T & C Aggressor, Oct 12, 2013

[richhagelin]

Just booked the T & C Aggressor for Oct 12. What hints do you have for a first time liveaboard trip. What to make sure to bring, what to make sure to leave behind, etc, etc.

My normal trip is 7-10 days in Cozumel staying in a hotel on the island and boat dives with my favorite operators. What's different in terms of preparing for a liveaboard vs that kind of trip?

Thanks,

Rich Hagelin

 

[Rand]

I haven't done the T&C Aggressor, but I've been on several other liveaboards, 3 were Dancer Fleet or Aggressor boats.

As for what to bring, the general consensus is to pick out what you think you need and take half of that.

For clothing, I usually bring the following:
3 T shirts, 3 underwear, 3 swimsuits, 2 athletic shorts, 2 pairs socks, 2 sleepwear, 2 UnderArmor shirts, 1 sweatshirt, 1 wind pants, 1 rain coat, 1 hat

Don't forget your C-card and nitrox card.

Leave behind the fancy clothes. You don't need to dress up at anytime on the boat. Everyone else will be in a swimsuit or shirt and t-shirt. They provide towels too, so leave those at home. The three other Aggressor/Dancer boats I was on had liquid soap, shampoo, and conditioner in the showers, so you might be able to get away without bringing those, if you are willing to use what they provide.

I tend to get a bit congested mid-week due to all the diving and always bring a nasal saline rinse that I use daily. I haven't missed a dive since using it. I also bring 12 hr Sudafed. Bring seasickness meds if you are even remotely prone to getting sick. The crossings can get choppy sometimes.

You will be in your swimsuit most of the time. I change into a dry one before lunch and before the night dive. You will be in a T-shirt/shorts for a very limited time, usually just for dinner. Sometimes the salon gets cold at night, so I wear the windpants and sweatshirt then. I rotate the t-shirts throughout the week and since you aren't in them long, they don't get dirty or smelly. I store my footwear once on board and go barefoot all week.

You will have limited storage space for your luggage. Softsided luggage will definitely fit under the bed, but we've had good luck so far with our hard sided roller bags fitting under the bed too. The rooms have a small closet that I was able to fit a Pelican 1650 in too.

One thing I found really useful was picking up a few plastic clamps at Home Depot/Lowes. They are commonly used to temporarily hold pieces of wood together if you were gluing them or something. The ones I got were about 4-5" long. You use them to clamp your wet swimwear to the railing on the sun deck so it doesn't blow over when drying. Everyone wanted ours. They work great.

Another good thing to bring are lycra dive socks. Doing up to 27 dives in a week, you will find the backs of your ankles will get rubbed raw, and that is with open foot fins and dive boots. I'd assume it is doubly true for closed heel fins. One pair per person is sufficient.

I also bring a bandana to keep my head from getting sunburned. Even while underwater you can get sunburn.

A power strip is a good idea, especially if you have a lot of camera/lighting batteries to keep charged. I also bring a headlamp so I can work on the cameras if my wife is sleeping. Also, bring disposable batteries if you need them. The boat has common sizes, but they are expensive.

For gear, obviously the usually dive kit. I also bring a spare mask, spare hoses, SPG, tool kit, spare batteries for everything that uses them, first aid kit, etc. Some people bring multiple wetsuits. I check the temperatures and usually bring either a 3 or 5mm depending on the season, and a vest to augment it. The liveaboards usually want you to have an SMB and whistle or dive alert with you on all dives. Check the Know Before You Go PDF for specifics.

As for the difference in preparing for a land based vs. liveaboard, it is not much different. You will set up your gear one time on the liveaboard and they fill your tanks from your tank's spot on the dive deck. You will have a basket under your seat for storing smaller items like defog, lights, masks, fins, etc. Be prepared to be pampered. Hot towels after the dives, snacks after the dives, great food, total relaxation. You will spend most of the time in the salon or sun deck between dives. You are in your room very little.

Don't forget to prepare to pay for the extras that aren't included in the charter price. Check the Know Before You Go PDF for your destination to find out about any port charges, nitrox, or fuel surcharges. And don't forget to tip the crew. All of these charges can be paid by cash or credit card.

Enjoy the trip and feel free to ask or PM me if there is something specific you want to know. And post a trip report when you get back.

 

[Hintermann]

Best crew that I have ever been with. The cabins are a bit resctricted for storage space but that's the only slight annoyance. Great diving, lots of sharks ( we in excess of 100 duing the week in May 2011), great coral and critters.
If you have any gear problems, the crew are very good in helping to sort it out. While I was with them, they sorted out a dodgy strobe, sewed-up my torn dive bag and gave me a replacement O-ring when mine bust.

