Life Aboard the Aqua Cat: Above and Beneath in the Bahamas
by J “Kat” Loren ::
So many shades of blue drift between the heavens, the sea and all that lies beneath that I could not take them all in during my week aboard the Aqua Cat Dive boat based in Nassau, Bahamas.
The fantastic crew serving 15 guests, great food, wonderful weather and gentle diving added up to the most relaxing vacation I think I’ve ever experienced. Accommodations were comfortable and spacious, each with en-suite bathroom. A top deck, no-host bar enabled guests to help themselves to wine, beer, and of course, rum – for what boat doesn’t have a few bottles of locally brewed Bacardi aboard in the Bahamas?
Couples, singles and families soon become friends when sharing the adventure of destination diving. The youngest diver was 15 and the oldest in his mid-70s. We dove wrecks and walls, caves and coral reefs and even a few night dives. But the most spectacular of all was the variety of sharks that cruised by to check us out.
I know the Bahamas doesn’t have the reputation for excellent diving that other places of the world hold (like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef). But it makes up for it in ease of access (a very short flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau) and no-stress travel from airport to boat as Aqua Cat ensures pick-up and return in time to catch departures. Just because it is a dive boat, you don’t have to do 4-5 dives a day. You can always take a day off to paddle boat, or fish, or cruise off to a deserted island aboard one of the skiffs.
Life aboard the Aqua Cat is much more quiet and relaxing than hanging out at that big casino-like, cruise-ship-on-land environment of a hotel they call the Atlantis – located near the boat. Why peek into their aquarium with fish that are rapidly losing their vibrant color and life as they float in a glass cage when you can dive into the sea yourself and see for yourself? In fact, a live-aboard dive boat may just be the best place to learn to dive and appreciate the wonders of creation up close, in all its spectacular glory.
Timid about sharks, diving into a cave, or night diving? Not for long on this voyage. You will get to experience all three under the watchful eyes of a well-trained crew. I for one hate night diving but when I got separated from my buddy, my fear was tempered by the underwater boat lights that enabled me to always see “home” and whether above the sea or beneath it, on the Aqua Cat in the Bahamas, I could always swim to the light!
Photos courtesy of Aqua Cat crew.
For more information see:
https://allstarliveaboards.com/aqua-cat-liveaboard-diving/
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© J Kat Loren and Crazi Culture / Blue Moth Media, 2014 – 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to J. Kat Loren and Crazi Culture with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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