Which of the 2 LOB's have more shallow dives in a week?

[miserkris]

I just realized that AA would charge me baggage fee of $25 .i thought I'd escape it since i have their citi mc.

Do you guys check in baggage to these LOB?
Wonder i can rent fins on LOB without paying for baggage fee. The booties and suit i might force them into back pack!

Just curious what you guys check in bags or not....

 

[Dogbowl]

I just realized that AA would charge me baggage fee of $25 .i thought I'd escape it since i have their citi mc.

Do you guys check in baggage to these LOB?
Wonder i can rent fins on LOB without paying for baggage fee. The booties and suit i might force them into back pack!

Just curious what you guys check in bags or not....

Absolutely, we (husband and I) each check in one bag and carry on one bag. We bring all of our own gear: bcd, regs, fins, masks, wetsuits, lights, computers, safety equipment, etc.

 

[Damselfish]

Same - one checked, one carryon, one personal item each. My husbands personal item is a dedicated camera backpack. Sometimes if we're flying an airline with low limits on carryon, we will check one extra bag between us. (We usually get free checked bags but this is a set of stuff we have down to an art and can easily move ourselves at one time without a cart. I wouldn't take more just because they were free.)

Baggage fees may be annoying in principle, but $25 is just not much in the big picture of a dive trip. I don't think it is worth going without things you should have in your carryon, things you would really like to have, renting gear you might not like when you already own gear you do, or otherwise jumping through hoops to avoid a baggage fee. It's just not worth it. (It especially doesn't make sense to spend more renting gear than the baggage fee would have been!)

I've had a need to use rental fins on a few occasions, and it's always sucked. You don't want to wear crappy fins for 25 dives. You especially don't want to rip up your feet wearing fins that don't fit well for 25 dives in order to save 25 bucks. If my checked bag gets delayed, I'd much rather have a few clothes and bathing suits, toiletries, regs, mask, computer, electronics, and snacks with me, than a backpack full of smelly booties and wetsuit.

 

[drrich2]

Wonder i can rent fins on LOB without paying for baggage fee. The booties and suit i might force them into back pack!

Contact them in advance, and consider whether you're a 'typical' size. I've got a big head, unusually long fingers, size 15 feet and I'm about 6'1" and chunky. So the 'dive wardrobe' needed for a destination goes with me. I usually check 2 bags; 1 mainly scuba gear, one clothes and extra space. My personal item is a backpack with camera gear, my carry on a little roller bag that's got enough packed into it (e.g.: my over-the-counter I will equalize somehow medication regimen, mask (fit matters) & dive computers).

If I were of average build & related proportions, I might consider renting. Or not...really like diving my own gear. Bought it to use, not sit home!

Richard.

 

[Saniflush]

Hi there,
Yes I'm booked for sep8-15 . I'm hoping there will be newbies in the cat.... so did you go the exact cruise itinerary last year?

Will they provide free floats in case i wanna snorkel and dose off!?

I'm hoping the hurricanes come a lot later than sep!

I'm wondering if i should change to fins with a split in the middle for I've been using these mares ones that work great but more effort to push(resistance is more due to no slit)

Can anyone advice, see pic thx...
View attachment 467961

Sorry I am just getting back to you (we just got back from Honduras).

I cannot speak for everyone else that will be on that particular sailing but in our group of 5 there will be one with a pretty low dive count but that really doesn't matter on the AC. There is always a DM in the water leading a dive at each dive site. You have the option to follow them or do your own thing. We kind of split time between the two last year depending on how we felt and what the dive site was.

We won't get an exact itinerary until late afternoon of the day before. They never know how weather or winds are going to be so the captain tries to factor all of that in as close to game time as possible to make for the best dive. I think last year it was usually posted in the galley area by supper time the night before.

There are plenty of flotation devices if you just want to do that while others are diving. You will see that there is a broad spectrum of folks in how they approach the diving. Out of our group last year there were 3 of us that made every dive, 3 that did about a third of the dives, and the other 15 that did some number in between.

Like others have said use whatever fins you are comfortable with. there were no sights where we encountered anything that could be construed as heavy current.

