Current Trip Report: Caribbean Explorer II (Saba/St.Kitts/St.Maarten)

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The Northeastern Caribbean is an intriguing area offering a blend of Dutch, British, French and native cultures on some of the most scenic islands. Combining diving and optional island tours, this itinerary has always been unique within the liveaboard diving industry.

Browse through our trip reports, and see why many of our guests return to this vessel year after year! You can also find current information on water temperatures, visibility, and rare creature sightings.

Our trip reports are updated regularly as comments on this thread, so be sure to follow along on our adventures!

Happy Diving!

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Caribbean Explorer II; January 6 to January 13, 2018
Destination: St. Maarten, Saba to St. Kitts
Water Temp: 78F | Visibility: Varied 60ft
Sightings: Flying gurnard, frogfish, pike blennies, long-horned nudibranchs, octopi, more...

We started off from St Maarten with a small group this week representing the US, Australia and Norway. We also had the pleasure of welcoming back a few familiar faces. Conditions were not in our favor in Saba to start and there was a persistent S’Westerly swell, but conditions turned and then remained good for most of the week. Guests saw and were able to photograph some interesting sea life.

In St. Kitts, we’ve been spotting Flying Gurnards on a regular basis at Paradise Reef. Divers also enjoyed some Pike Blenny action and the night dive produced lots of eels of the spotted variety, a few turtles, and an unusual regal slipper lobster. Old Road Bay was noted for its eels; sharptail, chain and spotted. The reef itself looked very healthy with lots of colour and texture.

The weather was a mix of sun and rain showers producing endless rainbows, singles and doubles! Monkey Shoals was ‘very fishy’ with notables in the likes of peacock flounders, scorpionfish, and nurse sharks. Our Bedroom Bay night dive revealed a couple of octopi, squid and a large number of long horned nudies. We had six octopi sightings on the River Taw site and the dozer was again, chocked with lobster and banded coral shrimp. Dives on Ye ‘ol Anchor resulted in two separate frogfish finds for DM Curtis, much to the delight of one of our guests who’d not seen one before! The wreck site of the Talata appeared to be altered slightly our last dives here. Cool vintage (perhaps older) glass bottle bases were found where debris had once been. Once again, the lobsters were plentiful under the deck plating, and there were large patches of painted tunicates which were very pretty. Sharp eyes spotted several juvenile banded clinging crabs in an anemone. We returned to the River Taw for one great night dive and we finished the week with dives at Brimstone Reef and Coconut Reef.

This week we welcomed two more divers into the world of nitrox and were able to complete an AOW course. Despite a rough weather at the start, we had a really nice relaxing week with some excellent great diving!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; January 13 to January 20, 2018
Destination: St. Kitts, Saba, to St. Maarten
Water Temp: 79F | Visibility: Varied 40-150ft
Sightings: Hundreds of Hound FIsh, Eagle Rays, Frogfish, Squid, Nurse Sharks, and more..

We shared the vessel this week with a really fun group from Ohio! Our week started in St Kitts and the weather was fantastic with only a few showers, just enough to bring out the famous St Kitts rainbows.

There was no better way to start things off this week than with a leisurely Eagle Ray flyby and a couple of large octopi sightings. A frogfish was also spotted on the first wreck site in some debris between the bow and stern sections. Hundreds of Houndfish and several turtles were also spotted along with a good selection of nudies, basket stars, and decorator crabs. Another frogfish was found on our dive site Ye Old Anchor, along with a snake eel poking out of the sand. Divers also commented positively on the healthy state of the reef at Old Road Bay.

We ended the St Kitts portion of the week at the North end of the island near Sandy Point. This location offers great views of Brimstone Fortress and Mt. Liamuiga. The closer islands of St Eustatius and Saba to the North however, were shrouded in a cover of rain and cloud, often disappearing entirely. Underwater was clear and blue with great sightings of juvi drums, flying gurnards, eel & barracuda cleaning stations, squid, rays and turtles.

Our days in Saba began with a very murky dive at Customs House, but despite that we saw a patrolling reef shark, a few very old anchors and a very active stingray cleaning station. The fish life was active and several lettuce leaf sea slugs were spotted on top of the plateau. Moving on to Diamond Rock, vis improved immensely and just a bit of current was present. Several reef sharks were spotted along with the usual schools of mahogany snapper, black margates and schoolmasters. The nurse sharks and black jacks were on the prowl at Ladder Labyrinth during the night dive. The following day we started with two excellent dives on Tent Wall. Divers had close encounters with at least five turtles and as many reef sharks. The coral and sponges at all depths on the wall were reported as looking very healthy.

