditioning vent, and put our stuff on the top bunk.
Near Disaster: When it was time to do diver check-in with Drew, my husband asked me where the passports were. I realized, to my horror, that I must have left them in the backpack in the cab with cash $$, camcorder, and digital camera. I wanted to vomit. Luckily hubby remembered the make and color of the taxi and Karen called the resort. Can you believe it we got the bag back with everything still in it. Talk about a close call
How the boat works: We checked in with Drew, ate some burgers, and got settled in, hooked up our gear, and set out about 4:30. We were delayed by a passenger who did not show up and did not call. We stopped for fuel at Port Lucaya and the crew told us about how things work on the boat. The most important thing to remember is your name tag. There is a velcro nametag for each passenger on the boat. Whenever you get off the boat, for whatever reason, to dive or snorkel or port night or for a quick swim, etc., you must remember to move your nametag from the on side to the off side so the crew knows who is on/off the boat. That is how they keep up with everyone. Remember, Dont be a fool name tags are cool when youre in the pool.
You have to be careful going up and down the ladder to the galley and to your bunk as the steps are very steep and the boat of sways. They have a saying, One hand for you and one hand for the boat. The spring clamps were a great idea! We took 10-1 clamps for clothes and towels and 4-2 clamps for booties. We only had 2 rough nights, Friday night and Wednesday night, but these were enough to throw stuff into the ocean if not clamped down. www.justclamps.com We took mugs on lanyards which helps going up and down the ladder. The cup they give you for the week is kind of small. It was nice not having to refill so often and having a mug with a lid on it.
I learned quickly that the shower thing is overrated. I used the condensate sprayer hose at the back of the boat and bathed in my swim suit all week, washed my hair and everything right there on the deck. I did not use the 30 second freshwater shower at all. Because we were diving so much there was little time or need for bathing until the end of the day. The condensate shower worked best for me since there was no line for it and because the other shower was very small. The 2 hot showers for the week were in port at Bimini and when we got back to the Blackbeards house.
We did not get motion sickness nor did we get diarrhea. Some of the folks on the boat wore the patches behind their ear for motion sickness prevention. Tylenol p.m. was a good thing for the rough nights. We were so tired on the other nights that we were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow!
Learning how the toilet works was a challenge and so was using it! The head is very small, and there is hardly room to turn around in there. It was very interesting to try to use the toilet when the boat is rocking. The toilet is like a mechanical port-a-potty, sort of, with a pedal and a lever tricky but do-able.
We only sailed once. Unfortunately, if the weather and winds are good for sailing, then the conditions arent very good for diving. I got some good pics of the boat with the sails up, but windy + diving = tough time. Id rather have good diving conditions that sailing conditions. Once was enough.
Diving: There was plenty of space on the deck for dive gear storage. Since there werent many folks on the boat, we took a second storage space for dry stuff like sandals, hat, sunglasses, dry towel, dive log, etc. while we were diving. The bench seats are the dive lockers and are very spacey. We dove 20 times during the week and had the opportunity to do 4 snorkels. Hubby and I dove all 20 times and snorkeled 3 of 4. By the end of the trip, we were limited not by air, but by remaining no-deco times. The following is the breakdown of days and dive sites, type of dive, max depths, bottom times, and surface intervals between dives. You set your dive gear up once at the beginning of the trip. Then, after each dive, you take off your first stage and they fill the tanks right there with a compressor system. Too cool. Each fill was about 3100 lbs. The reefs were very healthy and viz was usually excellent, from 80-150 feet most of the time. There were a couple of dives where the current was strong and viz was less than perfect, but the dives were all good. The best dive was the shark dive with at least 15-20 6-8ft Caribbean reef sharks. I had the opportunity to do some photography and videography on this and other dives and will post those pics/video links as soon as the board gets fixed. The most unusual creatures seen were squid in the daytime. The huge green sea turtles and barracuda were favorites as well as the moray eels and hawksbill turtles. Water temp averaged 82 degrees F and we snorkeled in our swim suits and dove in ½ mm skins. They have a large rinse barrel for cameras. Little note: if your camera is negatively buoyant, clip it to the carabineer on the side, or else you will be bobbing for camera in the barrel learned the hard way!
