2004 Nekton Trip. Mona Island Itinerary

Getting to the Nekton was a little more inconvenient this time compared with Ft. Lauderdale. We flew into San Juan, PR, but the boat is docked in Mayguez which is pretty much the opposite side of the island. It was a 2 ½ hour bus ride from the airport to the boat dock not including the essential stop at the grocery store to obtain beer and pop. The scenery was really not all that impressive. Except for the occasional palm tree or glimpse of ocean, we could have been driving from Lafayette to Indianapolis. Interestingly enough, there are absolutely no shore facilities at the dock in Mayaguez. I mean nothing but a dock. Not even a sign. Just the Nekton moored to the pier.

The Nekton Rorqual was just as ugly as ever. A big blocky monstrosity which looks like a small house on pontoons. Having been on the boat before, though, I was not put off by its appearance. We boarded just in time for the first of many good dinners by Jules our cook for the week. The crew loaded our bags on board and we proceeded to meet the other guests over a few cocktails. We did the obligatory lifejacket and emergency drill and then the evening was our own. Once again I was surprised at the youth of most of the crew members although we did have a few old salts this time. The boat is laid out in 3 main decks. The lower two decks contain the cabins and the dining salon. The cabins on the Nekton are pretty compact, but most people hardly spent any time in the cabins anyway. Each cabin had a private shower and toilet and either twin bunks or a double bunk. All the inside compartments were air conditioned. All guest cabins had a window although some were blocked by the boat bumpers.

The uppermost deck houses the pilothouse and the sundeck. The sundeck had a large canopy over the front half which provided some shade for those who didn’t want to get too sunburnt and also provided an excellent way to hang up your wetsuit so it would be dry (or at least drier) by the time you were ready to dive again. There is also a dive platform off the stern which is raised and lowered as needed. This deck houses all the tanks and dive gear. Each pair of divers has a small locker under a bench and each diver has one tank for the week. You put your BC on that tank and it stays there. The tanks are filled in place from flexible air hoses. The tanks were all steel 95CF which gave us much more air and allowed us to reduce the amount of lead in our weight belts or BCDs. Nitrox was available, but only like 28-30%. Cost was $150 for the week or $12 per tank.

The photographers among us had a designated area to assemble and store cameras as well as a dedicated camera rinse tank on the O2 deck and the dive deck. However, these facilities could have been improved. The camera area was right in the middle of the busiest passageway and simply was not large enough for the dozen or so cameras that were on board. Probably the most likely time to have damage to one’s camera was in the rinse tank. The crew members were very good with cameras. Rarely did I come up the ladder when a crew member was not waiting to take my camera to the rinse tank.

The itinerary started in the wee hours of the morning when the captain started the engines and we shoved off for Desecheo Island which is about 25 miles northwest of Mayaguez. This is a small rocky outcropping with no permanent inhabitants. The conditions were rough even for the Nekton with 6-8 foot swells and a 30 knot wind. The boat moved just enough that you felt a little unsteady walking down corridors and climbing stairs.

The typical schedule on the Nekton was a continental breakfast starting at 530AM followed by a real hot breakfast at 7. The dive briefing typically took place at 8AM and the dive deck opened at 815. Some of the sites especially in the first couple of days were not suitable for permanent moorings so they had to be done as a a drift dive or live dive (a drift dive with no current). Due to the more regimented nature, a drift dive took away some of the leisure of a typical Nekton dive day. We had to dive with a guide and we were broken up into two groups based on our cabin numbers. We had to all jump in as a group in a very short time. The egress was even worse as we had to surface and wait for the boat to pick us up. Some of us do not normally surface until at the ladder and this was a little uncomfortable for us. The crew had the procedure down well, but the rough conditions made it somewhat challenging to get back on the boat in a timely manner. Once on board after the dive, though one of the main advantages of a liveaboard became clear. No spending your surface interval shivering in a wetsuit on a crowded dive boat. You had a hot shower, a nice warm towel, and a plate of cookies waiting for you. You could nap, eat, or read or whatever until you wanted to dive again. Your time was your own.
The dive deck closed at 1145 which left you just enough time to dry off for lunch at noon. Lunch, like all meals aboard, is served buffet style. There was always plenty of food, even for the big eaters in our group. There was adequate seating in the salon for everyone to eat at once. The crew was very good about taking empty plates and glasses and getting refills of drinks.

