Eddy's Scuba Blog

Today, our luck with creatures turned on the bright side as we found one of a kind guys throughout the four dives I did. I even had nice surprises on the shore dives right in front of Captain Don's Habitat. Today I did two boat dives, and two shore dives, one of them a night dive. The first boat dive was a deep dive to the Hilma Hooker wreck. The second boat dive was a dive organized by Sue Drafahl: almost all the people in the class joined this dive to Sharon's Serenity on Klein Bonaire.

The Hilma Hooker Wreck

The Hilma Hooker is one of the few diveable wrecks in Bonaire. Captain Don, the founder of Captain Don's Habitat had a hand in having this wreck in Bonaire. According to the divemaster in our briefing, the Hilma Hooker, a cargo ship, was seized by the Bonaire government after discovering an illicit cargo of pot. Eventually the government took ownership of the ship and did not know what to do with it. At this point, Captain Don suggested to make the Hilma Hooker an artificial wreck. Months later when the ship was moved from one location to another, it mysteriously sank on 70 feet of water. The shallowest part of the wreck is at 50 ft of water. The ship lies upside down with its propeller side on the deeper side.

Since this was considered a deep dive (max 70 ft), it was our first dive of the day. We went down a mooring line, as there was some current. The visibility was poor compared to other dives we had so far. The visibility was about 40 ft or less, with a lot of silt in the water. Creature sightings were not many either, so this was a somewhat disappointing dive. But we did one of "must dives" in Bonaire. I was told that this wreck is even doable as a shore dive, a rarity for the size of the wreck.

This is a picture of the Hilma Hooker's propeller. A diver can be seen in the background, between the propeller blades. This was shot originally in color, it was later turned into gray scale with Photoshop.

Wilma Hooker Propeller. 1/125 at f/5.6, ISO 400, 8 mm focal length

Sharon's Serenity (Klein Bonaire)

Sue Drafahl organized an exclusive dive for the Digital Photo Adventure group. Essentially we had one of Captaind don's smaller boats to ourselves. Sue did some on-water tutoring on each of us: checking our buoyancy and underwater photography "manners". At this point of the week, the instruction turned more into reviewing our work and individual tutoring, and less formal lecturing.

Coincidentally, on this dive is when we saw one of the unique creatures found in Bonaire: frog fish. We were lucky to see two of them on this dive: a blue one and an orange one. We put in practice our "manners", that is we took our turns, took a couple of pictures and move "to the back of the line". In that way, we all had a chance to take a picture of this hard to find guy, as it takes the color and blends with its surroundings.

Blue Frog Fish. 1/320 at f/7.1, ISO 100, 24 mm focal length

I was lucky to be right behind the divemaster when he discovered the frog fish, so I took the first turn to take pictures. However, that puts some pressure on you as you have to get the settings right and not take too much time because there is a line of other divers waiting in line. Unfortunately, for this next picture, my strobe was too close. You can see some blown areas on top of the fish.

Orange Frog Fish. 1/320 at f/7.1, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length

After being done with the frog fish, I turned around and changed direction heading back to the boat. This is when Sue caught up with me and "audited" my photographing technique. I was lucky to run into this pair of golden moray eels. I have never seen then in a pair like this.

I took about eight pictures of these guys and Sue observed the whole episode and then gave me a sign of "approval" for this rare find. After I was done, we signaled the other divers so that they could take pictures too.

Pair or Golden Morey Eels. 1/500 at f/8.0, ISO 100, 18.7 mm focal length

More Surprises on our Backyard

In the afternoon, I paired up with Tom, a New Yorker in our group. We headed north (right side) from Captain Don's deck. On this dive I decided to practice my macro skills, shooting at feather dusters. I spent considerable time one feather duster after another, while Tom was taking pictures of a moray eel. I eventually ended up at this coral head by accident. It had a surprise host inside: a spiny head blenny.

Spiny Head Blenny Living among Feather Dusters. 1/800 at f/8.0, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length

The blenny comes out of its hole on occasion and then hides. This combined with delicate sensitivity of the feather dusters made it a test of endurance, patience and buoyancy control. A wrong move could cause the feather dusters to clamp down and the blenny to hide. My camera was only inches from the coral head. I was using the super macro feature of the SP-350. This setting allows you to be as close as 0.8 inches from your subject. The fast shutter speed (1/800 sec) makes the background really dark.