Dive # Site Type Max Depth (ft) Bottom Time (min) Surface Interval
1 Sea Star Wreck 89 31 02:31
2 Fountain of Youth Night Dive 47 45 11:36
3 Swiss Cheese Reef 50 55 03:55
Boiler Wreck Snorkel Wreck
4 Dark Star Reef 45 54 04:08
5 Hesperus Wreck 18 48 01:18
6 Hesperus Night Dive 19 63 10:31
7 Bimini Wall Drift Dive 100 25 02:56
South Cay Beach Snorkel
8 777 Triple 7s Reef 60 43 03:43
Browns Cay Snorkel Wreck
9 Grouper on the Head Reef 47 58 03:15
10 Grouper on the Head Night Dive 48 48 11:45
11 Little Cayman Reef 81 43 01:44
12 Bull Run Shark Feed 56 42 02:35
13 Big Greenie Reef 38 69 18:13
14 Bimini Barge Wreck 92 30 03:23
Bimini Road Snorkel
15 Hawks Bill Reef 78 40 02:04
16 Moray Alley Reef 46 47 02:57
17 Moray Alley Night Dive 47 49 12:02
18 Theos Wreck Wreck 100 35 01:51
19 Bobbys Reef Reef 67 49 02:03
20 UNEXSO Wreck Wreck 66 48
Be sure to see page 2!
Port Lucaya: We checked in to Port Lucaya Resort and Yacht Club. I thought this was a good deal, considering we were given the Blackbeard Rate which totaled $68 per night and we overheard some of the other guests at the resort paying $84 plus taxes per night. The resort was older and wasnt as nice as others like Our Lucaya and Pelican Bay, but it was clean and a place to stay and in a good location a good value for the price. That Friday was their Labor Day, so many of the shops were closed. The market vendors were open, however, so we strolled through there. We ate at Zorbas (Greek) for supper and watched the show in Count Basie Square at 9:30 p.m. with fire walkers, etc. (I was impressed. Wow that guy can limbo!) We took the opportunity to have some local food, like conch stew, and had a few daiquiris. My husband liked the Lucayan beer but only with a lime. He also liked the Kalik premium, too. We had the opportunity to shoot some good pictures of the area. We stayed here again Friday night after leaving Blackbeards at 10:00 on Friday morning. There was a refrigerator in the room, so we recommend going to the store and buying some soda and water and stocking up for the night (saves $$).
Blackbeards At Last..Morning Star: We went to bed, got up, checked out of the hotel, went to brunch at Georgies, looked around the marketplace for a bit, and then got a cab to Blackbeards. The fare was $5.00 per person. We met the crew upon arrival to the compound Captain Mike, Karen (first mate), May (Dive Master), Drew (Dive Master/Engineer), and Randy (Cook). They were great! We were shown our berth on the Morning Star. Luckily, there were only 11 passengers on this trip, so hubby and I got extra space, both the upper and lower racks in berth # 6. We shared the head with one other couple. Nice! We slept on the bottom rack together since it was closest to the air conditioning vent, and put our stuff on the top bunk.
Near Disaster: When it was time to do diver check-in with Drew, my husband asked me where the passports were. I realized, to my horror, that I must have left them in the backpack in the cab with cash $$, camcorder, and digital camera. I wanted to vomit. Luckily hubby remembered the make and color of the taxi and Karen called the resort. Can you believe it we got the bag back with everything still in it. Talk about a close call
How the boat works: We checked in with Drew, ate some burgers, and got settled in, hooked up our gear, and set out about 4:30. We were delayed by a passenger who did not show up and did not call. We stopped for fuel at Port Lucaya and the crew told us about how things work on the boat. The most important thing to remember is your name tag. There is a velcro nametag for each passenger on the boat. Whenever you get off the boat, for whatever reason, to dive or snorkel or port night or for a quick swim, etc., you must remember to move your nametag from the on side to the off side so the crew knows who is on/off the boat. That is how they keep up with everyone. Remember, Dont be a fool name tags are cool when youre in the pool.
You have to be careful going up and down the ladder to the galley and to your bunk as the steps are very steep and the boat of sways. They have a saying, One hand for you and one hand for the boat. The spring clamps were a great idea! We took 10-1 clamps for clothes and towels and 4-2 clamps for booties. We only had 2 rough nights, Friday night and Wednesday night, but these were enough to throw stuff into the ocean if not clamped down. www.justclamps.com We took mugs on lanyards which helps going up and down the ladder. The cup they give you for the week is kind of small. It was nice not having to refill so often and having a mug with a lid on it.