When at full capacity, the Nekton holds 34 divers and 12 crew members. We had a captain, first mate, purser, engineer, cook, and several divemasters. Most of the crew members were very helpful and personable. Interestingly enough by the second day some of the crew members seemed to know everyone’s name. Nelson, our captain was excellent. He really went out of his way to give us the kind of diving we wanted. When some of us talked to him about the kind of diving we would prefer, he altered the itinerary to accommodate us. One time he hopped in the skiff and drove several miles during his lunch break to a site he thought we would like. It turned out the conditions were bad so we elected to stay where we were. The Nekton is very slow so the crew had to plan their moves in advance lest they lose precious diving time. Normally the boat only moved at lunch and after the night dive.

After a day and night of diving at various sites around Desecho island, we headed for our main destination which was Mona Island. This is a pretty good sized island located midway between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. It is about 50 miles from the nearest land mass. Mona island is not populated, either. Not by people, anyway. We were told that there are a lot of goats and feral pigs on the island. Other groups in the past made shore excursions to the beaches, but we were too busy diving to waste time with that stuff. In fact the group before us only made 5 or 6 dives during the week they were so busy playing on the beach.

The typical dive site around Mona Island was a wall dive or sloping reef dive in about 50-70 feet of water. There were some shallow reefs we could see, but we didn’t dive them. Actually, with the waves as high as they were, the surge on a 25 foot dive would be really tremendous so it was just as well that we were diving the deeper reefs. Some reefs also had spur and groove formations which are my favorite. Lots of places for critters to hide and sand patches to look for stingrays and flounder. The visibility typically ranged from 50-80 feet although a couple places were really stirred up from the swells. We did experience some pretty strong currents on some of our dives. We did not see a tremendous number of big critters although a few sharks and turtles were spotted throughout the week. All the typical tropical fish were present such as angels, parrotfish, and grunts. A few moray eels were spotted, but again, not a large number by any means.

It is tempting to try to compare the Nekton to a shore based resort, but they are very different and they cater to a different class of diver. Compared to a shore resort, the Nekton is somewhat crowded and the accommodations are somewhat spartan. A non-diver would probably get cabin fever after a day or so. However, you can do 5 dives per day and still have time left over to watch a movie or read and not miss any meals. One day we actually did 6 dives when we added a dawn dive. The lack of wasted time in long boat rides to and from the dive site, surface intervals spent in a small boat at anchor, and time spent preparing or getting to meals more than makes up for the lack of shore based activities.

Comparisons to other liveaboards were also made. A typical liveaboard only holds 16-18 divers, or half of the number on the Nekton. Other liveaboards talk about white tablecloths, wood trim, real upholstery, etc. The Nekton boasts none of that. Everything is very utilitarian. The carpet is indoor/outdoor and quite unattractive; the chairs are plastic deck furniture; the cushions are all vinyl and the walls and ceilings are painted aluminum panels. Everything is meant to get wet and not get destroyed. Of course the Nekton can boast of its legendary stability and lack of motion which greatly reduces seasickness among the passengers. We dived in 6-8 foot swells all week which would have been very tough for a typical v-hulled dive boat. It is fair to note that a few people did get seasick even with the SWATH hull design.

The Mona Island itninerary is not really the best one for beginner divers. It is not true advanced diving per se, but it is deeper and involves rougher water, stronger currents and more live (drift) diving than some of the other itineraries.

Between the good diving, excellent food, pleasant camaraderie among the divers, and the staff attitude, we had a wonderful week on the Nekton and some of us have are already planning on next years trip.