St. Kitts, Saba, St. Marteen Dive Trip March 12-19 2016

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Jaydiver

Registered
Messages
42
Reaction score
3
Location
Brooklyn NY
# of dives
200 - 499
My 8th liveaboard and it was great. The crew of the Caribbean Explorer II were exceptional, serious divers that really knew the dive sites, its special features and territorial hideouts of unique fish or other creatures. Needless to say that the crew were a lot of fun and always engaging.
The Nitrox % was constant throughout the trip, good accommodations. The tanks were being filled as the wet suits were coming off. The food was very good, plentiful, varied and several people had special dietary needs and all were gracefully accommodated. Warm snacks between dives. Fresh fruit and drinks were always available. A few people were taking advanced classes and the instructors fit the lessons in with the dives seamlessly. Really good instructors.
We had very good weather. Many of the dives had turtles, we had a few dives with reef/nurse sharks. The dives sites chosen around Saba and St.Kitts were full of beautiful Caribbean fish and coral. The boat hold 18 guests, we were 11, 3 were traveling alone.
The crew and guests can make or break the week, this crew made the week great. Looking to book another.
 
Sounds like a fine trip; hope to do it someday. You were obviously pleased with the crew and operation.

How did the region/itinerary/diving stack up to your other 7 trips? I'm guessing you've hit a range of places, so I'm asking to inform those of us always thinking ahead to that hoped for next trip.

Instead of diving one region in depth, this lived-aboard hits 3 different ones. About how many dives were done at each of the 3?

Richard.
 
I miss Saba. I would highly recommend going to Saba (not just diving). Nothing like staying in Windwardside. Great climbing Mt. Scenery. Loved the people and diving.
 
The way that they run the itinerary is that one week the boat leaves out of St. Kitts you dive around St. Kitts, then you dive the rest of the week around Saba. On Friday at 1 PM after the last dive, the boat drives 2 1/2 hours to St. Marteen, Friday dinner on St. Marteen and fly home from St. Marteen. The following week the route is reversed, you leave St Marteen on Saturday for Saba, dive Saba then St. Kitts. So you land on one island and depart from another. There are no dives around St. Marteen. The company web site has the exact itinerary http://explorerventures.com/index.php/northern-caribbean-itinerary.
The coral seemed to be in good shape and there are not a lot of liveaboards in that area, there are several day boats but not a lot of traffic, nice and quiet.
For our trip, 15 dives on St. Kitts and 12 on Saba.
 
Very interesting. I'd assumed they did at least a couple of dives at St. Martin, but no go, huh? Wonder how the diving at St. Kitt's compares to other Caribbean destinations? I take it the sheer # of dives/week, and hitting 2 separate islands, is a draw for doing this live-aboard vs. a land-based Saba dive op.

Richard.
 
I was on that exact same trip and boat at the end of January this year. Amazing diving, lots of turtles and stingrays. They showed us where the frogfish and seahorses were and were a great crew. We had 14+4 from the USA. The food was phenomenal considering what they had to work with. Not sure if you went into the galley or not. The crew of Chelle, JT, Rob, Rob, Tuna and Terrence were fantastic. Great bunch. Certainly worth your while to go check out the diving there with explorer ventures on the CEII :)

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Thanks for the great report!

We did this trip a number of years ago and I remember it as a great experience and a good bargain for a liveaboard. I really like that we had a chance to enjoy time on 3 islands. And the sea mount diving around Saba was a beautiful and unique experience.

Another unique experience, we got off the boat and stayed on Saba for a few days instead of sailing back to St. Martin. Saba is almost vertical and the runway if very short, so the Otter airplane races straight toward the sea as you take off - quite a thrill!
 
I made this trip in July of 2014. It was my first liveaboard so I didn't really know what to expect. It was a wonderful experience. There were 12 in our group and 2 sets of 2 traveling alone. The crew and other guests were great. I was able to get able to get some additional certifications on this trip. I was very nervous about my first night dive but it was great. The reefs were in pretty decent shape and I saw my first frog fish. I would definitely recommend this liveaboard.
 
I was on that exact same trip and boat at the end of January this year. Amazing diving, lots of turtles and stingrays. They showed us where the frogfish and seahorses were and were a great crew. We had 14+4 from the USA. The food was phenomenal considering what they had to work with. Not sure if you went into the galley or not. The crew of Chelle, JT, Rob, Rob, Tuna and Terrence were fantastic. Great bunch. Certainly worth your while to go check out the diving there with explorer ventures on the CEII :)

group.jpg
We had Chelle (DM, inst.), JT (DM,inst.), Rob (DM, inst, purser), Terrance(engineer), Cathy (chef), and Bob (captain). Great fun, great crew.
 
Cathy is the regular chef I believe. Tuna took over when she was away. Captain Rob has been away so you might have had a different one as well. Great time!
 

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