MgicTwnger
February 20th, 2010, 08:05 AM
As some of you might know, I won a trip on Blackbeards last year by entering the contest on their web site, and finally got to use it last week. Here's my take on their operation:
The Good:
Crew was very competent, friendly, and helpful.
Food was very good.
Captain was not stingy with the fuel: he took an 11 hour run from Freeport to avoid bad weather.
More than enough dives including three night dives..
Ample storage for gear under the benches on deck.
Slick individual tank system: you are assigned your bottle for the week. A fill whip is at every seat so that you just secure your tank, remove your reg, and the crew fills the bottle without having to remove your BC.
No shark feeding dive per se, but we went to the usual feeding site and were circled by a dozen reef sharks: very cool.
Several good wreck dives.
Sighted a big hammerhead, manta rays, and octos on the night dives.
Unlimited draft beer, wine, rum punch, soda, and juice. Snacks and fruit always on hand.
Most of the passangers were from a Canadian dive club, a friendly bunch of competent divers.
The Bad:
Cramped quarters: sleeping is in built-in bunks with very little room for personal items. Shared heads and one shower.
The reefs were in pretty sad shape with a lot of bleaching and not a whole lot of life.
Only AL 80's.
The Ugly:
Some people should not be seen in thongs.
All in all, I had one helluva good time.:p
The Good:
Crew was very competent, friendly, and helpful.
Food was very good.
Captain was not stingy with the fuel: he took an 11 hour run from Freeport to avoid bad weather.
More than enough dives including three night dives..
Ample storage for gear under the benches on deck.
Slick individual tank system: you are assigned your bottle for the week. A fill whip is at every seat so that you just secure your tank, remove your reg, and the crew fills the bottle without having to remove your BC.
No shark feeding dive per se, but we went to the usual feeding site and were circled by a dozen reef sharks: very cool.
Several good wreck dives.
Sighted a big hammerhead, manta rays, and octos on the night dives.
Unlimited draft beer, wine, rum punch, soda, and juice. Snacks and fruit always on hand.
Most of the passangers were from a Canadian dive club, a friendly bunch of competent divers.
The Bad:
Cramped quarters: sleeping is in built-in bunks with very little room for personal items. Shared heads and one shower.
The reefs were in pretty sad shape with a lot of bleaching and not a whole lot of life.
Only AL 80's.
The Ugly:
Some people should not be seen in thongs.
All in all, I had one helluva good time.:p