Trip Report: Cruise newbies dive Bermuda!

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Ber Rabbit

Floppy Ear Mod
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
Messages
8,039
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Location
Ohio
# of dives
200 - 499
This story is long, really long, so long you better take a quick potty break then grab a snack and drink from the kitchen before you start reading. :D

We cruised to Bermuda on the Norwegian Majesty out of Baltimore, MD; we arrived at 3pm on Monday and were scheduled to depart the island at 11am on Wednesday. This was our first real cruise; the closest we had come was a weeklong live aboard dive trip on the Nekton Pilot several years ago. The Majesty’s itinerary didn’t show any diving excursions and when Bruce called Norwegian he was told it was ok to book his own diving. Bruce contacted Triangle Divers and booked a two tank afternoon dive plus a night dive for Tuesday, our only full day on the island. The airline’s recent addition of fees for luggage that used to be free plus the fact we were only diving one day and really wouldn’t have a place to store wet gear drove our decision to rent BC’s and regulators.

When Bruce booked the dives he was told we would be picked up at the cruise ship in St. Georges by a van at 1:30pm. The van would take us to the shop where we would fill out the necessary paperwork as well as be assigned our rental gear. The dive boat was scheduled to leave the dock at 2pm, the shop employees assured us that was enough time to get to the shop and take care of business. Their waivers are online so we were able to come prepared to sign in. A call to Triangle closer to the date of departure for the cruise revealed a change in the method of transport to the dive shop. Instead of being transported in a van we would be picked up by their dive boat “Tenacity” and taken to the shop. This was just as convenient and it was far more comfortable than cramming a group of divers, with all the stuff divers carry, into a van.

There were about 7 of us from the cruise ship who had booked directly with Triangle. We would be joined by other divers vacationing on the island as well as some students when we arrived at the shop. I believe there were about 19 divers scheduled to be on the boat. We arrived at the shop and took our c-cards and waivers as well as a credit card inside. We were not required to show our logbooks but they did ask how many dives we had and when our last dive was. That information plus our name and certification level was entered into a spreadsheet that was used for roll call as well as to break divers into experience-based groups. Once we had signed in we were taken to the gear shed and assigned BC’s and regulators; masks, fins and weight belts were available on the boat if you needed them. My rental BC was a ScubaPro Pilot and the regulator was a ScubaPro MK2, I believe Bruce had the same type of BC but his regulator was a Sherwood Brut. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about rental gear so I was pleasantly surprised by the condition of the gear we received. The BC’s looked pretty new and the regulators performed well.

Aboard the dive boat plenty of help was available for those who wanted or needed assistance setting up their gear and no offense was taken if you wanted to do it yourself. Some people hadn’t been diving in a while and asked the DM to watch them set up to make sure they did it right, the DM’s gave instruction where it was needed while being friendly and polite. I felt it was a very nice environment for less-experienced divers while still being enjoyable for those of us with more experience.

The owner of the dive shop, Graham, was also our Captain. There were at least 5 other staff members on the boat, I’m not even sure if that counts the instructors who were out with students. The staff to customer ratio was higher than I’ve ever seen on a dive boat. Roll call was taken at the dock then we were on our way to North Rock, about an hour ride from the shop. During the ride one of the DM’s used the roll call spreadsheet with our dive experience and certification level to sort us into experience based groups. The Captain acknowledged that the large boat looked like a cattle operation but he tries to run it so it doesn’t feel like one. The experienced divers are put in the water first and students are dropped in last. Triangle expects the experienced divers to be “first in, last out” and they don’t severely limit your dive time though they do ask you to keep your dive to about an hour so you can get two dives in and get back to the dock in time for the night dive to go out. There is no time limit on the night dive; you can stay as long as your air will allow but they do ask you return from all dives with 500-600psi remaining.

Bruce and I were asked if we wanted to take on a third diver for our team and dive at North Rocks without a guide. The diver they wanted to pair with us had over 500 dives and would probably make a good match but I was diving unfamiliar gear in an unfamiliar place and just wasn’t comfortable adding an unknown buddy. The three of us ended up assigned to a DM named Josie so we would have a foursome. She asked if we minded if she took us to explore areas of the reef she hadn’t seen and we said that was fine. You never know what you might find in an area of the reef that’s not part of the normal tour.

