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Trip Report - Bahamas - Juliet Liveaboard [Part 1]
15 October 2005 - 21 October 2005
Every year, our friends take a dive trip to Cozumel in October. In early July, with the Cozumel downpayment deadline looming and the trip quickly filling up, my two dive buddies and I decided that we wanted to try something different this year.
We decided to try a liveaboard for the first time. One of my buddies is really into wrecks and wanted to try a liveaboard in North Carolina. I searched the Internet for prospective trips. Unfortunately, none of the dive outfits we contacted were doing liveaboards the week we set aside for our vacation. They said this was because weather conditions were too unpredictable in October.
So the Internet search continued. Eventually, we came across Blackbeard's liveaboards. We discussed it with some friends who had done Blackbeard before and decided that while they had a great time, 24 divers on a 65ft boat seemed a bit overcrowded for our tastes even if it was somewhat cheaper. Somehow, in my searching, I stumbled upon Juliet Sailing and Diving (sailjuliet.com). 12 divers on a 104 boat sounded more our speed. After reading some decent reviews on scubaboard and elsewhere, I was pretty sure this was the one we wanted to try.
I gave Juliet a call and spoke to Katie, who was very helpful. The week we wanted to go, the boat was already chartered but luckily for us, the group chartering the boat had some people back out and were unable to fill all 12 slots. They opened it up to the general public the same day that I happened to call! Katie patiently answered all my questions and put me at ease and I ended up putting down a deposit via credit card that same day. The total cost per person was $1290 (not including Bahamas port fee and tip for the crew).
Now with the liveaboard booked, I had to turn my attention to flights from Philadelphia (the closest airport) to Miami where Juliet departs. Their 7 day trips leave Miami on Saturday around 3pm and clear customs by 9am after returning to Miami the following Friday. We decided to work our flights around that timetable allowing time on each side for problems, should they occur. I used Orbitz.com to find flights. I knew that I wanted to get a non-stop flight but the prices seemed a little high so we decided to wait a few weeks to see if the prices went up or down. A few weeks later, the relatively cheap non-stop flights disappeared completely from Orbitz and we began to panic. Fortunately the following week, they re-appeared and we jumped on them. Total cost for the round trip flight: $179.38 per person. Not bad at all. Our arrival time was 12:26pm on Saturday, departure was 3:53pm Friday. That gave us a little wiggle room, especially on the departure day where we anticipated more potential for problems getting back to Miami on time due to weather.
About this time, we looked into Juliet's other offerings and noticed that they offer a Nitrox course plus nitrox fills for the rest of the trip for $150 (books and nitrox tables are included). Many dive shops charge more than that for the course alone and I've seen the book sell for $30 without the plastic tables so this was a great deal from my perspective. A quick call to Katie with my credit card got us signed up.
Fast forward to 10/14 and we're packing. On this trip, you actually need very little clothes. I can almost guarantee you will over pack. You spend most of your time either in the water or wet from recently coming out of the water so there's not much opportunity for dry clothes. A bathing suit of some sort and a beach towel are of prime importance. I'd recommend getting a pair of spandex jammers shorts and a spandex "rash guard" as your attire to wear under your dive skin or shortie. When you get out of the water, you strip down to just the jammers and rash guard and it dries very fast. I found it best to wash out my spandex each night and hang it up in my room to dry to keep it smelling fresh. Like I said before, it dries very quickly. At the end of the day, you can take a hot shower and put on shorts and a t-shirt. I found that I really only wore about three t-shirts over the course of the trip. I only wore them for a few hours at night after I was clean and showered so I was able to re-cycle them and wear them again several days. I just wore the same pair of cargo shorts the whole trip. Don't act grossed out, you know you do it too. Socks didn't get much use either. I walked around barefoot or in aquasox most of the trip.
So to summarize, This is what I think one should bring on this trip as far as clothing goes (I don't think I'm forgetting anything):
Packed:
1 beach towel
1 spandex jammer shorts
1 spandex rash guard shirt
1 pair aquasox
1 pair of cargo shorts
2 t-shirts (maybe 3)
6 pairs of underwear
1 pair of socks (maybe)
1 windbreaker
Wear on the plane...
1 pair of long pants
1 long sleeve shirt
1 pair undies
1 pair socks
1 pair sneakers
If you get cold on the boat at night, you'll have your long pants and/or long sleeve shirt to wear.
