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The cheapest is Blackbeards Cruises in the Bahamas. It is not luxury but they have two other boats in their line, Cat Pplau and Aquacat, that are nicer. The Blackbeard saiboats are refered to as camping out at sea. It is a lot of fun and a lot of diving for the price.
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We took the Nekton Pilot in January. Flew into San Juan, PR...They arranged for a van to take us to the marina about 45 minutes away...Shoved off when everyone was on board (they had to wait on me because my luggage was 6 hours late)...overnight we traveled to St. Croix, USVI and dove, dove dove...2 morning, 2 afternoon and a night dive daily...plenty of variety.
Nitrox is available for extra charge...Food is great and plentiful...staff was terrific and hlepful...the boat is very weird looking but very stable and the dive deck lowers right to the water...they have a good website if you want to check it out. Good luck
Nate
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Well most of this depends upon your price range, but most of the Carib liveaboards are in the same range of money.
The exception being the Aggressors (Cayman, Belize and Utila).
However Aggressor is running 50% discounts for buddies and 25% for singles on selected weeks. Now that makes it more affordable as well.
Here are your choices:
1 - Blackbeard and their entire fleet of liveaboards.
2 - Explorer Ventures: The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos
3 - Nekton : Two boats (Pilot and Rorqual) I think both are in the Bahamas that time of year.
4 - There is a Liveaboard in Honduras called the RoatanLiveaboard. (I don’t recommend it quite yet because I don’t know enough about it)
5 - Gulf Stream Eagle out of West Palm Beach is running Bahamas itineraries as well. I haven’t dove her yet, but I’m thinking I want to when I can get away.
6 - Peter Hughes has the Grenada and Belize itineraries but they are on the same price range as the Aggressor.
I love liveaboards and if I were going to do a Liveaboard in Aug this year I’d pony up the extra scratch and do the Cayman Aggressor.
( especially if I had a buddy and could get that 50% discount)
My next choice would be the Turks and Caicos Explorer II. They have summer rates and you can save by taking a cabin on the lower deck.
The Explorer Ventures Bahamas vessel I hear has very small cabins and w/a buddy it might not be too bad. However w/a stranger, NO!
Nekton? Hmmm....I’ve been on two Nekton itineraries and I love diving from the vessels. I also love the open dive deck call.
But before I did the Nekton....( just remembered the vessel I HIGHLY reommend you check out) I’d go with the S/Y Juliet (www.sailjuliet.com)
This summer the Juliet is doing the Mona Passage of Puerto Rico. I wanted to take this trip earlier but my calendar is booked and I cant make it.
I take back my earlier statement after remembering the Juliet. If I could get away this year for a liveaboard trip I’d be on the Juliet in a heartbeat.
This is the direction I would take this year. I think Capt John has a few openings the first week of August. Give them a call.
Send me a message if you need more information.
Nesher
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All good suggestions but you missed one and it’s one of the least expensive liveaboards and a step up from Blackbeards but not as nice as Nekton or Aggressor.
The M/V Spree which many knew from the Texas Flower Gardens is now sailing out of Key West to the Dry Tortugas. The diving is better than SE Florida but not as good as the best of the Caribbean.
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I agree with the Cayman Aggressor. I was on it last June and walked away basically spoiled rotten
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From LatitudeAdjustment:
All good suggestions but you missed one and it’s one of the least expensive liveaboards and a step up from Blackbeards but not as nice as Nekton or Aggressor.
The M/V Spree which many knew from the Texas Flower Gardens is now sailing out of Key West to the Dry Tortugas. The diving is better than SE Florida but not as good as the best of the Caribbean.
Sorry about the Spree....I’ve heard very good things about her but I’ve never dove from her.
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