The dive boat Tenacity has room to giant stride four divers in at a time. Two can enter off the back platform at once and there is a gate on each side of the boat at roughly mid-ship where divers can enter in single file. We geared up at the bow of the boat so using the mid-ship gate was very convenient for us. There was no waiting in line, we just geared up and got in. The newer divers tended to prefer striding in off the back of the boat as the drop to the water was shorter thanks to a custom designed stern.

They ask you to enter and go to the trail line then do a weight check before descending for your first dive. Evidently the water around Bermuda is the third saltiest ocean water in the world, at least that’s what the Captain of the sunset tour sailboat told us the previous evening. Is that true? I really don’t know. The air procedure is simple if you choose to use a guide, give them the “T” signal aka “time out” sign to indicate you are at half tank at which point the dive is turned.

The four of us met at the trail line then descended and Josie headed off around the reef with the three of us following. There are a lot of swim-throughs, undercuts and arches in the reef system. Josie led us along the sand, weaving around the maze of large coral heads and peeking into the cracks and crevices. We had a max depth of 37 feet and were down for nearly an hour in the 83 degree water. I’m not really a fan of reef diving, give me a wreck any day of the week. We saw the standard reef stuff (fish and coral) with the notable moments being the discovery of a large lobster, seeing some large anemones and then being followed by some sort of wrasse. The fish was just hanging out with us staying mere inches away. It was acting much like the trout at Gilboa just following along as we went about our dive. The coral were spawning so visibility was rather cloudy and limited to roughly 50-70 feet. A reef lover would have had a grand time I’m sure, for me it was just a dive full of the same old stuff I’ve seen on every other reef I’ve been on.

I had taken the Omega Flip Fins along, the yellow XL pair I originally purchased. This was their first time in open water and they had performed well. I had done a standing backroll entry with the fins in the locked position and they remained locked through the entry and through the entire dive. I had a little difficulty getting them unlocked while bobbing on the trail line but eventually managed to coordinate the movements of both legs during the unlock process. Climbing the ladder was tricky; you have to really focus on keeping the fin tips by your shin. That’s easy enough in the calm waters of the quarry when exiting via stairs but on a bobbing boat with a ladder to contend with the tips tend to get washed into your way as you climb. There was one point where the fin blade had washed away from my shin and wedged between the top of the step and the bottom of the boat as I moved my foot toward the second step. That was a bit unnerving for a few moments as I worked to free the blade while riding what the captain told me were 3-4 foot swells. There was definitely a moment where visions of a broken ankle and dislocated knee were dancing in my head. Once I figured out how to time my climb with the waves I was able to use the water pressure to keep the blades against my shins. Climbing the ladder was much easier on later dives; I even managed a successful climb in the dark with 5-6 foot swells after the night dive.

When you exit the water the DM’s remove your gear right as you get on the boat and change your tanks for you if you didn’t request otherwise. I think my new tank beat me to my seat; they are super efficient at the gear change. Capt. Graham helped me out of my gear the first dive, I told him I had set the tank too high and asked him to lower it for the second dive. I couldn’t have done a better job of placing it myself, he hit the position I wanted it in dead on.

Our second dive site was the wreck of the Cristobal Colon. The wreck is broken up but huge! The ship is nearly 500 feet long and scattered over a fairly large area so there is plenty of room for a large group of divers. We shed our DM now that I was comfortable with the unfamiliar gear and the three of us, Bruce and me plus the other experienced diver went and did our own thing on the wreck. We hit the water immediately after the briefing and were on our way. I caught myself trying to hit my drysuit inflator at one point in the dive, an instinctive reaction to being cold. I checked my watch and realized I was cold in a 3mm full suit after only 17 minutes on my second dive in the 83 degree water. There was one point where the “herd” caught up with us because we were taking pictures and moving slowly along the wreck. We were at 48 feet and at the far end of the wreck at the time so we patiently waited while they wallowed around, burned through their air and had to return from whence they had come. The three of us continued to inspect the wreck. It’s a metal wreck and even though it’s heavily damaged from the original accident and being blown up by the Air Force during target practice in WWII there’s a lot of intact parts to explore. The boilers, drive shafts and parts of the engine as well as extra props on the deck along with what looked like the windlass make for nice photos.