On the way back, Tom and I noticed a couple of divers pointing to a barrel sponge. What was so special about a barrel sponge? It turns out that they were looking at a scorpion fish comfortably sitting on the barrel sponge. In the past, I've only seen scorpion fish on sandy areas or holes where it was hard to photograph. This was indeed a lucky find. The scorpion fish was almost posing for us. We spent the next 15 minutes taking pictures of this scorpion fish from every angle.

Scorpion Fish from Above. 1/400 at f/8.0, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length

Scorpion Fish and Diver. 1/160 at f/8.0, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length

I wanted to highlight the eyes and the pectoral fins (as they are very colorful) of the scorpion fish, but it was hard to do. If I got the fins, the eye got kind of lost. While Tom and I were taking pictures, I also took one of him as a background, it turned out to be a nice picture.

Scorpion Fish Peaking from a Barrel Sponge. 1/320 at f/8.0, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length

After twenty-something pictures and trying a variety of settings, the last picture ended up being my favorite one. It really highlights the eye of the scorpion fish and you can see the tube sponges as the background and the barrel sponge as the "pedestal".

That night I went for a night dive with Jamie, one of the gals in our group. The dive itself was somewhat uneventful, but I noticed these orange cup corals near the dock stairs. They are fun to photograph as close-ups. Orange cup corals only open up during the night, so it can "eat". They remain close during the day.

Orange Cup Coral at Night. 1/250 at f/8.0, ISO 100, 24 mm focal length

The Resort
Since the begining of the trip I've heard CocoView's reputation for its returning customers. That reputation was indeed based on true facts. People come back to CocoView because of the diving.

CocoView enjoys from prime diving real estate. It has the Prince Albert wreck on its front yard and it's shore dive accessible. Also shore dive accessible are CocoView Wall and Newman's Wall, both walls drop to hundreds of feet and are full of coral life and critters.

CocoView Bungalow

The reef around CocoView is so full of critters that there are "house eels". As it turns out, our Captain Osman, feeds a group of juvenile spotted moray eels and green moray eels every morning at beach dock. Even when you go out for a shore dive, you might see an eel, a mantis shrimp or an octopus in the shallow grassy area at the beach.

CocoView Beach - Where Shore Dives Start

CocoView has definitely a unique character. It looks rustic, unlike some of other plush resorts. The trails to the different buildings are not paved. You could say they are "dirt roads". The common area buildings are not air conditioned and you can tell that some of the buildings have been there for years. However, this doesn't mean that CocoView is behind the times. Later, I'll talk about their dive operations, which are top notch.

CocoView Boat Approaching Dock

The main common building is the hub of the whole resort. Here is where you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bar is also located in this building and next to it there are recreational areas with a pool table and ping pong table, which are not used too much unless there is a big storm and dive operations are cancelled.

CocoView Dining Room	CocoView Bar
CocoView Pool Table	CocoView Ping Pong Table

On the second floor, there is a meeting area and TV room with satellite dish. Here's where the first day orientation is given. On the second floor, there is also a balcony area with lounge chairs and hammocks. They face the beach. In front of the main building (towards the beach), there is an outdoor dining area and a dock and gazebo area with lounge chairs and hammocks. This is a nice place to sip a drink that you pick up from the bar, relax and watch the night divers return to shore.

The Beach Houses

Four of us in the group (Cindy, Dina, Dave and me) stayed at beach house #10. It was the last house in the resort. It was relatively far from the main building and the dive lockers, about a 10 minute walk. Fortunately, they had bikes that you can borrow to go back and forth. The house itself was nice, but it wasn't air conditioned. It did have ceiling fans and high ceilings.

The house faced the beach, but it was not swimmable. It had lounge chairs by the beach, but there were too many bugs outside. We had lounge chairs and a hammock in a screened area. That was a nice area to relax. The house had two floors, one bedroom on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. The rooms and bathrooms were cleaned every day during the morning while people were diving.

Cindy found a washing machine, but I never found it, so I never used it. The house had a full kitchen with utensils, cooking ware, oven, fridge, but no microwave. There was also a water fountain. The dining room was next to the kitchen and could sit 6 people. The living room was quite big and well ventilated by the open screened layout and ceiling fans. We also had extra regular fans in the living room and the bedroom.

