New live-aboard boat

The Nekton Rorqual, a live-aboard dive boat that will be
cruising all three the Cayman Islands

(Left to right) Sandy Sondrol, Brad Nelson and John
Dixon, partners in Cayman’s newest live-aboard dive
boat business

Friday,  February 24, 2006

Nekton Diving Cruises is in the process of establishing a new live-aboard dive itinerary in the Cayman Islands that will include stops at both Sister Islands, and passengers will disembark on Cayman Brac for one afternoon.

Nekton, which commenced operations in 1992, has teamed up with Caribe Holdings, Ltd, the operator in the Cayman Islands. They plan to launch this new dive service 29 April, and the week-long cruise is scheduled to arrive on the Brac 3 May.

Brad Nelson of Caribe Holdings, and Sandy Sondrol and John Dixon of Nekton told Cayman Net News that the operational plan is to run the trips from Grand Cayman and to dive each of the Islands for two days.

The trips will run from Saturday to Saturday. 

The live-aboard boat that is scheduled to come to the Cayman Islands on a full time basis is the Nekton Rorqual, which was launched in 2001. 

It has been cruising the Bahamas in the summer, and splitting the winter months between diving in Puerto Rico and whale-watching at Silver Banks, just north of the Dominican Republic.

The first Nekton boat, Nekton Pilot, cruises the Bahamas in the summer and Belize in the winter. Both boats are of a SWATH (Small Water Area, Twin Hull) design. They are 78 feet long and carry a maximum of thirty-four guests. 

According to Mr Dixon, who is responsible for the original design of the Nekton boats, the SWATH design allows the boats to adjust buoyancy to suit conditions. This can significantly reduce vessel motion in heavier seas, thus allowing the vessel to make the passage over to the Sister Islands nearly every week. 

He maintains that a unique feature of the design is that it greatly reduces the stress on dive moorings, and that a study by a Naval Architect/Marine Engineer indicates that the SWATH design places sixty-seven percent less strain on the moorings than does a vessel of similar size but of traditional hull design. 

The owners of Nekton claim it is one of the most environmentally friendly live aboard companies in the world, and the boats are in full compliance with the international maritime anti-pollution conventions (MARPOL). 

Guests will board the Nekton Rorqual Saturday evening, and will leave Grand Cayman Sunday nights after a day of diving on that Island, and make the eight to ten hour crossing to Cayman Brac. On Mondays, the boat will remain around the Brac, making its way to Little Cayman for a day of diving Tuesdays. 

The proposed schedule on Wednesdays is for a dive on the Russian Wreck in the morning if possible. The owners said that a distinctive portion of the itinerary is that they will be disembarking guests on Cayman Brac on Wednesday around noon for a time on shore.

The passengers will get off at West End Cemetery Pier on the north side if the boat can dock there, or be transported by dinghy to the Channel Warf on the south side.

On Thursdays, they will be diving off Little Cayman again, before a night passage back to Grand Cayman. There they will have a final day of diving on Fridays, including a possible night dive. The boat will arrive back at the dock Saturday mornings.

There will be a brochure rack aboard the boat, and local entrepreneurs and businesses on the Sister Islands, including shore based dive resorts, are invited to provide their brochure. 

In this way, passengers will have an idea of what’s available for visitors on the Island, and will be free to choose their own itinerary for their afternoon on the Brac. Arrangements with local operators can be made by radio or phone.

This will include the option of lunch at a local restaurant, as well as island tours, either guided or on their own with rental vehicles, fishing charters, shopping, and familiarizing tours of resorts and condos. Rock climbing might be an option in the future when feasible.

If guests expressed an interest in seeing a resort on Little Cayman, the crew of the Nekton Rorqual would contact the property and arrange an individual tour. Mr Nelson explained that this seemingly generous gesture is because they realize that divers go on land based vacations as well. 

“I believe that after they have seen the beauty of the Cayman Islands, both above and below the waves, they will be much more likely to select the Cayman Islands for a subsequent land based trip, rather than going to some other destination. It is good business for all of us to encourage their return visits,” he said.

Onboard evening presentations will include information on the ecology of Little Cayman, including the Red Footed Booby, the iguanas, and the ecosystem of Bloody Bay. 

While Caribe Holdings holds a watersports license to operate the Nekton Rorqual in the Cayman Islands, commercial vessels cannot enter Bloody Bay-Jackson Point Marine Park off the north coast of Little Cayman without a special license from the Marine Conservation Board. 
One of the conditions of this license specifies the maximum number of divers and snorkellers on any one vessel as twenty. However, under the Marine Conservation Law, the Board is allowed to amend conditions.

“As great as Bloody Bay is, there is a lot of other diving around Little Cayman,” observed Mr Sondrol, adding that he hoped to dive the Park but that the other dive areas around the Island were also very good. “We don’t expect to dive only Bloody Bay,” he said.

The company has installed almost three hundred moorings in other areas where they have set up business. Nekton has offered the use of the vessel they own that is set up to do these installations to DoE, the owners said.

For more information, contact Brad Nelson 345-327-1238.

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