Capt. Graham said the portholes are oval but I've read elsewhere that they are rectangular, Bruce said he noticed they were ovals but they looked round to me. I was entertained by the abundance of brain coral on the wreck. There is one part of the deck where it looks like the ship was carrying a load of brains on board. The scene had such a surreal feel to it that I couldn’t help but giggle and chant “There’s a brain…and another brain…and another brain” to myself. Bruce said it looked like one of the scenes in a Tribble episode of Star Trek.

Near the stern you will find a bathtub though I'm not sure that was part of the ship when it wrecked. We were told in the briefing that a gigantic moray lives on the wreck but none of us were able to find it. We spent almost an hour on the wreck and probably didn’t even see half of what it has to offer. It’s a wreck I could spend days diving, first to investigate the structure then to peek into nooks and crannies to see what I can find hiding there.

The long dive times and long drive back to the dock meant the dive boat might be late picking up cruise ship passengers who were booked on the night dive. Capt. Graham was in constant contact with the shop via cell phone. He kept them informed of our progress toward the bay and when it was obvious we would not be at the cruise ship dock on time he had his employees arrange land transportation to the shop for the cruise ship passengers. The cruise passengers arrived at the shop at approximately the same time we did and were signing in while the crew changed empty tanks for fresh ones and re-stocked the cookie supply.

Bruce had asked if there was food available for purchase at the shop since we had been on the boat for almost 6 hours and we were booked on the night dive. Capt Graham asked what we wanted and when we said sandwiches he called the shop and sent an employee to the deli dept of the grocery to pick some up. We went inside the shop and paid for the sandwiches while the crew was prepping the boat for the night dive.The boat was nearly full; I believe 21 of the scheduled 24 divers showed up.

**continued**
 
Everyone loaded up and we were on our way. The cruise ship dock was on the way to the site and we stopped there briefly to drop off the passengers from the day dives who wouldn’t be joining us on the night dive. Capt Graham didn’t want to put a large number of divers on one of the smaller wrecks so he opted to head for the Rita Zovetta. It was in an area where there were larger swells but some of the divers had already done a night dive with them at the usual night dive site and he didn’t want to take them to the same place twice. He was right; the swells were bigger than they had been at the sheltered sites we visited during the day. You could see breakers crashing into the reef several hundred yards away so any sites on that side of the island were out of the question. I asked how big the swells were and Capt Graham said 5-6 feet but some are bigger.