On the last day we did suffer a snafu, the electricity went out. The electricity at the resort comes from a generator and on that day we were having problems. There was also no water because it was pumped by electric pumps. After diving and the hydroplane tour, I had to wait untill late in the afternoon to take shower that day :(.

Interior of Beach House

Sunset View from Balcony of Beach House

The Dive Operations
The dive operations at CocoView were superb. Not only did they have the latest compressor equipment, but they were very well organized. They counted with a fleet of 5 boats, some of them with an entry passage in the middle of the boat. When you arrive to the resort you are assigned the same boat for the whole week. That way you become familiar with your captain and your divemaster. And you always know where to find your equipment if you leave it behind at the boat. The boat becomes "your boat".

There are 4 boat dives daily, well, two boat dives and two drop-off dives. The boat dives depart at 8:00am and at 2:00pm. On the return, you are dropped at Newman's Wall in the mornings and at CocoView Wall in the afternoons.

Nitrox is the rule rather than the exception at CocoView. There were more nitrox tanks, than air tanks and sometimes you would even have trouble finding an air tank. From this you can extrapolate that most divers that come here are Nitrox certified.

Full Tanks

Empty Tanks

Next to the dive dock is the dive locker area where you assigned your locker for the whole week. Your equipment sits in the open at night and I noticed that it is guarded by armed guards at night. I usually took my dive computer home every night though. Next to the dive locker area there is a changing area with showers (no hot water though) and specialized sinks for cameras only and for the rest of your dive gear.

Booties Drying

Nitrox!

Compressor Room

Sink and Shower Area

I was impressed by the compressor room. The equipment looked spanking new and it was very clean and organized. The compressors, I believe, run all night to meet the tank supply in the morning. Each locker area had a Nitrox analyzer and you could analyze your tanks the night before and leave it in your locker. In the mornings, the crew would take your tanks and equipment to the boat. They would also put your gear together for you.

The diving setup at CocoView was one of the best I've seen so far. The layout of the dive dock, the lockers and the showers and sink area were very well thought of. The boat operations were also very well organized and you rarely saw confusion in the morning. Indeed, I could see why people return to Cocoview for the 5th and 6th time and why CocoView claims to have one of highest return rates in industry: more than 40%.

Locker

Empty tanks usually outstrip full tanks at the end of the day

CocoView Wall
I continued to have strobe problems for the next couple days. It seemed that my cable connector was busted. The symptons look like the following: strobe will test fire on land, work for the first 8 pictures and then don't fire at all or fire the camera flash instead. It was very frustrating. I was carrying my fiber optic cable as a backup from then on. Unfortunately, the (flawed) TTL cable would cause the strobe to fire or not fire incorrectly. It also didn't help that I was relatively new with this camera setup.

On the few ocassions that the strobe fired, I managed to get very few pictures. This is a picture of a French Angel fish at CocoView Wall. CocoView Wall was the wall on the East side of CocoView resort. CocoView Wall was the designated drop-off dive in the afternoon. The designated drop-off dive in the mornings was Newman's Wall, located on the West side of CocoView. Newman's wall is located in front of Fantasy Island Resort.

French Angel

Mr Bud Wreck
On Monday, our first five was the Mr Bud Wreck. The dive site was located about 15 minutes west of CocoView. Mr Bud was a wooden fishing boat. The wreck seemed to be fairly recent, as there was very coral formations on it. Compared to the Prince Albert Wreck (sunk more than 10 years ago). Mr Bud paled in comparison.

Mr Bud Wreck

Mr Bud Shoe

That same day we did 4 other dives: Newman's Wall, French Bay Cut, CocoView Wall and a night dive again at CocoView Wall. I continued to have problems with my strobe, so my pictures continued to come out terrible. The highlight of the rest of that day was the night dive.

Octopus on the Reef
That night we went back to CocoView Wall where we were in the afternoon. Unlike other night dives that I've done before, from resorts and liveaboards, we were diving on the wall, so there was no bottom. Usually in guided night dives, they take you to only shallow dive sites, perhaps for safety reasons.

