paddler3d
Guest
I won't bother with the details of getting there. I wish I would have read the website a bit closer, and probably any extra literature they sent me before hand. We got there at noon and we were able to drop off our luggage, however were weren't really allowed to board, other than the dive deck, until 6pm. Fortunately there is a bar/resturant/pool that you can use there at the Hurricane Hole Marina and there is Atlantis across the street. Oh yeah, they had a cooler of rum punch for us as well.
Regardless, the boat had made arrangement to pick us up and drop us off at the marina where we were meet by the crew and they took our luggage to the boat for us.
At 6pm we all boarded the boat and received that nights schedule. The very first thing they asked us to do was to pick our dive station, pick a tank and set up our gear. Then unpack your luggage and leave your luggage in the corridor where much like Hogwarts, it disappeared.
Later in the evening, we had the Captain safety briefing and then the Dive Masters safety briefing.
The next morning at first light the boat moved to the first dive site, Lobster No Lobster.
Then from there the days were as such...
8am would be the wake up call for breakfast.
8:30-9am would be the briefing for the first dive.
11am typically back in the water for the 2nd dive.
12pm lunch.
1pm dive briefing for the afternoon dive.
3pm dive briefing for the late afternoon dive.
6pm dinner.
8pm dive briefing for the night dive.
One thing that was very nice was AquaCat comes with a 28' jet boat called the SeaDog. The staff would encourage the guests to do other activities other than dive. There was a trip to go so an cay that had iguanas (didn't do that one). On one of the surface intervals I did some fishing and caught some Mackerel. Another trip was the the Exumas Land and Sea Park. One that nearly everyone went on was at Staniel Cay to see Thunderball Grotto (this grotto was used in James Bond Thunderball and I believe in Splash) and the swimming pigs (I kid you not). We lost two of our potential dives to come down to Staniel Cay, but it was worth it. On the 2nd to last day, they offered the opportunity to go lobstering with the Captain to help catch some dinner. Sadly this was on one of the more spectacular dives (Dog Rocks Wall).
The boat was in good shape. The rooms were spacious. We had a king size bed, or own mini fridge, and our own shower and toilet! The salon was very generous with plenty of sofas on which to lounge. They had a lot of light tables to review slides. These they could get rid of now because few use film any more and the boat doesn't offer the film processing any more. You weren't allowed to put drinks on the light tables.
The dive deck was great! There were five entry points. Three of them were a six foot drop (which isn't that bad at all for the record). The other two you would walk down, don your fins and then giant stride in. If you were comfortable with 6' drop, you'd get all set at your station waddle to the edge, get the okay from the DM and off you went!
The dive ladders were the t-bar style that you could climb up on with fins. There were two of them. When you exited the water, one of the crew was there to hose you off with fresh warm water and make sure you were fine.
The dive deck also had a great spot in the middle for dive cameras. They also had big tanks for rinsing off your camera. There was a section of the dive deck that had plenty of outlets and nothing wet was allowed to go there. It was a charging area.
There had a 'hang bar', although they asked that you only use it for visual reference, at 15' with a couple of regs hanging off of it.
There were two private showers on the dive deck that you could walk in with and rinse off your gear. There was also a head on the dive deck.
They had a variety of aluminum tanks, most could be used as DIN. They offered NITROX 32.
When you were done with your dive, you'd simply remove your 1st stage. By your next dive, they had refilled your tank. Most of my fills ended up with 2700-2800psi.
One thing that I did notice, was that a lot of the tanks leaked. You'd point this out and by your next dive, they had rebuilt the valve of the tank and fixed the leak.
One item that seemed to be a point of contention with some of the guests was the lack of guidance, or supervision, once you were in the water.
During our initial briefing they made it abundantly clear that we are all certified divers and our safety is our responsibility once we are in the water.
They gave us real detailed dive briefings and then would cut us loose. Personally I loved this format. Some did not and oddly these were the people that had to get rescued in the SeaBiscut (another little chase boat). They would get lost and surface. They could swim back or single for the SeaBiscut. These people liked the liveaboards were a dive master was always shepparding them in the water.
The food was awesome! That was my personal concern, but Chef Kirk, Jesse and Karina, came through!
