I've been on Explorer Ventures boats 3 times -- one of them being the Saba/St.Kitts/Statia trip. They are a total class act, you will have a fabulous time. The crews have all been very attentive and they work day and night to serve you and keep the boat cleaned and maintained. I would not hesitate to recommend them.
As to the diving, yes, it is different from other Caribbean destinations in several ways. That part of the Caribbean receives quite a bit of rain, so the water can be a bit lower in visibility than some places I've been. Say, 50 ft. visibility sometimes instead of the 100ft. you'll see in Cozumel/Belize/Cayman. If I remember correctly the Bay Islands vis is similar. The location you are going to certainly has plenty of great dives with lots of fish and coral, but they are not known for large animal sightings. we saw a few sea turtles, but just a small nurse shark or two. If you are really into large pelagics, this is probably not the destination, you should look at their Turks and Caicos or Bahamas trips, you'll see quite a few sharks on those trips.
To me, one of the main features of the Saba/St.Kitts/Statia trip is the topography. The islands there are breathtaking; in particular, Saba is truly one of the unique places on the planet. I understand you want to dive, dive, dive, but if you would give up 1 afternoon dive on at least 1 day to go to the top of Saba, you won't regret it.
Did you ever see the original King Kong (Japanese version) where they showed the island Kong came from - a v-shaped pinnacle of a mount rising out of the water and shrouded by clouds? That's Saba. They also have the scariest short island runway on the planet. The start and end are right at the water's edge.
Update: I just reviewed my dive log for that trip: We saw lots of tiny critters and some southern rays; a few interesting nudibranches, tunicates, frog fish, large schools of Jacks, one eagle ray sighting, one nurse shark. I think the most interesting dive we did was a night dive at Statia where we saw dozens of porcupine fish underneath a ledge. Must've been mating season or something, I have never before or since seen so many of these guys in one place.
We did dive the pinnacle mentioned by one of the other posters and for us, it was a waste of time. 120 ft. dive for less than 10 minutes and then back up for safety stops; saw nothing but blue water. I understand sometimes they see black tips or hammerheads there, but not for us. If you are a member of undercurrent.org they have lots of diver reports on this itinerary; apparently the pinnacle is pretty hit and miss for large animals - given the choice I would skip that dive and save my nitrogen loading for something with fish on it. Of course, I feel the Blue Hole in Belize is a total waste of time too - a lot of people would disagree with me on that.
JP
