Belize vs. St. Kitts/Saba, Other potential Caribbean LOB's

[BigJimDiver]

I have been reading up on some tip reports to try to make a decision on where to take my son next April. We were hoping for T&C or Utila, but neither Turks LOBs are there for Easter week, and Utila is fully booked by a group. That seems to leave us with a choice between Belize Aggressor and Caribbean Explorer II St. Kitts/St. Maarten itineraries.

My corners from the Trip Reports I've read up to now: Belize seems to get hot and cold reviews, with comments about a number of mediocre dive sites, and the diving in St. Kitts/St. Maarten itinerary seems to involve stronger currents. I was leaning towards CEII but while my son is athletic he's 15 years old and still on the very lean side, I'm concerned if there are constant currents it could really tire him out over ~27 dives (he has been doing almost all the dives on our LOB trips).

Any advice on these itineraries would be great; any other suggestions would be really helpful. We'd like a LOB within reasonable distance as he only gets a week off from school so Pacific or Red Sea/Indian Ocean trips would consume too much time traveling, and warm(er) water (~72+), without too much current. We are both Advanced Open Water certfifed, EAN certified, have done several LOB's over the past few years, and even though only 15 y.o. my son is a very competent diver and very mature (does well on a boat full of adults for a week, though he gets might start getting tired of me after a while ).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[BrianOrange]

Jim -

I can't speak for the St. Kitts/St. Maarten liveaboard but your son would have a great time and be very safe on any Belize liveaboard. While I was not on the Belize Aggressor, I did have a great week of diving on the Peter Hughes Belize boat last June (they dock literally right next to one another and basically dive the same sites). The diving was great. NO currents, deep or shallow, great vis, lots of marine left, great colors to the reefs. ZERO complaints whatsoever. On our trip was a father and son team just like you are describing. He made all the dives (or so it seemed - never heard of him sitting anything out, including the Blue Hole).

Honestly, I have never really heard of people describing the Belize liveaboard sites as "mediocre". Could you be confusing reports with people diving the sites of Amerbris Caye via day boats? That I could see possibly being mediocre.

Belize is pretty easy to get to as well. I'm a bit biased but Belize is the way to go.

 

[SCUBA Divah John]

I did the Saba/St Kitts trip with Explorer Ventures about a year and a half ago and had a great time. The diving around St Kitts had almost no current with some very nice wrecks. Around Saba there were some that had a good amount of current but everybody on the boat went in anyway and all did fine, including some older divers. Also when the current was running on the surface, it was fine on the bottom since we were diving around some big coral heads and reefs which blocked it.

The sea life on this trip was fantastic! We saw frog fish, nurse sharks, turtles and some of the coolest decorator crabs I've ever seen. They told us Saba is one of the oldest marine parks in the Caribbean and the reefs were very healthy.

The crew on the Caribbean Explorer II was outstanding. The other interesting part is that with this boat you fly into one island and depart from another. In our case, we flew into St Martin and flew out of St Kitts. While off gassing before our flight, the boat crew set up a tour of an old colonial fort on St Kitts which I think your son might find very cool.

I think you'd have a great time on this trip. Let us know what you decide.

 

[ronscuba]

Belize liveaboard is the best diving I have done in the Caribbean.

 

[CoralSeaMan]

I have done both the Belize Agressor and the Saba/St. Kitts CEII. Both were done in January (two years apart) The Saba/St. Kitts was a little more physical work and the dive sights were not quite as spectacular. Belize seemed to have a greater variety of fish and we had unusually calm weather for the time of year. Still, the diving was overall great at both locations, accomodations and food was good at both. I did 25 dives in Belize and 27 on the CEII. My only real issue about Belize is the Blue Hole, which I have now dived twice and am perfectly willing to skip. I understand others want to dive it, but it costs two dives. One thing you might want to take into consideration is that the Blue Hole is a very deep recreational dive and not for the unwary. Otherwise the Belize dives were around 70 foot. At Saba the dives were a little deeper but shallower at Statia and St. Kitts. The experience well worth it at both and I would do either again. On balance I slightly prefer the Belize trip.

 

[Brodydog]

I was just on the CEXII Saba/St Kitts trip in Dec. The currents were pretty strong at Saba and even though all divers aboard were pretty experienced, there were a couple of times a few of them did not dive because they just did not want to fight the current. On one dive a couple of them went to the bottom and came right back up. It was too much of a fight to get over the ledge to the coral heads where the current was a little less. Current was not always just on the surface on this week's trip. I'm sure it varies though. And the diving at St Kitts was disappointing because the vis was pretty low. One of the lowest vis areas in the Caribbean I've seen. Again I'm sure that varies week to week. Between the low vis in one area and the current in the other area it was kind of a disappointing week.

I have been on quite a few liveaboards in the Caribbean and I would have to say this was my least favorite itinerary. I will probably not be returning to this one. I do love Explorer Ventures as a company though. Great staff and boats are very well suited for all your diving needs. This was just not my favorite location. Unfortunately I cannot compare with the Belize trip as I have not been on that one yet, but it's on my bucket list.

 

[Joe Burns]

Coming to this thread a bit late... you may have already made your decisions. But, my $.02 anyway: I'm a big fan of Saba. I spent a week there on a land based dive trip with Sea Saba. Never had a problem with currents, though the most advanced dive we did was "eye of the needle/third encounter". The dives there are a little on the deep side, but they are wonderful. I would call them the best I've done in the Caribbean. Man-O War shoals probably being my favorite. If you don't end up doing the liveaboard route for Saba, the island itself is a wonderful exception to most Caribean destinations - no rapant tourism/development and full of old world charm. It truly is a "one of a kind" place, and I found diving with Sea Saba to be a joy. Great operator.

 

[Texas.Crude]

Did Nekton's Belize itinerary back in 2007 and absolutely loved it. Haven't done much diving around the Caribbean, so I can't compare it to your other options, but the sites were fantastic. Almost every site was a wall dive, so you had the option of staying up on the shelf at about 50 - 70 feet, or going down the wall. Only complaint was that we didn't see hardly any sharks or rays. Tons of fish though, great coral, and no other divers -- I honestly didn't see anyone from another boat for the entire week.

 

[DougieIL]

I have done both Belize on the Sundancer 2 and Saba-St KItts on Explorer II. I wrote a review of our recent trip on CEII here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/li...s/321125-explorer-ventures-4.html#post5949589

Specifically addressing your question, I had a better time and enjoyed the diving much better in Belize. And it's true, flights in and out of Belize are much easier than Saba-St Kitts. Although that is a mid-western perspective. All that said, I would not detract form the Explorer line nor their crew. Both of which get high marks from me. My comments specifically address the actual diving.

 

[Doubler]

I just completed a Belize Aggressor trip last month. The diving in Belize is delightful and easy. No current, great viz and great walls. My advice is skip the Blue Hole, it is nothing more than a big, dark, cold hole. To save some cash do the Sundancer. Aggressor owns both. The Dancer seems to cater to a younger crowd and is cheaper. Basically the Aggressor has a much nicer dive deck and the Dancer has better guest quarters. Crews do switch between the two. I fly in the night before and stay at the Radisson, the Aggressor and the Dancer moor at the Radisson pier.