Caribbean/Central America liveaboard recommendation

[Wookie]

Peter I have not dived from the Juliet, but their sites in the Bahamas are outstanding. I also enjoy Belize, Grand Cayman, and (as mentioned) the Caribbean Explorer. If I had to pick a favorite, it's (to me) a tossup between Caribbean Explorer II St. Kitts sites (Caveat - I sometimes captain that boat) and the Juliet Old Bahama Channel sites. I just don't do sailboats.

 

[CLFnLBK]

When I read the OP's request I also thought of the Caribbean Explorer. It is a mid-priced liveaboard and diving the seamounts around Saba is a unique experience. You will also have the opportunity for land excursions in places like St. Martin, St. Kitts, and Saba.

I also thought of the new Roatan Aggressor that is being offered at introductory discount prices. I've done 2 land-based trips to Roatan and I thought that the reefs were lovely but overfished - but a liveaboard can visit the best, most pristine sites. I also didn't care for the voracious mosquitoes and sand fleas, but that wouldn't be a problem on a liveaboard, so a liveaboard might be the best way to visit the Honduran out islands.

Roatan Aggressor is $900 off in July, the hubby and I are booked week of July 22nd, and this trip is going to cost half of what we paid for Belize Aggressor in November 2016!

 

[CLFnLBK]

Hello,

I went on a Blackbeard's liveaboard a year ago as one of my first diving trips and very much enjoyed it. I'd like to do another in the Caribbean/Central America/Mexico area but don't want to repeat the same experience. As far as complaints about Blackbeards -- the only thing I didn't like was that there wasn't much comfortable seating on deck -- the "camping on the seas," etc. was all fine by me. Thought the dives were very interesting. What other liveaboards would anyone recommend for someone with the following priorities?

• At least four dives per day
• Flight from the east coast of the US relatively easy
• Far more interested in corals/sea life than wrecks.
• All else equal prefer shallower vs. deeper for brighter colors, longer bottom times.
• Like sharks, bigger animals, but perfectly happy with an abundance of smaller fish and interesting corals.
• Air conditioned
• Price matters but isn't the sole determinant. Prefer not to go over $3k/week. Ideally less.
• Don't want a party boat. Prefer a lower key group.

The Aggressor III and IV in Belize seem interesting (at the top of my price range but do-able). Are the dive sites in the Bahamas the Juliet visits that different from what I've already done with Blackbeards? How interesting are the Marquesas and Dry Tortugas? What else is out there in my price range?

Thanks,
Peter

Aggressor Fleet is offering $900 off the Roatan Aggressor in July 2017. The hubby and I just booked week of July 22 for only $1995 per person for 7 days of diving, 5 dives a day. This is half what we paid for the Belize Aggressor IV last November. Check it out at www.aggressor.com

 

[Wookie]

Aggressor Fleet is offering $900 off the Roatan Aggressor in July 2017. The hubby and I just booked week of July 22 for only $1995 per person for 7 days of diving, 5 dives a day. This is half what we paid for the Belize Aggressor IV last November. Check it out at www.aggressor.com

7 days of diving, 5 dives a day? I wouldn't get your hopes up for that too too much... I'd guess more like 5 days of 5 dives a day, and one or 2 on another day. The crew has to turn the boat around sometime.

 

[Damselfish]

yes, their itinerary lists the usual 5 full days diving Sun-Thurs, and 2 dives Fri morning.

 

[CLFnLBK]

7 days of diving, 5 dives a day? I wouldn't get your hopes up for that too too much... I'd guess more like 5 days of 5 dives a day, and one or 2 on another day. The crew has to turn the boat around sometime.

Yes I know, travelled with Aggressor before. 5 dives a day on the days that youre out at sea.

 

[FT]

Just back from a week (Sat-Fri) Bahamas trip with Juliet. Lovely fishy shallow diving (never deeper than 20 metres), healthy coral and sponges. The one wreck dive, the extraordinarily shallow Sapona, offered a lot of wows per minute both afternoon and night dives; so many odd creatures as well as huge schools of fish to get lost among. Good turtle sightings, both leatherback and loggerheads, countless reef sharks and a brief glimpse of a hammerhead. I did not see the tunicate overgrowth that was a distressing feature of Turks & Caicos when we did that with the Explorer liveaboard. As Caribbean diving goes, it was pretty fine -- all in the neighbourhood around Bimini and the Cat cays. Four dives a day Sun-Wed including a night dive, three dives on the Thursday before we started sailing back to Miami. The ride from and to Miami can be bouncy.

Front cabin offered air con and ensuite, with one double and one single bed shielded from each other by a bulkhead. There are other ensuite cabins as well. Food was FANTASTIC (ask which weeks Amanda will be the chef), excellent crew all round. Narrow corridors and cosy dining area, lots of places on deck either to socialize or to be alone with the horizon, tho not a lot of shade. Steep ladder-like stairs inside and out; better not to have arthritic knees.

Also better to know how to navigate - unless they are drift dives, there will not be a guide in the water and, really, how many times do you want to go badly off course, shoot up an SMB, surface several hundred metres from the boat, and beg a ride home in the Zodiac of Shame? Good thing that as mentioned the crew are very nice people. The visibility was often limited and some sites' topology didn't lend itself to landmarking, so we really needed to up our compass game. Your own air consumption was your only limit to the dive time if it wasn't a drift; on the drifts, we went up in two groups, with the second group starting up when the weakest link hit 1200 psi IIRC.

Quiet, friendly group of about a dozen divers in all, with some great photographers. There are trips to St Croix in the winter and interesting repositioning trips between there and Miami.