12/12/13/06 - The Nekton Rorqual arrives in the Cayman Islands ready for another great season of diving Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. While in the shipyard prior to her inspections, the Nekton Rorqual received many upgrades including new carpet in all cabins, new lounge and dining room, upholstered cushions with a beautiful fish print, and lots of new, fresh paint. She looks great!
12/8/06 - The Nekon Rorqual passes the world’s most stringent inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard having to comply with strict structural and stability requirements, fire safety standards, safety equipment requirements, and crew training standards.Congratulations to both the Nekton Pilot and the Nekton Rorqual for continuing to meet the highest safety standards in the world and remaining U.S. flagged vessel!
10/16/06 - The Nekon Pilot passes the world’s most stringent inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard having to comply to strict structural and stability requirements, fire safety standards, safety equipment requirements, and crew training standards.
10/2/06 Congratualtions to the Nekton Pilot for being voted the #1 Liveaboard in Belize by the readers of Scuba Diving magazine! Check out Scuba Diving's November 2006 issue, page 38, to see our top scores in categories including Staff, Boat & Facilities, and Value. Way to go Nekton Pilot!
9/9/06 - The Nekton Pilot heads for the shipyard for her annual maintenance, U.S.C.G. inspections and much anticipated refurbishment. Many upgrades will be made during the next six weeks including new carpet throughout, new valences, wardrobe curtains and matching pillow shams in guest cabins, fresh bottom paint, and fresh interior trim paint to name just a few. We are excited to show off the Nekton Pilot’s new look in a few weeks! Come check her out on a Belize cruise this fall!
7/5/06 - Dolphins, dolphins, dophins! This summer, Nekton guests aboard the Nekton Pilot’s Northwestern Bahamas itinerary have been treated to amazing dophin encounters. We have been surprised by the unusually large pods that have come to play with us. Our past four encounters have had no less than 35 dolphins with one encounter including about 60 playful dolphins! What an exhilarating, exhausting, once-in-a-lifetime experience!
6/10/06 - The Cachalot, our “research” vessel, just completed installing 12 new, environmental moorings in Belize. Over the past eleven years, Nekton Diving Cruise has installed a network of over one hundred, fifty permanent underwater moorings throughout the Bahamas, Belize, and Puerto Rico. In order to develop the special mooring system back in the1990s, Nekton sought the advice of John Halas, a noted world authority on coral reef mooring systems and the person instrumental in the development of the first coral reef moorings in the Florida Keys. The Nekton Pilot and Nekton Rorqual use an advanced generation design that replaces the single pin design with an inverted U-shaped mooring pin. Two holes, 2" in diameter are actually drilled into the coral substrate with the U-shaped mooring pin inserted into the holes upside down. You’ll dive on these “U-shaped” mooring throughout the Bahamas.
In Belize, we are now installing new helical sand screws – the preferred method for Belizian reefs. The helical sand screws are drilled 14 feet down into sand. Two or three sand screws are placed at each site. The screws are then chained together with a bridal to complete the mooring.
The Cachalot is equipped with a hydraulic underwater drill and all equipment necessary to install both U-shaped and helical sand screw moorings. The Cachalot is dedicated to the installation and ongoing maintenance of environmental moorings and typically sails with over fifty mooring pins, sand screws and shackles as well as over 1,200 feet of polypropylene mooring line.
Installation of each mooring is truly a team effort. Once the exact mooring site is identified, a mooring team dons their scuba gear and descends to the site with the underwater drill. Depending on the depth of the site which limits the diver's bottom time, several teams of two may be required to complete the underwater mooring. On our recent mooring installation in Belize, special thanks go out to Peter Hughes for lending the helping hands of crew member John and to Aggressor for sending crew member, Raul, over to help with the mooring process as well.
While the mooring installation process is both time consuming and expensive, Nekton Diving Cruises feels that the effort is most worthwhile. Not only do the moorings provide convenience and enjoyment for our guests, they more importantly protect the fragile coral reef on which we dive.
Come dive our 12 new helical sand screw mooring sites in Belize:
| Amberhead North | Amberhead South | Black Beauty |
Front Porch | Kalabash | Doc’s Place | | Julie’s Jungle | Hat Caye | Blue Hole Entrance |
| Tarpon Cave | Chain Wall | Wayne’s World |
The Cachalot is now awaiting permission to beginning installing new environmental moorings in the Cayman Islands. Stay tuned for news on some fresh, new sites in the Cayman Islands.
Check back here often to get the latest news from Nekton's office.