The highlight of that night dive was finding an octopus on the reef wall. In the past, I've seen octopus on sandy areas, rocky areas or wrecks. This is the first time I saw an octopus on the wall. I guess this octopus was very far from it's home as well, since it was moving around quite a bit.

On this video, we find the octopus "tasting" some green vegetation. Then it swims upside down to a deeper ledge and continues to look for food. Notice the change of color. It's green when its on the wall and turns more orange when it's in mid-water.

The next video is the continuation of the previous video, as we catch up with octopus on the deeper ledge. He continues to look for food on a more rocky surface and then disappears behind a ledge.

Day Trip to Roatan's West End
The next day, Tuesday, we chartered our boat for a day long trip to the West End, the western tip of Roatan. So far, our group had been assigned our own boat for the whole week. That was nice, usually the boat could hold more than 20 people, our group was 8 people total. Once in a while we would get "guests" of 2 or 4 people, that preferred to go to a different dive site from what they were assigned.

The dive operation at CocoView was very well organized. As I mentioned, you are assigned the same boat for the whole week. You know where you are going that day, as it is written on a board next to the air fill station. Every morning, or even the night before, you see what dive site you are going to visit. Although the exact dive site could change depending on the ocean conditions.

Today our boat itinerary was going to be different from the other days. Our boat would take us to the West End. We would do 3 dives at that location, have lunch and then return to CocoView in mid afternoon.

The boat trip to the West End over an hour. The surface conditions were rough, as it was raining since last night and the wind was causing the ocean to swell up to 3 ft. The boat ride was rough as we were jumping over the waves. As we passed the airport area, we saw the sun starting to appear and smile at us with a rainbow. The cruise ship dock is located near the airport. From our viewing point the cruise ship currently at the dock was surrounded by the rainbow.

Cruise Ship under the Rainbow

We arrived to our first dive site at about 10:00am. Our first dive site was West Bay Wall. The wall was different other dive sites we have visited so far. It was a slope that started on the beach and continued to slope to the bottom in a 30-40 degree angle. One thing that surprised me was the health and abundance of the coral formations at 80 to 100 ft. There were plenty of tubes, barrel sponges and vases at that depth. Usually coral life, at other dive sites or even in other places in the Caribbean, was concentrated above 60 ft. The reason is sunlight which allows vegetation to do photo synthesis and later be eaten by animals (corals). The only explanation that I can think of for the abundance of life below 60 ft is that they have must have wider tide fluctuations on this location or clearer water.

For our second dive that morning we dove Half Moon Bay Wall, right next to West End Wall. This was a more vertical wall. We noticed bigger creatures at these (West End) sites like Nassau groupers, black groupers, cow fish and angel fish.

At noon we docked at Half Moon Bay and stopped for lunch. The CocoView folks had prepared us a meal of fried chicken, potato salad, rolls and brownies. This whole day trip and lunch was not included in the regular dive package. We spent about an hour sitting at the dock enjoying our fried chicken and soaking the sun that was starting to come up. We also had a bit of time to take a stroll around the town. As the streets were not paved, it was really muddy due to the last night's rain.

Before 2:00pm, we were back on the boat and on way to our third dive in the West End. Our third dive site was Turtle Crossing and was going to be a drift dive. The drift direction was long the wall. At one point a group went into the shallow area, aparently chasing a couple of turtles. Unfortunately I wasn't in that group, as I stayed together with two other divers while swimming along the wall dropoff.

I continued to have strobe problems, but I managed to get a close up of this tiger grouper sitting on top of a barrel sponge.

Tiger Grouper

The West End was enjoying better weather than CocoView, as the storm that started last night was moving eastward. A radio report informed us that it was still raining at CocoView and that the surface conditions were rough. The resort was nice enough to send a van to pick us up at Half Moon Bay, so that we didn't have endure the rough boat ride back.

After our third dive we went back to the Half Moon Bay dock and disembarked. The van taking us back to CocoView was already waiting for us. This was the chance to take a well deserved afternoon nap on the way back to CocoView.

