Trip Report Caribbean Explorer II, St. Marteen, Saba, St. Kitt

[Brodydog]

That also seems odd to me - if someone is not nitrox certified and completes a course while onboard, they dive part of the week on air & part on nitrox, so why couldn't you?

Which is exactly what I did on a trip with EV in Tucks and Caicos. Got Nitrox certified on day 2 so the first day and a half I was on air and then switched to Nitrox. But that was quite a few years back.

Which captain did you work under, @NYCcowgirl? Liked most all of them I met, with JF being my favorite.

 

[Karloss]

Now this is just my honest opinion and not much else, well, a little experience sprinkled in. We have used EV a number of times from this trip to the Turks, and Bimini when they were there. All of them were fine experiences and on everyone we would tip the crew then tip each member that we thought went above and beyond, no captain involved. As far the the air/nitrox thing, the only reason I can think of would be a billing issue. As stated before the purser should have handled it. All of this could have been the captain and the captain only. Who knows?

 

[NYCcowgirl]

Which is exactly what I did on a trip with EV in Tucks and Caicos. Got Nitrox certified on day 2 so the first day and a half I was on air and then switched to Nitrox. But that was quite a few years back.

Which captain did you work under, @NYCcowgirl? Liked most all of them I met, with JF being my favorite.

Several, actually. Bob, who is now mostly on Turks boat; Ian, who has been threatening to retire for about a decade; and Michael, who lasted less than 3 months, I believe. We may have nicknamed him Cpt Ron...the rotating cast certainly kept it interesting lol.
I have heard loads of stories about JF but never actually got to meet him. I think Ian has been with the company just as long if not longer. He is typically well liked by the guests, especially if you appreciate dry British humor / sarcasm.

 

[drrich2]

Direct tipping in cash was not allowed and the crewmember you wished to reward would have to turn it over to the Capitan.

All of them were fine experiences and on everyone we would tip the crew then tip each member that we thought went above and beyond, no captain involved.

I wonder to what extent that might put the crew member in a bit of a bind; deny self-interest and report the tip and turn it in to the captain, or keep it and risk the captain and/or other crew finding out and getting in trouble for not turning it in?

Liveaboards are relatively small places.

 

[NYCcowgirl]

I wonder to what extent that might put the crew member in a bit of a bind; deny self-interest and report the tip and turn it in to the captain, or keep it and risk the captain and/or other crew finding out and getting in trouble for not turning it in?

Liveaboards are relatively small places.

Official company policy is that all tips get split - you are supposed to turn it in. Sometimes the Capt let people keep individual tips - they actually didn't happen all that often when I was there.
Also re tipping, OP stated an expected $400 per person which is not really accurate. First off, nothing is "expected." We considered an "average" tip to be 10% of the retail trip price so about $200 per guest when I was there. The crew really does appreciate anything you give.

It's a fun job but it is long, long hours and a lot of work (some weeks way more than others), so we usually felt that the gratuities were well deserved.

 

[living4experiences]

Sorry to hear it didn't go as planned. Did they refund you for the unused marine park fee and unused fuel cost? Seems like you shouldn't have to pay for fuel when you're not going anywhere.

As for not diving in St. Maarten, the captain was wrong to not give you the option and should have taken you there and let you be the judge.

 

[drrich2]

All of us had to have a negative Covid test within 24 hours before leaving the US, which we all had.

What was the basis for mandating that? One of the islands demanding it, Explorer Ventures, or what?

On a mid.-July family cruise, we had to have a proctored COVID-19 negative test result within 2 days of the cruise to board, and it's nerve-wracking to plan something like that, do the research, make the plans and pay the costs...then not know whether you'll get to go till 2 days before. And we were fully vaccinated and boosted!

How many total dives were you guys offered this trip? People picking liveaboards are often after a high dive count.

We asked about diving around St. Maarten and were told its just not very good.

I keep coming back to this point. The few sporadic reports on St. Martin/Sint Maarten we get on ScubaBoard do, IIRC, report pretty good general Caribbean diving with the added bonus of Caribbean reef shark sightings on some dives. The rare mention of St. Kitts diving (which I only recall coming in trip reports on this boat, where Saba diving is more the highlight) tends to portray pretty good diving but nothing all that special, again IIRC.

