Nekton Diving Cruises !!

[peanut]

We have been on the Pilot 3 times, twice to Belize and once to Cay Sal Banks. Love the ship, love the crew, love Belize. Never been sea sick, although I have to confess I do take Bonine every day, my boyfriend usually doesn't on the Pilot but does on other boats sometimes. I would definately recommend to anyone looking into liveaboards.

 

[DiveMaven]

We experienced quite a storm in Belize on the Pilot last year. The motion of these boats is kinda hard to describe, but frankly the only time we felt any motion was during the storm with 4-5' seas. Ironically, at no time did we walk like drunks during the storm, nor were we ever almost pitched out of bed.

I'm very prone to motion sickness so always wear a patch when I'm on a plane or boat, but there were a couple of folks on our trip who said they'd been sick in conditions like what we were experiencing, and none of them had to take any medication.

 

[dcs917]

Did a Pilot trip at the end of July with a great group of folks from Arizona. Lots of great dives, and an especially memorable snorkel with a huge pod of about 40 wild spotted dolphins! Positives were the ease of getting in and out of the water, and the food & service. Complaints were the exterior paint (lots of rust) and the condition of the engineering space. They really needed some TLC!

Great way to spend a week of diving, and you will quickly become friends with the entire group. I would highly recommend!

 

[Trwmodela]

The Pilot just came out of several weeks of dry dock. This included normal maintenance and fresh look to the inside and outside of the vessel. Also, the Rorqual is getting the same attention shortly in the dry dock. My understanding the boats go into dry dock every other year unless something unexpected comes up. Let's hope someone provides us a new report from the Pilot.

Tim

 

[Pam_In_Paradise]

The Pilot just came out of several weeks of dry dock. This included normal maintenance and fresh look to the inside and outside of the vessel. Also, the Rorqual is getting the same attention shortly in the dry dock. My understanding the boats go into dry dock every other year unless something unexpected comes up. Let's hope someone provides us a new report from the Pilot.

Tim

Hi All:luxhello:

Tim is correct about the Pilot. She is arriving in Belize this weekend sporting brand new paint, inside and out, new carpet, inside and out, new bed and bath linens, new comforters, curtains and decorative stuff in the cabins. There were alot of smaller projects done as well. The biggest news is that our engineers devised and installed a solution to the Pilots condensation issues with the pipes running over the downstairs cabins! She is looking (and feeling) good. We've also added some additional "maintenance weeks" spread throughout the year where we will spend the week working on maintenance and improvement projects rather than taking guests out. It can be really hard to do projects like painting with guests on board and since we have a policy of fulfilling the charter no matter how few guests are on board, rather than cancel and disappoint the guests, we found ourselves not being able to get some projects done as timely as we wanted. The additional maintenance weeks should help. Hope you enjoy! Pam

 

[DiveMaven]

Great news that the Pilot got a "face lift"! She's a wonderful boat, and although she didn't look new when we were aboard last December, she certainly didn't feel run down or unkept either. Can't wait to be back onboard next summer for 2 weeks!!

 

[shellig]

You be very interested in an announcement coming very soon here on Scubaboard.

-=B=-

My curiosity is piqued...can't you give us a little hint?
Been thinking about a Nekton dive trip next year...

 

[Footslogger]

We're signed up for the Cayman itinerary next May and can't wait. We were married on the Rorqual and this will be my 5th Nekton trip (4th for my wife). In over 30 years of diving I've never been to the Caymans and I can't think of a better way to experience it than onboard one of the Nekton boats.

New paint or not, I can't wait.

'Slogger

 

[Jaydiver]

Just came off of the Pilot (10/21 - 10/28) the first cruise after the refurb. Good news, bad news. It was my first time on the Pilot, I've been on the Rorqual.

The good news is that the ship looks great, the two ships are identical twins inside and out (except the side view). The crew was fantastic, great diving, really good food, great diving, did I mention that the crew and the diving were great. There were 6 of us, one couple and 4 single divers, and 12 crew. "Pam in Paradise" is correct in that the linens, decorations, paint, etc. are all new. The crew did a really great job.

Let me preface the problems by saying that I truly believe that this events below are a one time only event and won't reoccur. I probably WILL return to Nekton for all of the really good things about the crew, ship and diving.

The bad news is that things didn't start off great. On Friday I got a phone call that the boat would be one day late coming over from Florida and would be ready on Sunday night. Nekton planned a day touring (Sun). All of us got the phone call except for I person who was already in Belize (his story of waiting is worse). The tour agent was told to go to another hotel so he was late, when we got back after touring the ship was not ready. We were at the pier gate and the crew had no idea of when we could board, and the luggage was back at the hotel. After several hours we finally got on board. The crew was very apologetic throughout. The failure it seems was between the home office and the land based logistics communications.

Once we got under way the other glitch from this first cruise was that the Nitrox on the first day wasn't up to pressure so we all did air. After that the Nitrox was always available and was very stable, between 31-32%.

We all were in the upper cabins, one had condensation problems early on.

We all had such a really great time once things got started that I hate to report the initial logistical problems, but they did. I am confident that they will fix things and stay on top of events.

 

[DiveMaven]

Wow, that really stinks! I'd have been upset too at missing an entire dive day. It's great that you have such a good attitude that you didn't let it spoil your entire trip and had a great time once on the boat.