This is the second blog in a series about diving and living on the liveaboard dive boats operated by Blackbeard's Cruises in the Bahamas.
Diving begins early the next day if weather allows. You’ll have spent the night on the lee side of an island and the breakfast bell rings around 7. What do people sleep in on the boat? You name it. I was comfortable in yoga pants and a T-shirt as it was cool or colder in my bunk in both August and December due to the air conditioning.
Breakfast: The coffee starts brewing before breakfast, so it is very pleasant to get up, get a cup of coffee and sit on deck for the sun rise. After breakfast get ready to dive. The first dive is around 8:30 a.m.
Above, the Cook and First Mate hamming it up and hanging out in the galley (that's boat-speak for kitchen).
Food and Drink: A sampling of the dishes we enjoyed during my week on board the Pirate’s Lady include: French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, egg “mcmuffins” with ham or bacon, sausage and gravy and biscuits for lunch and dinner we usually had a green salad, some kind of cooked veggie with noodles or smashed potatoes with an entrée like lasagna, flank steak, pork medallions, mac ‘n’ cheese with veggies and sausage, ham and spaghetti with meat sauce. With dinner there was usually a dessert like chocolate cake, peach crisp, apple crisp, or cookies. If the meal presented wasn’t to your liking or you were late – you could always make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, eat cereal, toast or help yourself to a banana, apple or orange from the fruit hammock hanging in the kitchen. After one dive I felt a bit seasick, and sat out lunch. No problem whipping up a peanut butter and jelly on wheat when I was ready to eat and put some energy in my body before the next dive. Just help yourself.
This is also a booze cruise. After done diving for the day there is a fabulous tap right up on deck to a keg of beer or you can drink rum punch which is mixed up in a beverage cooler dispenser on deck. Don’t forget to stay hydrated. There is a cold drinking water tap near the beer tap. Use it often.
Diving: The boats all have their own custom built tank racks at the back of the boat. There are two rows with racks on both sides and a small ledge you can sit on as you suit up. This is the same place the tanks are refilled after each dive via a compressor and a hose. It takes about two hours between each dive to refill the tanks, so you nearly have an automatic surface interval. You don’t get the same slot on the racks each time as the crew will try to space you out as you come up from your dive so you are not crowded. This is just steps from the back, so it is wonderfully easy to not carry your tank very far.
Highlight Dives: There is a wide variety of dives on this trip that may be limited due to conditions. However, I’ve been impressed with the crew’s hard work to give everyone an enjoyable trip. A few of the featured dives I’ve enjoyed are highlighted here.
Special thanks to Mike B. for providing this very nice video of our shark dive from the December 2011 trip on YouTube. Check it out for a short look at what I am trying to describe here.
Shark Dive – It seems it is reserved for one of the last dives of the trip. Everyone is suited up in their gear and ready to enter the water in rapid succession. Everyone descends as quickly as possible to the bottom or a wreck. We dove a wreck around 50 feet deep and lined up on the side of the bow of where we are instructed to remain still until all of the shark food is consumed by the sharks. It might take them 15 minutes or it might take them 45 minutes to eat. Either way we needed to maintain our position until they were done. Sharks are familiar with the routine and start to gather. The dive master jumps in with a “squidscicle” on a rope and brings it down to the wreck and ties it on. The squidscicle has a float on one end and a length of rope on the other so the frozen food is elevated over the divers. The sharks of all sizes show up, mostly Caribbean reef sharks, and take bites out of the frozen mass. Other schools of fish attack the food too when the sharks are not eating at it. It took over 30 minutes for the sharks to complete their work and at the end the dive master will give a signal when it is safe to leave the side of the wreck and dive around the site or return to the boat. Some divers may be apprehensive and blow through their air quickly. Don’t forget, that a more experienced diver will likely have plenty of extra air – so if the dive runs long and you are getting short on air – borrow some from a buddy.
