Dive Review of Nekton Cruses in
Cayman Islands

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Nekton Cruses, May, 2006, by Mark Bruscke, NJ, USA ( 2 reports). Report 2514.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Nekton's boats really work to eliminate seasickness. Most of the time I was unaware I was on a boat. Boats are very well outfitted for diving. Recommend asking for cabin 5 or 6 because those cabins are entitled to the dive stations on the dive deck adjacent to the ladder. Divers at those dive stations can gear up on the seat next to the latter where there is much more maneuvering room. The Nekton boats will hold up to 34 passengers (plus about 10 crew). Usually they don't sail with a full load (I'm told). At 28 passengers it felt pretty full; I think it would be too crowded if there were 34. Crew was very professional, friendly and helpful. Captains Mike and Nelson especially so. Most of the crew were very experienced divers; most are instructors. Had a couple of problems with my dive computer (blown O-ring; reporting shallower depths than my other computers). Nelson replaced the O-ring and removed / replaced the battery to try to clear the depth problem. If you have an equipment problem they will do their best to try to fix it. At Bloody Bay Wall Caymans have a limit of 20 divers per boat. We had 28 divers; so Nekton (at their own expense) hired a local dive boat to take 8 of us to Bloody Bay Wall on a separate boat. I was on the Nekton Pilot prior to the Nekton Rorqual on this trip. Pilot had some condensation, but not enough to bother me. Rorqual didn't have any condensation. Caymans' coral struck me as much less colorful than I remember from Cancun and Cozumel. Both of Nekton's boats have 29% nitrox; I signed up for it on my previous trip and this trip. Unfortunately, on this trip, the nitrox oil-less compressor's oil-filled cooler failed the previous week and they couldn't repair it before our departure. They had replacement parts and a mechanic on the dock upon our return and I'm told it was repaired before the next departure. Stuff breaks; fixing it in this time frame seems to me as best one could hope for. (On my Pilot trip something else broke. On that occasion Nekton's owner flew the replacement part to the Northern Bahamas and dumped it out the door of the plane. The crew retrieved it from the ocean floor and brought it up for installation. Can't do better than that for timeliness of service.) Nekton refuels at Cayman Brac; and, they told us, Cayman Brac authorities won't allow them to refuel with passengers aboard. Conjecture is that the authorities are trying to promote tourism ON the island and the refueling rule is a pretext. This shot a day of diving in exchange for a day of site seeing on the island. I would have preferred to be diving as there isn't that much to see on the island. I wish Nekton had hired a local dive boat to take the dive-addicts diving as an alternative to the day on the island. Nekton has a satellite phone; but, in the Caymans signal is erratic. Bring your cell phone, you will probably have cheaper calls and more consistent signal.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Cancun and Cozumel
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-84°F / 26-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-90 Ft/ 18-27 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Recreational depth; no decompression; buddy
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Nekton Cruses in Cayman Islands

Nekton Cruses, May, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Nekton Cruses in
Cayman Islands