My Bahamas Trip (Warning: long and boring!)

At the end of January I spent a week on the Aqua Cat live-aboard dive ship, and at the beginning of February I spent a week at Cape Eleuthera (pronounced el-ooh-thra) Resort, also for diving. It was a mixed experience.

First off, I learned to my dismay that the seas are rougher in winter than in summer, and although it's not as cold as Spokane, it's not particularly warm either. The Aqua Cat was sold to me as being the most luxurious dive boat in the business, and that may well be true. It was very nice as regards comfort, food, and diving facilities. The cabins are large, the food was outstanding, and the dive deck is spacious and well organized. Nitrox was nominally 32% and was generally a bit over. This was my first time diving nitrox, and although I didn;t feel any different, it allows for more bottom time and shorter surface intervals. I almost always had over 3,000 psi to start and generally close to 3,200 psi.

However, the Aqua Cat only draws six feet of water, and as a consequence it bounces around like a cork. They were quick to point out that the shallow draft allows the boat to go places it would not otherwise be able to go, and in the Exumas, where we spent most of the week, this is significant. However, in the rough seas, the bouncing overpowered my scopolamine patch and I was seasick most of the time. One day we made the crossing to Eleuthera, and I was miserable. For this alone, I will not sail on the Aqua Cat again.

The diving was generally very good, and one day...

drum roll please...

We did a shark dive! I had been wanting to do this for a long time, and it was so cool that even my seasickness didn't spoil it. They had previously stuffed fish parts into a five-gallon bucket and frozen it. We descended and knelt on the bottom as a crew member brought the frozen fishsicle down on a long rope and fastened it to a mooring. We were instructed to remain 15 feet away from the bait so none of it would fall on us, but once it was in place we were allowed to rise from the bottom and swim freely around it or hover where we liked. The sharks (Caribbean reef sharks, ranging from 3 to 5 or 6 feet, about 20 or 30 of them) circled the bait continuously, periodically striking it, and passing sometimes within inches of us. The fishsicle was about done when my air got low enough that I had to ascend. I saw the last of it disappear as I was hanging at my safety stop. My dive lasted 50 minutes. The crew photographer didn't get any good pictures of me, but one diver got an excellent picture. He promised to email it to me, but has not done so yet, and I fear he will not. I didn't take my camera to the Bahamas. I prefer to experience the diving rather than see it all through a camera view-finder.

Cape Eleuthera Resort is a very small resort in a tiny community of homes and condos apparently belonging to wealthy folks with big boats. The resort accommodations are "villas" nearly as large as my house. My villa had two bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, and a large living room and full kitchen plus a half-bath downstairs. Extremely luxurious. The food at the only eatery (a tiny cafe) was good, but extremely limited, and I quickly got sick of it. A strict vegetarian would have an extremely hard time. Had I known, I'd have stocked up at the grocery store at Rock Sound and cooked my own food in the well-equipped kitchen.

The dive operation at the resort was unacceptable. The people were very nice, but a family that was diving with me and renting equipment was given defective equipment, and was promised things that never happened. The diving was nice but not great. The tanks were never over 2,800 psi and once 2,700 psi, so the dive times were shorter. One day they ran out of oxygen so there was no nitrox. My last day of diving they promised me they'd rinse and dry my gear and be there early the next morning so I could pick it up. But the next morning it rained (rain was in the forecast so this was no surprise) and they had left my gear out in the open and never showed up that morning, so it was wet, and I had to pack my gear wet for the two-day trip home.

I categorically recommend NOT using that dive operation.

The seas were fairly rough most of the week, and extremely rough on a couple of the days, so I was very seasick twice, and a little seasick the rest of the time.

The trip home was long and tiring, but uneventful. Severe seasickness leaves a residual nausea which can last some time, and I am still moderately queasy. I will not be returning to the Bahamas in winter, and probably not the Caribbean at all in winter. Maybe June or September. Maybe. It will take me a while to recover enough to contemplate another foray out to sea.

The diving, though, was very nice overall. A fair number of pretty fishes, and the corals are always amazing. The variety of weird forms and shapes is mind-boggling. Whether you snorkel or dive, the Caribbean reefs are worth some trouble to see and contemplate.

 

I am a lousy underwater photographer, so I rely on buying the CD of photos taken by the on-board photographer. Unfortunately, this time there were no good photos and I didn't buy the CD. One guy got a great picture of me with a shark, and promised to email it, but he has not done so yet, and I fear he won't. But I know I did it even if nobody believes.

Sharks are not dangerous to people unless you make yourself look like food to them. So, no, they are not scary.

I only got certified to dive in Belize in the spring of 2008. I still love snorkeling. Very different activities in the same environment and both fun.

Catamaran operators claim their boats are more stable, and the Nekton boats are. But clearly the Aqua Cat is not. Note however that in the Exumas there are crossings where the depth is no more than 8 feet, and a boat with a deeper draft cannot go there. I won't be going on the Aqua Cat again.

And now I've come down with a nasty illness. Last night very suddenly I got a bad case of the chills and was shivering so hard it was actually painful! I made a cup of hot miso broth and could hardly hold it. Then I turned up the thermostat a couple of degrees and got into bed wearing a sweat suit with 3 blankets over me and shivered for a good hour before I fell asleep, and when I woke up a couple of hours later the chills were gone and I had a slight temperature (101.5). Now my throat hurts when I swallow and I have a headache, but my temperature is down to 99.5.

Grump! I hate being sick. Whoever invented being sick should be shot. Germs are proof that if there's a god he hates us. (Having the urethra run through the prostate instead of around it is another proof!) Down with germs! I think we should get up a petition to ban germs.

 

I said IF there is a god, and if there is a god he doesn't do anything just to irritate me: he hates all of us.

Actually, if there is a god he treats me pretty well, probably to annoy other people.

When I was a kid I was allowed ice cream when I had a sore throat. So I'm going to the store to get two packages of Tofutti Cuties (chocolate, of course) and then I'll go back to bed and sleep as much of the day as I can. Fortunately, the book I'm reading is getting close to a climax. The good guys are heading off into the bad guys' territory to try to save the world. So I'll have something to keep me amused as I sit in bed most of the day.

 

True. Though I suspect the taxi driver on Eleuthera, who was sniffling and wiping his nose with his thumb the whole drive from the resort to the air field. I couldn't very well refuse to shake his hand when he offered it (rather than saying "I'm sick so I'd better not shake your hand.") I did wash my hands right away, but the washroom at the air strip was out of soap. So I blame "Friendly Bob." But I also blame the length of the trip, which was exhausting.

At least the chills and fever seem to have passed. I wonder if they have malaria in the Bahamas. I think not.