Washing Machine is an exhilarating extreme drift dive if taken during the right part of the tide. It is a place where the currents all rush into a bowl and then a channel and swirl around like tub style washing machine. All divers are instructed to dive in at close succession again and to have no air in their BCDs to allow you to immediately descend. There is lots of boat traffic in the area, so you’ll want to get below the surface quickly. Then you should be prepared to be swept and spun in any possible direction by the currents. If you can let go, relax and let it take you, then it is great fun. You’ll be swept a great distance and cover grassy stretches and areas with beautiful coral heads with turtles and rays. The boat will meet you at the other end to pick you up. This is one of my favorite dives because it is so different.
Blue Hole – the Blue Hole is near Periwinkle reef which is on your way to Nassau or on your return trip. There are blue holes all over the Bahamas, most recently mentioned in the news for the unique and unstudied bacteria they may contain at depth. The one we visited had a small cave within that you can explore one person at a time. There is also interesting fish life hanging out around the hole. We saw sharks and rays. Others saw turtles on this dive.
Other sights: I’ve seen a hammerhead shark, 5 ft. long turtles, huge lobsters, lion fish and octopus while on this trip.
Now a word on storage of your gear on a small boat.
Now a word on storage of your gear on a small boat.
Storage benches on deck: Everything on this boat is functional – including seating. Your seats on deck double as storage compartments for your dive gear that is not hooked up to your tank or your BCD. The bigger compartments are meant as storage for two people and the small ones are a single. This is where you can store your fins, boots, mask, dive log, flashlights, dry bag and other gear. If it rains or there is heavy surf, your stuff will get wet, so keep your dry stuff in a dry bag. The only cushioned seating you’ll find will be your own bunk. Nothing else is cushioned, but with so many of the passengers always wet, any cushion would get soaked.
Gear kept in storage compartment on the boat deck: boots, fins, mask, snorkel, BCD, octopus, wetsuit, hood, gloves, dive skin, towel, weight belt, rash guard, mask defog, dive knife, dive lights, tank banger, hat, sun glasses, spray conditioner, comb, sunscreen and zinc, 8-10 plastic clamps for hanging wet items on the side of the boat to dry, dive log and pen, dive tables, dive computer, and a super absorbent towel you can wring out over and over like the Shamwow or the Absorber. Cotton towels will rarely dry out on deck when you are diving 3-5 times a day. Other backup stuff, like duct tape, extra fin and mask straps, o-rings and so on.
Gear for your bunk storage: I'd bring two fast drying towels – I like Sea to Summit DryLite Towel because they are thin, soft and fast drying. Rain jacket and pants, multiple swim suits, T-shirts, shorts, underwear, stuff you sleep in, couple pairs of socks, wind breaker, fleece jacket, tevas or shoes, flip flops, shampoo, body wash, 5 gallon ziplock bags, comb, floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, ear plugs (you might need them), water bottle, Wet Ones hand wipes, Freshbath body wipes, eye glasses, saline solution, medications, pain killers (you might get sore from lots of diving), lip balm, camp suds, alarm clock, facial tissues, 4-6 giant binder clips, head lamp, reading material, extension cord, camera, battery charger for camera, small portable fan (for summer), mp3 player and charger, hand lotion, passport, money, motion sickness medications.
Backup equipment: The boat has backup equipment in case yours fails or you forget to bring something. I lost my dive belt on one trip, and they had extras basic equipment ready to use. On the latest trip my dive computer battery failed prematurely. They gave me a backup computer to use. It was most certainly the most basic equipment I wouldn't buy, but it was better than nothing. They did not have lots of backup wetsuits, so be sure to bring your own. If you rent from them, better try on the suit before you leave the dock and that it is adequate in terms of coverage. My dive buddy got a shortie loaner for the trip. It was much too big for her, not giving her enough thermal protection.
Gear left at the dock: suitcases, clothes and toiletries for the return trip home, street shoes and everything else you won’t need on the boat. For this trip, less is more!
Part III of Blackbeard's in the next blog.
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