Trip Report: Turks & Caicos Explorer II, June-July 2019

[Ironborn]

Your unidentified nudi looks like a White Speckled Nudibranch.


Did anyone see headshield slugs or pipe horses?

@JoeFriday. Thank you for the ID.

One of the guides did find a very tiny headshield slug. I could not get a presentable image of it, even with my super macro mode.

We did not see any seahorses, pipefish, or pipe horses. In my experience thus far, the best place to see them in the Caribbean is the Bay Islands, particularly Utila - see my trip report from earlier this year, where I saw seahorses, pipefish, and pipe horses.

 

[chillyinCanada]

@JoeFriday Our captain was Bob from New York. Dive staff included Vicki, Jay, Hart, and Beau.

So who is Clay? Is EV like Aggressor Fleet in that the various vessels have different owners, for which the central office serves as a booking agency? Or is more centralized and consistent across the whole company?

What a shame that you didn't also have Jo on the crew. I hope that she hasn't left.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

@JoeFriday Our captain was Bob from New York. Dive staff included Vicki, Jay, Hart, and Beau.

So who is Clay? Is EV like Aggressor Fleet in that the various vessels have different owners, for which the central office serves as a booking agency? Or is more centralized and consistent across the whole company?

These are all new crew to me except for captn Bob.

Clay is the owner of EV and owns the original boats in the Caribbean.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clay-mccardell-5246749

The other boats likely are franchise like most of the aggressor fleet. I was told that Galapagos boats must be Ecudorian owned and crewed, so those would be franchise.

I was told the Wayne's own the Belize Aggressor IV. Unsure of how many other Aggressors they own.

 

[Ironborn]

Kudos for one of the most detailed trip reports ever!

I'd be interested from hearing more from you and others speculation on how / why the above DCS incident occurred. What were the symptoms, just a rash or what? Was the diver in any pain or discomfort?

@GR8FUL The diver's only symptoms were a skin rash, which he did not feel at all but only happened to notice by chance in the mirror of his cabin. He had no pain, discomfort, irritation, or tingling. It was a good thing that he noticed it visually, as otherwise it might have gone undetected. They gave him the chamber treatment out of an abundance of caution, in case there were any bubbles in deeper or more sensitive tissues that he could not feel.

No one on board the boat or that treated the diver on the main island had any solid explanation for what might have caused the DCS, beyond the obvious risk factor of a lot of dives with relatively deep average depths. He was well within the NDLs, as was I and everyone else in the group, who dove more or less the same profiles as him. In fact, if anyone should have gotten bent, it was me, not him, as I tended to stay slightly deeper than him, he was in better shape than me, and he skipped one or two dives that I did not skip. The people that treated him raised the possibility that he might have a physical predisposition toward bubble formation, but he had been on liveaboard trips before without any such issues (albeit in destinations with lesser average depths).

 

[Trailboss123]

Another very detailed and informative trip report @Ironborn - much appreciated!
I do have Turks and Caicos on my radar and when I do go there, it will be on one of the two liveaboards available-- so, your trip report was very helpful. I have ruled out land based for T&C for sure-- I have friends that have done the Saba/St.Kitts trip with Explorer Ventures and had nothing but positive things to say about their experience.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Sorry - I forgot to ask - who was in the kitchen?

Stan has become "same old same old".

 

[Ironborn]

Sorry - I forgot to ask - who was in the kitchen?

Stan has become "same old same old".

@JoeFriday

Stan was the cook that week.

According to the captain, Stan has been with the boat for 20+ years and literally came with it when EV bought it. Apparently he has a job for life.

The food was good comfort food - no complaints, and it was certainly an improvement over my usual diet. The haute cuisine on Aggressor vessels was better, but I would not pick a liveaboard on that basis, and this EV trip was better in most other ways.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

@JoeFriday

Stan was the cook that week.

According to the captain, Stan has been with the boat for 20+ years and literally came with it when EV bought it. Apparently he has a job for life.

The food was good comfort food - no complaints, and it was certainly an improvement over my usual diet. The haute cuisine on Aggressor vessels was better, but I would not pick a liveaboard on that basis, and this EV trip was better in most other ways.

Agreed. Stan is an institution. Just ask the crew. Same menu EVERY week. Week after week after week. Cook not chef. Stan does not like change...

On a recent T&C trip we had a substitute chef. Both the divers and the crew were very happy. Finally interesting food.

Jerry on the Belize Aggressor IV consistently provides the best Caribbean LOB food.

 

[AdivingBel]

+1 for Jerry...also Hilary on the Juliet does an awesome job...

 

[drrich2]

I would note that coral/sponge coverage on all three islands in general was typically not as dense or extensive as some other Caribbean destinations, with a lot of exposed substrate and empty sand, so I wonder if that is just a natural characteristic of the environment, rather than a sign of damage.

That's one great, practically useful trip report. I quoted this section because it's particularly relevant to people trying to discriminate between destinations. Some people love the 'underwater flower garden' aspect of lush reefs; what you noted above might not appeal to them. Others like big animals, and will happily swap a dozen gorgonians and a 6-pack of brain corals for a photogenic reef sharks. Different strokes, different folks.

Loved my trip there on the T&C Aggressor II; we didn't make it to French Caye, though.

If you like sharks and would like to move up in size, if you're not into shark feed diving, might I suggest North Carolina (e.g.: Olympus Dive Center out of Morehead City), or the lemon shark migration part of the year out of Jupiter, Florida (shark feeding is an option to improve your likelihood of close encounters, but you can go during the high point of the migration and likely still see them without doing feeding trips. Again, different strokes for different folks.

Richard.