Caribbean Explorer II or Turks & Caicos Explorer II?

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Kryssa

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Location
Santa Clara, CA
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200 - 499
T&C is about $300 more, but is the diving so much better that it's worth it?

Thanks for any advice. This is for the week of Nov 30 just in case weather would affect your suggestions!
 
I have not done the T&C Explorer, but my wife and I did the St Kitts/Saba Explorer and I was not overwhelmed by the quality of the dive sites compared to most of the other Caribbean places I have dived.
 
Caribbean Explorer has gotten some really nasty reviews. You can do a search for horror stories and the discussion that followed.
 
Caribbean Explorer has gotten some really nasty reviews. You can do a search for horror stories and the discussion that followed.

Might you be confusing "Caribbean Explorer" with "Caribbean Dancer?"
 
Yes, I believe Captain Sinbad is confusing the Explorer Venture's Caribbean Explorer boat with Dancer's Carib Dancer boat, which operates in the Bahamas and got some terrible press in recent months. Hopefully he'll re-visit this thread and confirm.

Kryssa, I've been on the T&C Explorer II twice, and absolutely loved both trips - one was the normal Turks & Caicos itinerary and the other was their Bahamas itinerary, which they do a few times a year. It's a terrific boat - decent size cabins (for a liveaboard), nice dive deck, good camera facilities, terrific crew. The diving in the T&C is some of the best I've ever done. Lot's of big stuff, like reef sharks, nurse sharks, and stingrays. Beautiful wall diving. Stan the chef is top notch.

I haven't been on the Caribbean Explorer II, but I talked with some boatmates on my last T&C Explorer II trip who had. It sounds like there's some really nice diving, but it's more concentrated at one end of the trip (can't remember if it was Saba or St. Kitts that had the best diving). It also sounds like currents can be an issue, particularly at Saba. But all of the people I talked with enjoyed the trip. I don't think you can go wrong with either. In my limited experience of two trips, Explorer Ventures has been a terrific company to dive with.

James
 
Yes. It was Aggressor/Dancer which is the same company and got bad reviews. I was confusing Aggressor with Explorer. Would love to hear about others peoples experiences on board the Explorer.
 
We have been on both boats multiple times. And plan on going back some more. Both are good trips, but we prefer the t&c route and the boat is nicer. The t&c explorer was a former corporate party boat. Rooms 1 & 2 upstairs are great. The Caribbean explorer was formerly the Peter Hughes boat in the t&c and is older.

The t&c dive sites are generally deeper with the top of wall normally around 50 feet so you do have to watch your ndls. If you are a shark person, then you should get your fill. There is always a couple on every dive. There is also lots of macro to be found. No real currents on most of the sites on west Caicos, but can get some on French cay. If captn ken is driving then you may get to do a drift dive.

The Caribbean explorer has more varied sites and more travel involved. You can normally expect to have to skip at least 1 site during the week due to too much current. Saba has a bunch of very distinctive dive sites that make the trip well worthwhile, st kitts sites are ho hum. This trip also provides the opportunity for an afternoon landing or two during the week. I believe they still use a 1 way itenary so you do not end where you started. Our last trip started in st martens and ended in st kitts.

Many of the crew rotate between the boats, so you get the same great service level on both vessels.
 
I have done the T&C Explorer II twice and the Caribbean Explorer II once. I much prefer the diving and the boat itself on the T&C boat. I'm sure it all depends on the week you make the trip, but when we did the CEX II trip we had really low vis at St Kitts and the current was really ripping at times at Saba. We were clinging to the bottom at one site trying to pull ourseves along to get over the ledge and out of the current. A few people actually turned back to the boat. Although T&C sites are not as varied they are absolutely beautiful walls with great visibility.

The T&C boat is laid out really well. One of my favorite features is that the wetsuits are all hanging down the middle of the dive deck right above where the heat comes up from the engine room or generators and thus the wetsuits are almost completely dry every time you reach for one for the next dive. The T&C boat in general is nicer and as someone said above Stan, the cook, is great! He's been on the boat for over 20 yrs.

To me it is worth the extra 300 dollars to do the T&C trip. When I do another trip with Explorer Ventures, and I will because we love their company, it will be on the T&C boat unless the company comes up with a new Caribbean destination. I really have no desire to return to Saba/St Kitts. It was okay to do once but would rather spend my money elsewhere.
 

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