mcohen1021
Contributor
Just got back from the BVI Aggressor trip Jan 27-Feb 3. Thought I'd post a review.
The boat: Tons of space. Loved the room (I was even at the back). Service, Food and Diving was awesome.
Service wise, they went out of their way to help with gear, getting on / off the skiffs, etc. but bc it was so labor intensive, and they were short staffed, some of the smaller things you come to expect on Aggressor like a hot towel at the end of the dive, you had to DIY. No big deal though.
Food was good and plentiful, but bc the normal highly acclaimed chef was away, I did not feel it was as good as it would have been. Morning coffee service was not possible bc of being short staffed. Also, not a big deal. It gave me an excuse to get to the dive deck and get equipment ready and get my own coffee (and wifes coffee - got to keep her caffenated lol).
Diving was great, but BVIs I felt 1st 2 days were geared towards beginners until we got to end of week with the deeper sites. Water was 78-80, but bc of the winds, you could get chilled before / after on your way to the dive sites. I wore a 5 mil and was happy with it (no spare tire on me). Others went in tshirt and shorts.
I think where a major improvement could be made is the transfer to / from the dive sites. I felt it was inefficient. Here is why. Too many people needed too much help with gear, rig, weights, fins, cameras, etc.
The problem was, everybody who was not carrying their own gear were asked to drop their weights on the skiff after the dive, which made it easier for the crew to carry those people's gear back on to the mother ship. Then the crew would carry those people's gear back to the skiff (obviously without the weight pockets), and once on, everybody was scrambling to try to find their weight pockets for the next dive. Obviously It's not easy to put your weight pockets in by yourself sometimes. I get that, butthe crew had to put their weight pockets in and put their fins on for them too.
By the time the week was over, I was working as a deckhand helping people get their rigs on, weight pockets in and putting on their fins.
The crew worked their asses off. I just felt the process should be streamlined in order to maximize the surface interval, because when you get back to the big boat, you're out of your wet suit for like maybe 15 minutes, and you had to haul arse to either dip in the hot tub, shower or get a drink and snack. Some people were actually keeping wetsuit on between dives bc it wasnt worth it to take it off to put it on 15 minutes later.
Maybe this could be improved by filling tanks directly on the skiffs, like they do on other boats? That would avoid gear transfer and weight pocket bingo before every dive?
The diving was great, we saw eagle rays, reefers, nurses, pompanos, green, spotted and golden eels and just about all other expected Caribbean creatures. I took alot of time to watch the various banded and pink shrimps on the night dives... they sure were fast! Reef was in decent shape but still seeing the dying brain coral. Another thing I saw which I took interest was the squirrel fish and rock hinds swimming around with isopods attached to them. I am not sure I have ever seen this anywhere else.
Another couple of notes:
The dive time limit of 50 min could have been was due to the amount if time it took to get people loaded/unloaded and ready for the dives. The shallowness and ease of diving, I came up with 1100 psi or more on most dives. Obviously, the deeper dives I came up with less.
Currents: There were a few dives with currents, the majority had none. There were sites that had a back and forth surge, similar to what you might feel on the top. As long as you finned with the surge, you made progress.
Reef Sticks: I know I am opening up a can of worms here, but I'd love to see these sorry tools banned like gloves were. When divers are using these sticks to stop forward progress, fix over weighting/buoyancy issues, or steady themselves for the next picture, it is not being used properly.
Equipment: I added the Movo light system to my GoPro. For $56 not bad but the lights are a little weak, and the thibg was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. Still better than no lights. I had to ziptie the lights to the frame to keep things in place.
Diving days were like this:
Sun 4 dives
Mon 5 dives
Tue 4 dives
Wed 5 dives
Thu 3 dives + Baths land excursion
Fri - 2 dives
Total 23 dives offered.
Island transport: Cabs are expensive, ferrys too. We ferried from Charlotte Amalie to Road Town - total cost: 206 for RT tickets, $80 in bag fees RT, $100 in departure fees RT. Still cheaper than $1300 each flights from DFW to Tortola.
Highly recommend Itgo Car rental on Tortola - $55 rental. Walking distance from Aggressor. We toured the island that saturday the LOB started and saw all of tortola and ferried to Jost Van Dyke for Soggy Dollar. I am guessing cabs to/from the west end ferry would have been $40 each way.
Oh and I did have a chance to meet a fellow Subaboard member - [Scuba]Steve (but not sure his screen name here, maybe he will see this and chime in).