The dive briefing indicated visibility would probably be limited thanks to the swells stirring up the bottom. I was amazed at how deep the swells could be felt, it was only when you passed the 40 foot mark that the swells lost their power and the washing machine tossing turned into a gentle sway. I tried to take a few photos at 20 feet or so but the backscatter from the sand in the water column was so bad and the swell was tossing me so much that I gave up any hope of pictures of this wreck. Bruce indicated he wanted to descend out of the swell zone, we were being shoved 10 feet or more from side to side and you really had to watch for protruding wreck parts to avoid being impaled in the dark. Normally that kind of motion makes me horribly seasick but for some reason on this dive I was enjoying the ride. It was like some sort of carnival thrill ride where you’re suspended and weightless while flying out of control. I would have been happy to spend the entire dive being tossed around in the washing machine zone but I could see Bruce wasn’t having as much fun as I was. We headed toward the deeper part of the wreck. It was large enough and broken up enough to be a little disorienting in the dark and the swells weren’t helping matters any. We dropped to 59 feet and were following a fairly intact piece of the side of the ship where it meets the sand when Bruce signaled “sinus squeeze” so we turned the dive. I felt something tapping my hand as we made our way to shallower water and looked down to find myself being attacked by a small and evidently angry fish. It spent a few seconds attacking my light and hand then it started attacking Bruce’s chest. He didn’t see or feel it and I couldn’t point it out to him without blinding him with my light. Eventually I managed to shoo the fish away from his chest and it started attacking his mask, that’s when he figured out what all the random hand signals had been about. The fish finally moved on and we returned to the mooring in the washing machine zone. We had been down a little over half an hour so we decided to thumb the dive to avoid any injury to Bruce’s sinuses. Another buddy pair was ascending in front of us holding onto the mooring line. We stopped at 30 feet for a minute and that’s where I noticed I was getting a reverse squeeze…perfect, just freaking perfect. I signaled my problem to Bruce as we proceeded to 20 feet for our 3 minute stop. The mooring line was swaying wildly and it was hard to hold your stop depth if you were looking at it let alone holding onto it. The two divers above us were having a heck of a ride because they weren’t letting the line slide through their hands as it moved. I can’t imagine grasping that line with bare hands; there were all kinds of things growing on it. Bruce and I kept the line in sight and watched our depth gauges closely during the safety stop while dodging the wildly bobbing divers as we were all being sent skidding from side to side in the swells. The four of us surfaced at roughly the same time and made our way to the back of the boat. My light glinted off of something below me in the water as we reached the stern and I looked down to see a mask falling into the darkness. Looks like someone in the other buddy pair had put their mask on their forehead to swim to the boat. There was no way I could go after it with my sinuses bothering me and the divers didn’t seem too concerned so I let it go. Talking to the Captain later I found out it was probably one of his masks they were using but they didn’t even bother to mention it had been lost.

The last of the divers returned to the boat and we were soon headed back to the bay. The cooler had been filled with beer before heading out for the night dive and it was offered to anyone who wanted one after the dive was done. It was nearly 10:30pm by the time we reached the cruise ship dock where Capt Graham dropped us off before heading on to the dive shop with the rest of the divers.

Final thoughts on Triangle Diving: I really liked the operation and I liked “Tenacity”. Yes she’s a big boat and holds a lot of divers but how they organize your entry into the water makes it feel like you’re diving from a small boat. I really like the fact that they take the time to try matching divers with others who have similar experience levels and guides are provided as needed. Capt Graham, the owner, wants his customers to have a good time and from what I personally saw and overheard he’s willing to do whatever needs to be done to make that happen. It’s a dive operation and everything doesn’t always go as planned. I liked watching the owner of the business do everything in his power to keep things running smoothly. Yes it was a long day but we got two and a half hours of bottom time and could have had three hours or more if we hadn’t had sinus issues on the night dive.

Final thoughts on our dives in Bermuda: I still don’t care for reef diving. Maybe it would be more fun if I had a mission like photographing or identifying certain species. Diving on a reef just to dive the reef is mind-numbingly boring to me even when the reefs are as nice as the ones in Bermuda. Luckily Bermuda also has the things I do love, wrecks! I could probably spend days getting to know the two wrecks we dove and there are plenty more around the island. I would love to see the Rita Zovetta in the daylight; she was certainly interesting in the dark. I was rather bummed to see the visibility so low in warm water but spawning coral is a good thing. Unfortunately the swells produced by Tropical Storm Fay were also a factor in the reduced visibility even though the storm was nowhere near us.

Would I go back again? In a heartbeat!
Ber :lilbunny:
 
Sounds like you had a great trip to bermuda, i was thinking about going diving there and am glad i read your post or page..........just a little joke. It was very insightful and detailed. What time of year did you go and how long was the cruise? I was definately thinking of a cruise.
 