A fantastic week was had by all!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; January 20 to January 27, 2018
Destination: St. Maarten, Saba to St. Kitts
Water Temp: 78F | Visibility: Varied 60ft
Sightings: Squid, flying gurnard, yellow-headed jawfish with eggs, orange cup corals..

This week we stayed in Saba for only two days. Visibility was good at Tent Reef so we ended up diving the popular Tent Reef area quite a bit - both the shallow and deep sites, as well as Tent Wall. A few reef sharks were spotted cruising in from the outer reef. Sharp eyes spotted a male yellow-headed Jawfish with eggs in its mouth; a very small box crab; and a few sailfin blennies which we actually don’t see that often here. Tent wall had even more sharks, one in particular, displaying very curious behavior towards divers. Nothing aggressive, just very curious. Several turtles were spotted on the night dives, one of which was thought to have been a small loggerhead. Lots of lobsters were also spotted including a slipper lobster and an octopus was out roaming around on top of one of the large boulders adjacent to the mini wall. The mini wall was covered with large patches of orange cup coral. This species of cup coral, as stunning as it is, was actually transported on the hulls of ships from Europe and has dispersed itself throughout the Caribbean.

We had a good crossing to St Kitts, arriving at our Paradise Reef anchorage in good time. We started Wednesdays diving with stingrays, flying gurnards, pike blennies and great vis. The tube worms were particularly lovely and in abundance. Christmas tree worms in an assortment of colors colonized numerous brain and star coral heads. Orange crinoids jumped out in brightness. Still looking for their shrimp namesake. Over at Anchors Aweigh, lots of turtles, channel clinging crabs, lobsters, and decorator crabs were spotted. Then moving down the coast in a southerly direction; we stopped at Old Road Bay for two dives. Sea conditions and in water visibility were still good. A lot of barracuda were about and a couple of remora were hanging out with the divers at various times, in search of a ‘friend’. Divemaster Curtis aka Frogfish Whisperer, had a successful day on the reef, both at Old Road Bay and farther along at Ye Old Anchor. Our dive at the River Taw was also really fun. The king of green morays was taking up most of the space inside/under the bulldozer. Our resident octopi were in their usual spots, and the water column above the wreck, mid to surface, was full of schooling snappers, sergeant majors and houndfish.

We had an extra day to fill in St Kitts so we decided to jump in for a few dives in at Bedroom Bay and Boulder Bay. These are shallower sites and very different to each other. Bedroom Bay consists of a long strip of reef surround by sand on both sides running in an E/W direction. This day, a school of 25 squids was seen along with and excavating mantis shrimp with gobies en guard. The Boulders are a different topography altogether. They had a lot of colorful encrusting corals growing on them with some very big fire worms crawling about. We found an Atlantic Tritons Trumpet which is somewhat of an unusual find in these parts, and a well-hidden Banded clinging crab in a Giant anemone. A slipper lobster was tucked up under a small boulder very close to the mooring chain. These were interesting dive sites which we hope to do more often.

Our week finished with a couple of dives at the wreck of the Corinthia – a 70’ tugboat born in Louisiana and brought to St Kitts in the 90’s to assist in the building of the cruise ship pier. Now home to a plethora of crabs, schooling fish and lobster.

A wonderful week all around, with lots of creature sightings!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; January 27 to February 3, 2018
Destination: St Kitts, Saba, St Maarten
Water Temp: 78F | Visibility: Varied 60ft
Sightings: All kinds of Frogfish, strolling octopi, turtles, sharks, sea goddesses..

A great start to the charter by seeing some familiar faces in the crowd. We had a small group this week representing Canada, France, Brazil and the US. Weather wise, the strong winds and surgy sea conditions prevailed and as a result, the visibility wasn’t as good as it could have been. This by no means impeded our opportunities of seeing some really great stuff and getting some top tropical views of the lush volcanic scenery of St Kitts.

Once again it was a frogfish kind of a week! Three individuals were spotted at Ye Old Anchor, all of varying colours; green, blue and brown…ish. Divemaster Curtis managed to get a great picture of one doing the big yawn/jaw stretch. One guest got a picture of a small barb fish on that site as well. Octopi reigned throughout the River Taw site and the extremely large green moray was still in residence inside the dozer. Quite a large number of chalk bass were hovering in the turtle grass and several mantis shrimp were caught unawares for brief moments.

Bedroom Bay becomes more interesting each time we dive there it seems. The mooring line alone is particularly busy. The reef is home to a lot of little stuff in the form of eels, crabs and blennies. The wreck of the Corinthia, a tugboat in its former life so names after the owners daughter, was active with sea goddesses, spotted drums and fireworms.

Heading north along the St Kitts coastline, we left some squalls and dark clouds behind and discovered sunshine and fair winds. Visibility at Old Road Bay was good and divers were quite chuffed with the opportunity of hanging out with a very relaxed octopus for a long time. A few large turtles adorned with proportionally big barnacles were about and we saw quite a few turtles on the surface as well. The great visibility continued as we progressed farther north to our final St Kitts destination of Sandy Point. Another octopus was spotted ‘out for a stroll’ as was a flying gurnard. Mating flounders were caught on video and a lovely eagle ray graced our presence. It was a fun day.

We started our Saba diving at Diamond Rock. Conditions below were great despite appearances above. Lots of turtles and sharks were spotted throughout the divers circumnavigation of the rock. Several divers took a snorkel to shore from our Customs House mooring and try a few of the 1600 steps that wind their way up the mountain side.

The following day we experienced fantastic conditions at Tent Wall. Contrasting colours really stood out and the sponges in particular looks vibrant. Most guests partook in the Saba Land Tour so we spent the rest of the day parked at our ever popular Tent Reef.

It was a pleasure looking at all the great underwater photos taken this week. Some great character shots!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; February 10-17, 2018
Destination: St Kitts, Saba, St Maarten
Water Temp: 78F | Visibility: Varied 50-100ft
Sightings: Large green moray, octopi, reef sharks, and hot sand from geothermal activity..

Our week started at the southern end of St Kitts under mostly sunny skies. The wind turbines were still on full speed but this didn’t impede our diving and the opportunities to see a lot of neat stuff. We found our resident green moray at the River Taw site but at a different location. He’d moved from the dozer to the bow hatch and came as a bit of a surprise as one peered over the rim to come face to face with lots of gnarly white teeth. A good sized barracuda was in cleaning mode beside the bow. Evidence of octopi presence was everywhere in the form of shell collections and we saw the guy in the engine block near the dozer. Don’t like to say ‘guarantee’ but there hasn’t been a dive when he (she) wasn’t home. It was nice to see a few golden banded shrimp around, and interestingly, out in the open as well as safely tucked away within the confines of some wreckage. Divers found Sand tilefish dwellings at Ye Old Anchor and one solitary female tilefish was busy renovating with no sign of any other females or males in the adjacent territories.

At Boulder Bay, divers reported seeing large numbers of lobsters throughout the dive. This was also a particularly good day for Spotted Drums, especially at the Corinthian. We then spent two night dives at the River Taw. Turtles everywhere; octopi on the hunt; stingray cities, beaded sea cucumbers; and squid. A small group ventured over to the dozer following the anchor chain (something we don’t normally do on night dives). The divers found the dozers’ ceiling covered with bright yellow cup coral.

We then headed over to Saba, and Thursday was land tour day. Everyone opted to take in the sights so 4 dives made up Thursday. The current at Diamond Rock was moderate but divers managed it well and were easily able to circumnavigate the rock. Along the way, they saw juvenile French Angels, some adult Queen Triggerfish, turtles, and sharks. Tent Wall was a stunning dive. Visibility was fantastic and the reef looked very healthy. Some ventured over to the pinnacles and found very healthy sponges and soft & hard corals.

Friday, our day started with diving a 6 am dawn dive at Customs House. The first part of the dive was treated like a night dive; the sun not quite making it over the Saba peaks. Divers saw an interesting sunrise transition underwater and were greeted on the surface by a lovely sunny morning with little wind. We finished the week with a very pleasant dive at Ladder Labyrinth. A few turtles were about and divers were able to feel the ‘hot sand." The hot sand is a regular occurrence due to geothermal activity escaping from the base old lava tubes. It creates large patches of yellowish sand; the deeper one digs under the sand, the hotter it gets! A quite unique sight, located only in Saba.

Overall a great week with lots of laughs!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; March 10-17, 2018
Destination: St Kitts, Saba, St Maarten
Water Temp: 76F | Visibility: Varied 50-100ft
Sightings: Octopus, frogfish, gold-spotted moray eels, Spot the nurse shark, hawksbill turtles, reef fish in abundance..

Our first day was all about wrecks. The sea life around the River Taw and Corinthia was humming with activity. A solitary barracuda was standing watch in the bulldozer with hundreds of Sprat sentries surrounding him. Several spotted eels were peering out from the base along with a number of lobsters and coral banded shrimp positioned everywhere else. We had a perfect view of an octopus adjusting his tentacles around a prize helmet conch and a giant triton trumpet with body extended externally (on the night dive). At the Corinthia site every piece of wreckage, including the barge and crane was bustling. A huge lobster was visible with a light inside the barge. By deer standards – a 16 pointer! The lobsters at the crane were more but smaller. The trumpet fish were, and usually are, of the larger variety. This site also has a good population of adult spotted drums. A slipper lobster was spotted tucked away in the bow stack. And as if right on queue – our large yellow frogfish was there to greet divers on the reef. A smaller orange one was spotted on the second dive at that site, not far from the yellow guy. Great night dive on the Taw.

We moved around the point to Boulder Bay for our first dive of day 2. Lots of lobsters but vis was poor. After this dive we moved onto Monkey Shoals and experienced aquarium like conditions. Lots of surge but big schools of snapper, grunts and squid. Further up the island at Old Road Bay, divers were treated to an African Pompano fly by. As well, divers saw a very active Gold Spotted moray making its way away from the reef and across the sand to the turtle grass. An old anchor sits at about 50 feet in the main reef and is home to a school of High Hats. This anchor still had lots of colourful growth on it and always makes for good photo ops.

We finished our St Kitts tour at Anchors Away and Paradise Reef. The barrel sponges seem to be making a comeback, but at the same time, we’re seeing a lot of algae growth. Schools of barracuda, Creole Wrasse and Blue Chromis filled in the space mid water. We found a few more anchors not typically seen on these dives. Divers enjoyed watching a turtle enjoying a good back scratch under a reef ledge, totally oblivious to the on lookers. Most of the group enjoyed a land tour of St. Kitts while everyone else grabbed a late afternoon dive.

We had a relatively calm crossing to Saba and started the second half of the week at Ladder Labyrinth. After lumch we moved and had a fantastic dive at Diamond Rock. Just a bit of surge to keep us on our toes, but a really relaxing experience all round. Loads of black durgeon, bar jacks and scrawled file fish schooled mid water near the boat. A large hawksbill turtle was found resting under a boulder outside of the grand room and we had a pleasant surprise visit by Spot, our little nurse shark. Divers also had, what one would call, a persistent shark, on the night dive; always popping up from the shadows.

On Thursday we headed to the deep end of the pool for some wall diving on Tedran Wall and Tent Wall. The conditions were poor in the morning but guests had a great dive in the afternoon. Turtles grazing on the wall; lobsters perched in crevices watching us go by; healthy soft corals swaying in the slight current that carried us gently back to the mooring along the top of the wall. Fantastic dive.

A small group of divers opted out of the Saba Land Tour and had a good dive on Tent Reef. Octopus, sharks, all the usual suspects as we say. We finished the week with a final dive back at Tent Reef. A nice way to end a great week with great people.

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; March 24-31, 2018
Destination: St Kitts, Saba, St Maarten
Water Temp: 76F | Visibility: Varied up to 100ft
Sightings: Frog Fish, Eagle Rays, Moray Eels, Turtles, Lettuce Leaf Sea Slugs..

What better way is there to gain diving confidence and experience than boarding a liveaboard for a week and having direct access to knowledgeable and enthusiastic instructors in and out of the water. This week we had the pleasure transforming three novice divers into more confident, self-sufficient, and responsible guardians of the sea.

Diving conditions were varied throughout the week but generally very good. Things kicked off in St Kitts with better than usual visibility at the River Taw and Monkey Shoals as well as two eagle ray sightings.

The great diving continued the next day at Corinthian with a pair of frogfish and yet another eagle ray. We spent the rest of the day working our way North diving, then spending the night at Old Road Bay (one of our favorite sites to spot frogfish).

Day 3 was beautiful diving at Paradise Reef and Anchor's Away. This day we have a fantastic land tour to Brimstone Fortress which overlooks Sandy Point and our day's dive sites. Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the best-preserved historical fortifications in the Americas. The fortress was considered impregnable and blasted their giant 24-pound cannons at harbouring ships, taking advantage of the fortresses 972-foot height. The fortress was known as "The Gibraltar of the Caribbean" and is responsible for the many coral encrusted old-world anchors now grown into the reef at Anchor's Away. Ships would 'cut and run,' which is what we did after the tour. We headed over to Saba and had a smooth and easy crossing.

Saba was beautiful as usual with its dramatic cliffs and varied underwater topography. At Tent Reef, one of the Caribbean's famous underwater sites, we had some wonderful diving with an abundance of reef fish. We then headed over to Big Rock Market and Daves Drop off the following day. On Friday, for our last dives of the week, we dove at popular Diamond Rock. All of the guests loved this site of course!

Overall a great week!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; April 14-21, 2018
Destination: St Maarten, Saba, St Kitts
Water Temp: 76F | Visibility: Varied 50-100ft
Sightings: Frog Fish, Eagle Rays, Moray Eels, Turtles, Nudis, Sharks..

Another lovely week of diving with some fantastic conditions. Saba was calm once again and we had 3 fantastic days of diving. One of the days we were able to spend all 4 dives over at the rock diving Diamond Rock and Man-o-War Shoals all day long. Rarely do the conditions allow us to do this at Saba, but it was flat, clear and no current! Numerous reef sharks, rays, and turtles were spotted as well as many macro subjects such as a rare nudibranch, chain moray eels and much much more. After all that great diving some of the guests enjoyed a land tour of the island before we packed up the boat and made the crossing over to St. Kitts.

The luck we had in Saba stuck with us through to St.Kitts as it was a nice and easy crossing and more great weather upon arrival. We hit up all of the usual spots on the way back Paradise, Anchors Away and Old Road Bay to start, slowly making our way further South. All of the sites were a big hit with guests with lots of lobster, crabs, shrimp and eels being found. One of the guests favorite moments of the trip was when we finally got to dive the wreck of the Corinthian on the very last day. All week long they had been talking about wanting to see a frogfish and now was the chance. We have been lucky enough to have had two frogfish stick around that site for quite some time now. Divemaster Curtis was able to find Tay’s red frogfish right where we left him last week, however our big yellow one proved to be elusive this week. He's been around for a few months - Maybe next week he will be back, we will soon find out!

It was a wonderful week in Paradise!

 

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Caribbean Explorer II; May 19-26, 2018
Destination: St Kitts, Saba, St Maarten
Water Temp: 80F | Visibility: Varied 50-100ft
Sightings: Turtles, Spotted Drums, Flying Gurnards

The weather this week was excellent. Winds were East 10-15kts all week. The seas were 2-3ft with 3ft swells. Water temperature was hovering in the low 80f (27C). Recommend 3 mill wetsuit.

Sites visited this week
St Kitts Sites: River Taw, Ye-Old-Anchor, Bedroom Bay, Corinthia, Old-Road-Bay, Paradise Reef, Anchors Aweigh
Saba Sites: Diamond Rock, Man-o-War, Customs House Deep, Customs House Shallow, Tent Wall, Tent Reef, Ladder Labyrinth, Torrens Point.

7 Guests this week had the pleasure of exploring with the finest dive crew in the West Indies. Chef Sarah lavished the guests with cuisine fit for the royal family. Dive Master Antaya and Dive Master/ Purser Polly guided the guest to underwater sighting of Turtles, Spotted Drums, Flying Gurnards and many other aquatic creatures. Engineer Terance kept the lights on and the tanks full of air and nitrox, While AJ our stew made sure the rooms were comfy and helped the guests on the dive deck in and out of the water. Captain Ernie guided Carribean Explorer II to the finest dive sites in Saba and St Kitts.

Aquatic sightings this week St Kitts: Loggerhead Turtles, Spotted Eels, Flying Gurnards, Nurse Sharks, Juvenile Drums, Slipper Lobsters, Spiney Lobsters, Red Banded Shrimp, Eagle Ray, Sergent Majors, SeaSpider, Basket Stars, Clinging Crabs, Lettuce Leaf Slugs, Basket Stars and Flamingo Tongues. Saba: Reef Sharks, Queen Trigger Fish, Yellow Fin Snapper, Loggerhead Turtle, Wire Coral Shrimp, Spiney Lobsters, Gold Spotted eel, Atlantic Gray Sting Rays,

As we say goodbye to this weeks diver friends, we say hello to new divers and new adventures!

From the Crew of the Caribbean Explorer II

Best Fishes!