That is all I can think of for now, feel free to ask questions, but no flaming
The boat: Tons of space. Loved the room (I was even at the back). Service, Food and Diving was awesome.
Service wise, they went out of their way to help with gear, getting on / off the skiffs, etc. but bc it was so labor intensive, and they were short staffed, some of the smaller things you come to expect on Aggressor like a hot towel at the end of the dive, you had to DIY. No big deal though.
Food was good and plentiful, but bc the normal highly acclaimed chef was away, I did not feel it was as good as it would have been. Morning coffee service was not possible bc of being short staffed. Also, not a big deal. It gave me an excuse to get to the dive deck and get equipment ready and get my own coffee (and wifes coffee - got to keep her caffenated lol).
Diving was great, but BVIs I felt 1st 2 days were geared towards beginners until we got to end of week with the deeper sites. Water was 78-80, but bc of the winds, you could get chilled before / after on your way to the dive sites. I wore a 5 mil and was happy with it (no spare tire on me). Others went in tshirt and shorts.
I think where a major improvement could be made is the transfer to / from the dive sites. I felt it was inefficient. Here is why. Too many people needed too much help with gear, rig, weights, fins, cameras, etc.
The problem was, everybody who was not carrying their own gear were asked to drop their weights on the skiff after the dive, which made it easier for the crew to carry those people's gear back on to the mother ship. Then the crew would carry those people's gear back to the skiff (obviously without the weight pockets), and once on, everybody was scrambling to try to find their weight pockets for the next dive. Obviously It's not easy to put your weight pockets in by yourself sometimes. I get that, butthe crew had to put their weight pockets in and put their fins on for them too.
By the time the week was over, I was working as a deckhand helping people get their rigs on, weight pockets in and putting on their fins.
The crew worked their asses off. I just felt the process should be streamlined in order to maximize the surface interval, because when you get back to the big boat, you're out of your wet suit for like maybe 15 minutes, and you had to haul arse to either dip in the hot tub, shower or get a drink and snack. Some people were actually keeping wetsuit on between dives bc it wasnt worth it to take it off to put it on 15 minutes later.
Maybe this could be improved by filling tanks directly on the skiffs, like they do on other boats? That would avoid gear transfer and weight pocket bingo before every dive?
The diving was great, we saw eagle rays, reefers, nurses, pompanos, green, spotted and golden eels and just about all other expected Caribbean creatures. I took alot of time to watch the various banded and pink shrimps on the night dives... they sure were fast! Reef was in decent shape but still seeing the dying brain coral. Another thing I saw which I took interest was the squirrel fish and rock hinds swimming around with isopods attached to them. I am not sure I have ever seen this anywhere else.
Another couple of notes:
The dive time limit of 50 min could have been was due to the amount if time it took to get people loaded/unloaded and ready for the dives. The shallowness and ease of diving, I came up with 1100 psi or more on most dives. Obviously, the deeper dives I came up with less.
Currents: There were a few dives with currents, the majority had none. There were sites that had a back and forth surge, similar to what you might feel on the top. As long as you finned with the surge, you made progress.
Reef Sticks: I know I am opening up a can of worms here, but I'd love to see these sorry tools banned like gloves were. When divers are using these sticks to stop forward progress, fix over weighting/buoyancy issues, or steady themselves for the next picture, it is not being used properly.
Equipment: I added the Movo light system to my GoPro. For $56 not bad but the lights are a little weak, and the thibg was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. Still better than no lights. I had to ziptie the lights to the frame to keep things in place.
Diving days were like this:
Sun 4 dives
Mon 5 dives
Tue 4 dives
Wed 5 dives
Thu 3 dives + Baths land excursion
Fri - 2 dives
Total 23 dives offered.
Island transport: Cabs are expensive, ferrys too. We ferried from Charlotte Amalie to Road Town - total cost: 206 for RT tickets, $80 in bag fees RT, $100 in departure fees RT. Still cheaper than $1300 each flights from DFW to Tortola.
Highly recommend Itgo Car rental on Tortola - $55 rental. Walking distance from Aggressor. We toured the island that saturday the LOB started and saw all of tortola and ferried to Jost Van Dyke for Soggy Dollar. I am guessing cabs to/from the west end ferry would have been $40 each way.
Oh and I did have a chance to meet a fellow Subaboard member - [Scuba]Steve (but not sure his screen name here, maybe he will see this and chime in).
That is all I can think of for now, feel free to ask questions, but no flaming