What I'm saying in a round about way is, I'd like to know if the diving by St. Kitts is better than the diving by St. Martin/Sint Maarten or not.

Neither St. Kitts or St. Martin/Sint Maarten seems to be the subject of land-based dive trip reports where someone goes for a week mainly just to dive. Unlike Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, Curacao, etc...

 

[AdivingBel]

It seems to me the nitrox issue is about logistics & safety. Nitrox on a liveaboard isn't really about how you feel, but rather safety given the number of dives in a relatively short time frame. You either buy into that or not, your choice, either nitrox or air. Keeping in mind most tanks aren't empty at the end of a dive, if you're switching back and forth, they either have to drain the tanks prior to filling or they'll have oddball mixes floating around from diver to diver (anything they offer to do for you they have to offer to everyone else). Both are headaches/extra steps they would rather avoid given the time constraints between dives, and all the other jobs the crew has to perform. From what I've seen nitrox classes are offered early in the trip (not much to them really), and then the diver dives nitrox otherwise the class is a one-off and they just do what's necessary for the individual. Just my take, YMMV. Glad you otherwise enjoyed your trip. Sorry you missed some dives. Liveaboards do come with their own brand of "experiences" to roll with, but it's about the easiest way to dive some of the more remote/prettiest sites. All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[Damselfish]

The boat offered a land tour option on St Kitts. 2 of us went, myself and the one non-diver. I wasn't that excited about the diving there so far and the tour sounded (and was) more interesting than I expect the probably 2 dives I skipped were. (We'd gotten there a couple days early, but stuck to umbrella drinks over books on the beach, rather than diving or sightseeing.) Not sure how others felt about the diving, but that would have been like the second day of the trip so probably early for most people to bail on diving already.

We also did a couple dives off Nevis and my thought at the time was "why are we even diving here?"

For relaxing, a little sightseeing, long walks on the beach I though St Kitts was quite nice.

 

[NYCcowgirl]

What was the basis for mandating that? One of the islands demanding it, Explorer Ventures, or what?

On a mid.-July family cruise, we had to have a proctored COVID-19 negative test result within 2 days of the cruise to board, and it's nerve-wracking to plan something like that, do the research, make the plans and pay the costs...then not know whether you'll get to go till 2 days before. And we were fully vaccinated and boosted!

How many total dives were you guys offered this trip? People picking liveaboards are often after a high dive count.

I keep coming back to this point. The few sporadic reports on St. Martin/Sint Maarten we get on ScubaBoard do, IIRC, report pretty good general Caribbean diving with the added bonus of Caribbean reef shark sightings on some dives. The rare mention of St. Kitts diving (which I only recall coming in trip reports on this boat, where Saba diving is more the highlight) tends to portray pretty good diving but nothing all that special, again IIRC.

What I'm saying in a round about way is, I'd like to know if the diving by St. Kitts is better than the diving by St. Martin/Sint Maarten or not.

Neither St. Kitts or St. Martin/Sint Maarten seems to be the subject of land-based dive trip reports where someone goes for a week mainly just to dive. Unlike Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, Curacao, etc...

Honestly, I preferred St. Kitts diving even over Saba. Saba sites are prettier and there is a better chance of seeing reef sharks, but St. Kitts has some great macro life and some very interesting sites - it helps immensely if you have someone experienced. If you were just thrown in at St. Kitts, I could see it being not too exciting. Some sites are better than others - the River Taw wreck is one of the best if you get the chance. Also, not always on the itinerary, but sometimes done by request, an overnight anchorage at Bedroom Bay will give you the chance for a really fabulous night dive. RT is also very good at night - load of long-arm octos in the grass.

I only dove St. Maarten one week - because there was a hurricane lol - and it was not great IMO. Not as much fish life, smaller coral formations, poor vis, etc. Obviously totally subjective but I would choose St. Kitts in a heartbeat over SXM for diving.