explorer ventures

[donhealy]

I am also on the T&C II this June. Are you on the June 11-18 trip?

Don

 

[pndldy]

We have been on the boat 2 times, had a great time!

 

[DougieIL]

We went on Caribbean Explorer II on the May 14-21, 2011 trip starting from St Kitts and ending at St Martin. To begin, I have dived Nekton and Peter Hughes and several land based trips and only in the Caribbean but I have enough trips to compare for this one. In general, I prefer liveaboards to land based. The boat will hold 18 passengers and that week we had only 12. So plenty of space on the dive deck which was comparable to both of the other lines. The rooms are very small and had extremely limited storage comparitively, but not uncomfortable. The point here is pack as little as possible because there is no place to put more than you absolutely need. The crew was among the best I ever encountered. Very professional and very helpful in every aspect of the trip. The food was above average but not spectacular. The bar is stocked well and included in your trip. Usual rules apply, first drink is last dive. They were very careful to monitor each dive and each divers profile. Every dive ended with a report to the captain of your depth and remaining air. The dive sites were very nice. Lots to see and in very good shape. The Dive masters who led dives were total pros. No hot dogging and nice and slow. The only thing to note here is this itinerary includes MOSTLY diving that I would consider to be too challenging for new divers. The dives are, in general, deeper and the current heavier than most other places I have been. On that note, St Croix, Bonnaire, Curacao, Belize, Cayman and now Saba St Kitts and St Martin. If you have plenty of dives and are very compfortable with most conditions, go for it. If you are a beginner and have not dealt with rough surface, or challening current. Choose somewhere else first. I refer to challenging current from a Caribbean perspective knowing that it is nothing compared to current in other parts of the world. I will note that we (the entire group) ended only two dives early due to rough conditions and changed sites each time. The crew cannot know conditions of a site until we get there and were quick to accomodate when we wanted a change of location. Overall, I would grade this trip a B but give the crew an A and would recommend the trip provided you are an accomplished diver. I will return and do business again with Explorer. I am presently looking at Turks and Caicos and would really appreciate a dive difficulty review for that from someone. My buddy is a beginner and found most of Saba St Kitts to be quite tough. The only real complaint I have is the reason I wrote this in the first place. Their site is good but does a lame job describing the actual diving on the itinerary from a difficulty perspective. As a contrast, I would say Curacao which was land based, and Belize which was a Peter Hughes boat had conditions suted for everyone. Easy diving, not very deep, and totally beautiful. I hope you find this helpful. I have found that contributers to this site are usually dead-on with their advice. Thanks!
Doug

 

[jameseg]

I am presently looking at Turks and Caicos and would really appreciate a dive difficulty review for that from someone. Doug

Doug, my wife and I did the T&C trip with Explorer Ventures in April of this year. I would describe the diving as fairly easy, although they do tend to be deep. We generally hit 80'+ on 4 of the 5 dives of the day (not the night dives). The first dive of the day was generally to about 100'. That having been said, there was plenty to look at at 50' to 65', so you could stay shallower if you wanted to.

We only had an issue with current at one site off West Caicos, and even then it was pretty minor. On the first dive, we went south down the wall, against the current (which I didn't really notice at the time). Got back to the boat fine. On the second dive at the same location, we went north up the wall, with the current. On the way back to the boat I mis-judged where we were due to the difference in speed north vs south so we came up maybe 150 yards short of the boat, which meant a bit of a surface swim. Not a big deal, and that was the only time we noticed any current at all.

We had some wave action at French Key, which is in unprotected waters, but not enough to stop us from diving or to make anyone sick. West Caicos dive sites are protected from wind by the West Caicos land mass. Our captain, Ken, actually reversed the normal itinerary to make sure we were at protected sites when the wind was at its peak.

Finding the boat after the dive is generally quite easy, as almost every dive is a wall dive. However, it is important to know that the boat swings 180 degrees on the mooring, which means that the stern could be as far as 240' away from where you think it should be, and well out of sight. It always swings back within a few minutes, so as long as you understand what's happening, it's fine. I'd recommend heading to the surface with an extra 200 psi beyond what you normally would want in case you just miss the boat as it swings around (it moves pretty quickly).

The trip itself was amazing. Our first liveaboard, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but suffice it to say that we will be doing a liveaboard again in the future, and definitely with EV if they have a boat at whatever location we decide upon. The crew was fantastic and the diving was the best I've done.

Hope that helps,
James

 

[conradb212]

Doug, I did both the Caribbean Explorer (St. Kitts/Saba/St. Maarten) and the Turks & Caicos Explorer. The short story: If you like the Caribbean Explorer and itinerary, you'll like the Turks & Caicos Explorer and diving even better. The boat is larger and more spacious, and the diving easier and less challenging.

I did a detailed trip review (see Liveaboard Review: Turks & Caicos Explorer II) as well as a general description of The Liveaboard Experience on the same trip, and then another one specifically on the sharks we saw on the T&C Explorer trip (see Sharks, Finally).

 

[WOODMAN]

However, it is important to know that the boat swings 180 degrees on the mooring, which means that the stern could be as far as 240' away from where you think it should be, and well out of sight.

That is the gospel truth. It was a source of amusement to many to swim up to the hang bar and grab on, and then ride with the boat as it swept you back and forth. This does make spotting the boat on your return along the wall somewhat problematical, as it is only visible when passing overhead, and is easily missed. I speak from experience..:blush:, and I have never seen another boat that does this. We came up with a simple solution to this. We took an empty 2 liter pop bottle and tied a 6 foot length of cord to it's neck. We tied the other end to a dive weight, and simply positioned the weight on a dead spot on top of the wall in line with the boat. The bottle floated up as a marker, and was almost impossible to miss on your return swim. Lo tech, but effective. Woody

 

[NCDiver]

Pleased to hear how well divers liked the T&C EV trip. We are going October 22 - 29 and really looking forward to it. I have 2 spots left if anyone is interested. Our package includes a $500 discount and free nitrox.