Trip Details

The second week I went out with Blackbeard on the Pirate’s Lady. This is a boat you will either love or hate and I loved it. Let’s talk about the good points first. The price is the best selling point they have. It’s cheap. My whole trip with airfare would have been under $1100 for the week. That is hard to beat. If I had done every dive offered it would have been less than $50 a dive, not bad. The boat is a 65′ sail boat with an easy giant stride entry and an simple stair exit.

You set your gear up once and they fill your tanks on your gear at your seat. Doesn’t get much easier. We had the chance to dive 4 to 5 times a day with a couple of night dives thrown in and also free diving if you wanted to lobster. I’m not allow to tell you how many we caught but it feed the boat one night. We fished between site and had a chance to learn to sail if you wanted. The crew was the next best selling point. They were knowledgeable, fun and easy to get along with. They would answer any and all questions and really seemed eager to please. The food was great and a lot of it so you never went hungry they had snacks between dives and Charlie would make you anything you asked if she had the stuff to make it. I could go on and on about the crew, they really were that good, but on to the dives.

We started our dives shallow to allow folks to get into the grove and then went for some big walls. Reefs looked good and a lot of life on them. Not the best I’ve seen but worth the dives. They do do a shark feed which was fun and the walls were perfect. We never did the same site twice and tried to do 4 a day so you could get in about 24 dives if all went well. (weather cost us a dive and lobstering a few more) All in all I had a great time. That being said, this trip is not for everyone. Think of it as camping. If you’re willing to camp you’ll enjoy this trip. The boat is 65′ long and they take up to 21 passengers and 5 crew. Space is at a premium. Your personal space is your bunk. That’s about it. We put our bag on the bunk during the day and on the floor beside it at night so it really wasn’t a big deal.

If you weren’t sleeping you were topside because there was no place else to go. The galley was small but you could get a card game going and about 8 would fit nicely. They also don’t have a lot of fresh water so showers were quick. I just soaped up on the back and dove in to clean up and it worked well. They do have showers on the dock so you can get clean before flying home. The bathrooms are small, enough said. So if you are looking for an inexpensive trip with a lot of diving this is the trip for you. I’d love to go back so let me know.