 

[ptn72]

- If you plan to dive at night, bring two lights. Each person is required to have one light, camera/camcorder light counts as one. You and your dive buddy are required to have one backup light. This is a requirement in T & C Explorer. I'm not sure if Aggressor has the same policy so you may want to check with their office.
- Bring your old mask defog. The boat provided defog solution but it didn't work well for me and my wife so we used our own, Sea Gold. It worked really well and kept our masks clear
- My wife and I carried a small laundry detergent powder in a ziplock bag. We washed our swim clothes in bathroom sink every night. By doing this, we always have two clean sets of swim clothes for the next day.
- Q-tips and ear drying solution.
- If you have to use a lot of AA or AAA batteries for your strobes and lights, try to bring rechargable batteries. The island is not good at recycling yet and they burn their trash so it's good for the environment if they don't burn batteries.
- T & C has a lot of taxes so be prepared when you see your final bill

 

[large_diver]

Hi Rich,

You will have a great time - we were on the T&C Aggressor last August and loved it. As far as advice, pretty much what others have said = 3 bathing suits and enough t-shirts for a week. I didn't wear shoes for the entire week...some liked to have crocs or flip flops while on board. Bring lights even if not night diving. On the first dive of the day, we often found ourselves in the shade of the wall - a good light was great to have to be able to see in the nooks and crannies. On our trip there didn't seem to be any requirements re: back-up lights on night dives, although both my buddy and I had a total of at least 3 lights between the two of us on any one dive. If you are bringing camera, have at least 2 re-chargeable batteries so one can re-charge while you are using the other. Also make sure you have enough picture/video storage capacity.

Other ideas: sunglasses, sunscreen, some books if you like to read, cash for tips (although you can charge tips as well), a good hat, a spare mask and whatever you usually have in your "save a dive" kit (for me that is the back-up mask, extra pair of fins straps, extra mask strap, some zip ties and bungie, etc.).

Have a great time!

Chris

 

[Shasta_man]

If night diving, always bring a backup light, of your very own, regardless of boat policy.

 

[Doubler]

You are in the water a lot so we bring 4 swimsuits. After each dive, shower on the back of the boat in the warm water shower, wash your suit at the same time. Change into a dry suit and tie the wet one to the rail. Rechargeable Lithuim batteries are very useful and you can get a great deal at Costco on batteries and chargers. Bring orings for your regulator hoses low and high pressure, orings for your pressure gauge spindle, battery and oring for your computer, and backup computer. You don't need a lot of clothes tees and shorts all week long.

 

[large_diver]

Another idea - check your computer battery...and if you haven't changed it in some time, perhaps now is the time

 

[parrotheaddiver]

I have some friends that are going to be on the boat the same week as you. They have been on this particular boat many times...they will show you the ropes have a great trip....you will love the boat and the crew

 

[suzbo]

Rich, I'll be on the boat with you! I think there are 6 of us in our "group," coming from all over. Four of us have been on this boat before, one is also doing his first liveaboard though. (don't know the last guy). This boat has the BEST crew of any boat I've ever been on. (wait... maybe not better than the Nai'a in Fiji...) Crew are Brits and Americans, usually. The captain is just a great person, but she runs a very efficient ship. The engineer is her husband, and he will just be coming off a long recovery from a very badly broken leg... if the doctor clears him, that is!

Anyway, not a lot to add to what others have said, but of course I'll add a few things:

unless things have changed, BYOB if you want hard liquor/mixed drinks. They provide wine every night at dinner, and beer and soda are yours free at any time. But if you want a Gin & Tonic, or Rum and Coke, or something else, visit a liquor store before you get on the boat. We always then just donate any leftovers to the boat's supply. (why did I start my tips off with alcohol??)

If you need to charge batteries, there, is, in fact a charging station in a little room off the dive deck. Intended primarily for the UW photogs, there is still plenty of room for me to slip in and charge my phone, or the batteries for my puny point-and-shoot land camera. Lots of power strips there, so you can probably leave yours at home, if you want.

There are DVD players in each cabin, as well as for the big flat screen in the main lounge. I never care about this, as I read about 2 pages in my book after my head hits the pillow, then conk out. But some people like to bring movies to watch in the evenings.

They have shampoo and conditioner dispensers both in the shower in your room, and at the freshwater shower on the swim platform on the stern. If you're not fussy about the brand, you shouldn't need to bring any of your own.

Soft-sided luggage is best, and you should try to slide it under the bottom bunk of your cabin, but the crew WILL take it away and store it for the week, if you really don't have room.

Dinner is a sit-down meal, breakfast and lunch are served buffet style. There is a small refrigerator in the salon, stocked with I'm-not-sure-what, I know yogurt, and leftover desserts from the night before. It's free game if you're hungry, but they leave candies on your bed morning and afternoon, plus there's usually a jar of cookies in the salon, and they serve platters of snacks both morning and afternoon between dives, so I can't imagine being hungry. Help yourself to coffee, cold cereals, and bagels in the morning, if you can't wait for the cooked breakfast. They will greet you with warm towels at the end of every dive, but you're not allowed to be in the main salon with anything wet, so you have to leave the towels on the dive deck, and change out of your wet swimsuit if you want to sit in the lounge inside (yet another reason to bring multiple swimsuits!)

DO bring something for motion sickness, as there can be some rough crossings between islands. What else? It's pretty much eat, dive, eat dive, eat, relax in the sun, dive, eat, dive, eat...

See you on the boat!