Arriving to Roatan
The flight to Roatan, Honduras was pretty convenient. I took off on Continental from Boston at 6:30am with a layover in Newark, NJ. From there the flight on Continental was direct to Roatan. The flight from Newark to Roatan lasted about 4 hours. We arrived at Roatan Airport at about 1:30 pm. The customs and transportation took a little bit longer than expected. Fortunately there was a rep from CocoView already waiting for us at the baggage claim. Her name was Nora and she made sure that our luggage passed like a breeze. The line thru customs was pretty long because there were several flights arriving at the same time. When we passed customs, Nora took care of our luggage separately. I didn't have to even have to pass customs with my luggage. We were given tags (by mail) ahead of time, so they could distinguish them and deal with inspection, if any. Our luggage had to go thru an x-ray machine on the way out.

They put us all in a van and took us first to CocoView Resort. On the van en-route to CocoView I had the chance to first hear about CocoView legendary return rate. CocoView prides itself to have the highest return rate in the industry, some said more than 40%. case in point, the lady sitting next to me was on her sixth trip to CocoView. People don't come back for the fancy food or plush acommodations, they came back for the amazing diving right at your footsteps. That was nice to hear. On the way there we passed by Fantasy Island which is right next door.

Roatan Aerial Picture: CocoView Resort depicted by the arrow, left to it is Fantasy Island resort with a horse-shoe shape beach

CocoView: First Impressions
The entrance to CocoView was a bit of a surprise to me. It was just a building that looked like a barn. Underneath, there was a boat dock. We were told to get into the boat. It was a water taxi to CocoView. I didn't realized that CocoView was actually an island (or a peninsula that is not accesible from land), surrounded by mangroves on the North and by a great reef on the South: Newman's Wall, CocoView Wall and the Prince Albert wreck right at our footsteps!

It took us quite some time to get settled down. Our luggage didn't arrive until hours later. So we couldn't dive right away. So our first dive of the trip had to be a night dive. The reason it was taking so long to process our luggage was because all the luggage from the flights arriving that day had to be processed at the same time. CocoView runs a Saturday to Saturday lodging schedule, so Saturday is an arrival and departure day.

In the meantime, I used the time to settle my stuff. Fortunately I had found my luggage on the dock before it arrived to my room. That way I could take my scuba gear and set it up in my locker, which is right next to the boat/dive dock.

Our group was assigned one of the beach houses (Beach House #10) next to the resort. They are quite a walk away from the center of the resort. Fortunately, there were bicycles (about 25 of them) that you were free to take when you come and go from the beach house to the main building.

Our house was not air conditioned, but it was well ventilated with high ceilings and ceiling fans. Our luggage finally arrived at past 4:30pm in the afternoon and we had kind of wasted the afternoon for a checkout dive. We were going to settle with a night dive as our checkout dive. Not ideal to check that your equipment is in order.

Our group was traveling under the auspices of Fantastic Endeavors a company specializing in adventure travel. Dave Hartman was the owner of the company and had put together our group of eight people. Most of them were former students of Dave, as he is a dive instructor in the Florida Keys.

Octopus on the First Night: Prince Albert Wreck Night Dive

Finally at about 8:45pm we were ready to dive. The shore at CocoView is on the south side of the resort and the dive dock/lockers is on the north side. So we suited up by the lockers and walked our way to the shore. The entrance is a sandy beach with a lot of seagrass. The path towards the dive sites is "marked" by the patch of sand with no seagrass in the direction to the sea. Beside that path is a platform where divers usually gather up to put on fins, prepare masks and ready photo equipment if any. I took this chance to test my brand new Sea&Sea YS-110 strobe. This was the first time I was taking this camera setup to the water and first time with this camera in a night dive.

First Night Dive at CocoView: Dave, Cindy and Dina getting ready at the "platform"

The swim from the platform to the wreck of the Prince Albert took us about 10 minutes. The water was at 81F and mostly clear with visibility of about 50 ft. I was taken by surprise when reached the wreck, since you could not notice it from far away. Actually this was also my first night wreck dive.

I was having difficulty with my new camera setup. The pictures I was taking came out all dark. My previous camera, a Sony Cybershot DSC-P9, had not manual settings at all. So it was pretty easy to take night pictures, since the strobe power was the only adjustable setting. With the Olympus SP-350, I could set the shutter speed, aperture and (separately) the strobe power.

