The Nekton Rorqual is the sister ship to the Nekton Pilot. Thanks to its unique design, I was able to survive on only 4 Triptones in 7 days. Our Mona Island adventure started in San Juan, where we traveled by van on a three hour trip to the port of Mayaquez. We made two stops; first for a snack at a Wendy's and then to a supermarket for alcoholic and carbonated drinks. We arrived at the dock around 9:30 PM. Many of the eleven crew members immediately came aboard the van and took all our luggage to our rooms. Chicken Cacciatore was waiting for us for dinner, followed by a general briefing. That night we sailed from Mayaquez to Deseches Island. We did four dives at a site known as Green Plate Special. We spent the entire day at this beautiful location. The next morning we moved a hundred yards along Deseches to dive Bomber Alley. I have never seen so many flamingo tongues in one location. The coral, sponges and fish life were truly prolific. Jules, our magnificent chef, provided us with Prime Rib after the dives. It was fantastic, as were the chocolate chip cookies, egg rolls and other snacks provided daily. That night we moved on to Mona Island. Tuesday, we dove Bubbles and Blossoms all day. This was fine till the night dive, when a strong current pulled my wife and me far east of the Rorqual. I got a late night skiff ride, while we towed Laurie, Pete, Liz and Zach behind. "Rookie" had saved our hides. Thank you Dave. The next morning, we did a drift dive immediately off the coast of Monito Island. A photograph by Hugh Hudson taken during this dive won the photo contest at the end of the week. The crew organized beautifully for the retrieval of the passengers after this drift dive. Many of the more advanced divers considered this the best dive of the week. Personally, I had a beautiful dive but a difficult time with my safety stop, since I forgot to retrieve my lead from the skiff. JJ was one of the divemasters for the week. He did a great job, and he also loaned me his compass after mine stopped knowing which way was North. The rest of the day we dove One Particular Dive Harbor. It was absolutely beautiful Brain coral, orange spotted filefish, a peacock flounder and many colorful reef fish made this a wonderful day. Thursday, we did two dives at Norma's Garden's, named after Captain Nelson's mom and three at Yuletide. Both were like Virgin Sites. The Coral, Sponges and entire reef were virtually untouched, two totally pristine reefs. That night, Dave showed us the video he'd prepared during the week. It was the best I've ever seen. The final day we did three different dives. At six AM, we jumped in at Twin Knobs for a dawn dive. I have never experienced such a dark situation. I did see one Huge lobster hidden in a tunnel under the reef. After breakfast, Laurie and I dove Twin Knobs again. Though the silt was heavy, visibility was good near the reef, and life was abundant, including a large barracuda and a huge Southern Stingray that swam along with us. The final dive was a long drift at Buoy near the town of Bogueron. I saw the smallest, prettiest Queen Trigger ever on that dive. It was really calm and beautiful during the drift. After washing up and resting, we took the skiff to Bogueron, where we walked through this quaint seaside town and had a wonderful dinner of Mofongo at Galloways. A huge moon hung just over the horizon at we made our way back to the boat.

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		Bob Klemow