Sounds like you had a great trip to bermuda, i was thinking about going diving there and am glad i read your post or page..........just a little joke. It was very insightful and detailed. What time of year did you go and how long was the cruise? I was definately thinking of a cruise.
My friends tease me about how much I write :dork2: We were at a friend's wedding reception and they had books on the tables for guests to write their well wishes in. All of the divers were at one table and they gave me the book first even though I kept saying I didn't know what to write. Four pages later I finally shut up :rofl3: I think everyone else wrote "what she said" and signed. Any time writing is mentioned and it's my turn someone from the group will say "I don't know what to write...4 pages later":rofl3:

Anyway, back to the subject, we just got back on Friday. Departure was Saturday Aug 23 and we arrived Monday around 3pm and dove Tues Aug 26, the cruise departed the island at 11am on Wed. The cruise we were on was kind of a re-positioning cruise so we had one less day in Bermuda than a normal cruise so they could use Saturday to take the ship to the next sailing port after dropping us off in Baltimore. If I were to do it again I would do the cruise that has two full days and three nights in Bermuda. I believe next year is the last year for Norwegian landing cruises at St. Georges because they are phasing out their small boats and the large cruise ships can't fit through the cut into that harbor. From what I understand the larger ships will go to Dockyard (King's Wharf). We're considering going again before the ships stop docking at St. Georges.

This was our first cruise and we loved the Norwegian Majesty. Vacationers who are more interested in what the ship has to offer than where it's going won't have a great time. Travellers who see the cruise as mere transportation to get to a destination will enjoy it. The food was good, our room was surprisingly large, the staff was super friendly and they had some good shows. Our room was on deck 8 near the bow and I couldn't believe how quiet it was. We talked to a couple on deck 9 and they said it was quiet up there too. I don't think I would have wanted to be on deck 6 because that's where the Casino and some other public areas are and people have to walk through the hallways past the rooms to access them. Norwegian is making the most of what the boat has to offer but it simply isn't big enough to have things like climbing walls, wave pools, putting greens, etc. There are two small pools and two hot tubs on board that were usually filled with kids. The ship has amenities, don't get me wrong, but experienced cruisers seemed to find them lacking based on whining we overheard.

The freestyle "eat when you want" was nice and you're free to do that or if you prefer a structured meal arrangement with the same waiters etc. Norwegian can set that up for you as well. They are very flexible.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
I've gotten the photos from North Rocks uploaded into my Scubaboard Gallery. I have to shrink the photos from the Cristobal Colon before I can post them but I'll have them up as soon as possible.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
I like wreck dives too but I can't believe you find reef dives so boring. Maybe you do need a goal. How about getting a reef fish guide and make it you're goal to find everything in the book? Maybe that would add a little zing to your reef diving.

Nice report though, thanks for filling us in on Bermuda.
 
I like wreck dives too but I can't believe you find reef dives so boring. Maybe you do need a goal. How about getting a reef fish guide and make it you're goal to find everything in the book? Maybe that would add a little zing to your reef diving.

Nice report though, thanks for filling us in on Bermuda.

I know it's strange, reefs were exceptionally cool the first few trips I took to see them. I have several fish ID books and my first few trips I took tons of pictures and spent a lot of time trying to learn my fish and corals. It just doesn't excite me anymore, I don't know why. Seeing man's creations torn apart by nature really catches my interest.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
The older the wreck, the more it looks like a reef. :wink:
 
The older the wreck, the more it looks like a reef. :wink:

Not in the Great Lakes, my favorite dive destination of all time is still Tobermory, Ontario :D

I did enjoy seeing how the brain corals were taking over the Cristobal Colon. They are just another brain coral on the reef but on the ship they are an alien species taking over. I wonder if preferring to see the destruction and take-over of man's things satisfies some deep-seated desire to be dominated....hmmmm, points to ponder...
Ber :lilbunny:
 
Evidently the water around Bermuda is the third saltiest ocean water in the world, at least that’s what the Captain of the sunset tour sailboat told us the previous evening. Is that true?
**continued**

It is not. I have dived in Bermuda MANY times and have heard the same claptrap on every trip. Both BWD and Triangle.

I took a salinity refractometer with me last time to check. (Should be a standard part of every diver's kit I say :wink: ). Salinity is identical (within .5%) of any other reef I have dived in the Atlantic, Pacific or Indian Ocean. So that myth is busted.

They say that to prevent divers taking too little weight with them. It sucks as an operator to have divers at the surface yelling for more weight. Better to get them down quickly and shorten their dive time.
 
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