I learned quickly that the shower thing is overrated. I used the condensate sprayer hose at the back of the boat and bathed in my swim suit all week, washed my hair and everything right there on the deck. I did not use the 30 second freshwater shower at all. Because we were diving so much there was little time or need for bathing until the end of the day. The condensate shower worked best for me since there was no line for it and because the other shower was very small. The 2 hot showers for the week were in port at Bimini and when we got back to the Blackbeards house.
We did not get motion sickness nor did we get diarrhea. Some of the folks on the boat wore the patches behind their ear for motion sickness prevention. Tylenol p.m. was a good thing for the rough nights. We were so tired on the other nights that we were asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow!
Learning how the toilet works was a challenge and so was using it! The head is very small, and there is hardly room to turn around in there. It was very interesting to try to use the toilet when the boat is rocking. The toilet is like a mechanical port-a-potty, sort of, with a pedal and a lever tricky but do-able.
We only sailed once. Unfortunately, if the weather and winds are good for sailing, then the conditions arent very good for diving. I got some good pics of the boat with the sails up, but windy + diving = tough time. Id rather have good diving conditions that sailing conditions. Once was enough.
Diving: There was plenty of space on the deck for dive gear storage. Since there werent many folks on the boat, we took a second storage space for dry stuff like sandals, hat, sunglasses, dry towel, dive log, etc. while we were diving. The bench seats are the dive lockers and are very spacey. We dove 20 times during the week and had the opportunity to do 4 snorkels. Hubby and I dove all 20 times and snorkeled 3 of 4. By the end of the trip, we were limited not by air, but by remaining no-deco times. The following is the breakdown of days and dive sites, type of dive, max depths, bottom times, and surface intervals between dives. You set your dive gear up once at the beginning of the trip. Then, after each dive, you take off your first stage and they fill the tanks right there with a compressor system. Too cool. Each fill was about 3100 lbs. The reefs were very healthy and viz was usually excellent, from 80-150 feet most of the time. There were a couple of dives where the current was strong and viz was less than perfect, but the dives were all good. The best dive was the shark dive with at least 15-20 6-8ft Caribbean reef sharks. I had the opportunity to do some photography and videography on this and other dives and will post those pics/video links as soon as the board gets fixed. The most unusual creatures seen were squid in the daytime. The huge green sea turtles and barracuda were favorites as well as the moray eels and hawksbill turtles. Water temp averaged 82 degrees F and we snorkeled in our swim suits and dove in ½ mm skins. They have a large rinse barrel for cameras. Little note: if your camera is negatively buoyant, clip it to the carabineer on the side, or else you will be bobbing for camera in the barrel learned the hard way!
Dive # Site Type Max Depth (ft) Bottom Time (min) Surface Interval
1 Sea Star Wreck 89 31 02:31
2 Fountain of Youth Night Dive 47 45 11:36
3 Swiss Cheese Reef 50 55 03:55
Boiler Wreck Snorkel Wreck
4 Dark Star Reef 45 54 04:08
5 Hesperus Wreck 18 48 01:18
6 Hesperus Night Dive 19 63 10:31
7 Bimini Wall Drift Dive 100 25 02:56
South Cay Beach Snorkel
8 777 Triple 7s Reef 60 43 03:43
Browns Cay Snorkel Wreck
9 Grouper on the Head Reef 47 58 03:15
10 Grouper on the Head Night Dive 48 48 11:45
11 Little Cayman Reef 81 43 01:44
12 Bull Run Shark Feed 56 42 02:35
13 Big Greenie Reef 38 69 18:13
14 Bimini Barge Wreck 92 30 03:23
Bimini Road Snorkel
15 Hawks Bill Reef 78 40 02:04
16 Moray Alley Reef 46 47 02:57
17 Moray Alley Night Dive 47 49 12:02
18 Theos Wreck Wreck 100 35 01:51
19 Bobbys Reef Reef 67 49 02:03
20 UNEXSO Wreck Wreck 66 48
Be sure to see page 2!
