Cayman or Turks & Caicos Aggressor?

[ScubaSeal]

My boyfriend and I are researching our next summer liveaboard vacation. My experience: boring Calif lakes, Belize Aggressor, Cozumel (my favorite destination so far), Florida wrecks and boat dives, Mexico cenote diving, freezing Monterey, and Bonaire. I’m a teacher so can only do summers and budget trips. We’ve been considering Kona, T & C, and Cayman Aggressors. After researching the Kona Aggressor and Hawaii diving in general, I think I would be disappointed. I’ll probably compare every place I go to Cozumel, which to date, is the best diving and best value in my opinion.
Has anyone dove both Cayman & Turks/ Caicos Aggressors? If so, which one did you like the best when considering the dive sites only?

 

[drrich2]

Cayman Aggressor IV May 2016 - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/cayman-aggressor-iv-trip-may-2016.527640/

Turks & Caicos Aggressor II Report Apr. 2018 - Turks & Caicos Aggressor II 4/21-4/28 Trip Report
Turks & Caicos Research Notes - Turks & Caicos Research Notes

Enjoyed both. The C.A. IV (they're now on a new boat, the V) made it over to Little Cayman for most of the diving, plus we got 2 dives on the wreck by Cayman Brac, so things went well for us that trip.

I think the diving was 'better' overall on the Caymans trip, and more varied (e.g.: there were some wrecks - the Doc Poulson, Keith Tibbetts and the Kittiwake; T&C just has the leftover structure from a t.v. show challenge of some sort, Thunderdome. T&C averaged deeper and reef drop offs were deeper. Little Cayman had 'touchable' Nassau grouper.

But T&C A. II offered black light night diving (you could sign up for it; I didn't). Sharkier.

The Caymans trip labors under the cloud of 'what if weather precludes crossing over to Little Cayman's Bloody Ball Wall?'

By the way, Aggressor Fleet periodically runs big (> 30% off) specials; I've done those 2 and the Belize Aggressor IV (then called Sun Dancer II), and haven't paid list price yet.

Richard.

 

[diversteve]

If you decide on T/C - the Explorer was slightly cheaper for us and 2-3x we saw the Aggressor at the next mooring over. Turks and Caicos Diving | Liveaboard on Turks & Caicos Explorer II

It's also a slightly bigger boat with beds instead of bunks on the main deck. Which also has windows being a deck up than the Aggressor.

Compare prices also - Aggressor bundles some things that Explorer breaks out separately. Most like fuel surcharge, nitrox etc. you still pay on either.

If you can connect to the AM flight out of CLT - it gets you there around noon. They'll drop you for lunch and take your gear to the boat. On the return they want you off the boat at 8am so most went to the airport to await flights. My point is that you wouldn't need a room either way. If you did, Ports of Call is a former Comfort Suites adjacent to a mall. Not on Grace Bay Beach so more reasonable.

Both islands are equally pricey.

Get on their mail list also, sometime during the early spring Explorer offers around $300-400 off on select trips - any cabin but they go fast.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I haven't been to Cayman but really enjoyed the T&C Explorer experience. I did have a main deck room, which was great.

 

[diversteve]

Forgot to mention, the boat swings like crazy on the moorings. If you miss it, wait a couple minutes - it will be back. It's fun to ride the ladders.

 

[Brodydog]

We’ve done the Cayman Aggressor and the Turks and Caicos via Explorer Ventures which dives the same sites as the Aggressive, just at different times. I won’t be going on the Cayman Aggressor again for the fact that we were not able to make the crossing to Little Cayman and the diving we did at Grand Cayman did not impress me. I’ll be going to LC at some point but it’ll be a trip where we stay on LC and not depending on a crossing from a live aboard.

We’ve done the Explorer T&C trip several times. Our last trip was May 2018. I like Turks a lot but I didn’t think the trip was as great this time because of last year’s storms that came through. We’ll probably wait a few years to let it recoup before we go back.

 

[Hoag]

As others have said, do not rule out the Turks & Caicos Explorer II (TCEx2). I was on her a few years ago and after I got some gear issues sorted out (with a lot of help from the captain), it was a great trip. No body will ever mistake the TCEx2 for a "5 Star Resort", but within minutes of boarding, it will seem like it is your home, and the crew almost become an extended family.

Many of the dive sites you will visit will seem fairly similar and are characterized by a short swim across sandy flats at about 50feet to the wall that drops off into the abyss. Most sites are also pretty "sharky". It is not uncommon to see sharks virtually every day. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but it is safe to say that the dive briefings are among the best if not the best in the business.

As @diversteve mentioned, the boat swings on its mooring. Do not chase it. You will not catch it. It will, however be back in a couple minutes. This gives you a couple options. You can hang out and wait, or you can go over to the mooring ling and go up it after your safety stop is done. (A side benefit of this is that if you grab onto of the "trapeze" for your safety stop it can be quite the ride.)

 

[PACKRMAN]

Both are great trips. Do one this year and the other next year. I probably had more bottom time in the Caymans but saw more sharks in Turks. This one probably boils down to money, start a side by side comparison and include everything including airfare and extras.