We arrived to sunny St Kitts skies on 6 October 2007. Percy was waiting for us outside of customs and after determining that one of the couples did not make their connection in San Juan, we headed to the Caribbean Explorer II. The crew showed us to our rooms, gave a tour of the boat, let us set up our equipment, and get settled in our rooms. The boat accommodates, I believe, 18 divers and there were 10 of us. All divers were very experienced. Our 12th anniversary was on 7 October so the crew decorated our room, complete with a bottle of champagne and JJ, the captain, presented us with a poem after dinner that evening.
The Diving
We had been told by others who have taken this trip that its best to do St. Maarten to St. Kitts, however, when we booked the trip, this itinerary was the only one available to fit our schedule. However, we decided that this itinerary was best because the diving gets progressively better throughout the week and Saba was definitely the highlight.
We started in St. Kitts with two dives at Monkey Shoals where I saw my first sea horse and flying gurnard. We also saw the largest lobsters ever, as I described in my log book, they would certainly be $1000.00 at Ruths Chris (a joke between me and my husband). We visited the Corinthian which was a wreck. The highlight of this dive was a sunburst anemone and sea star cushion. The River Taw was also a wreck which was broken in two. It was very cool and had lots of intermediate king angels. We also became involved in a bait ball of sorts with all sorts of little fish surrounding us. While there were no predators, it was a first for me. The next day included a very exciting dive to Paradise Reef which featured two nurseries. The first had a very cute baby frog fish (another first), baby scorpion fish, baby angel fish, and baby jackknife fish. We also saw two more seahorses and lots of yellowline arrow crabs. At Anchors Aweigh we were all on the lookout for a ginormous frog fish. He had been seen previously in his yellow glory sitting on a brown coral. However, this time he was carefully camouflaged next to a yellow sponge.
The next day we went to Statia for dives at Barracuda Reef, Ledges and the Humps. While Statia had some nice reefs, they also have a Park Ranger that accompanies you on every dive. We all felt like we were in class with the principal in the back of the room. As I said before, we were all very experienced divers, an no one had issues with their buoyancy. However, I think the Ranger needed to feel like he was doing his job so he found reasons to admonish people. After three of these dives we all decided that we werent going to dive at Statia anymore, so the crew gladly accommodated us and we moved full steam ahead to Saba so that we could still get in our 4th afternoon dive and then do the night dive. Statia has very nice reefs but there was not much fish life. We suggested to the crew that the trip should be revamped to delete Statia.
Saba was incredible. At Ladder Labyrinth we saw a few nurse sharks, a turtle having dinner and volcanic hot sand which was another first for me. The next day my husband and I were doing our dives for our deep diver specialty and we started at 3rd Encounter (Eye of the Needle). This was a very cool dive swimming in the blue out to the pinnacle. The visibility was close to 100ft at we were at 110 and could clearly see the boat. The next site was Customs House, so named because it is close to the old customs house that still stands on the shore. This was a large loaf reef with two turtles and lots of other nice fish. Diamond Rock was probably our favorite dive of the week. There were three pinnacles with lots of neat crevices and ledges. Our next dive was Man O War Shoals which was a good swim from where we were moored. This was also a nice dive with lots of ledges and crevices. We returned to Ladder Labyrinth for our night dive and this was remarkable only because this was my 100th dive, my husbands 100th had been the first dive of the day. The next day we visited Tedran Wall, our second official deep dive, Big Rock Market, Tent Reef (which we renamed Turtle Reef) and back to Customs House for the night dive.
The Boat
The Boat was in good condition and had just come out of dry dock in Antigua. Our room was a bunk with under bed storage. The room temperature is controlled by on thermostat and they keep the rooms rather chilly. However, if anyone had requested, they would have changed the temperature. The provided plenty of blankets.
The Crew
The crew was wonderful. They were very safety conscious, definitely knew where all the critters were, and were entertaining to boot. They also supported us in our various mutinies throughout the week.
The Food
We had a new cook, Zach, who was very good. He had a different hot option for breakfast every day and was very creative with the menus throughout the week. The turkey dinner on Thursday was very good. There were lot of special requirements (1 vegetarian, 1 person who only ate chicken, 2 crew vegetarians) and there were no complaints. He also made homemade breads, cookies and sweets for the snacks.
The Land Tours
They offer land tours of all the islands. Since I had a sinus infection to start the week, I was saving myself for Saba so I took advantage of the land tour on St Kitts. Percy also led this tour which included a stop at the Batik factory and gardens and culminated at Ft Brimstone. It was a very nice tour. The Statia tour had a minimum requirement so that one did not happen. Given the mutiny and hasty leave of Statia, I was glad I had not tried to talk others into joining me. The Saba land tour was ok, however, our driver left us for over an hour to take someone to the airport and several of the promised stops were no longer provided. We complained to our Purser and none of us were charged.
