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The Nekton in port at Georgetown. Photo by Luke Hoffman.

Divers taking a saftey stop under the Nekton. Photo by Luke Hoffman.

The Nekton currently has three itineraries (since this trip they have dropped the Southern Bahamas and added Belize): The Northern Bahamas, Cay Sal Bank, and the Southern Bahamas. Our Trip was to the Southern Bahamas we flew into Georgetown on Grand Exuma and caught the Nekton there. Normally the boat sails from Georgetown to Conception, San Salvador, and Rum Cay. But we were in the grip of strong high-pressure system most of the week. Strong 20 to 25-knot winds were blowing most of the time and raising the seas. The higher than usually seas kept us away from Rum Cay this trip. Even on the Nekton, 10 feet seas are not fun to dive in. The locals in Georgetown told us that this was highly unusual and probably due to the remnants of Hurricane Mitch which had blown through the week before.

A typical diving day on the Nekton starts with a pre-dawn dive for the more fanatical divers (i.e. Bill Rawlins). Then comes a full breakfast. The boat would usually move to a new dive site while we were eating breakfast. After breakfast the crew would brief the dive site up on the Nekton's large sun deck. One of my favorite things about the Nekton Pilot is how well they know their dive sites. The Nekton does not anchor at any of its sites. Each site has a mooring pin, meaning the boat does not have to damage the reef by dropping anchor. The other benefit is that the Nekton staff knows their dive sites very well. Before you dive a site, one of the dive masters draws a map of the site on a white board and tells everyone what to look for and if there's anything unusual to be found at the site.

After the briefing you can make your way down to the dive deck and get in the water. When you return from your dive, you're greeted with a warm towel and hot cookies. Next you relax and have a nice surface interval and then do a second dive on the same site. Once everyone is done with the morning dives the boat moves to a new location while you're eating lunch. Usually you do two more afternoon dives and a night dive at this site. Did I mention the afternoon snacks? This usually consisted of chicken wings, mini burritos or egg rolls. The only complaint I heard about the food on the trip was that some people found it a little to spicy.

Blue Tang. Photo by Luke Hoffman.

Reef shot. Photo by Renee Langford.

Christmastree worm. Photo by Luke Hoffman.

Sponge. Photo by Renee Langford.

Cowfish. Photo by Renee Langford.

Barracuda. Photo by Luke Hoffman.

Turtle. Photo by Luke Hoffman.

All this is well and good you say. You had a comfortable boat and good food, but how was the diving? The diving on this trip was all wall diving and was a little on the deep side. The walls typically started around 50 or 60 feet. There were a few isolated coral heads in the sand flats between the reef and the islands. Visibility was usually pretty good, sometimes over a 100 feet. But the thing I will always remember about this trip is the sharks.

Photo by Luke Hoffman.

Shark and divers. Photo by Renee Langford.

I saw more sharks more times on this trip than ever before. It was obvious after a couple of dives that someone had been feeding the sharks around Conception. As soon as we got in the water the sharks were making numerous close passes. There were five or six hanging around one particular site.

Having lunch in Georgetown before leaving for home. Photo by Luke Hoffman..

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