Sun Dancer II Liveaboard June 18-25, 2011
Short Version:
Excellent boat in great condition. Spacious and comfortable rooms. Awesome food with four-course dinners and fresh-made snacks between dives. The crew was great. Very eager to assist and promptly took care of guest needs.
The diving was great as well. We were limited to Lighthouse Reef all week due to the high winds/waves, but each site had enough variety to keep our interests.
Water temperatures were 82-83.
We highly recommend this boat and plan to return soon. It was an awesome trip.
Here's a video I put together from the trip: [video=youtube;EALQfIkbdyM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EALQfIkbdyM[/video]
Long Version:
We arrived in Belize and were met by Sun Dancer crew members who took us to the Raddison Hotel, which is right across the street from the pier where the Sun Dancer and Belize Aggressor dock. Our luggage was taken to the ship and we were free to wait at the hotel or explore town until it was time to board. We found Celebrity, a nice restaurant a short walk away and ate lunch there.
When we boarded, crew members escorted us to our rooms and showed us how everything functioned. We were in room 3, which is on the port side bow. It was a very nice room and I was happy to find it had a real, comfortable, mattress. We had absolutely no complaints about our room. Everything was perfect.
After unpacking a few things, we were summoned up to the salon, where the crew was formally introduced, the captain said a few words, and we met the other half of the boat, a group from Florida. We had an excellent dinner (meals were consistently excellent all week), and then were free to unpack, set up dive, gear, or sleep as we made the crossing to Lighthouse Reef, in preparation for the next day's diving.
The winds were pretty strong when we first boarded, and the seas were a little choppy. The crew warned everyone susceptible to sea sickness to take appropriate remedies on the crossing. They were right. At about 9PM, I was awakened by the motion of the boat as it made its way through the seas. The painting on our wall was swinging and flapping wildly and at times my wife and I were suspended in mid air as the boat crested a wave. For the first time, I began to feel seasick and used one of my wife's patches to keep from losing my dinner.
A few hours later it ended and we moored up in a calm spot for the night. Several people got sick on the crossing and we found that those in the forward cabins felt more of the effects of the boat movement. I'm not sure how normal it is for the crossing to be that rough, but I would advise precautionary measures just to be safe.
Food. Breakfasts were your choice of an assortment of cereals, toast, bagels, yogurt, etc. and/or cooked to order eggs, omelets, French toast, and oatmeal. Very filling. For lunches, they were varied with sometimes cold cuts, taco salad, spaghetti, chicken or fish dishes. Dinners were spectacular and far exceeded our expectations. Chef Jerry made every meal special with different meat, duck, chicken, fish, pork and other dishes, soups, salads, and wonderful desserts. They would check with each guest prior to dinner just to make sure you were ok with whatever was planned. If not, an alternate dish was offered. I felt they went way out of their way to keep everyone happy.
Diving.
The ship's dive deck is the best I've seen yet. There is plenty of room for everyone to gear up at the same time and plenty of space between tanks. Each diver has a bin below their seat to keep masks, fins, etc. organized. Large camera tables, charging stations, rinse tanks, hangers and racks for wetsuits, hot showers, and coolers with warm towels offer everything you could ask for. It was nice to see the crew emptying and disinfecting the rinse tanks each night.
It is just a short four steps down to the dive platform with two ladders for easy re-boarding. If you are not comfortable walking this short distance with gear, the crew will store your tank on the dive platform and assist you with getting geared up as I witnessed a few of the Florida group doing. Absolutely no hassles here.
The crew always puts a staff member in the water and you are free to follow them if you wish, or go your own way. Upon return to the boat, there is a sturdy, fixed bar at 15 feet for your safety stop. One thing we found was that due to the long lengths the mooring lines are set at, the boat constantly swings back and forth while it's tied up. You don't really notice it while on board, but on the hang bar, it is a wild ride. Hang on to your camera! We found the best method was to do a mid-water safety stop at the spot where the boat stops its swing over the reef. When the boat came back around, we would just swim up to the ladder. We usually skipped hanging on the bar.
Due to the winds, we were limited to sites on Lighthouse Reef and could not go to the Blue Hole, but we were content with the sites we visited. We saw the usual Caribbean reef fish as well as several eagle rays, one even feeding close up in the sand. We also had a dive with three reef sharks hanging out under the boat. It made for some great pictures and video. There was plenty to see on the night dives including neck crabs, blood worms, and urchins.
