Belize, T&C or Cayman for Liveaboard????

[electrix]

We were on the Belize Aggressor III this last spring the only dive sites that were not wall dives was the checkout dive site lots of little things to see too. It was a 2 1/2 hr flight from DFW to Belize City they picked us up at the airport and shortly we were at the pier. Crew was great food was great would not think twice about doing it again.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Ok so the impression that I am getting is that Cayman Aggressor is only good if they cross over to Little Cayman. If not then its pretty much a waste of money. Would it then not be a better idea to just fly to Little Cayman and dive the wall all you want instead of gambling and putting thousands of dollars into Aggressor Fleet?

 

[Cali_diver]

I can only talk about Belize, but we loved it. The style of diving sounds like something that would suit your needs. We were allowed to dive at our own pace and every dive was a wall dive. We even ventured out to the wall on one of our night dives and saw some pretty cool stuff. We were on the Aggressor and had a blast. Rooms are small but other areas are great. The dive deck was set up perfectly. We would go back.

 

[large_diver]

My $0.02...

Of the 3 I've only been to the T&C (T&C Aggressor this past August). As mentioned by others, almost exclusively wall diving. The top of the walls is somewhat deep (on average 45-50 feet), so safety stops are generally spent mid-water (and with long mooring lines and wind conditions, the boats really swing while moored). I really enjoyed the T&C Aggressor crew...they seem to have a consistently strong reputation. Lots of shark action. Not much to do topside except lay on the beach. Some of the diving you do on the liveaboard is on the same sites visited by Provo dayboats (mainly West Caicos). French Cay (where the best diving is) is almost exclusively by liveaboard.

I was looking at GC before I booked this trip and came to the same conclusion re: Little Cayman (it would be great to spend the whole week there...and the Aggressor sometimes does not make the trip). There are some great places to stay on LC (Little Cayman Beach Resort, Southern Cross Club, Pirates Point...each with their own unique vibe), although you probably won't get the same volume of diving in for your $ as you will on a liveabord. Re: land-based....there doesn't appear to be much to do there except dive and relax.....which is what I prefer. Sounds like the top of the walls are generally shallower at least on LC....maybe 20 feet.

My own personal conclusion: I want to try a land-based LC trip for my next trip. If you had to choose a liveaboard....to me, hard to beat the T&C...and there are 2 choices with strong reputations (Explorer and Aggressor).

Chris

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Ok so the impression that I am getting is that Cayman Aggressor is only good if they cross over to Little Cayman. If not then its pretty much a waste of money. Would it then not be a better idea to just fly to Little Cayman and dive the wall all you want instead of gambling and putting thousands of dollars into Aggressor Fleet?

Well...I wouldn't call it a waste of money if you dive GC all week....but Bloody Bay wall is a definite highlight and some of the best diving and of course it would be a big disappointment to me if I was on the boat and couldn't get to LC ....GC has some really great sites as well...the recently sunk Kittiwake and sites on the North,South, & east sides are great too....you pay your money...you take your chances....I would say the odds are good that you would get to LC on the Aggressor.....the crossing is rough even in good weather....

 

[doogisar]

I would definitly not count out BElize. My wife and I liked it so much we went back two more times. Although we were shore bound at San Pedro on Ambergris Caye each time. We did make the trip to the Blue Hole which was ok, one of those just to say you have been there type of dives. BUt the other two in the area were simply amazing. Half Moon Caye and Lighthouse Point. I was also able to make it south to the Turnefee Atolls. Which was all walls and very plentiful with Coral and Marine life I would definitely go back again. There is a dive operation called Hugh Parkey's that runs a dive resort out of the Turneffe Island Resort and is at the southern end we used their land based company out of San Pedro and was a great experience and the dive guides were very personable with detailed dive briefs. which might suit your needs better than a live aboard since the diving in the area is close by. That area south east of Belize on the Cayes are great. I Although I have never been to the Cayman's or TC but that's in our plans. But I dove in Okinawa Japan and am still looking for something as close to that in the Caribbean. Just saying that Belize was great for us and I wouldn't count it out, we will go out to the Hughe Parkey beach resort the next time we go back to Belize to dive.

 

[ppatin]

If you're doing the Turks & Caicos then the Juliet is also an option during the winter.

 

[Damselfish]

Ok so the impression that I am getting is that Cayman Aggressor is only good if they cross over to Little Cayman. If not then its pretty much a waste of money. Would it then not be a better idea to just fly to Little Cayman and dive the wall all you want instead of gambling and putting thousands of dollars into Aggressor Fleet?

I wouldn't call it a waste of money. There is still plenty of good diving around Grand Cayman and a liveaboard has a lot of flexibility in where they go, aside from the weather. You still get the eat-dive-sleep convenience of a liveaboard. And since it includes meals and diving (up to 5 a day) it's likely to be a better deal than trying to do that land-based on Cayman. And if you do make it to Little Cayman, you may find you get in more dives on the wall in a few days (sometimes on better sites that are a bit further from the resorts) than you would in a whole week land-based. There's also some chance that conditions preventing the Aggressor from making it to Little Cayman will also make it difficult for the ops on Little Cayman to make it around the island, or will otherwise prevent them from diving some of the sites on the north side. Not that there is anything wrong with diving the south side (where the resorts are), I actually wish they did it more, but the famous wall sites you have read about are on the north side.

Getting in 5 a day land-based on GC is doable, but for various reasons not typical, and quite unlikely on Little Cayman. Practically speaking, if you go land-based on Little Cayman you will not "dive the wall all you want". The usual routine is 3 boat dives a day that won't necessarily all be on the wall, 2 a day in the case of Pirates Point. And 1-2 night dives a week if you're lucky. In theory there is shore diving on LC, certainly folks that live there enough to know the place well do it, but the logistics of it all and the way the resorts operate make it unlikely for a visitor to actually do that.

I've dove all sides of GC from land, and stayed on Little Cayman a bunch of times, and it's all good. I love LC. But the one time we did the Aggressor (which did make it to LC that week) it packed in overall better diving than any of our land based trips. (Best choice, do a week on the Aggressor then fly to LC for more.