I later discover that I had made two mistakes: One was I had programmed in "My Mode" settings to be used during the day (small aperture) and I was using new rechargable batteries in my strobe. The strobe power was fading inexplicably fast. Rechargeable batteries need to be "broken-in", by draining them and fully charging them overnight several times.

We were pretty lucky that night, we saw two octopus on our first dive :)! First it was a small octopus about 8 inches. It was brown and it kind of looked like a cuttle fish. Not like the regular Caribbean octopus.

The second one was a relatively big Caribbean octopus that was the highlight of the rest of the dive. We were following it around the whole wreck, it was "tasting" the rails of the wreck and different sponges and coral heads growing on top of the wreck.

We followed it for more than 10 minutes until it dissapeared inside the wreck. Watch it being "sucked in" on a crevice of the Prince Albert Wreck:

In general, you could tell that the Prince Albert has been there for tens of years. The coral formations attached to it, specially at the bow (front of the ship). This was a pretty exciting dive for a first dive and a taste of what was coming. I was worried thought that my camera was not responding as I expected. Something that is expected though with new equipment.

Here is a review of the Nekton Rorqual on the Cayman Islands itinerary. Since the Nekton Rorqual is very similar to its sister ship, the Nekton Pilot, this review is a comparison to the Nekton Pilot, since I've written about the Nekton Pilot before (see my Nekton Pilot: Belize Central Review).

The Ship

The Nekton Rorqual was build a couple of years after the Nekton Pilot. It includes one major design difference which is the continuous strut on each side connecting the superstructure to the submerged pontoons that provide buoyancy. For that reason the Nekton Rorqual looks more boxy than the Nekton Pilot; however, this design improvement provides slightly higher speed and range than the Nekton Pilot.

The layout of the superstructure of the Nekton Rorqual is almost identical to that of the Nekton Pilot. The living space layout is almost the same. The Nekton Rorqual has three decks as well: A lower deck for mostly guests and crew quarters, a mid-deck for guest quarters, the galley and dining room, and the top deck or Sun Deck, which houses the bridge, a shaded meeting area and the jacuzzi and lounge area. The Rorqual has 16 guest rooms and is able to house up to 32 guests. It has all the amenities seen on the Nekton Pilot, although, I noticed that the Pilot has more audio visual equipment. On the port corner, the Nekton Pilot has a TV and VCR set, whereas the Rorqual doesn't.

The Diving Facilities

The diving deck, as in the Nekton Pilot, is movable, that is it can go up and down depending on the conditions of the sea or whether the deck is open or not. There three ways to make an entry into the water: two on the side, which require a 3 ft jump, and one through the stairs in the middle. The way back to boat is through the stairs. Underneath the stairs, there is a hang bar at 15 ft with an emergency air tank with regulator. This is where you can comfortably do your safety stop. At night, the hang bar is illuminated with with glow sticks and a beacon.

The nitrox measurement is done right before a dive. A crew member would measure it and you would have to sign your name on the Nitrox sheet.

In the middle of the dive deck there is a mask cleaning station with a bucket just for masks and a sprayer with cleaning solution (I believe it's vinegar). On the two sides beside the middle stairs, there are two containers with fresh water for camera equipment. This where you would leave your camera right before the dive. A crew member would hand you your camera once you are in the water.

The dive deck has two rows of "diving cubby holes." This is a space assigned to you for the duration of the cruise. That is, you don't have to change tanks, as the tanks are filled directly using a network of hoses that can serve all tanks. Below you can see a picture of the "cubby hole" I was assigned, right next to the starboard exit platform, so I was able to get into the water rather quickly. Below the bench, where you lay your tank and BCD, you can put your fins, masks, snorkel and other wet belongings.

Right before stepping into the dive deck there is a "check-in board" where you have to sign the time you start your dive. On the way back you have to sign out. A crew member would keep track of your times and make sure you don't exceed your bottom time. Although this is not policed very heavily, as most divers that come here have dive computers.

Right next to the check-in board there are two hot water shower heads and a rinse bucket (with Clorox) for wet suits and booties. Above the dive deck (on the mid deck) there are two camera tables, an air hose for cameras and rinse bucket for leak testing. Right next to one of the camera tables, there is a dryer. The exhaust of the dryer warms the towels stacked underneath the camera table.

