My Week on The Socorro Aggressor

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Thanks for the reply. I’m just back from the cayman trip and the aggressor there was great, but this report so fast on the heels of the Fiji aggressor being condemned is a serious concern.... I’m not sure I would dive on aggressor outside of the Caribbean...

I would not hesitate to go back to Socorro on the Socorro aggressor... Again, despite boat issues, it was a phenomenal trip with a phenomenal crew and everything was wonderful

There's not a boat on Earth that never had an issue, even my boat...

The bottom line is they were able to remedy it and we were able to continue on, and that shows you how good they are
 
understood and that is a fair assessment, i was actually very happy with your review, it seemed balanced. i don't factor in the 'location' when considering reviews. Socorro is excellent diving, probably even if you go in a barrel and aggressor staff are always generally top drawer, but the air conditioning/electronics going our and the period of time you spent with a 'will we/won't we' have to go home concern, food being average plus other reviews i have had about the boat being a bit 'tired' means i am going to have to see some better reviews before i would opt for this over one of the others. Especially for socorro/pricepoint and the amount you shell out for this trip etc. and the vortex going into service ( still waiting for the first reviews on this)

i'm just happy you aren't one of those guys who is 'trip 11/10! the boat was infested with bedbugs, there was no aircon/we sank on the way home, but i saw galapagos ....so 11/10!'

i had an inaccurate reference/recommendation for one of my first liveaboards (socorro) and when i came back i asked the guy why we had such differing opinions and he replied 'oh yeah, all of your issues were valid and i hated them, but i really enjoyed the diving.... and i was like...dude, that's a review for the place...not the boat...why did you tell me to go on that boat?!' (same with staff.. pretty much 85%+ of liveboard staff i have met have ben excellent, so excellent is/should be a standard, excellent doesn't cancel out broken aircon/boring bland food/dirty boat etc in my book it's not the staff's fault if the boat is substandard, but also excellent staff don't excuse a substandard boat.)... now years later he has been on a lot more liveaboards and whenever i see him he put his hands up and says 'i know...i know..., but i had no idea there could be experiences like the arenui out there...it was my 2nd liveaboard, how was i to know it was really a 6/10 boat?!'....which is also fair.

Don't think you have given a 'negative review' and it has led to this, quite the contrary. I've been on quite a few liveaboards and i'll go on a lot of aggressors in the future.. i never really write off a boat forever based on a review and i really appreciated your 'good/bad/ugly' but based on my experience of liveaboards and the trigger points for a 'not terrible, but not as good as it should be', it would probably mean a miss for me....at least at the moment.

.....and 100% agree with your 'all boats have some issues' etc...but if you were paying someone $3 million+ a year to make sure your personal boat didn't have these issues........
very reassuring to hear the crew was up to the task though..seems like they really earned their tip!
 
How old is this boat ? Is it recycled/ re purposed from some other legacy/failed dive location dive op? It it a conversion of what was originally not a dedicated dive boat ?
 
Most boats ‘as far as I am aware’ are not dedicated dive boats outside of phinsis and Red Sea/Maldives yachts. Most pacific are repurposed Canadian fishing boats..

This one has a feel like it’s ex Red Sea based on the decor and layout, but I have no evidence for that....it’s a monster cost to lay out a new purpose built boat. You need seriously deep pockets...to deal with the ‘year + delay in building’ and the decades to make the money back without overloading it.
 
Most boats ‘as far as I am aware’ are not dedicated dive boats outside of phinsis and Red Sea/Maldives yachts. Most pacific are repurposed Canadian fishing boats..

This one has a feel like it’s ex Red Sea based on the decor and layout, but I have no evidence for that....it’s a monster cost to lay out a new purpose built boat. You need seriously deep pockets...to deal with the ‘year + delay in building’ and the decades to make the money back without overloading it.

I believe the Nautilus Explorer was custom built for scuba in a Mexican shipyard. The owner/operator (Mike) posted a while back about what a financial disaster/mistake he made choosing a Mexican shipyard and he'd never be that stupid again. I did the Socorros back in 2008 on his boat and thought it was a nice boat, it wasn't until years later I heard/read here on SB about the 'backstory' on the Mexican construction fiasco.
 
I have been to socorro on the nautilus explorer a little more recently ....I did not think it was a nice boat

Admittedly I was talked into accepting ‘arguably the worst bed on the boat’ but it was a perfect example of 9/10 staff 6/10 boat !
 
Thanks for the video & trip report. My dive experience in Socorro was pretty much like yours back in December, Socorro 22-30 December, 2018 Trip Report

I went to Socorro with Nautilus Undersea. It is pretty good liveaboard. I’ve been to 18 liveaboards in Indonesia, GBR, Galápagos, Palau, Cocos, Maldives, Socorro, Redsea, Flower Garden & Dry Tortugas.

Also I’ve been having pretty good luck (2 out of 2) with Aggressor liveaboards (Palau & Maldives). I’ll go back liveaboard diving with them again someday somewhere.
 
I believe the Nautilus Explorer was custom built for scuba in a Mexican shipyard. The owner/operator (Mike) posted a while back about what a financial disaster/mistake he made choosing a Mexican shipyard and he'd never be that stupid again. I did the Socorros back in 2008 on his boat and thought it was a nice boat, it wasn't until years later I heard/read here on SB about the 'backstory' on the Mexican construction fiasco.
The Nautilus "Explorer" was not purpose built. The newest boat in the fleet, the Nautilus "Belle Amie" was the one that was purpose built.
 
I have been to socorro on the nautilus explorer a little more recently ....I did not think it was a nice boat

Admittedly I was talked into accepting ‘arguably the worst bed on the boat’ but it was a perfect example of 9/10 staff 6/10 boat !
The Nautilus "Explorer" was not purpose built. The newest boat in the fleet, the Nautilus "Belle Amie" was the one that was purpose built.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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