They had locally brewed beers on tap on the roof deck and in the galley. There was wine at dinner and the rood deck had a bar up there that was stocked with the basics.
The crew was brilliant and trying to get you what you wanted. If they didn't know, they were willing to learn. One of the DM's, Gil from Brazil, didn't know how to make a Bloody Mary and he got a fantastic tutelage from some of the guests.
The crew of the AquaCat worked their asses off to make sure you had a good experience. They were easily putting in 14 hour days.
There was Cat the Lead DM. She was from Britain, west of London on some river where they have regatta's. She was professional and hysterical all in the same package.
There was Des the 1st Mate. He was from South Africa. He didn't spend much time in the water, but he was the one that was always taking us out and about on our excursions on the SeaDog.
There was Dean, a DM and instructor, again from South Africa. He was the videographer and frequently in the water with us. On one dive on Dog Rocks Wall, is was at 125' and notice a spotted eagle ray swimming bellow me in 140-150ft of water. I turn around to see if I'm the only one that is going to enjoy these wonderful creatures only to see Dean zooming down the wall, video camera extended in front of him, and a stream of bubbles trailing behind him. He was diving EAN27 and pushed it to 140 to get the shot. He only got 3 seconds of video, but it was a school of six of them.
Gil from Brazil. A DM and instructor. Gil was the photographer and they didn't make shirts long enough to fit him.
There was Janine from Nova Scotia. Again, DM and instructor.
Jesse and Karina were from Lima, Peru and helped the amazing Chef Kirk in the Galley.
Finally there was Captain Mark.
The staff were great, courteous and professional. They really work for their money.
The dive sites were varied. I did feel that there were too many dives that were shallow. Less than 25' which play murder on my ears. I found I really liked the wall dives. You could drop off the wall, then cruise back and forth back up and then play on the reefs from 70-50ft.
We did one shark feeding. I took advantage of that opportunity to work on my fear of sharks. They used the chumsicle technique and were were allowed to get within 15' of the chumsicle. It was amazing and mesmerizing. We only had 8 reef sharks attend, ranging in size from 3-7'.
I would recommend this boat and it's staff. This was my first live aboard, so take it with a grain of salt. From asking and listening to the other guests the only point worth mentioning was that on AquaCat, you're not going to have a DM with you in the water shepparding you through your dive.
Cheers,
Chris
Regardless, the boat had made arrangement to pick us up and drop us off at the marina where we were meet by the crew and they took our luggage to the boat for us.
At 6pm we all boarded the boat and received that nights schedule. The very first thing they asked us to do was to pick our dive station, pick a tank and set up our gear. Then unpack your luggage and leave your luggage in the corridor where much like Hogwarts, it disappeared.
Later in the evening, we had the Captain safety briefing and then the Dive Masters safety briefing.
The next morning at first light the boat moved to the first dive site, Lobster No Lobster.
Then from there the days were as such...
8am would be the wake up call for breakfast.
8:30-9am would be the briefing for the first dive.
11am typically back in the water for the 2nd dive.
12pm lunch.
1pm dive briefing for the afternoon dive.
3pm dive briefing for the late afternoon dive.
6pm dinner.
8pm dive briefing for the night dive.
One thing that was very nice was AquaCat comes with a 28' jet boat called the SeaDog. The staff would encourage the guests to do other activities other than dive. There was a trip to go so an cay that had iguanas (didn't do that one). On one of the surface intervals I did some fishing and caught some Mackerel. Another trip was the the Exumas Land and Sea Park. One that nearly everyone went on was at Staniel Cay to see Thunderball Grotto (this grotto was used in James Bond Thunderball and I believe in Splash) and the swimming pigs (I kid you not). We lost two of our potential dives to come down to Staniel Cay, but it was worth it. On the 2nd to last day, they offered the opportunity to go lobstering with the Captain to help catch some dinner. Sadly this was on one of the more spectacular dives (Dog Rocks Wall).
The boat was in good shape. The rooms were spacious. We had a king size bed, or own mini fridge, and our own shower and toilet! The salon was very generous with plenty of sofas on which to lounge. They had a lot of light tables to review slides. These they could get rid of now because few use film any more and the boat doesn't offer the film processing any more. You weren't allowed to put drinks on the light tables.
