Freerolling
Registered
My dive buddies, Brett and Dave, and I just got off the boat today. Dave has been on several of these, but The Cayman Aggressor was the first live-aboard for Brett and me, and we've practically vowed to make it our first choice in diving from here on out whenever possible.
The Cayman Aggressor went through refitting a little over a year ago, so any criticism that the boat is not in good shape is simply out of date information. The boat was in great shape.
The crew was incredibly attentive and extremely proficient in operating the vessel, managing dives, keeping everyone happy and well-fed, etc. etc. Capt. John runs a truly professional operation and makes sure that everyone has a great time.
Brett and I took Advanced Open Water and Nitrox courses on board, which turned out to be a great way to learn and dive beautiful sites at the same time. Our instructors were Cassie and Samantha. Both gals were very thorough...no cutting corners! We learned a lot from them and recommend the live-aboard as a great place to accumulate certified experience.
Meals were superlative. Always something good to eat when you come up from the deep. Yannis had a great meal plan...from steaks, fish, and buffalo wings to pizza. Lots of great snacks. You will not starve on this boat, because the woman can cook! Oh yeah, they'll pump you full of great deserts too. And if you get hungry at odd times, you can always raid the cookie jar.
Jeremy and Henri were great dive leaders as well, and both were just as accessible for diving advice and instruction as Samantha and Cassie. All of these folks treat you with first class service, and they work really well together to make the whole operation one of the smoothest experiences you could have. Having a really cool crew that works well together has got to be key to making these such great trips!
The dive sites themselves are the main attraction. We got our fill of just about everything you want to see in the Cayman's. Most of our time was spent on Little Cayman after a nice high sea adventure across the open ocean from Grand Cayman after two dives on the larger island (including Stingray City). Don't be bashful about the dramamine patch. If you happen to catch one of these transits where the winds are creating sizeable swells, you will be glad you took the precaution. You'll get a good night sleep and be ready to dive first thing in the morning. Little Cayman has the some of the best wall diving in the world. You practically parachute descend through the water to swim throughs and chimneys that are accessible at many depths. Sea life was abundant, including lots of turtles; rays on every sand patch; the occassional nurse and reef shark; grouper that will let you pet them; more fish than I can identify, etc etc. You'll lose count. The wreck dive on Cayman Brac was really cool too with an easy penetration route through part of the wreck that has multiple direct access points to egress through if you get the creeps.
Brett and I took to rating our night dives based on a number of anticipated sightings. Things like "lobsters in the open" were good for multiple points, while "lobsters concealed" were only good for one point. Octopus sightings were three point occurrences, and we got to see at least four this week. Samantha managed to shake hands with one friendly octopus, but I'm not sure how intentional that was!
A night time shark sighting was worth 10 points in its own right, and the ultimate prize was to witness an "eating event", a 20 pointer that we almost got when an octopus got some tentacles around an eel. Unfortunately, this only turned out to be a taste test, so we could only give it partial credit. Needless to say, we had some 25 - 30 point night dives on our own, and if we scored the entire group's experiences, I think we'd have seen scores above 35 or 40 on every night dive, so I doubt anyone reading this who goes on this live-aboard will disappointed.
The only thing to caution folks on would be to pay attention to the crew when they talk about blowing a lot of bubbles when you come up from your night dives at the back of the boat. You really need to look up and witness the sea wasps (jellyfish type creatures) that gather in the light of the boat to understand why its good to scatter those little bastards with some good blasts from your alternate air source to keep from getting stung. I saw them on every night dive and I never got stung, because I always blew them away with a couple of good shots of air.
The trip ends way too soon. Getting off the boat to go home is the only bad thing about the Cayman Aggressor trip. I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone who's into diving. You get a lot of dives for your money, 25 on our trip, and the "eat, sleep, and dive" motto is taken very seriously. It's got to be one of the most cost effective ways to dive. We were so stoked about this live-aboard trip that we've already determined our next live aboard adventure for next year's vacation. Heading to the Pacific next time for the Kona Aggressor!
Water was always 80 degrees, and a 3mm wetsuit was plenty of warmth for Brett and Dave. I usually went out with a 3mm shorty and was just fine during the day, however, a little more is needed at night, since it will be your fifth dive of the day and you tend to get a little chilled by then.
