johnspierce
Contributor
My wife, sister-in-law and her husband and I just completed our week-long vacation on the Caribbean Explorer I (CEX1) in the Bahamas two weeks ago. Here's my review:
Travel
In a word: sux!!! It really doesn't matter which airline you fly, they are all bad. I have experienced travel delays and lost luggage from every major carrier in the known universe, they are second only to the phone company in *bad* service. Whew! Okay, so what happened this time. Continental air from Denver left almost 2 hours late. We were concerned about missing our connection from Ft. Lauderdale to Georgetown, but have no fear -- after we arrived at Lauderdale, our twin-prop Beech transport to the Bahamas was almost 3 hours late leaving. Okay, fine. I called Explorer Ventures US office and notified them we would be late, no problem.
We arrive in Georgeown at 9:30 pm Saturday night and lo and behold, they left ALL of our luggage in Ft. Lauderdale. EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANE!!!! It took Continental until almost 2 pm the next day to get our luggage to us. Fortunately, the crew and captain of the CEX1 bent over backwards helping us get our luggage and even took everyone on a dive on Stocking island while waiting for our luggage. Reese, the engineer, took the skiff back to Georgetown and picked up all our luggage for us.
The Boat
The CEX1 is the oldest boat in the Explorer Fleet. I would not call it luxury accomodations, but the boat has been well maintained and for me, it has a "homey" feel to it. I had been on this boat once before 8 years ago in Saba, so I knew what it was like.
The Room
We paid extra for the larger stateroom up top. It has it's own bathroom/shower (marine head) and a double-size bed with a single bunk bed above it good for storage. Not a large room, but big enough. I am 6'1" and 240 lbs. and had no problem with the bed.
The Salon/Dining Room
Small, but big enough for all eighteen guests. The kitchen is right in the salon so you can see everything going on. Not as big and luxurious as the T&C Explorer, but just fine.
The Dive Deck
Plenty of room, nitrox avail for $150 extra for the week. 3 entrances: back, and two on the side. We used the side entrance which is about a 5 foot giant stride. The crew will lower your camera gear down to you on a rope after you enter. The camera table was good-sized; just about every guest had a camera and we still had room. The ladders off the back are easy to use for reentry to the boat. They put a line out the back to "stage" people on while waiting to use the ladder. They also dropped weighted lines off the swim deck to both 15 and 20 feet. There are two warm-water showers at then end of the dive deck. One wetsuit rinse tank, one camera tank and two mask rinse buckets. As soon as you finish a dive the crew refills your tanks, I averaged 3100 psi.
The Crew
Best crew I've ever seen on a liveaboard (I've done 6) or any land based operation. Captain Eammon was funny, competent, very nice and as I mentioned before, bent over backward to help us with our luggage. Excellent fellow! Nicola the purser was very efficient and worked her arse off for the guests. The chef Zack was humorous and fixed great food! I particularly enjoyed the sweets he made, especially the carrot cake. Reese the Engineer is a total character. Very friendly and helpful. Rob and Cindy the divemasters - extremely knowledgeable of the dive sites, very helpful and excellent divers! I can't overstate how good this crew was.
The Diving
Stocking Island: We dove a sunken tugboat on this small isle near Exuma while waiting for our luggage. Did this dive twice. Vis was so-so, about 40-50 feet. This is where we realized the water is a little cooler than most caribbean islands. I would say average around 78-80. For me, that means 3mm full suit. We saw two Lionfish on the Tug.
San Salvadore: This is where we saw the most hammerheads, I think there were 3 separate sightings; Great walls, some good swimthroughs, lots of fish. Vis approx 60-80 ft. If you have not read about it before, some of the dives on San Salvadore have an algae problem. Notably the shallower dives near the club med. The south side of the island didn't have the algae problem.
Conception: Best dives of the trip. Excellent walls, shark sightings, rays, eels, more lionfish etc. Beautiful coral and sponges - as nice as any I have seen. No current to speak of. Vis 80-100 ft.
Long Island: No, not in New York
Also some very nice dives on this island. Good coral and sponges. Vis 60-80 ft. The highlight was our final two dives at Shark Alley. Apparently Stella Maris does some shark feeding here, and although CEX1 does not participate in the feeding themselves, it means the sharks will hang around you during the dive. We saw 6 reef sharks varying from 4 to 6 feet at very close range for two wonderful shallow water dives. Great fun!
Summary
Would I go on the CEX1 again? In a Shot!!!! The southern Bahamas is most excellent diving and I will definitely go again. Of course, a lot of the success of our vacation has to be attributed to the CEX1 crew, I will definitely dive Explorer Ventures again.
