scubajoe86
Registered
Just wanted to provide an update on diving with SOF. My wife and I just completed a 7 day trip on SOF and everything was wonderful. I'm not posting this to contradict Mutt's review, but to at least make sure people know what they can expect on SOF as of last week. I haven't been on Mike Ball so I can't make any comparisons.
Let's start with the crew: There are two 9 person crews that work Mon to Mon 7 days on/7 days off, and two captains that work Thurs to Thurs 7 days on/7 days off. This gives both crews and captains a chance to work with each other and provides consistency between the teams. From my perspective, the crew we had was VERY VERY good. They explained things clearly, were helpful, and made an effort to ensure that we were comfortable on the boat and in the water. I'm not much for sleeping (5 hours on a good night) so I saw a lot of what happens when no one is looking and this crew spent most of their hidden moments working. I doubt anyone realized just how much time was spent keeping the boat clean and organized while we were in the water enjoying some great diving or tucked into our beds. We happened to have a new crew member on our trip and just watching how he worked and the effort the team made to help him get up to speed quickly demonstrated how well organized the dive deck team was. If I hadn't known he was new to the boat and crew, I never would have guessed it. As for the captains, I've been on a number of boats and both of them were very knowledgeable and definitely ran the ship with a safety first attitude. They were both very professional and engaging, but definitely took their role seriously.
As for the Boat: It was well kept and every area was kept fairly neat by the crew. The boat elves were pretty good at straightening up after the guests. Our cabin was made up daily and I couldn't find anything that wasn't in working order during the trip. I'm sure something must have broken (it is a boat after all,) but the crew fixed it before anyone noticed. We never ran out of hot water. our cabin was made up daily before we returned from our first dive, we always had dry towels on deck when we finished our dives, and we got fresh cabin towels midway through the trip (just like it says on the SOF website). To be honest I'm not sure what else you might want from a live-aboard. I will agree at the 2 breakfasts (yes we got 2 breakfasts and I ate at them both every day
) and at lunch it was a bit crowded when the boat was full. This was because these were buffet style meals and one table was used for the food. But I never noticed anyone without a seat as some people chose to eat on the covered sundeck or in the lounge area. I know the crew always ate in the lounge area to make sure the guests had the most room. At dinner this was never an issue as it was a sit down meal (not buffet style) with the hostess team serving each guest individually. On a side note, there were plenty of tissues in our cabin and in the dining and lounge areas. So that issue was addressed.
The food: I won't say it was gourmet for every meal. I'm a foodie and I appreciate my fine dining. That being said it was very good, well thought out, and more than anyone should eat in a week. If you end up underfed on SOF, then there is no pleasing you.
1st breakfast was generally a cold breakfast before the 1st dive of the day. It consisted of all sorts of cereal, fruit, yogurt, and various breads.
2nd breakfast was the hot breakfast and varied from blueberry pancakes to eggs along with all the standard sides of bacon/sausage/ham, hash browns, and various nice fresh pastries.
Lunch was a mixed variety of cold cuts for building your own sandwich just the way you like it to such things as fajitas and stir fry over rice. We even had some great cold prawns to nibble on. We also had some VERY nice soups to go with the meal.
Afternoon snack: I think this is a meal too. Just in case you got hungry there was an assortment of cookies and fresh fruit available. In fact the fine hostess was always on the dive deck with a platter of fresh fruit (various melons) to nibble on in the afternoon.
Dinner: OK so this was the fine dining meal every day. Our chef definitely knew his way around the galley. Everything from prime rib to beautiful fresh seafood was served. All with incredible fresh vegetables and delicious sauces. Of course every night was a new dessert. Either with dinner or served after the night dive. On a side note, they were very accommodating to food preferences. The made sure to ask everyone about any food allergies, but I really just don't like seafood and mentioned it to the chef. He made sure to have an alternative for me whenever fish was the main protein for the evening meal. No need for me to remind him. He just took care of it without any type of reminder. That was really nice.