The dive deck was great! There were five entry points. Three of them were a six foot drop (which isn't that bad at all for the record). The other two you would walk down, don your fins and then giant stride in. If you were comfortable with 6' drop, you'd get all set at your station waddle to the edge, get the okay from the DM and off you went!
The dive ladders were the t-bar style that you could climb up on with fins. There were two of them. When you exited the water, one of the crew was there to hose you off with fresh warm water and make sure you were fine.
The dive deck also had a great spot in the middle for dive cameras. They also had big tanks for rinsing off your camera. There was a section of the dive deck that had plenty of outlets and nothing wet was allowed to go there. It was a charging area.
There had a 'hang bar', although they asked that you only use it for visual reference, at 15' with a couple of regs hanging off of it.
There were two private showers on the dive deck that you could walk in with and rinse off your gear. There was also a head on the dive deck.
They had a variety of aluminum tanks, most could be used as DIN. They offered NITROX 32.
When you were done with your dive, you'd simply remove your 1st stage. By your next dive, they had refilled your tank. Most of my fills ended up with 2700-2800psi.
One thing that I did notice, was that a lot of the tanks leaked. You'd point this out and by your next dive, they had rebuilt the valve of the tank and fixed the leak.
One item that seemed to be a point of contention with some of the guests was the lack of guidance, or supervision, once you were in the water.
During our initial briefing they made it abundantly clear that we are all certified divers and our safety is our responsibility once we are in the water.
They gave us real detailed dive briefings and then would cut us loose. Personally I loved this format. Some did not and oddly these were the people that had to get rescued in the SeaBiscut (another little chase boat). They would get lost and surface. They could swim back or single for the SeaBiscut. These people liked the liveaboards were a dive master was always shepparding them in the water.
The food was awesome! That was my personal concern, but Chef Kirk, Jesse and Karina, came through!
They had locally brewed beers on tap on the roof deck and in the galley. There was wine at dinner and the rood deck had a bar up there that was stocked with the basics.
The crew was brilliant and trying to get you what you wanted. If they didn't know, they were willing to learn. One of the DM's, Gil from Brazil, didn't know how to make a Bloody Mary and he got a fantastic tutelage from some of the guests.
The crew of the AquaCat worked their asses off to make sure you had a good experience. They were easily putting in 14 hour days.
There was Cat the Lead DM. She was from Britain, west of London on some river where they have regatta's. She was professional and hysterical all in the same package.
There was Des the 1st Mate. He was from South Africa. He didn't spend much time in the water, but he was the one that was always taking us out and about on our excursions on the SeaDog.
There was Dean, a DM and instructor, again from South Africa. He was the videographer and frequently in the water with us. On one dive on Dog Rocks Wall, is was at 125' and notice a spotted eagle ray swimming bellow me in 140-150ft of water. I turn around to see if I'm the only one that is going to enjoy these wonderful creatures only to see Dean zooming down the wall, video camera extended in front of him, and a stream of bubbles trailing behind him. He was diving EAN27 and pushed it to 140 to get the shot. He only got 3 seconds of video, but it was a school of six of them.
Gil from Brazil. A DM and instructor. Gil was the photographer and they didn't make shirts long enough to fit him.
There was Janine from Nova Scotia. Again, DM and instructor.
Jesse and Karina were from Lima, Peru and helped the amazing Chef Kirk in the Galley.
Finally there was Captain Mark.
The staff were great, courteous and professional. They really work for their money.
The dive sites were varied. I did feel that there were too many dives that were shallow. Less than 25' which play murder on my ears. I found I really liked the wall dives. You could drop off the wall, then cruise back and forth back up and then play on the reefs from 70-50ft.
We did one shark feeding. I took advantage of that opportunity to work on my fear of sharks. They used the chumsicle technique and were were allowed to get within 15' of the chumsicle. It was amazing and mesmerizing. We only had 8 reef sharks attend, ranging in size from 3-7'.
I would recommend this boat and it's staff. This was my first live aboard, so take it with a grain of salt. From asking and listening to the other guests the only point worth mentioning was that on AquaCat, you're not going to have a DM with you in the water shepparding you through your dive.
Cheers,
Chris