I recommend packing all non-clothing items in large (gallon size) zip-lock bags (the kind with the sliders are my favorite) and throwing in a few extra empty bags for future use as you'll see later. You can pack your clothes in garbage bags and again, throw in a few extra as you may need them. With garbage bags, on the trip home, you can use them to wrap up wet gear or your dirty clothes.
10/15: We each arrive at the airport with 1 large gear bag, 1 backpack, and one regulator bag. We checked the gear bags and took the backpacks and regulator bags on as carry-ons.
The flight to Miami is uneventful except that it's raining when we arrive. After getting our luggage, we went outside the airport and looked for a taxi. We snagged a van, piled in, and the driver took us right to Bayside Marina, in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. The Juliet is docked directly across the street. The ride was $35 total for all three of us with 3 large dive bags. Orbitz wanted to tack on $13 a person for an airport shuttle of some sort so we think that $35 was a fair price for a van. We suspect that our van might not have been a "licensed" taxi but the driver was very nice and took us right to the boat so we don't have any complaints.
We boarded the Juliet around 1pm and met some of the crew and the other passengers. We then proceeded to set up our gear, putting our mask, fins, lights wetsuit, etc... in the storage compartment behind each dive "station". This allowed us to haul our now empty dive gear bags below deck and into the storage locker. We unpacked our clothes and personal supplies into our rooms. The layout of the rooms in the Juliet is a little odd due to the shape of the ship (see diagram below).
Since we were "fill-ins" to an already booked trip, we got the two rooms at the front of the boat. These rooms are smaller because they are squeezed into the bow of the ship. My buddies had room #2. I had one of the two "bunks" that constitute room #1. There's a small shower, sink, and toilet squeezed into the front of the ship between the rooms. Most passengers use the facilities at the other end of the ship so it's kinda like rooms 1 & 2 have their own private bathroom. Even though I was in a bunk, I have no complaints. I had room for all my stuff, the bunk was more than long enough (I'm 6'3").
Our crew for this trip consisted of Capt. John S., First Mate/Engineer Jimmy, Dive Master Rusty, Marine Biologist Steve, and Chef Baker.
[continued in Part 2]
15 October 2005 - 21 October 2005
Every year, our friends take a dive trip to Cozumel in October. In early July, with the Cozumel downpayment deadline looming and the trip quickly filling up, my two dive buddies and I decided that we wanted to try something different this year.
We decided to try a liveaboard for the first time. One of my buddies is really into wrecks and wanted to try a liveaboard in North Carolina. I searched the Internet for prospective trips. Unfortunately, none of the dive outfits we contacted were doing liveaboards the week we set aside for our vacation. They said this was because weather conditions were too unpredictable in October.
So the Internet search continued. Eventually, we came across Blackbeard's liveaboards. We discussed it with some friends who had done Blackbeard before and decided that while they had a great time, 24 divers on a 65ft boat seemed a bit overcrowded for our tastes even if it was somewhat cheaper. Somehow, in my searching, I stumbled upon Juliet Sailing and Diving (sailjuliet.com). 12 divers on a 104 boat sounded more our speed. After reading some decent reviews on scubaboard and elsewhere, I was pretty sure this was the one we wanted to try.
I gave Juliet a call and spoke to Katie, who was very helpful. The week we wanted to go, the boat was already chartered but luckily for us, the group chartering the boat had some people back out and were unable to fill all 12 slots. They opened it up to the general public the same day that I happened to call! Katie patiently answered all my questions and put me at ease and I ended up putting down a deposit via credit card that same day. The total cost per person was $1290 (not including Bahamas port fee and tip for the crew).
Now with the liveaboard booked, I had to turn my attention to flights from Philadelphia (the closest airport) to Miami where Juliet departs. Their 7 day trips leave Miami on Saturday around 3pm and clear customs by 9am after returning to Miami the following Friday. We decided to work our flights around that timetable allowing time on each side for problems, should they occur. I used Orbitz.com to find flights. I knew that I wanted to get a non-stop flight but the prices seemed a little high so we decided to wait a few weeks to see if the prices went up or down. A few weeks later, the relatively cheap non-stop flights disappeared completely from Orbitz and we began to panic. Fortunately the following week, they re-appeared and we jumped on them. Total cost for the round trip flight: $179.38 per person. Not bad at all. Our arrival time was 12:26pm on Saturday, departure was 3:53pm Friday. That gave us a little wiggle room, especially on the departure day where we anticipated more potential for problems getting back to Miami on time due to weather.
About this time, we looked into Juliet's other offerings and noticed that they offer a Nitrox course plus nitrox fills for the rest of the trip for $150 (books and nitrox tables are included). Many dive shops charge more than that for the course alone and I've seen the book sell for $30 without the plastic tables so this was a great deal from my perspective. A quick call to Katie with my credit card got us signed up.
Fast forward to 10/14 and we're packing. On this trip, you actually need very little clothes. I can almost guarantee you will over pack. You spend most of your time either in the water or wet from recently coming out of the water so there's not much opportunity for dry clothes. A bathing suit of some sort and a beach towel are of prime importance. I'd recommend getting a pair of spandex jammers shorts and a spandex "rash guard" as your attire to wear under your dive skin or shortie. When you get out of the water, you strip down to just the jammers and rash guard and it dries very fast. I found it best to wash out my spandex each night and hang it up in my room to dry to keep it smelling fresh. Like I said before, it dries very quickly. At the end of the day, you can take a hot shower and put on shorts and a t-shirt. I found that I really only wore about three t-shirts over the course of the trip. I only wore them for a few hours at night after I was clean and showered so I was able to re-cycle them and wear them again several days. I just wore the same pair of cargo shorts the whole trip. Don't act grossed out, you know you do it too. Socks didn't get much use either. I walked around barefoot or in aquasox most of the trip.
So to summarize, This is what I think one should bring on this trip as far as clothing goes (I don't think I'm forgetting anything):
Packed:
1 beach towel
1 spandex jammer shorts
1 spandex rash guard shirt
1 pair aquasox
1 pair of cargo shorts
2 t-shirts (maybe 3)
6 pairs of underwear
1 pair of socks (maybe)
1 windbreaker
Wear on the plane...
1 pair of long pants
1 long sleeve shirt
1 pair undies
1 pair socks
1 pair sneakers
If you get cold on the boat at night, you'll have your long pants and/or long sleeve shirt to wear.
I recommend packing all non-clothing items in large (gallon size) zip-lock bags (the kind with the sliders are my favorite) and throwing in a few extra empty bags for future use as you'll see later. You can pack your clothes in garbage bags and again, throw in a few extra as you may need them. With garbage bags, on the trip home, you can use them to wrap up wet gear or your dirty clothes.
10/15: We each arrive at the airport with 1 large gear bag, 1 backpack, and one regulator bag. We checked the gear bags and took the backpacks and regulator bags on as carry-ons.
The flight to Miami is uneventful except that it's raining when we arrive. After getting our luggage, we went outside the airport and looked for a taxi. We snagged a van, piled in, and the driver took us right to Bayside Marina, in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. The Juliet is docked directly across the street. The ride was $35 total for all three of us with 3 large dive bags. Orbitz wanted to tack on $13 a person for an airport shuttle of some sort so we think that $35 was a fair price for a van. We suspect that our van might not have been a "licensed" taxi but the driver was very nice and took us right to the boat so we don't have any complaints.
We boarded the Juliet around 1pm and met some of the crew and the other passengers. We then proceeded to set up our gear, putting our mask, fins, lights wetsuit, etc... in the storage compartment behind each dive "station". This allowed us to haul our now empty dive gear bags below deck and into the storage locker. We unpacked our clothes and personal supplies into our rooms. The layout of the rooms in the Juliet is a little odd due to the shape of the ship (see diagram below).
Since we were "fill-ins" to an already booked trip, we got the two rooms at the front of the boat. These rooms are smaller because they are squeezed into the bow of the ship. My buddies had room #2. I had one of the two "bunks" that constitute room #1. There's a small shower, sink, and toilet squeezed into the front of the ship between the rooms. Most passengers use the facilities at the other end of the ship so it's kinda like rooms 1 & 2 have their own private bathroom. Even though I was in a bunk, I have no complaints. I had room for all my stuff, the bunk was more than long enough (I'm 6'3").
Our crew for this trip consisted of Capt. John S., First Mate/Engineer Jimmy, Dive Master Rusty, Marine Biologist Steve, and Chef Baker.
[continued in Part 2]
