Just Back from St Croix on Rorqual

Had a great time on the St Coix trip. We just returned home on Sat, Oct 3rd. The diving was alot better than I thought it would be. I was worried after reading all the reviews on the diving in the area. But I thought Fredricksted Pier was awesome! That and the fact that I had my first dive with dolphins made it a great trip! I've snorkled with the dolphins before but being able get close with 3 adults and a calf with scuba equipment just made my trip!

Fredricksted Pier is one of my all time favorite dive sites. It had such a wide variety of life on it. We saw morays of all kinds, batfish, frogfish, seahorses, 4-6 octopus on just 1 dive just before dusk, lobsters, crabs, scorpian fish, trunk fish, porcupine fish, trumpet fish, angel fish, spotted drum fish, a juvenile tile fish, a juvenile french angel, cowfish, flying gunard, squid (at night), stingrays, turtles, and so much more I cannot name them all. I dove this site 6 times and it was like diving a different site every time. Loved it!

I also like the wall dive North Star. It was a sloping wall with lots of nooks and crannies for things to hide out in. It had great topography. Not only was this where the dolphins were, but we also saw a couple of turtles, spotted drums, 2 scorpian fish together, flounder, trunk fish, cowfish, porcupine fish, flamingo tongues, a juvenile damselfish (how beautiful), and many many more.

The crew on the boat were very friendly and the captain was very accomadating to our wishes. We asked for a dawn dive and received it. On one morning dive we did not really care for the dive site so we asked it we could move for the second dive and the captain again agreed. We also requested to go back to the pier on the last day since we enjoyed it so much and it would be good shallow diving for the day before our flights. The captain again granted our wishes. Captain John is great! Although he is on vacation for the next couple of weeks.

This was my first trip with Nekton and I must say the only part not quite up to par was the boat itself. It could use a fresh coat of paint, new carpeting, new bedding, and they really need to find a way to get rid of the funky smell in some of the cabins. Mid week our cabin was almost unbearable to enter due to the stench. Thank goodness the smell started to die down after a couple of days. Yes, the rooms are bigger than most liveaboards I've been on but cleanliness counts also.

Overall, a good trip! Can't wait for Doc's pictures.

Thanks for the review - We're doing the same trip staring next Saturday, Oct 10.

What were the water temps ?

NAIBDiver1

NAIBdiver1:

Thanks for the review - We're doing the same trip staring next Saturday, Oct 10.

What were the water temps ?

NAIBDiver1

Click to expand...

Water temps were 82-84 degrees. Enjoy your trip!

Brodydog:

Overall, a good trip! Can't wait for Doc's pictures.

Click to expand...

Lucky you being on the boat with Doc...he is great to dive with and quite the character too

parrotheaddiver:

Lucky you being on the boat with Doc...he is great to dive with and quite the character too

Click to expand...

Yes indeed!

Thnx for the report

Brodydog, you said you got to dive the pier 6 times, were they docked there all day or did you do 3 dives the second time you went back When I was on the Nekton earlier this year, we only got 2 afternoon and one night dive at the pier. It is an amazing dive. I would have liked to stay there all week. How was the rest of your diving. Did you make it to the north shore (is this where Northstar is)? On my trip, the customers were not very happy with most of our dives in St. Croix other than the pier, because it seemed that the areas we went were overfished. We were also unable to get to the north shore because of weather (I have heard the diving up there is better).

diverdoug1:

Brodydog, you said you got to dive the pier 6 times, were they docked there all day or did you do 3 dives the second time you went back When I was on the Nekton earlier this year, we only got 2 afternoon and one night dive at the pier. It is an amazing dive. I would have liked to stay there all week. How was the rest of your diving. Did you make it to the north shore (is this where Northstar is)? On my trip, the customers were not very happy with most of our dives in St. Croix other than the pier, because it seemed that the areas we went were overfished. We were also unable to get to the north shore because of weather (I have heard the diving up there is better).

Click to expand...