Of course it's all about the diving. We brought our own gear so I can't say much about the rental gear. It looked like everyone got what they needed as far as sizes went. I will say they could use a better variety of dive weights. They had plenty, but most were of the 3-4 lb size so it was difficult for my wife who was looking for some smaller trim weights. Other than that everything was as good as it gets. The dive team helped everyone put on their fins and defog their masks before stepping off the dive deck. They helped those who needed it get up the dive ladder. They got out of the way of those who just needed some space. Both my wife and I are comfortable in the water but not the best at navigating new sites. This was probably our biggest concern prior to the trip. There were always at least 2 divemasters in the water to guide us around the site. During the dive briefing everyone was always asked if they wanted to follow one of the divemasters, and it was clearly stated who would be in the water for each site. This wasn't like a paid private guide who points out every fish along the way but more someone to make sure we didn't go way off course. They generally got us back to the boat after about 45 minutes of diving and then we just stayed in the general area of the mooring line for the remainder of our dive. This was just what we were looking for so it worked out nicely for us. I won't go into the dive sites since you may or may not do the same sites as us. It really is weather dependent and the nice spotted eagle ray we saw might not be there tomorrow. Other than the shark dive which is everything that SOF says it is and more. It definitely was amazing and I have a nice video of it. The night dives were probably not the best we've every been on. Surprising as I would have expected more activity. I can say I saw the divemasters putting fresh batteries in all the torches, and the only ones that I know didn't work worth a crap were the brand new ones we brought from home. We ended up using the ones from the boat.
I will talk about the live boating since we were lucky enough to have the weather to visit Bougainville reef. Something that only happens a few times a year from what I've been told. The SOF does live boating exactly as it is outlined in the Coast guard manual. I was interested in it and actually read the procedures as outlined. At no time were either the tender or the SOF propellers turning while we were in the water near either vessel. I actually peaked under SOF to make sure that they were following the procedure. The only time prop's were moving was on the tender when it was slowly towing us back to the SOF and we were holding onto the safety lines mounted on the sides of the tender. Even then all of SOF's tenders have propeller guards installed to prevent anyone from getting hit by them. There is the possibility to get tangled in the mermaid line when pulling yourself to the SOF dive ladder, but it is no more dangerous than getting caught up in the mooring line when the boat is stationary. To be sure some people may be uncomfortable with this type of entry/exit but it was done very safely. As a testament to this, we had a group of elderly Japanese women (in their 70's) diving with us. They chose to exit the boat with a giant stride off the back of the boat instead of the side, but had no issues with the tender tow and using the mermaid line to get back on SOF. In fact they were laughing at dinner about how slow the tender driver went when towing them. I would say I was happy I took my dive gloves so I didn't get any scrapes while using the various lines to get on back on the boat when there was a current. Of course, my wife said she didn't need hers and called me a baby. Guess I need to toughen up.
If you considering going on SOF, I definitely can give it a good recommendation. As with most things you always want to get your money's worth on a trip. I can say after a week, my wife and I felt we got MUCH more than we expected. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer what I can. I know I peeked in all the cabins and took pictures of just about every area of the boat except the engine room. It's the least I can do given all the help the Scubaboard members gave me prior to our trip.
Let's start with the crew: There are two 9 person crews that work Mon to Mon 7 days on/7 days off, and two captains that work Thurs to Thurs 7 days on/7 days off. This gives both crews and captains a chance to work with each other and provides consistency between the teams. From my perspective, the crew we had was VERY VERY good. They explained things clearly, were helpful, and made an effort to ensure that we were comfortable on the boat and in the water. I'm not much for sleeping (5 hours on a good night) so I saw a lot of what happens when no one is looking and this crew spent most of their hidden moments working. I doubt anyone realized just how much time was spent keeping the boat clean and organized while we were in the water enjoying some great diving or tucked into our beds. We happened to have a new crew member on our trip and just watching how he worked and the effort the team made to help him get up to speed quickly demonstrated how well organized the dive deck team was. If I hadn't known he was new to the boat and crew, I never would have guessed it. As for the captains, I've been on a number of boats and both of them were very knowledgeable and definitely ran the ship with a safety first attitude. They were both very professional and engaging, but definitely took their role seriously.
As for the Boat: It was well kept and every area was kept fairly neat by the crew. The boat elves were pretty good at straightening up after the guests. Our cabin was made up daily and I couldn't find anything that wasn't in working order during the trip. I'm sure something must have broken (it is a boat after all,) but the crew fixed it before anyone noticed. We never ran out of hot water. our cabin was made up daily before we returned from our first dive, we always had dry towels on deck when we finished our dives, and we got fresh cabin towels midway through the trip (just like it says on the SOF website). To be honest I'm not sure what else you might want from a live-aboard. I will agree at the 2 breakfasts (yes we got 2 breakfasts and I ate at them both every day
) and at lunch it was a bit crowded when the boat was full. This was because these were buffet style meals and one table was used for the food. But I never noticed anyone without a seat as some people chose to eat on the covered sundeck or in the lounge area. I know the crew always ate in the lounge area to make sure the guests had the most room. At dinner this was never an issue as it was a sit down meal (not buffet style) with the hostess team serving each guest individually. On a side note, there were plenty of tissues in our cabin and in the dining and lounge areas. So that issue was addressed.The food: I won't say it was gourmet for every meal. I'm a foodie and I appreciate my fine dining. That being said it was very good, well thought out, and more than anyone should eat in a week. If you end up underfed on SOF, then there is no pleasing you.