I hope anyone that reads this has as good a time on the Cayman Aggressor as we did! If you're going soon, tell the crew that I identified above that Tim, Brett and Dave said hi!
The Cayman Aggressor went through refitting a little over a year ago, so any criticism that the boat is not in good shape is simply out of date information. The boat was in great shape.
The crew was incredibly attentive and extremely proficient in operating the vessel, managing dives, keeping everyone happy and well-fed, etc. etc. Capt. John runs a truly professional operation and makes sure that everyone has a great time.
Brett and I took Advanced Open Water and Nitrox courses on board, which turned out to be a great way to learn and dive beautiful sites at the same time. Our instructors were Cassie and Samantha. Both gals were very thorough...no cutting corners! We learned a lot from them and recommend the live-aboard as a great place to accumulate certified experience.
Meals were superlative. Always something good to eat when you come up from the deep. Yannis had a great meal plan...from steaks, fish, and buffalo wings to pizza. Lots of great snacks. You will not starve on this boat, because the woman can cook! Oh yeah, they'll pump you full of great deserts too. And if you get hungry at odd times, you can always raid the cookie jar.
Jeremy and Henri were great dive leaders as well, and both were just as accessible for diving advice and instruction as Samantha and Cassie. All of these folks treat you with first class service, and they work really well together to make the whole operation one of the smoothest experiences you could have. Having a really cool crew that works well together has got to be key to making these such great trips!
The dive sites themselves are the main attraction. We got our fill of just about everything you want to see in the Cayman's. Most of our time was spent on Little Cayman after a nice high sea adventure across the open ocean from Grand Cayman after two dives on the larger island (including Stingray City). Don't be bashful about the dramamine patch. If you happen to catch one of these transits where the winds are creating sizeable swells, you will be glad you took the precaution. You'll get a good night sleep and be ready to dive first thing in the morning. Little Cayman has the some of the best wall diving in the world. You practically parachute descend through the water to swim throughs and chimneys that are accessible at many depths. Sea life was abundant, including lots of turtles; rays on every sand patch; the occassional nurse and reef shark; grouper that will let you pet them; more fish than I can identify, etc etc. You'll lose count. The wreck dive on Cayman Brac was really cool too with an easy penetration route through part of the wreck that has multiple direct access points to egress through if you get the creeps.
Brett and I took to rating our night dives based on a number of anticipated sightings. Things like "lobsters in the open" were good for multiple points, while "lobsters concealed" were only good for one point. Octopus sightings were three point occurrences, and we got to see at least four this week. Samantha managed to shake hands with one friendly octopus, but I'm not sure how intentional that was!
A night time shark sighting was worth 10 points in its own right, and the ultimate prize was to witness an "eating event", a 20 pointer that we almost got when an octopus got some tentacles around an eel. Unfortunately, this only turned out to be a taste test, so we could only give it partial credit. Needless to say, we had some 25 - 30 point night dives on our own, and if we scored the entire group's experiences, I think we'd have seen scores above 35 or 40 on every night dive, so I doubt anyone reading this who goes on this live-aboard will disappointed.The only thing to caution folks on would be to pay attention to the crew when they talk about blowing a lot of bubbles when you come up from your night dives at the back of the boat. You really need to look up and witness the sea wasps (jellyfish type creatures) that gather in the light of the boat to understand why its good to scatter those little bastards with some good blasts from your alternate air source to keep from getting stung. I saw them on every night dive and I never got stung, because I always blew them away with a couple of good shots of air.
The trip ends way too soon. Getting off the boat to go home is the only bad thing about the Cayman Aggressor trip. I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone who's into diving. You get a lot of dives for your money, 25 on our trip, and the "eat, sleep, and dive" motto is taken very seriously. It's got to be one of the most cost effective ways to dive. We were so stoked about this live-aboard trip that we've already determined our next live aboard adventure for next year's vacation. Heading to the Pacific next time for the Kona Aggressor!
Water was always 80 degrees, and a 3mm wetsuit was plenty of warmth for Brett and Dave. I usually went out with a 3mm shorty and was just fine during the day, however, a little more is needed at night, since it will be your fifth dive of the day and you tend to get a little chilled by then.
I hope anyone that reads this has as good a time on the Cayman Aggressor as we did! If you're going soon, tell the crew that I identified above that Tim, Brett and Dave said hi!