Captain John said they used to only spend a half day at the pier, but because all the guests would continually ask him to return to the pier he decided to change the schedule and he now spends a whole day at the pier. So on that day I did 4 dives at the pier (only 4 because I did a dawn dive that morning before we reached the pier). Then by popular demand the captain agreed to return to the pier on Friday (our last day of diving). We got there around 1:30 and since my homebound flight was not until 5pm on Sat I was able to get in 2 more dives at the pier.

And yes, North Star was on the north shore. We also did one other site on the north shore which was not that great called The Trench. I agree that other than the pier the dive sites on that side of the island were definitely not worthy. I enjoyed my trip so much because we got a day and a half at the pier and were able to go to North Star on the north shore. If not for these 2 sites the trip would have been very disappointing.

One other thing...for anyone going soon PLEASE PAY YOUR TIPS IN CASH. We did confirm on our trips that the crew is not getting the tips from anything put on a credit card. They are currently not getting paid at all from Nekton so cash tips are their only source of income right now.

Glad to hear of the good time. We got one day on the North shore and diving is definitely better there. IF they could dive over there all the time, it would probably make this a must go location. I found a couple of sailing ship anchors and a much more prolific reef over there and that's where we made the only shark sighting of the boat: a hammerhead. I believe it was Cane Bay. And that pier site just comes alive with octopus and lobster all over at night.

I'm honestly wondering whether the smell you refer to had anything to do with the sewage overflow from the toilet we experienced on the boat. Woke up to most horrible smell in the world and found the toilet nearly overflowing and then did overflow from a backup in the pipes into multiple rooms. We alerted the crew and they did what they could to fix it and then clean it up. But you can only do so much to clean sewage. We were able to move rooms from mid boat second floor to the bow on the second floor. I could imagine this could easily happen again. Stop up the pipes on any boat and this could happen.

RE: Pay - man, "sad" can't begin to describe that issue. Obviously either they're not making enough money or it just ain't getting to those that deserve it.

Brodydog:

Captain John said they used to only spend a half day at the pier, but because all the guests would continually ask him to return to the pier. Then by popular demand the captain agreed to return to the pier on Friday (our last day of diving). We got there around 1:30 and since my homebound flight was not until 5pm on Sat I was able to get in 2 more dives at the pier.

Click to expand...

Divers seemed to like the pier for one very big reason- you simply can not get lost. (Altho some take a good shot at it)

This is an often overlooked but very important feature of some of the most popular dive sites we see. Follow the pier legs, if they are getting shallower, you're headed back to the boat. It's a great night dive, for that reason alone.

The pier is made up of 6' wide concrete columns that are covered in sea life. They start out in 12fsw and run out to 70'. Just a casual look provided juvenile Drums, juvenile Angels, three different Frogfish, Batfish, many different Crabs, Shrimp, and I lost count of what all else.

They do the pier dive again on Friday because you can do all this shallow diving you like and still be off-gassing. The "24 Hour Rule" becomes more a topic of idle conversation versus scientific application and reality.

....We also did one other site on the north shore which was not that great called The Trench. I agree that other than the pier the dive sites on that side of the island were definitely not worthy.

Click to expand...

And there lies the difference. I liked "the Trench". I also liked the 4 placed wrecks (ship, barge, tug, sealab) on the Western pier side of St. Croix. Armageddon was interesting but too deep to enjoy for long.

.........................................................

One other thing...for anyone going soon PLEASE PAY YOUR TIPS IN CASH. We did confirm on our trips that the crew is not getting the tips from anything put on a credit card. They are currently not getting paid at all from Nekton so cash tips are their only source of income right now.

Click to expand...

I paid in cash, but the reason is more convoluted. If you pay in credit card, that costs 3%, and yes- they will have to wait to receive it. The dive crew does indeed draw a paycheck, but not very much. They can't go far with their $60 a week salary, so yes- the tips are what they need. Pay in cash, for sure.

Shasta_man:

I'm honestly wondering whether the smell you refer to had anything to do with the sewage overflow from the toilet we experienced on the boat.

Click to expand...

The musty smell abated after two days of running our room's AC at full throttle. It was not the head. The crew reminds people that nautical heads should be left filled with water to avoid any burping. They also report that when they clean the rooms, very few people comply with this commonly accepted marine practice.