There were only a few lion fish seen during the trip. I think the crew's efforts to eradicate them are working. Several of the crew would hunt the lion fish during the dives. We even enjoyed battered lion fish dippers at the end of the trip. Yummy.
On the last day, you spend it in port and need to provide your own dinner. We decided to order pizza and the crew assisted us with making that happen. It was nice to just be able to relax and not need to go anywhere. We put in some movies and just hung out while we waited for gear to dry.
They offer cave tubing, trips to the Belize zoo, Mayan ruin trips, and zip lining as excursions, but most of us chose to stay on the boat the last day and just take it easy.
I did walk around town a little bit after we docked on the last day. I wouldn't venture too far, as Belize City looks rough. There is lots of broken glass, homeless people, and a few mildly pushy street vendors. The town looks generally run down and there wasn't anything we felt was worth seeing within walking distance of the boat.
We also asked a crew member to give us a tour of the Belize Aggressor, and boy were we glad to be on the Sun Dancer II. The Aggressor's rooms were tiny bunk beds compared to our ours and their salon was much smaller. They also seemed to have wasted space on sun decks and an overly large dive deck that could have been better utilized for living space. The boat seemed in good condition, but the Sun Dancer II is much more spacious and comfortable, in my opinion.
The photo pro, Brandon, provides a free photo slide show to each guest on a disc at the end of the trip. Our captain, Jay, also shot a video from the week that he offered for sale. Both had some great shots.
Overall, I had zero complaints about the trip and thought that it was as close to perfection as you can get. The crew was friendly and genuinely seemed to enjoy their work and they definitely take care of you, down to the turn down service at night with Hershey's Kisses on your pillow. The only negative that I heard all week was from a guest in room 1, the Owner's Suite. Due to the ship's configuration/piping, it took awhile for the hot water to heat up in that room. Everyone else had nothing but positive things to say and all agreed the Sun Dancer II sets the bar high for other liveaboards to match. I will definitely return to Belize to dive with the Sun Dancer II.
Short Version:
Excellent boat in great condition. Spacious and comfortable rooms. Awesome food with four-course dinners and fresh-made snacks between dives. The crew was great. Very eager to assist and promptly took care of guest needs.
The diving was great as well. We were limited to Lighthouse Reef all week due to the high winds/waves, but each site had enough variety to keep our interests.
Water temperatures were 82-83.
We highly recommend this boat and plan to return soon. It was an awesome trip.
Here's a video I put together from the trip: [video=youtube;EALQfIkbdyM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EALQfIkbdyM[/video]
Long Version:
We arrived in Belize and were met by Sun Dancer crew members who took us to the Raddison Hotel, which is right across the street from the pier where the Sun Dancer and Belize Aggressor dock. Our luggage was taken to the ship and we were free to wait at the hotel or explore town until it was time to board. We found Celebrity, a nice restaurant a short walk away and ate lunch there.
When we boarded, crew members escorted us to our rooms and showed us how everything functioned. We were in room 3, which is on the port side bow. It was a very nice room and I was happy to find it had a real, comfortable, mattress. We had absolutely no complaints about our room. Everything was perfect.
After unpacking a few things, we were summoned up to the salon, where the crew was formally introduced, the captain said a few words, and we met the other half of the boat, a group from Florida. We had an excellent dinner (meals were consistently excellent all week), and then were free to unpack, set up dive, gear, or sleep as we made the crossing to Lighthouse Reef, in preparation for the next day's diving.
The winds were pretty strong when we first boarded, and the seas were a little choppy. The crew warned everyone susceptible to sea sickness to take appropriate remedies on the crossing. They were right. At about 9PM, I was awakened by the motion of the boat as it made its way through the seas. The painting on our wall was swinging and flapping wildly and at times my wife and I were suspended in mid air as the boat crested a wave. For the first time, I began to feel seasick and used one of my wife's patches to keep from losing my dinner.
A few hours later it ended and we moored up in a calm spot for the night. Several people got sick on the crossing and we found that those in the forward cabins felt more of the effects of the boat movement. I'm not sure how normal it is for the crossing to be that rough, but I would advise precautionary measures just to be safe.