The Food and the Crew

As in any dive trip, divers need their source of energy. The food on the Nekton Rorqual is served buffet style. On lunch and dinner, there's always rolls, a salad, a side dish or soup, and a main course. The picture below is of our last dinner, in which Capt. Nelson is serving enthusiastically each and everyone of us (bbq ribs). One thing that is very noticeable, is how much Capt. Nelson is involved with the operation. Since he is an diving instructor himself, he gives the briefings and even dives with you. And he doesn't skip galley duty either ;). It is really a pleasure to have him as a captain. You feel that he would go the extra mile for you.

Brett (making a face, above) is an excellent cook and he would come to you to serve you snacks during surface intervals (like the eggrolls below). 10:30am and 3:00pm are the times when snacks are served. Kat is another tireless member of the crew (above, on galley duty). She gives the Stingray City briefing and is also the resident photographer. She is also the MC for the picture competition and she is the one that compiles the CD that you can purchase at the end of the cruise. One thing that is noticeable as well (compared to the Nekton Pilot) is the quality of two of the briefings: the one of the MV Tibbets Destroyer and the one of Stingray City. Both of them were well-prepared and informative Powerpoint briefing presentations.

At dinner, there is always dessert at the end, like chocolate cake with vainilla ice cream and whip cream (below).

Cayman Islands Itinerary

The Cayman Island Itinerary is an itinerary that has lots of variety. It has a wreck (MV Keith Tibbets Destroyer), "petting zoo" (Stingray City), big animal encounters (Benji the Grouper and Spotted Eagle Rays) and wall diving with the best visibility on Bloody Bay Wall.

On this itinerary my favorite dive sites were Lea Lea's Lookout, Jackson's Reef and Wall, MV Keith Tibbets Destroyer, McCurley's Wall, Stingray City and Tarpoon Alley. Below is a table of the sites we visited. Click on the site names for detailed accounts and pictures and the littele map for the diagram that was presented on the corresponding briefing.

Day	Dive Site	Location	Highlights	Map
1	Jax Dax	Grand Cayman	Porpcupine fish, Spootted Butterflyfish, Snapper, Blue Tang, Rock Beauty
1	White Stroke Canyon	Grand Cayman	Trumpetfish, First Encounter with Big Stingrays, Lobster
2	Lea Lea's Lookout	Little Cayman	Benji the Grouper. Great Visibility
2	Randy's Gazebo	Little Cayman	Turtles, Groupers galore!, the Gazebo, Banded Butterflyfish, Dog Snappers, Green Tipped Anemone, Foureyed Butterflyfish, Lobster, Nurse Shark
3	Marilyn's Cut	Little Cayman	Groupers, Swim-thrus, Big Tube Sponges, Sea Fans, Barrel Sponges, Turtles, Green Moray
3	Magic Roundabout	Little Cayman	Two Reef Sharks!, Black Grouper, Turtle, Swim-thrus
3	Jackson's Reef and Wall	Little Cayman	More Groupers, Laberythn like Formations, Big Green Sea Turtle
4	Joy's Joy	Little Cayman	Black Grouper, Brain Coral, Barracuda, French Angel, Queen Trigger, Nassau Grouper
4	Randy's Gazebo	Little Cayman	Playing with Groupers, Turtle, Chasing Nurse Shark, Unicorn Trigger, Whitespotted Filefish, Lobster, Black Grouper
5	MV Keith Tibbets Destroyer	Cayman Brac	The Destroyer Wreck, Big Guns, Barracuda, Grouper, Garden Eels, Spotted Eagle Ray!, Banded Butterflyfish
5	Land Excursion	Cayman Brac	Bat Caves, the Bluff, Columbus Botanical Garden, Maritime Museum
5	Radar Beach	Cayman Brac	Dolphin and Stingray Sculpture, Channel Crab, Sea Star, Slip Lobster
6	McCurley's Wall	Grand Cayman	The Pinnacle, Black Coral, Whitespotted Filefish, Barracuda, Juvenile Yellow Stingray
6	Stingray City	Grand Cayman	Stingrays!
6	Tarpoon Alley	Grand Cayman	Tarpoon, Long Encounter with Spotted Eagle Ray
6	Jax Dax	Grand Cayman	Smooth Trunkfish, Ocellate Swimming Crab