Belize Livaboard Aggressor 1V Questions

[bladder]

Thank you in advance for the helpful divers on this forum.

We are diving aboard the Belize Aggressor IV in May 2018 and I have a few questions as I prepare for this trip. We're diving with a group of people we've never met but they sound like great guys and gals. I don't want to keep bugging the trip leader with questions although he's been quite helpful and is even going to bring along a piece of gear for me!

Anyway here are my questions. I did send an email to the Aggressor IV but have not received a response as of yet and besides I'd like to hear it from fellow divers.

My GF and I are AOW and are considering taking the offered Rescue course and then other courses to get our Master Diver Certification. Is it worth doing on the trip, is it worth doing it at all? I always felt that Master Diver was really just a badge and a reason to put more money in the PADI coffers without really learning anything new.

An U/W photography course is also offered. Same questions. Is it worth it? I shoot videos with my Gopro Hero 4 and I'm pretty much good with it, she wants to start getting into U/W photography, and they also rent cameras. Should we just use their gear or should she use my old Canon digital camera with housing and Sealife strobe?

Is a hood necessary? We just got back from South Florida and I was chilled on some of the dives, never was before but I'm a bit older and a bit thinner. My GF was fine and she wore a hood.

Is there sufficient room in the Deluxe Staterooms for 2 pieces of hard sided luggage or should we purchase collapsible bags?

Is solo diving permitted with the proper certifications and gear?

Does the boat carry a full service dive shop for regulator repairs, o ring replacements, batteries, etc? I usually carry a spare 1st and 2nd stage regulator and all the tools necessary to fix them but I'm thinking leave it home this time.

Are reef gloves allowed, or even necessary for protection from cold.

Thanks!

 

[gbf]

I can answer a few.

Thank you in advance for the helpful divers on this forum.

We are diving aboard the Belize Aggressor IV in May 2018 and I have a few questions as I prepare for this trip. We're diving with a group of people we've never met but they sound like great guys and gals. I don't want to keep bugging the trip leader with questions although he's been quite helpful and is even going to bring along a piece of gear for me!

Anyway here are my questions. I did send an email to the Aggressor IV but have not received a response as of yet and besides I'd like to hear it from fellow divers.

My GF and I are AOW and are considering taking the offered Rescue course and then other courses to get our Master Diver Certification. Is it worth doing on the trip, is it worth doing it at all? I always felt that Master Diver was really just a badge and a reason to put more money in the PADI coffers without really learning anything new.

Personally, wouldn't do courses on the boat. But I go to go diving and lounge between dives.​

An U/W photography course is also offered. Same questions. Is it worth it? I shoot videos with my Gopro Hero 4 and I'm pretty much good with it, she wants to start getting into U/W photography, and they also rent cameras. Should we just use their gear or should she use my old Canon digital camera with housing and Sealife strobe?

Is a hood necessary? We just got back from South Florida and I was chilled on some of the dives, never was before but I'm a bit older and a bit thinner. My GF was fine and she wore a hood.

I get cold easily, so I wear a full 3 mil during the day and add a hooded vest for night dives (when I can ignore the siren call of beer/wine). During the day I don't wear the vest and don't get cold. Our day dives run about 70 mins.​

Is there sufficient room in the Deluxe Staterooms for 2 pieces of hard sided luggage or should we purchase collapsible bags?

I can pack enough clothes for the 10 days in my backpack. My gear goes in a softside. If the "Deluxe Stateroom" is one of those with 2 twin beds then there is room under one of the beds that MIGHT (I didn't measure) stow one hard bag, or a couple of soft bags. The other under-bed storage is blocked by the closet, which might be big enough to stow both hard bags. In some thread I posted pics of the under-bed storage and closets, I think in the liveaboard section. I haven't looked in the cabins with queen beds so don't know about that.
edit: here's the link to the thread with pics

Belize Sun Dancer 2016 Pictures
​

Is solo diving permitted with the proper certifications and gear?

no - though one trip I did abandon my insta-buddy who thought he had a jet engine up his axx, and basically did solo dives. I'd start the dive with him and then just do my own thing when he got out of sight. I didn't say anything and nobody ever said anything to me.​

Does the boat carry a full service dive shop for regulator repairs, o ring replacements, batteries, etc? I usually carry a spare 1st and 2nd stage regulator and all the tools necessary to fix them but I'm thinking leave it home this time.

No.

I take an extra reg set, some spare parts where I can't take a spare item (like an inflator assembly), a couple of bicycle wrenches to fit hoses, a couple of hex wrenches that fit my stuff, tank valve orings just because I don't want to fiddle with getting one from them - and never needed one, some extra bungee, black tape, zip ties and the like. If you have a complete spare reg set (1st, 2nd, hoses, spg) you should be able to swap and survive a failure with minimum hassle.

I'm sure they have some tools squirreled away, but the ones I saw on the dive deck were pretty rusty.​

Are reef gloves allowed, or even necessary for protection from cold.

Don't know about allowed. I don't need them for cold and I'm a cold-phobe. I go in Aug/Sep for the 10 day trips.​

Thanks!

