6.) There was at least one guide every dive. Typically, the guide would head to the wall, drop down pretty deep, move along the wall awhile (maybe to the 20 or 25 minute point?), turn, work up the wall heading back, then spend time exploring the shallow shelf. Guides often moved along the wall quite deep (I’d guess 70+ feet at times), pointing out critters. As usual on live-aboard trips I ‘helicoptered’ - hovering maybe 15 - 20 feet above the guide to conserve gas, reduce nitrogen loading and use the guide as, well, a guide to get back to the boat! Tend to get back around the boat at maybe 45 minutes, give or take, but often mill around near the boat until air low. Most of our dives didn’t have time limits; you were free to dive your tank. Some buddy pairs went their own way.
7.) I didn’t ask about solo diving; the navigational concerns, at times significant distance from boat to wall, and potential for running low on gas put it outside my comfort zone. A sign mentioned buddy diving as a recommendation. That said, my only ‘buddy’ was the group, following the guide, and that was fine...nobody fussed at me about that. So no excessive nanny state! And you can head up to the dive ladder and haul out alone, crew always ready to take your camera and fins.
8.) There’s a PVC hang bar hung from chain where you can sit, watch the bottom, ‘play Superman’ while the boat swings and do your safety stop. Good for dragging out dive times a little...
9.) For night dives - we were warned Caribbean Sea wasps (small, cuboidal looking jellyfish with 4 tentacles and a very painful sting, assuming they’re like what stung me in Bonaire) sometimes appear at night, mainly in the 1st 8-feet of water. And me in a 3-mm shorty wanting to do all the dives and get an Iron Diver medallion. Thankfully, they didn’t show up. From what I was told it varies too much to give a good estimate as to how often they do. After night dives, you can get hot chocolate with option for marshmallows and/or Jamaican rum cream.
10.) Macro - Captain Amanda Smith the Engineer Robert Smith both have an evident passion for small life - such as decorator crabs, cleaning shrimp, blended, etc... Even if you don’t do Rob.’s black-light night dive searching them out by fluorescence, this turned out to be a surprisingly ‘macro trip’ due to their efforts.
11.) Gas Concerns. I heard they had some 100-cf tanks, and asked for one via my Diviac agent. On the boat, I mentioned it and they brought me a 100-cf HP (3442 noted on tank neck) steel tank. Very glad I had that. My SAC varied, but the Cobalt 2 gave overall dive SACs mostly around 0.56 cf/min. But one dive, when there was mild persistent current to swim against for quite awhile, the swim back from the wall was significant, and my big, chubby self was blowing through gas fast (SAC 0.71 cf/min.), I ran low on gas. I signaled the guide, he stayed with me, went up and hung for my safety stop, surfaced with and accompanied me as I surface back swam to the boat (no, they didn’t have to send the ‘dingy of shame’ (as I’ve heard it called elsewhere) after me - I’d have been mortified). I completed my safety stop and had air to fully inflate my BCD at the surface, but I nearly drained the tank. I was pleased with the guide’s response, and think the guides kept a discreet eye on me afterward. Good support, but the moral of the story is, these dives often average deep, and you can go through a tank.
Which raises the question of how so many people get by with 80-cf tanks on these trips? Air hogs beware!
12.) Lionfish - variable numbers but more than I’d like. From what Robert told me, they don’t spear them as it’s too dangerous with the sharks around.
13.) Topside – There’s a constant breeze, from mild to strong. The boat swung about on its mooring at times (made riding the hang bar fun); it didn’t rock a whole lot, but if you’re prone to sea sickness, bring your med.s! No shortage of mouthy birds hanging around. Gary pointed out a shark chasing the boat, hoping for a hand out. A pod of dolphins popped around us during transit.