mcohen1021
Contributor
BA III Trip review - Sept/21, 2024
Dive Sites:
Sunday: Amberhead South x2, Uno Coco x2
Monday: Angelfish wall x2s, Cathedral x3
Tuesday: Lighthouse Wall x2, Inspiration 3x
Wednesday: Halfmoon Wall x1, Secret Garden x1, Painted Wall x2
Thursday: Blue Hole x1, Mystic Wall x3
Friday: Sandy Slope x1 dive, Zipline x1
Boat Choice: We selected the BAIII because we had met a visiting crew member while aboard the BVI Aggressor trip in January.
Accomodations: We are not fans of the bunk beds found in many cabins, so when I found the suite on the BAIII on special for only a small amount more, we jumped on it. The room was top deck, all by itself, door to the outside world and near the hottub and wet bar. Only issue was the door is a heavy duty hatch and hard for the wife to open.
Divers: Overall a great group. Only thing I will mention was there was alot of brand new divers, and a few earning their C cards. The next most experienced divers after myself had ~800 dives. Lots of divers using their hands to navigate, which makes me crazy bc they look like they're drowning. I did try to help a few to rid themselves of this terrible practice. That being said, to avoid the noobs, we either self guided, dove in the back of the group, or we dove deeper.
The Diving: The diving as far better than the diving we did out of Ambergris Cay in 2012. We had to can one of the night dives due to severe weather. Most dives were current free, easy in/out... Until Helene went by, causing surface currents. It was challenging for new divers to make it to the safety stop drop bar. and oftentimes, that bar was way too crowded. I woud wait it out, diving under the boat near the bottom until it cleared out as the surface currents were strong, but no currents existed on the bottom. Belize is experiencing the same thing as just about every other Caribbean destination is experiencing with the sick brain coral,and lion fish. Blue Hole was a better experience than before, despite not seeing the sharks at 130'. The crew limited the divers to 130 (but hard stop at 140), but understood that I wanted to dip to have a new deepest dive, so they had no issues with me dipping to 139 for a few seconds before coming back to 125. One of our night dives was very exiting loaded with tarpons and reefers... The 3rd night dive was infested with blood worms... Honestly, that night I had no interest in diving, but I ws already invested in earning the iron diver. I told the group that if I vanished 20 minutes in, not to look for me, I;d back on the boat with a crown and coke. I came up 25 min later COVERED in blood worms. Once back on the deck and free of the little red sea maggots, I could not stop laughing, so nasty... Haha Lastly, I waited until the last dive, but I did my last dive with ZERO weight (just to see if I could do it) - went well but got slightly challenging at around 1300 psi.
The Crew: I can not say enough great things about this crew. They are such a well oiled machine that they didn't even seem like they were working. Any issues were handled quickly, and any special requests were addressed (like preparing me something with zero or no tomato). This crew was the best crew since my 1st Aggressor (Red Sea I) in 2018. I would go back to this boat for the crew alone, but wait - there is ore....
The Food: Again, where do I begin. Yes, the breakfasts were your standard breakfasts hard to mess that up. The lunches and dinners - WOW. Chef JR and Terylin really knocked it out - fish, steaks, pork, ribs, and snacks... So if the diving and the crew didn't wow you enough, The food was definitely something to write home about.
Other: I can not say with any certainty, but... Now that I am back, I am dealing with a credit card issue, where someone obtained my card # and was using Remitly to try to wire money. I used my credit card at the Fort George Hotel, on the boat, Celebrity restaurant in Belize City on the last night and at the airport before departure. I do not know if the source of the fraud is in Belize, but I certainly did not have this issue a month ago. Now, I am totally put out and my card is now canceled as I await a replacement.
That's all I can think of for now, but I definitely highly recommend this boat and this crew - I will do it again, hopefully with the same exact crew.
A few pics:
Dive Sites:
Sunday: Amberhead South x2, Uno Coco x2
Monday: Angelfish wall x2s, Cathedral x3
Tuesday: Lighthouse Wall x2, Inspiration 3x
Wednesday: Halfmoon Wall x1, Secret Garden x1, Painted Wall x2
Thursday: Blue Hole x1, Mystic Wall x3
Friday: Sandy Slope x1 dive, Zipline x1
Boat Choice: We selected the BAIII because we had met a visiting crew member while aboard the BVI Aggressor trip in January.
Accomodations: We are not fans of the bunk beds found in many cabins, so when I found the suite on the BAIII on special for only a small amount more, we jumped on it. The room was top deck, all by itself, door to the outside world and near the hottub and wet bar. Only issue was the door is a heavy duty hatch and hard for the wife to open.
Divers: Overall a great group. Only thing I will mention was there was alot of brand new divers, and a few earning their C cards. The next most experienced divers after myself had ~800 dives. Lots of divers using their hands to navigate, which makes me crazy bc they look like they're drowning. I did try to help a few to rid themselves of this terrible practice. That being said, to avoid the noobs, we either self guided, dove in the back of the group, or we dove deeper.
The Diving: The diving as far better than the diving we did out of Ambergris Cay in 2012. We had to can one of the night dives due to severe weather. Most dives were current free, easy in/out... Until Helene went by, causing surface currents. It was challenging for new divers to make it to the safety stop drop bar. and oftentimes, that bar was way too crowded. I woud wait it out, diving under the boat near the bottom until it cleared out as the surface currents were strong, but no currents existed on the bottom. Belize is experiencing the same thing as just about every other Caribbean destination is experiencing with the sick brain coral,and lion fish. Blue Hole was a better experience than before, despite not seeing the sharks at 130'. The crew limited the divers to 130 (but hard stop at 140), but understood that I wanted to dip to have a new deepest dive, so they had no issues with me dipping to 139 for a few seconds before coming back to 125. One of our night dives was very exiting loaded with tarpons and reefers... The 3rd night dive was infested with blood worms... Honestly, that night I had no interest in diving, but I ws already invested in earning the iron diver. I told the group that if I vanished 20 minutes in, not to look for me, I;d back on the boat with a crown and coke. I came up 25 min later COVERED in blood worms. Once back on the deck and free of the little red sea maggots, I could not stop laughing, so nasty... Haha Lastly, I waited until the last dive, but I did my last dive with ZERO weight (just to see if I could do it) - went well but got slightly challenging at around 1300 psi.
The Crew: I can not say enough great things about this crew. They are such a well oiled machine that they didn't even seem like they were working. Any issues were handled quickly, and any special requests were addressed (like preparing me something with zero or no tomato). This crew was the best crew since my 1st Aggressor (Red Sea I) in 2018. I would go back to this boat for the crew alone, but wait - there is ore....
The Food: Again, where do I begin. Yes, the breakfasts were your standard breakfasts hard to mess that up. The lunches and dinners - WOW. Chef JR and Terylin really knocked it out - fish, steaks, pork, ribs, and snacks... So if the diving and the crew didn't wow you enough, The food was definitely something to write home about.
Other: I can not say with any certainty, but... Now that I am back, I am dealing with a credit card issue, where someone obtained my card # and was using Remitly to try to wire money. I used my credit card at the Fort George Hotel, on the boat, Celebrity restaurant in Belize City on the last night and at the airport before departure. I do not know if the source of the fraud is in Belize, but I certainly did not have this issue a month ago. Now, I am totally put out and my card is now canceled as I await a replacement.
That's all I can think of for now, but I definitely highly recommend this boat and this crew - I will do it again, hopefully with the same exact crew.
A few pics:
