Bonaire shore diver goes boat riding

[drrich2]

Thanks, Dan. My take on that video; the diving looks great, seeing the Komodo dragons would be sweet in the wild, and the boat looks beautiful, which richly colored wood.

The only thing I saw that looked especially comfortable was the brief look around a room; that looked spacious. Is that the added comfort? If so, it must compete against the added discomfort of having to load into & out of those smaller boats that travel to & from dive sites. In the Caribbean, diving off & climbing back aboard the stern ladders is convenient.

Richard.

 

[Dan]

Yes that's how the cabins are setup to include a private bathroom & beds for 2 divers / cabin.

Entry into the water with small boats actually is more convenient for me than straight from the big boat like we do here with the Fling going to Flower Garden. The dive gears (BCDs with tanks, fins & cameras will be loaded into the small boat by the crew. You just need to get into the small boat with your wetsuit on from the big boat deck. Then you don your gear as the small boat heading to the dive site, usually within 5 minutes boat ride. Once you are on the dive site & everyone is ready to dive, you just roll back into the water at the same time from sitting position. The small boat will then follow your bubbles during the dive. They will come & get you when they see you or your SMB popping out of the surface at the end of the dive. You just remove your gear in the water & hand them to the crew. They will pull your gear up into the boat & you climb up into the small boat without your gear. Once you arrive in the big boat, you just walk onto the loading deck of the big boat. The crew will bring your gear back to your station.

That's what I call easy warm water dives. I did 40 dives in 12 days straight this way without skipping a dive due to fatigue or exhaustion 8 months ago in Raja Ampat.

 

[KeithG]

at the end of the dive, when diving from ribs (or panga or what ever they are called) do they ferry each buddy pair back to the mother ship? or do they wait until everyone has finished their dive? or does this vary by operator / location / conditions?

 

[Dan]

Typically there are 2 small boats operating. Each boat can fit up to 8 divers + 2 DMs. Each DM can lead up to 4 divers. They typically try to group the divers that have similar air consumption so the group can come up at about the same time or least not too far apart. Quite often since they have 2 small boats, if a pair of divers has come up sooner than the rest of the group & 2nd boat is also there waiting for the rest of the divers to come up, then 1st boat will go ahead & take the pair of divers back to the big boat. Most of the time we don't wait for long.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Maybe, I have never been to the Maldives or RA, but a week on a LOB in the Red Sea was enough for me, and it was the most luxurious and comfortable LOB I have ever experienced, spacious and beautiful and wonderful diving. Maybe it is because I m getting older, but I am just ready to get off the boat after a week.

Fair enough! my apologies

 

[chillyinCanada]

drrich2,

Check out the Carpe Vita's Standard cabin!
Carpediem Maldives

Far better than the best room on the T&C Explorer by a very long shot and the rest of the boat is beyond spacious and comfortable.

After 4 trips on her, I agreed with myself that I'd had enough of the Maldives diving but now they're offering a special on the Vita and their brand new boat the Carpe Novo! I'm torn, heehee

The diving off of these lob boats is awesome because we don't dive off of them.

They come with super comfy dive boats called dhonis that we comfortably board and all of our gear is aboard waiting for us including wetsuits etc.

I went to Raja Ampat aboard the Dewi Nusantara. Beautiful boat.
Dewi nusantara - Google Search

I never wanted off of her but that was also because of the diving. I was rather tired of the food but I also lost 5 pounds, so there was still a significant benefit. No such luck on Carpe Vita! Food was quite good but lots of pasta, so that got a bit boring for me as I rarely eat such things.

All that said, the food on the T&C Explorer was delicious and while I was less than enamoured of the physical boat, the food was so much better than the other two, it was kind of a tradeoff.

Never say never Rich, treat yourself sometime.

 

[Dan]

drrich2,

Check out the Carpe Vita's Standard cabin!
Carpediem Maldives

Far better than the best room on the T&C Explorer by a very long shot and the rest of the boat is beyond spacious and comfortable.

After 4 trips on her, I agreed with myself that I'd had enough of the Maldives diving but now they're offering a special on the Vita and their brand new boat the Carpe Novo! I'm torn, heehee

The diving off of these lob boats is awesome because we don't dive off of them.

They come with super comfy dive boats called dhonis that we comfortably board and all of our gear is aboard waiting for us including wetsuits etc.

I went to Raja Ampat aboard the Dewi Nusantara. Beautiful boat.
Dewi nusantara - Google Search

I never wanted off of her but that was also because of the diving. I was rather tired of the food but I also lost 5 pounds, so there was still a significant benefit. No such luck on Carpe Vita! Food was quite good but lots of pasta, so that got a bit boring for me as I rarely eat such things.

All that said, the food on the T&C Explorer was delicious and while I was less than enamoured of the physical boat, the food was so much better than the other two, it was kind of a tradeoff.

Never say never Rich, treat yourself sometime.

Thanks for the info. I add Carpediem Maldives to my bucket list.

 

[drrich2]

Gotta say, that does look impressive. More like hotel rooms. Kudos to them for an impressive website, too.

Richard.

 

[chillyinCanada]

LOL, their website is a bit too impressive for my phone, which needs to be updated.

In any event Rich, if you can get a special when they come out and a decent airfare, it's so worth it.

I don't have too many regrets but occasionally, it crosses my mind that if I hadn't spent so much time in Belize and Roatan, I could have been applying that cash towards Indonesia diving.

I found a little piece of heaven over there last year and can't wait to get back to it! And maybe I'll scout around for some more pieces of heaven too while I'm in the vicinity.

 

[Dan]

My next Indonesian trip: