First Liveaboard (Blackbeards) - What to expect?

[oreocookie]

Then stay cognizant of not sitting where you watch the horizon bobbing, stay looking inside the boat.

That may be a personal thing, as it's NOT what would work for me. My understanding is that seasickness (and motion sickness in general) is caused when the brain receives what it determines to be conflicting signals from the eyes and inner ear. Looking inside the boat will result in being stationary as far as the eyes are concerned and moving as far as the inner ear is concerned. If you're prone to it, that's probably a recipe for being sick. If you do sit and watch the horizon, don't watch it bob; if you move your head to follow the horizon, the motion will make more sense to the brain. Why the brain figures nausea and vomiting will solve the problem, though, is beyond me.

Either way, if you're prone to seasickness or find out on the boat that you are, find out what ways of dealing with it (meds, watching or not watching the horizon, etc) work for you and take note of what will provoke it or make it worse and avoid those if you can.

 

[bkotheimer]

So my Blackbeard's trip finally happened! It was the week departing May 14th on the Morning Star, and here's a video I put together about the experience:

[vimeo]24399452[/vimeo]​

 

[StuartScuba]

Thank you so much for posting that video. I could not do a trip this year but your video brought back memories of mine last year. Again thanks!

 

[CCC77]

This thread reminded me of the Black Beards trip I took in October of 2000. We were on the Morning Star. My wife and I were lucky because there was no one else in the room with us. Some one mentioned air conditioning. I can assure you that the Morning Star had it back in 2000. The diving was awesome. I don't remember the showers being much of an issue because you are in the ocean 4 times a day. I would post some pictures but that was probably the last trip I took before we got a digital camera, so I would have to scan them in. I would recommend possible getting motion sickness medicine from your doctor before you go. I was fine but my wife and eight others got sea sick pretty bad crossing the Florida Strait. 15 foot swells all the way across. One of the staff members had some kind of patch from the doctor that she put on behind her ear that she said worked really well. She said that she started taking the medicine because she got really sick on a rough crossing, even though she had not gotten sea sick for years. Other than that the trip was one of the best I have ever experienced.

 

[Zenshift]

First, let me say thanks to everyone for their information ... I am a research nerd and the more small tips, the more comfortable I am.

Two miscellaneous questions:

1) Berth assignments ... were you expecting to be assigned to a certain berth or were you happy/disappointed with the assignments you received? My wife and I are (only slightly) concerned about getting the galley doubles. Opinions on this?

2) Unique tips. Is there anything the crew can use that we can take and leave with them that they may not have access to in the Bahamas (Fishing lures, solar rechargers, etc.) or things they absolutely love, like special coffee or rum or ______(for example, in St. Maarten, Octopus Diving crews love chocolate croissants)

Thanks again (btw, we're booked and depostis paid for mid-May 2012)

(I remembered two other questions and have added them, please disregard the "two" in the thread title )

3) To minimize the stuff taken on the sloop, is there someplace to store additional luggage on the island so we only take what's needed with us?

4) Did you stay another day to let things dry out, take a proper shower, and get your land legs again?

 

[oreocookie]

First, let me say thanks to everyone for their information ... I am a research nerd and the more small tips, the more comfortable I am.

I'm much the same way, so I'll give you my 2 cents for your questions.

1)Berth assignments - My buddy and I book through our LDS, and were only asked if we wanted one bunk or two. We ended up with 2 above each other in the forward cabin (right next to the head, which was convenient as we could knock on the door without getting out of our bunks in the morning). We were only told our bunk assignments when we got on board, though this may differ if you booked directly with Blackbeards. It seemed most of the couples on our boat were in the cabin in front of the galley with mainly singles in the galley cabin. I wouldn't be too worried about those berths though as the galley seemed to be fairly quiet at night and being woken up slowly by the smell of breakfast cooking might be better than "Breakfast's time!" getting yelled down into your cabin.

2)Unique tips - I can't really help you there. The only thing I can think of is that our captain, Pancho, mentioned that he will never say no to a free hat, nor will he pay for one. What is useful or appreciated though, probably depends on the crew, which seems to change frequently enough (two crew members were doing their final trip with us, though I've heard one has since gone back).

3)Luggage storage - They have a locker at the dock for storing suitcases and whatever else you don't need for the week. I suggest before the boat leaves that you check out the shelf space in your bunk and figure out how you're going to put whatever you bring with you. There's a fair amount of room if you don't mind a bit of a puzzle occasionally.

4)Staying an extra day - my buddy and I didn't and this worked out fine for us. I guess this would depend on if you want to give your gear a good soak before or after getting home. We got back to the dock around 1pm on the Thursday, so there's a fair amount of drying time before they kick you off in the morning but not really much opportunity for soaking/rinsing. I didn't really have my land legs back for a few days after we got home (rocking back and forth while at work is interesting, to say the least). Arranging for a taxi heading to the airport or hotel was easy as a sign-up sheet went around on the Thursday and a lady from the taxi company met with passengers on the Friday morning to confirm when their flights were and let them know when their taxi would be (as they were trying to group people with similar departure times)

 

[Zenshift]

Awesome info ... thanks. The threat of the galley bunks isn't enough to keep me away ...

Any other tips would be appreciated. I found a video that has still images in a slide show tagged as being taken in June. The passengers are wearing sweatshirts. Question: is it that cool in the evenings (we're booked for May 2012)?

 

[oreocookie]

can't really help you too much there, since I went in August, but I only wore a sweatshirt once, in the morning, and that was more for the comfy factor cause i was feeling a bit queasy. I didn't notice anybody else wearing sweatshirts at all.

 

[agwatts]

I worked on a liveaboard and I can't add anything to this piece of ART!!!

 

[cowdog77]

Fantastic video....thanks for taking the time to post it. Just like I remember it a few years ago.