Blackbeard's Cruises (All Star Liveaboards)

The Bahamas is a great location for a liveaboard and Allstar made it a great experience with awesome dive sites and delicious food! The boat was the perfect size for a small group, the rental equipment was in great shape and the dive guides were very knowledgeable and fun. Overall, a fantastic experience!

I had an incredible time. I would absolutely do it again- I wish so much that Blackbeard's offered cruises all over the world- i much rather do this type of diving, where your sleeping accomodations are like that in an RV (bunk beds like book shelves wherever they can fit) so you can get the best $$ for your diving. The meals were delicious- 3 full meals + morning and afternoon snacks. The diving was stunning, reef sharks spotted every dive, several turtles spotted during one week, water as clear as an aquarium, I 100% highly recommend

Loved my time aboard Blackbeard's Liveaboard the Morning Star with Captain Red and the crew. The diving was amazing as we explored the various sites around the Exuma Cays. We saw plenty of sharks during the shark-feed dive where a ball of chum was fastened on a wreck for the sharks to feast on. We must have seen 30 Reef Sharks on that dive. Beyond sharks we saw plenty of Bat Fish, Parrot Fish, Eagle Rays, Sting Rays, Loggerhead Turtles and Groupers. My favorite dive site was Tres Wrecks, where three large vessels were scuttled in a U like formation, creating a massive, interesting artificial reef with plenty of sea life. Overall, the food was pretty simple but fairly tasty; Fresh fruit, burgers, chicken and fish. Free beer and rum were provided after the diving was done. This liveaboard is likely best suited to younger adults as the tight quarters were a little uncomfortable for the older members of our group, who seemed to enjoy the trip less than I did.

I really enjoyed my Blackbeard's trip, especially considering the price--under $1000.00 for a week of liveaboard diving. Blackbeard's is especially good for those on a limited budget, and for those who want to see sharks and go on a great shark dive.The crew of Blackbeards were great--there are way fewer crew members to passengers on a trip in this price range, so it is better if you are more independent with your equipment and with diving, but they were fun and worked hard to make sure all the guests had a good time. Also, you were allowed to dive your own profile. The food was simple but good and plentiful, and was augmented by freshly caught fish on a couple of occasions (they allow fishing off the back of the boat, when motoring to new dive sites). Alcohol is included in the price, and there was a nice beach barbecue on one of the evenings.The accommodations are tight, as one would expect on a trip in this price range. You have a small bunk area and share the bathroom with 10 of your new, closest friends. I didn't mind this at all, as I was there to get in some good, affordable diving and hoping to get some good images of sharks. My only concern would be for photographers with equipment, as they are not really set up for large camera rigs. On my trip, there was one bunk that was not filled, and the crew let me keep my camera gear on that bunk, which was very helpful.There are typically 4 dives offered per day. When I was there, nitrox was not available, so 4 dives is probably a good limit. Also, the compressors take quite a bit of time to fill all the tanks. The walls in the Bahamas tend to start deep, at around 70-80 feet, so we would alternate one deep dive, then a shallow dive of perhaps 30-40 feet. There was quite a bit of variety in the diving, and they have a nice, smaller version of the Blue Hole that was a lot of fun. They did have a large number of invasive Lionfish, so there was not as many of the typical Caribbean reef fish as you might see in Cozumel, for example.The best part of the trip was the shark dive. They freeze a large bucket of fish parts into a big "chumsicle" and drill a hole through it and string it on a cable. I think this is a much better and safer approach than hand-feeding, and the sharks circle around and lunge at the frozen bait, making for some great action and photo opportunities. I was even able to get a couple of images of blood on their teeth.Overall, I would say that this is one of the best values in diving for the money. If you want to see sharks, and get a good variety of diving, and don't mind roughing it a bit, this is definitely the place to be. If you want to be pampered, or if you are a photographer with a lot of equipment, then you might want to consider the Aquacat that dives the same area, but has much more room and individual state rooms, bub costs over twice as much.