British Virgin Islands Aggressor relocating to the Bahamas as the Bahamas Aggressor II

[scubadada]

I received an email from Aggressor today regarding relocation of the BVI Aggressor to the Bahamas. The BVI Aggressor will cease operation in March. It will restart operation in May, running an itinerary to Exuma Cays and Southwest Eleuthera. In April 2026, it will add a second itinerary to West End of Grand Bahama and Tiger Beach.

It appears that all diving will be from the yacht and the tenders used on the BVI Aggressor will no longer be used. This was the case when this boat was the Cayman Aggressor V before relocating to the BVI.

 

[BoltSnap]

I received an email from Aggressor today regarding relocation of the BVI Aggressor to the Bahamas. The BVI Aggressor will cease operation in March. It will restart operation in May, running an itinerary to Exuma Cays and Southwest Eleuthera. In April 2026, it will add a second itinerary to West End of Grand Bahama and Tiger Beach.

It appears that all diving will be from the yacht and the tenders used on the BVI Aggressor will no longer be used. This was the case when this boat was the Cayman Aggressor V before relocating to the BVI.

Are the Bahamas worth a visit for an UW photographer?

 

[also_anon_dc]

I saw this email. I thought it was an interesting move given the Bahamas Aggressor itself seems to have a ton of availability in the upcoming months.

 

[scubadada]

I saw this email. I thought it was an interesting move given the Bahamas Aggressor itself seems to have a ton of availability in the upcoming months.

I agree, where else are they going to go after failure in the BVI? The Caribbean seems pretty much saturated. I wouldn't mind having a boat in some locations with side by side twins rather than bunks.

 

[rongoodman]

I'm sorry to hear that but not surprised, given what I've heard about the popularity of the BVI trips. (We only had six on the boat when I was there in October, with similar group sizes reported before and after our trip.) Maybe they'll end up with a boat down in the southern Bahamas, like the one the Explorer Ventures used to run.

 

[d^2b]

We might live in a uniquely badly connected part of North America (eastern Canada), but we found it very hard to get reasonable (<24h travel) connections to BVI. I think other US based people have mentioned that the connections were not too bad for them, so perhaps travel is less relevant for the overall failure.

 

[scubadada]

I'm sorry to hear that but not surprised, given what I've heard about the popularity of the BVI trips. (We only had six on the boat when I was there in October, with similar group sizes reported before and after our trip.) Maybe they'll end up with a boat down in the southern Bahamas, like the one the Explorer Ventures used to run.

We might live in a uniquely badly connected part of North America (eastern Canada), but we found it very hard to get reasonable (<24h travel) connections to BVI. I think other US based people have mentioned that the connections were not too bad for them, so perhaps travel is less relevant for the overall failure.

I looked into going on the BVI Aggressor. Travel would not have been difficult with flights from Philadelphia with a stop in Miami. Coach fare was reasonably expensive, something like $1500-1700. Premium fares were outrageous.

I was turned off by the shorter dive times resulting from the tender schedule. I didn't particularly want to climb down and back up to the boat in full scuba gear. With passing gear down and up for some divers, it would have been quite hectic with a full boat. It's too bad they were not set up to leave and fill tanks on the tenders.

For reasons that are not perfectly clear, the BVI Aggressor was not terribly successful. Looking at the Adventure Logs since last August, the average number of divers per trip was a little less than 10, with a boat capacity of 20. It was never full.

EDIT: I exchanged DMs with @rongoodman The loading of the tenders is an easy step off the dive deck with help. It doesn't seem like the tenders were a problem other than shortening the dive time.

 

[rongoodman]

I was wondering how they could afford to run it with so few divers. I guess they couldn't. Travel for me was no problem, Albany to Atlanta to St. Thomas and then a little Cessna over to Beef Island. After multiple trips to Cocos, plus Palau and the Red Sea, tenders are a non-issue. I actually think it's easier to gear up on the dive deck and then move down to the tender, but that only works for short rides out to the site.

 

[bretski]

Well, it's going to be full when I'm on it in a couple of weeks. They had a big discount that 4 of us jumped on, and all the cabins got filled with the promo as well. We got a good deal on premium airfare (from Denver) too.

As I said in one of the other threads, I'll just deal with the tenders. At least we know what we're getting into. I will probably get my wrist slapped once or twice for being the last to surface. Problem child. LOL.

 

[also_anon_dc]

For reasons that are not perfectly clear, the BVI Aggressor was not terribly successful.

I think it's pretty clear. Flights from DC are $1500+ to get there in a reasonable amount of time. I can fly to Jakarta in Economy for cheaper than that.

I also think most of Aggressor's clientele is older and has restricted mobility- tenders aren't really an option for them.