ryan.kissick - Bluewater Dive Travel

ryan.kissick

ryan.kissick

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Reviews (4)

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Nautilus Explorer Liveaboard

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5

I went on the Nautilus Explorer for a trip to Guadalupe Island to photograph Great White Sharks. This had been on my bucket list for awhile, and it exceeded my expectations. Despite the long crossing from Ensenada to Guadalupe Island, the trip was well worth it. Seeing the sharks up close and personal was incredible. We had multiple sharks around the cages at all times, which made for great photography. We also had a few visits from seals (including one adventurous seal who chased and nipped at the sharks) and one encounter with a massive school of yellowfin tuna. However, the main attraction at Guadalupe Island is great white sharks. If you are expecting a diversity of wildlife at Guadalupe Island, I would probably suggest going elsewhere. However, if you want to view great whites in good visibility (visibility was consistently 100 ft+), I'd highly recommend Guadalupe Island.

The Nautilus Explorer was the perfect vessel for this trip. The staff is incredibly friendly, the food is great, the rooms are big (especially the master suite, but all rooms were quite nice for a liveaboard), the hot tub is WONDERFUL and the diving is incredibly easy. There are 4 cages on the Nautilus Explorer: two deep cages (40 feet deep), one medium cage (18 feet) and one surface cage. The two shallow cages are always open for divers (first come, first serve), and the two deep cages have schedules that allow for equal viewing among all divers. Shifts in the deep cages are 40 minutes and the time absolutely flies by.

The other nice thing about diving Guadalupe Island on the Nautilus Explorer is that you don't need your Scuba gear. Air is provided from the surface, so you just need a wetsuit and mask.

I would love to go back on the Nautilus Explorer for any of their trips, whether it is back to Guadalupe, the Sea of Cortez, or the Socorro Islands. And for those looking to see or photograph Great Whites, a trip to Guadalupe is a must, especially for those living in the United States. It's way easier to get to San Diego/Ensenada than Australia or South Africa.

Visited on 08/2012 - Submitted on 03/25/2014
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Wakatobi Dive Resort

4
5
5
5

I had high expectations going to Wakatobi, and it certainly did not fail to impress. We stayed in an Oceanside bungalow, which had a great view of the water and was perfect for my girlfriend and me. It wasn't too fancy, yet it was extremely comfortable. The staff was also a highlight of Wakatobi. Everyone was extremely friendly from the kitchen staff to the divemasters. Then there is the food, which was excellent in my opinion. It is buffet style, but there are plenty of delicious options, and also plenty of food for those with big appetites.

Now let's talk about the diving. I was absolutely blown away by the reefs. Most of the dives are sloping to steep walls with incredibly healthy reefs. The coral thrives, and with it so do the reef creatures. Highlights included frogfish, cuttlefish, ornate ghost pipefish, turtles, nudibranchs and a bunch of pygmy sea horses. Macro life was solid (but not fantastic), and larger pelagics were not around (no sharks and only a few larger fish); to me, however, this didn't matter given the incredible reefs. The divemasters were very adept at finding the creatures that we wanted to see and gave extremely thorough dive briefings. Finally, Wakatobi is well set up for photographers. It has a great photo room, and dives are ideal for the photographer (usually 70 minutes at a very slow pace).

Overall, Wakatobi will cost a pretty penny, but I definitely thought it was worth the money.

Visited on 08/2012 - Submitted on 02/28/2014
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Bilikiki Liveaboard

5
4
5
5

I went on a 10-day trip on the Bilikiki followed by a 7-day trip. Both trips were absolutely fantastic, and I would LOVE to return to the Solomon Islands on the Bilikiki. I'll start with the diving. The overall theme is incredible diversity of diving. There's a little bit of everything...wall dives and beautiful reefs, muck dives, shark dives, drift dives, and even wrecks. As such, there are endless photography opportunities. For the macro enthusiast, we saw tons of critters: lots of nudibranchs, multiple species of pygmy seahorses, larger seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, ghost pipefish, cuttlefish, octopus, blennies, shrimp, mandarinfish...and the list goes on.

Amazingly, there were equally as many wide angle opportunities: huge schools of jacks and barracuda at Mary's Island, great visibility at multiple dive spots, manta rays, turtles, sharks, caves, and beautiful coral reefs. Oftentimes you will encounter multiple macro and wide-angle opportunities at the same dive site, so be prepared to choose your lens carefully.

Diving is sometimes done directly off the Bilikiki and sometimes from smaller boats that transport divers to/from the Bilikiki. Dive times are unlimited, and the dive platform of the Bilikiki makes your life very easy. The setup for photographers is nice as well with great care taken for photography equipment.

The next perk of the Bilikiki was the incredible crew. They were absolutely spectacular. Friendly, knowledgeable, and doing whatever it took to make passengers happy. The crew was truly a highlight of the trip.

The food was great as well. As context, I eat a LOT, and I was very happy with the food on the Bilikiki...great meals and lots of snacks in between meals.

I am absolutely thrilled with my Bilikiki experience and would love to return. My only frustration with the experience is the difficulty in getting there from the United States. We flew from LA to Fiji to Vanuatu to Honiara, and then we had to wait two days to board the Bilikiki. The reason for this wait was not due to any issues with the Bilikiki, but because this was the last flight available that got us to Honiara prior to embarking on the Bilikiki. I know this wasn't the case for all trips on the Bilikiki, but it was the case for mine.

Granted, I was there in 2008, so hopefully this is no longer an issue. And as I said, the overall experience was absolutely fantastic. I highly recommend the Bilikiki and the Solomon Islands.

Visited on 07/2008 - Submitted on 03/24/2014
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Captain Don's Habitat

5
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I had a great experience with Captain Don's Habitat in Bonaire. Everything about Bonaire diving is easy and incredibly pleasant. Upon arriving at Captain Don's, we received a dive briefing explaining how diving would work for the week, and then the pool was open. Divers are allowed to do as many shore dives as they want, and the house reef is a gorgeous wall dive that I was happy to do over and over. You can also sign up for boat dives, which are done three times per day. Depending on the package you select at Captain Don's, these boat dives are an additional charge. However, the package that I signed up for included 10 boat dives over the course of the week without extra charge.

The accommodations at Captain Don's were wonderful. My girlfriend and I stayed in a beautiful ocean view room that included more than we needed. It had ample space, a kitchenette, a television, and a nice patio for lounging. On top of that, it was about a 30 second walk to the dive lockers! Not all rooms at Captain Don's are this close to the dive lockers, but all are within a few minute walk at the most.

As I mentioned before, diving is incredibly easy. All divers are given a locker to store their gear. For boat dives, your gear is automatically transferred to the boat. For shore dives, you simply gear up next to your locker, walk down some steps, and you are diving.

The visibility in Bonaire is incredible, making it a great spot for photographers and new divers. At the same time, there is ample marine life to stay excited. Highlights included turtles, flounders, seahorses, tarpon, flamingo tongues, arrow crabs, moray eels, and huge sponges.

Although Bonaire is a relatively quiet island, we were able to explore a few of the local restaurants and sites. We didn't leave Captain Don's many times over the course of the week, but when we did we had a lovely time. There were a bunch of cute shops in the main town, some good shopping, and some nice restaurants.

Overall, I am a huge proponent of Bonaire and am excited to go back in the near future.

Visited on 05/2011 - Submitted on 03/25/2014
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