Food. Breakfasts were your choice of an assortment of cereals, toast, bagels, yogurt, etc. and/or cooked to order eggs, omelets, French toast, and oatmeal. Very filling. For lunches, they were varied with sometimes cold cuts, taco salad, spaghetti, chicken or fish dishes. Dinners were spectacular and far exceeded our expectations. Chef Jerry made every meal special with different meat, duck, chicken, fish, pork and other dishes, soups, salads, and wonderful desserts. They would check with each guest prior to dinner just to make sure you were ok with whatever was planned. If not, an alternate dish was offered. I felt they went way out of their way to keep everyone happy.
Diving.
The ship's dive deck is the best I've seen yet. There is plenty of room for everyone to gear up at the same time and plenty of space between tanks. Each diver has a bin below their seat to keep masks, fins, etc. organized. Large camera tables, charging stations, rinse tanks, hangers and racks for wetsuits, hot showers, and coolers with warm towels offer everything you could ask for. It was nice to see the crew emptying and disinfecting the rinse tanks each night.
It is just a short four steps down to the dive platform with two ladders for easy re-boarding. If you are not comfortable walking this short distance with gear, the crew will store your tank on the dive platform and assist you with getting geared up as I witnessed a few of the Florida group doing. Absolutely no hassles here.
The crew always puts a staff member in the water and you are free to follow them if you wish, or go your own way. Upon return to the boat, there is a sturdy, fixed bar at 15 feet for your safety stop. One thing we found was that due to the long lengths the mooring lines are set at, the boat constantly swings back and forth while it's tied up. You don't really notice it while on board, but on the hang bar, it is a wild ride. Hang on to your camera! We found the best method was to do a mid-water safety stop at the spot where the boat stops its swing over the reef. When the boat came back around, we would just swim up to the ladder. We usually skipped hanging on the bar.
Due to the winds, we were limited to sites on Lighthouse Reef and could not go to the Blue Hole, but we were content with the sites we visited. We saw the usual Caribbean reef fish as well as several eagle rays, one even feeding close up in the sand. We also had a dive with three reef sharks hanging out under the boat. It made for some great pictures and video. There was plenty to see on the night dives including neck crabs, blood worms, and urchins.
There were only a few lion fish seen during the trip. I think the crew's efforts to eradicate them are working. Several of the crew would hunt the lion fish during the dives. We even enjoyed battered lion fish dippers at the end of the trip. Yummy.
On the last day, you spend it in port and need to provide your own dinner. We decided to order pizza and the crew assisted us with making that happen. It was nice to just be able to relax and not need to go anywhere. We put in some movies and just hung out while we waited for gear to dry.
They offer cave tubing, trips to the Belize zoo, Mayan ruin trips, and zip lining as excursions, but most of us chose to stay on the boat the last day and just take it easy.
I did walk around town a little bit after we docked on the last day. I wouldn't venture too far, as Belize City looks rough. There is lots of broken glass, homeless people, and a few mildly pushy street vendors. The town looks generally run down and there wasn't anything we felt was worth seeing within walking distance of the boat.
We also asked a crew member to give us a tour of the Belize Aggressor, and boy were we glad to be on the Sun Dancer II. The Aggressor's rooms were tiny bunk beds compared to our ours and their salon was much smaller. They also seemed to have wasted space on sun decks and an overly large dive deck that could have been better utilized for living space. The boat seemed in good condition, but the Sun Dancer II is much more spacious and comfortable, in my opinion.
The photo pro, Brandon, provides a free photo slide show to each guest on a disc at the end of the trip. Our captain, Jay, also shot a video from the week that he offered for sale. Both had some great shots.
Overall, I had zero complaints about the trip and thought that it was as close to perfection as you can get. The crew was friendly and genuinely seemed to enjoy their work and they definitely take care of you, down to the turn down service at night with Hershey's Kisses on your pillow. The only negative that I heard all week was from a guest in room 1, the Owner's Suite. Due to the ship's configuration/piping, it took awhile for the hot water to heat up in that room. Everyone else had nothing but positive things to say and all agreed the Sun Dancer II sets the bar high for other liveaboards to match. I will definitely return to Belize to dive with the Sun Dancer II.