As far as taking gear we each check a bag that has our dive gear in it then just carry on whatever we are carrying for shorts and t-shirts. One piece of advice that I got from someone on here last year (sorry I can't remember who it was to give credit to) was pack what you think of as lite, then take half of that. We thought we packed light last year and still had too much "stuff".

 

[jlcnuke]

Since I'm still a newbie, I'll skip night dives.
Hard enough in daytime to adjust things like mask, BCD , REG etc lol.

Is it risky to expose arms, legs? Are jellies a risk in that cruise in daytime?

I wouldn't rule out night diving just yet. I did my first night dive with less than 20 dives total and it was far from "overwhelming". On my last liveaboard (Blackbeards in the Bahamas) we had a guy who got certified on the boat and was doing the night dives with us. Adding a flashlight into your routine isn't really that much extra to consider, and you'll be with a buddy (or more than one).

I'm curious why you don't want to do the washing machine though? It involves some swimming against the current, but it's the only "group" dive generally done (i.e. the crew leads the dive, has the tender monitoring for people coming up if they have any issues, and has a crew diver behind all the divers to make sure no one gets lost from the group) and is a fairly unique experience to have. You may want to reconsider and give it a try once.

We had a diver that dove in shorts and no shirt of any kind. I think he doesn't feel the cold because he'd do that even on the night dives in December, where my 3mm full was a bit chilly by the end of the dive... so just wear whatever makes you comfortable.

I'll be on the Cat Ppalu in 10 days, so we'll probably pass each other as I head to the airport while you're showing up to the boat

 

[Damselfish]

As far as night dives, some people love them, and some don't (and on a liveaboard there seem to be many who would at least prefer relaxing with a glass of wine in the evening.) You don't know until you try, and it will be a pretty easy place to try it out. So worth keeping an open mind about, and taking lights with you in case, as they're also useful during the day for looking in holes and under things.

The Washing Machine, I can understand why it sounds intimidating and someone might not want to do it. That's fine, but also something to keep an open mind about, you may feel differently by the time you get to it. Just listen carefully to the briefing, as there are ways to choose how much of the washing machine effect you actually experience. I'm not a huge fan of that sort of thing but actually found it quite fun. (When we were there, there was a guy who did Reef surveys every dive - including the Washing Machine - there he was with slate in hand, tumbling along counting fish the whole way.)

 

[miserkris]

Thanks all. Been hectic here, I'll finally start packing from monday as the guests leave lol!

Been reading the posts...

Do they serve decaf coffee on board? Is it always avail or just mornings? Any artificial sweeteners?

Is there a way to wash our clothes a bit, do i bring detergent? How do you guys do that?.... this way i can pack lite.

(Leaving to Nassau from philly Saturday sep9 for the aqua cat Bahamas 9th to 15th)

Thx.... kris

 

[Hoag]

Thanks all. Been hectic here, I'll finally start packing from monday as the guests leave lol!

Been reading the posts...

Do they serve decaf coffee on board? Is it always avail or just mornings? Any artificial sweeteners?

Is there a way to wash our clothes a bit, do i bring detergent? How do you guys do that?.... this way i can pack lite.

(Leaving to Nassau from philly Saturday sep9 for the aqua cat Bahamas 9th to 15th)

Thx.... kris

Hey Kris,

I love the Aquacat. You are going to have a blast!

Yes, Aquacat will have decaf onboard. (They don't "serve" it, but there is a commercial "Bunn" coffee maker and you are free to make a pot whenever you want some, day or night. They will show you how to make a pot of coffee and then you can just help yourself. IIRC they have a pot with an orange handle on it to ID it as decaf.)

If you look carefully in this image, you can see the coffee maker on the counter in the back right corner.

There will almost certainly be artificial sweeteners.

I have never heard of anyone doing laundry onboard. Don't let that stop you from packing light though. You won't need many clothes. If you have shorts and a few t-shirts plus what you travel in, then you should be OK.

Have fun.

 

[Damselfish]

The occasional boat will do laundry but I don't believe the Aquacat does. When we were on it was a special 2 week charter - IIRC they did do laundry if people wanted, but it was a special arrangement only for that 2 week trip. I've never felt a need on any week long liveaboard. You just don't need that much.