 

[Trailboss123]

Thank you in advance for the helpful divers on this forum.

We are diving aboard the Belize Aggressor IV in May 2018 and I have a few questions as I prepare for this trip. We're diving with a group of people we've never met but they sound like great guys and gals. I don't want to keep bugging the trip leader with questions although he's been quite helpful and is even going to bring along a piece of gear for me!

Anyway here are my questions. I did send an email to the Aggressor IV but have not received a response as of yet and besides I'd like to hear it from fellow divers.

My GF and I are AOW and are considering taking the offered Rescue course and then other courses to get our Master Diver Certification. Is it worth doing on the trip, is it worth doing it at all? I always felt that Master Diver was really just a badge and a reason to put more money in the PADI coffers without really learning anything new.

An U/W photography course is also offered. Same questions. Is it worth it? I shoot videos with my Gopro Hero 4 and I'm pretty much good with it, she wants to start getting into U/W photography, and they also rent cameras. Should we just use their gear or should she use my old Canon digital camera with housing and Sealife strobe?

Is a hood necessary? We just got back from South Florida and I was chilled on some of the dives, never was before but I'm a bit older and a bit thinner. My GF was fine and she wore a hood.

Is there sufficient room in the Deluxe Staterooms for 2 pieces of hard sided luggage or should we purchase collapsible bags?

Is solo diving permitted with the proper certifications and gear?

Does the boat carry a full service dive shop for regulator repairs, o ring replacements, batteries, etc? I usually carry a spare 1st and 2nd stage regulator and all the tools necessary to fix them but I'm thinking leave it home this time.

Are reef gloves allowed, or even necessary for protection from cold.

Thanks!

1. I think the Rescue Class is an extremely valuable course to take, but I wouldn't do it on a vacation trip.
2. Photography course might be worth doing, but personally, I wouldn't.
3. Looking back over the Captain's logs for the month of May for the past couple of years, it appears that water temps are pretty consistently in the 82 degree range. Pretty comfortable. A hood for night dives might be a good idea.
4. No to solo diving, as far as I know.
5. Not sure regarding repairs. I do not think they have a full service repair setup. Probably have a number of o-rings and basic tools, but not much else.
6. Gloves unnecessary for the cold with water temps in the 82 degree range.

Have fun, I will be on the BA III next month.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I wouldn't waste my precious liveaboard time taking a course, with the possible narrow exception of a photography course with some world-renowned photographer. That said, someone out there must be taking the offered courses, as Aggressor continues to offer them.

If I recall from the Know Before You Go information that Aggressor provides, they will not repair divers' gear but may offer certain loaner gear. This is worth getting some clarification on from Aggressor.

 

[gbf]

I am completely and unapologetically a gear-nerd. I love to buy it, tinker with it, repair it, and be the go-to guy on the boat when somebody else's gear fails.

To that end, I take enough stuff to mitigate almost any single failure. If the same thing fails twice during the week then I'm probably looking at loaner/rental or doing without it (If my wing sprang a leak I could dive without it, but would probably use one of their jackets). If 2nd fails I have two on my extra reg set - unscrew/rescrew and go. Same with SPG/1st. I even carry 1 extra fin (don't ask why I have one extra fin).

I don't want gear failure to make me miss a dive. I don't go prepared to overhaul a reg, but I surely can replace-and-go.

I think Lorenzoid is right - you're mostly own your own for repairs, though there may be a limited amount of loaner/rental gear.

 

[bladder]

I wouldn't waste my precious liveaboard time taking a course, with the possible narrow exception of a photography course with some world-renowned photographer..

I did a group trip to Coz back in 2005 with a local dive shop and lots of courses were offered.

Several divers did the photography course and they set up shop in a hotel room with computers and software and they'd go over the pictures and the software and all that, seemed to me like it was a fun way to spend the downtime and from what I understand there's going to be a lot of that. So I didn't see it as a waste of time, more like something extra to do that you can practice on the dives. But I see your point as well.

Thanks for all the responses

 

[gbf]

I don't think you'll have a lot of down-time

Schedule:

Breakfast
Dive
snack
dive
lunch
dive
snack
dive
dinner
dive
beer/wine
bed
do it again tomorrow.

Variant schedule:

Breakfast
Dive
snack
dive
lunch
dive
snack
dive
dinner/beer/wine
bed
do it again tomorrow.​

 

[Lorenzoid]

I did a group trip to Coz back in 2005 with a local dive shop and lots of courses were offered.

Several divers did the photography course and they set up shop in a hotel room with computers and software and they'd go over the pictures and the software and all that, seemed to me like it was a fun way to spend the downtime and from what I understand there's going to be a lot of that. So I didn't see it as a waste of time, more like something extra to do that you can practice on the dives. But I see your point as well.

Maybe there's more "downtime" on a land-based resort trip than a liveaboard.

 

[Lorenzoid]

@gbf you beat me to it by almost a minute.

 

[gbf]

And if you happen to miss a "snack" (oh no!!) there's always a big jar of oreos, and one of peanuts you can make-do with.