1st breakfast was generally a cold breakfast before the 1st dive of the day. It consisted of all sorts of cereal, fruit, yogurt, and various breads.
2nd breakfast was the hot breakfast and varied from blueberry pancakes to eggs along with all the standard sides of bacon/sausage/ham, hash browns, and various nice fresh pastries.
Lunch was a mixed variety of cold cuts for building your own sandwich just the way you like it to such things as fajitas and stir fry over rice. We even had some great cold prawns to nibble on. We also had some VERY nice soups to go with the meal.
Afternoon snack: I think this is a meal too. Just in case you got hungry there was an assortment of cookies and fresh fruit available. In fact the fine hostess was always on the dive deck with a platter of fresh fruit (various melons) to nibble on in the afternoon.
Dinner: OK so this was the fine dining meal every day. Our chef definitely knew his way around the galley. Everything from prime rib to beautiful fresh seafood was served. All with incredible fresh vegetables and delicious sauces. Of course every night was a new dessert. Either with dinner or served after the night dive. On a side note, they were very accommodating to food preferences. The made sure to ask everyone about any food allergies, but I really just don't like seafood and mentioned it to the chef. He made sure to have an alternative for me whenever fish was the main protein for the evening meal. No need for me to remind him. He just took care of it without any type of reminder. That was really nice.
Of course it's all about the diving. We brought our own gear so I can't say much about the rental gear. It looked like everyone got what they needed as far as sizes went. I will say they could use a better variety of dive weights. They had plenty, but most were of the 3-4 lb size so it was difficult for my wife who was looking for some smaller trim weights. Other than that everything was as good as it gets. The dive team helped everyone put on their fins and defog their masks before stepping off the dive deck. They helped those who needed it get up the dive ladder. They got out of the way of those who just needed some space. Both my wife and I are comfortable in the water but not the best at navigating new sites. This was probably our biggest concern prior to the trip. There were always at least 2 divemasters in the water to guide us around the site. During the dive briefing everyone was always asked if they wanted to follow one of the divemasters, and it was clearly stated who would be in the water for each site. This wasn't like a paid private guide who points out every fish along the way but more someone to make sure we didn't go way off course. They generally got us back to the boat after about 45 minutes of diving and then we just stayed in the general area of the mooring line for the remainder of our dive. This was just what we were looking for so it worked out nicely for us. I won't go into the dive sites since you may or may not do the same sites as us. It really is weather dependent and the nice spotted eagle ray we saw might not be there tomorrow. Other than the shark dive which is everything that SOF says it is and more. It definitely was amazing and I have a nice video of it. The night dives were probably not the best we've every been on. Surprising as I would have expected more activity. I can say I saw the divemasters putting fresh batteries in all the torches, and the only ones that I know didn't work worth a crap were the brand new ones we brought from home. We ended up using the ones from the boat.
I will talk about the live boating since we were lucky enough to have the weather to visit Bougainville reef. Something that only happens a few times a year from what I've been told. The SOF does live boating exactly as it is outlined in the Coast guard manual. I was interested in it and actually read the procedures as outlined. At no time were either the tender or the SOF propellers turning while we were in the water near either vessel. I actually peaked under SOF to make sure that they were following the procedure. The only time prop's were moving was on the tender when it was slowly towing us back to the SOF and we were holding onto the safety lines mounted on the sides of the tender. Even then all of SOF's tenders have propeller guards installed to prevent anyone from getting hit by them. There is the possibility to get tangled in the mermaid line when pulling yourself to the SOF dive ladder, but it is no more dangerous than getting caught up in the mooring line when the boat is stationary. To be sure some people may be uncomfortable with this type of entry/exit but it was done very safely. As a testament to this, we had a group of elderly Japanese women (in their 70's) diving with us. They chose to exit the boat with a giant stride off the back of the boat instead of the side, but had no issues with the tender tow and using the mermaid line to get back on SOF. In fact they were laughing at dinner about how slow the tender driver went when towing them. I would say I was happy I took my dive gloves so I didn't get any scrapes while using the various lines to get on back on the boat when there was a current. Of course, my wife said she didn't need hers and called me a baby. Guess I need to toughen up.
If you considering going on SOF, I definitely can give it a good recommendation. As with most things you always want to get your money's worth on a trip. I can say after a week, my wife and I felt we got MUCH more than we expected. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer what I can. I know I peeked in all the cabins and took pictures of just about every area of the boat except the engine room. It's the least I can do given all the help the Scubaboard members gave me prior to our trip.