The Purser arranged for us to take a tour of St Maarten and St Martin with Gene the dancing machine prior to our flight out on Saturday. Six of us took advantage of this and include a tour around the island. This was a very nice tour and was $25 per person. This island is very beautiful and it made me want to return for a land vacation.
Overall it was a great trip that we would consider doing again.
The Diving
We had been told by others who have taken this trip that its best to do St. Maarten to St. Kitts, however, when we booked the trip, this itinerary was the only one available to fit our schedule. However, we decided that this itinerary was best because the diving gets progressively better throughout the week and Saba was definitely the highlight.
We started in St. Kitts with two dives at Monkey Shoals where I saw my first sea horse and flying gurnard. We also saw the largest lobsters ever, as I described in my log book, they would certainly be $1000.00 at Ruths Chris (a joke between me and my husband). We visited the Corinthian which was a wreck. The highlight of this dive was a sunburst anemone and sea star cushion. The River Taw was also a wreck which was broken in two. It was very cool and had lots of intermediate king angels. We also became involved in a bait ball of sorts with all sorts of little fish surrounding us. While there were no predators, it was a first for me. The next day included a very exciting dive to Paradise Reef which featured two nurseries. The first had a very cute baby frog fish (another first), baby scorpion fish, baby angel fish, and baby jackknife fish. We also saw two more seahorses and lots of yellowline arrow crabs. At Anchors Aweigh we were all on the lookout for a ginormous frog fish. He had been seen previously in his yellow glory sitting on a brown coral. However, this time he was carefully camouflaged next to a yellow sponge.
The next day we went to Statia for dives at Barracuda Reef, Ledges and the Humps. While Statia had some nice reefs, they also have a Park Ranger that accompanies you on every dive. We all felt like we were in class with the principal in the back of the room. As I said before, we were all very experienced divers, an no one had issues with their buoyancy. However, I think the Ranger needed to feel like he was doing his job so he found reasons to admonish people. After three of these dives we all decided that we werent going to dive at Statia anymore, so the crew gladly accommodated us and we moved full steam ahead to Saba so that we could still get in our 4th afternoon dive and then do the night dive. Statia has very nice reefs but there was not much fish life. We suggested to the crew that the trip should be revamped to delete Statia.
Saba was incredible. At Ladder Labyrinth we saw a few nurse sharks, a turtle having dinner and volcanic hot sand which was another first for me. The next day my husband and I were doing our dives for our deep diver specialty and we started at 3rd Encounter (Eye of the Needle). This was a very cool dive swimming in the blue out to the pinnacle. The visibility was close to 100ft at we were at 110 and could clearly see the boat. The next site was Customs House, so named because it is close to the old customs house that still stands on the shore. This was a large loaf reef with two turtles and lots of other nice fish. Diamond Rock was probably our favorite dive of the week. There were three pinnacles with lots of neat crevices and ledges. Our next dive was Man O War Shoals which was a good swim from where we were moored. This was also a nice dive with lots of ledges and crevices. We returned to Ladder Labyrinth for our night dive and this was remarkable only because this was my 100th dive, my husbands 100th had been the first dive of the day. The next day we visited Tedran Wall, our second official deep dive, Big Rock Market, Tent Reef (which we renamed Turtle Reef) and back to Customs House for the night dive.
The Boat
The Boat was in good condition and had just come out of dry dock in Antigua. Our room was a bunk with under bed storage. The room temperature is controlled by on thermostat and they keep the rooms rather chilly. However, if anyone had requested, they would have changed the temperature. The provided plenty of blankets.
The Crew
The crew was wonderful. They were very safety conscious, definitely knew where all the critters were, and were entertaining to boot. They also supported us in our various mutinies throughout the week.
The Food
We had a new cook, Zach, who was very good. He had a different hot option for breakfast every day and was very creative with the menus throughout the week. The turkey dinner on Thursday was very good. There were lot of special requirements (1 vegetarian, 1 person who only ate chicken, 2 crew vegetarians) and there were no complaints. He also made homemade breads, cookies and sweets for the snacks.
The Land Tours
They offer land tours of all the islands. Since I had a sinus infection to start the week, I was saving myself for Saba so I took advantage of the land tour on St Kitts. Percy also led this tour which included a stop at the Batik factory and gardens and culminated at Ft Brimstone. It was a very nice tour. The Statia tour had a minimum requirement so that one did not happen. Given the mutiny and hasty leave of Statia, I was glad I had not tried to talk others into joining me. The Saba land tour was ok, however, our driver left us for over an hour to take someone to the airport and several of the promised stops were no longer provided. We complained to our Purser and none of us were charged.
The Purser arranged for us to take a tour of St Maarten and St Martin with Gene the dancing machine prior to our flight out on Saturday. Six of us took advantage of this and include a tour around the island. This was a very nice tour and was $25 per person. This island is very beautiful and it made me want to return for a land vacation.
Overall it was a great trip that we would consider doing again.
