Trip report Caribbean Explorer I Bahamas 26 Jan-2 Feb 08

[DiverDave65]

A quick report tonight in case anyone needs data.

Just got back from a week on the Carib Exp I out of Georgetown (GGT) on Exuma. FABULOUS LIVE-ABOARD!!! Many thanks to guys like Dandy Don for their info.

WE dove Long Island, Concepcion and San Salvador. Long island dives were shallow and boring, mostly a warmup and equipment checkout for us. All other dives were terrific..mostly great wall dives in near-perfect vis (100-140 ft). Saw numerous reef sharks and hammerheads and great shark photo op on the shark reef shallow dive at the end of the trip back near Long Island.

The boat is super and the crew is outstanding in every way. Can't say enough positive things about them...a huge help to all of us every day. Bonus deal....the boat only had 9 client divers on board my week so we all got cabins to ourselves....very nice!!

All the facilities on the boat are super and the food was great. Geoff the chef did an amazing job.

Air and water temps are somewhat cool this time of year.....I brought a 3/2 mm and a Tilos 7/5 mm and a hood. Used the hood on all dives (3mm) and was happy to have it. Most other divers were using some kind of hood. I wish I had brought my hooded vest instead of the 7/5, and debated it with myself before I left, then made the wrong decision!! The 3/2 seemed OK some days, but by dive 3 or 4 I was frequently chilly and surface temps in the high 60's and low 70's didn't help. Most everyone was wearing some kind of hooded vest by the end of the week, and my 7/5 was almost TOO WARM (had to flush it a lot to stay cool). I think a 3 mm and a hooded vest would cover it for most folks.

I also brought some warm clothes for the evening....waterproof nylon running pants and nylon jacket and cotton hoody for the evening. Chilly at night!! (Thanks again Dandy Don!!!!)

I have been all over the world diving and this was some of the best I have ever done. It was like a National Geographic experience every day.

I dove on Nitrox all week for another $150. Seemed well worth it as I made multiple deep dives every day. All the staff dove on Nitrox.

I may think of some more stuff tomorrow but hope this helps someone who is making a decision. I would recommend this trip to anyone, but you should probably be a somewhat experienced diver.

PM me if you have more questions.

I have some great pics but need to compress them for this site....I will do it later

 

[robint]

Very nice report. YOu should post this down on the Liveaboards Forum also. Lots of discussions going on there about different vessels. Its nice to see reports from all the boats, not just one or two. Glad you had a great trip. I am jealous you saw hammerheads! Where are the pics???

robin

 

[Backwoods]

Hey-I was there with Dave and can vouch for what he says-this boat has an excellent crew and treated us like kings while we were with them. They will be a hard act to follow.I dove a 3 mil suit with no hood the whole week and found it no problem but we are from farther north then Dave so it all felt hot to us.

 

[kjscpc2]

I'll be there in 36 days. can't wait. thanks for the report.

 

[Tavi]

Great Report. I hope you got some pics of the Hammerheads??

Hammerheads are still on my must see list!!

 

[robint]

Diverdave65,
Did you get any more photos loaded yet? I really want to see more!

Did they tell you anything about the hammerheads? Is wintertime the best time to see them in that area? I have seen several trip reports lately for the boat/itinerary but they have all been winter trips. Just wondering.

robin
2 months til my next liveaboard trip!

 

[DiverDave65]

OK OK....here are my only hammerhead pics...they are not very good; in fact I can't prove to you that this is a hammerhead, but it was. Kind of late in the day on the last afternoon dive, getting dark and a bit spooky, to tell you the truth. My camera didn't handle the low light very well....maybe someone else on the boat got a better pic and can publish it here.

I have no idea when the best time of year to see them is....we didn't see many during the week, in fact I only saw two the whole time. Some days other divers on the same dive saw them when I did not, we weren't always all together.

There are many sites where the dive leaders briefed us that we MIGHT see them or they had been spotted at that particular location on recent dives.

Mostly we saw Caribbean reef sharks....they are apparently quite common.

Who knows??

If anyone is a whiz with enhancing these digital pics, I can send you the bigger file and let you play with it....might bring out the hammerhead profile better...I had to reduce these for this webiste.