Help with comparisons on 3 Carib sites

[farsidefan1]

I have 3 places in the Carib I have yet to dive. Saba, The Provos, and Cayman. For those that have been to them could you please share with my the strong points of each? I don't care about the night life, just the pure diving. I stay at either a land based resort or live aboard. Also how does the Explorer compare to the Aggressor boats? I've done the Aggressor and LOVED it. But they don't service all those areas. Thanks,

 

[slingshot]

Funny, I'm set to do an Aggressor trip this year, having done the Caribbean Explorer II this past year on their Saba/St.Kitts itinerary. I really enjoyed the trip, and posted a report somewhere on this board. I thought Explorer Ventures did a great job. The diving off Saba was a highlight, as was touring the island, which is topologically very interesting both on shore and off shore. If you stay land based, you should look into the flight onto Saba, as it looks amusing. I also enjoyed the visit to the fortress on St. Kitts, which is largely restored, and intriguing as well as historically colorful. Have fun choosing.

 

[volvorules]

I was aboard the CEXII for the St. Kitts-Saba itinerary at the end of Nov. 2011. What a wonderful adventure it was! My first liveaboard, and it was just amazing. Great weather, diving, and crew. The boat was awesome, never had any issues whatsoever. Diving in Saba was awesome, we saw so many awesome creatures and had very little current to contend with. I would highly recommend Explorer Ventures. Here's a link to just some of the pics I took on the trip:

Liveaboard Nov 2011 | Facebook

Good luck with your decision!

Rob

 

[Layla]

I've done all three, rank in this order:

1) Saba/ Statia - Caribbean Explorer II
2) T&C - T&C Explorer
3) Grand Cayman - land based

T&CX is way nicer than CEII
Saba - far better then T&C

 

[farsidefan1]

Good info, thanks, and thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[diversteve]

Here's a T/C Explorer trip report from Mike Southard - not me - although we did it last year.

Saudio's Trip Reports

If you want to see larger pelagics this is the trip - at French Cay we saw sharks, rays, turtles, on every single dive over two days. I filmed several reef sharks for almost one entire dive - when one would leave another would soon appear. Including one small nurse shark that hovered near the boat - I saw him several times over two days. So many stingrays it was boring and lots of small macro life near most of the larger coral heads - just under the boat in some cases. Saw the biggest Eagle Ray I've ever seen go flying overhead one night - it must've been 15' across. At some sites they regularly see dolphins and there's some huge grouper somewhere near West Caicos - we didn't see them. Most of the dives the boat moors just off the wall so a short swim takes you to the drop. It's just coral on coral for a long way down. We had a guy on our boat shooting housed Nikons - some of the macro stuff he shot was amazing.

We saw the Aggressor several times during the week also as we moved between moorings. the Explorer has an extra deck and seemed to be slightly bigger. Also the Explorer has twin/queen beds not stacked bunks in every room. (except maybe the cheaper cabins downstairs) Good crew, helpful, always willing to DM but left us alone to do our own thing - I like that. Except for one newer diver most of the people on our boat were pretty experienced.

I dove Grand Cayman in 2005 - did many of the best NW sites. This was better. Of course that's the Aggressor only. I've read that they don't always make the crossing between all 3 islands depending on conditions. So you might find out when the optimal times are.

 

[robint]

I have not done any of those, but have talked with several people who have.
All 3 liveaboards get great diving reviews.

I was told by someone not to go to Saba land-based, it is too much of a hassle to and from, and you waste too much time. The diving by the guy who went land-based is very hard to please. He said the diving was good. The best diving he did in Carib was from Cayman Brac, he says, and is only place in Carib he would return.

Several people I know have done the Cayman Aggressor and absolutely love it.

A few friends have done Little Cayman Resort and feel the say way about it. I have been discouraged from going to Grand Cayman due to tourists and too many newbie divers.

I don't know anyone personally who has done the T&C Aggressor or Explorer boats, but I have read several reviews. All enjoyed them, but I don't know if they are any better than Cayman Aggressor as from what I read all the dive sites for T&C are very similar, Caymans gets you more variety.

As I have said, I haven't done any of the 3, but would love to do them! They all sound fantastic. And if given the choice... I would do them from a liveaboard, not land-based.

robin