Here's a link to some pics
Cheers,
John Pierce
Travel
In a word: sux!!! It really doesn't matter which airline you fly, they are all bad. I have experienced travel delays and lost luggage from every major carrier in the known universe, they are second only to the phone company in *bad* service. Whew! Okay, so what happened this time. Continental air from Denver left almost 2 hours late. We were concerned about missing our connection from Ft. Lauderdale to Georgetown, but have no fear -- after we arrived at Lauderdale, our twin-prop Beech transport to the Bahamas was almost 3 hours late leaving. Okay, fine. I called Explorer Ventures US office and notified them we would be late, no problem.
We arrive in Georgeown at 9:30 pm Saturday night and lo and behold, they left ALL of our luggage in Ft. Lauderdale. EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANE!!!! It took Continental until almost 2 pm the next day to get our luggage to us. Fortunately, the crew and captain of the CEX1 bent over backwards helping us get our luggage and even took everyone on a dive on Stocking island while waiting for our luggage. Reese, the engineer, took the skiff back to Georgetown and picked up all our luggage for us.
The Boat
The CEX1 is the oldest boat in the Explorer Fleet. I would not call it luxury accomodations, but the boat has been well maintained and for me, it has a "homey" feel to it. I had been on this boat once before 8 years ago in Saba, so I knew what it was like.
The Room
We paid extra for the larger stateroom up top. It has it's own bathroom/shower (marine head) and a double-size bed with a single bunk bed above it good for storage. Not a large room, but big enough. I am 6'1" and 240 lbs. and had no problem with the bed.
The Salon/Dining Room
Small, but big enough for all eighteen guests. The kitchen is right in the salon so you can see everything going on. Not as big and luxurious as the T&C Explorer, but just fine.
The Dive Deck
Plenty of room, nitrox avail for $150 extra for the week. 3 entrances: back, and two on the side. We used the side entrance which is about a 5 foot giant stride. The crew will lower your camera gear down to you on a rope after you enter. The camera table was good-sized; just about every guest had a camera and we still had room. The ladders off the back are easy to use for reentry to the boat. They put a line out the back to "stage" people on while waiting to use the ladder. They also dropped weighted lines off the swim deck to both 15 and 20 feet. There are two warm-water showers at then end of the dive deck. One wetsuit rinse tank, one camera tank and two mask rinse buckets. As soon as you finish a dive the crew refills your tanks, I averaged 3100 psi.
The Crew
Best crew I've ever seen on a liveaboard (I've done 6) or any land based operation. Captain Eammon was funny, competent, very nice and as I mentioned before, bent over backward to help us with our luggage. Excellent fellow! Nicola the purser was very efficient and worked her arse off for the guests. The chef Zack was humorous and fixed great food! I particularly enjoyed the sweets he made, especially the carrot cake. Reese the Engineer is a total character. Very friendly and helpful. Rob and Cindy the divemasters - extremely knowledgeable of the dive sites, very helpful and excellent divers! I can't overstate how good this crew was.
The Diving
Stocking Island: We dove a sunken tugboat on this small isle near Exuma while waiting for our luggage. Did this dive twice. Vis was so-so, about 40-50 feet. This is where we realized the water is a little cooler than most caribbean islands. I would say average around 78-80. For me, that means 3mm full suit. We saw two Lionfish on the Tug.
San Salvadore: This is where we saw the most hammerheads, I think there were 3 separate sightings; Great walls, some good swimthroughs, lots of fish. Vis approx 60-80 ft. If you have not read about it before, some of the dives on San Salvadore have an algae problem. Notably the shallower dives near the club med. The south side of the island didn't have the algae problem.
Conception: Best dives of the trip. Excellent walls, shark sightings, rays, eels, more lionfish etc. Beautiful coral and sponges - as nice as any I have seen. No current to speak of. Vis 80-100 ft.
Long Island: No, not in New York
Also some very nice dives on this island. Good coral and sponges. Vis 60-80 ft. The highlight was our final two dives at Shark Alley. Apparently Stella Maris does some shark feeding here, and although CEX1 does not participate in the feeding themselves, it means the sharks will hang around you during the dive. We saw 6 reef sharks varying from 4 to 6 feet at very close range for two wonderful shallow water dives. Great fun!Summary
Would I go on the CEX1 again? In a Shot!!!! The southern Bahamas is most excellent diving and I will definitely go again. Of course, a lot of the success of our vacation has to be attributed to the CEX1 crew, I will definitely dive Explorer Ventures again.
Here's a link to some pics
Cheers,
John Pierce
