Monday, January 11, 2010

Blackbeard's Cruises

Just came back from a dive trip where I lived on a 65' sailboat which was converted into a liveaboard for 20+ people. The rooms were tiny. When you enter the room, you face the beds (4 people per room) and when you turn around, your nose practically hits the wall. It's very tight. The bathrooms were just as tight and you can't flush paper down or else you will jam the toilet. We had one very rough day at sea and someone threw up in the middle of the night and reupholstered the walls.

The diving was great. Spotted some awesome creatures: Carribean reef sharks, octopus, scorpion fish, trumpet fish, spiny lobster, arrowhead crabs, coral banded crabs, sea cucumber, electric ray, etc. Sharks were my favorite! It's so humbling to sit on the ocean floor while the sharks circle around you. Unless you're facing them, you don't even know they're close to you until you see them right behind you or over you.

Aside from the lodging, the temperatures were very, very chilly. At one point it was 43F and 39F with the wind chill. It was not appropriate to be standing around wet in a bathing suit on a ship without protection from the wind.