I was aboard the “Turks and Caicos Aggressor II” liveaboard from June 3 - 10 2006. Let me tell you that liveaboards are definitely the way to go for serious divers. I ended up logging right at 21 hours in 23 dives underwater. It was an experience of a life-time and I really enjoyed being on the boat.
All dives were wall dives. Most of the dives started with a sandy bottom starting off around 50 feet, which led to the wall which had very distinctive features that varied greately from walls in Cozumel. Most of the walls were vertical drop offs that “stair stepped” down to deeper depths. All the dives were full of life and I greatly enjoyed all the dives.
My favorite dive site was called “West Sand Spit” It was a dive site located about 5 miles southeast of French Cay. The “island”, or sand spit was only above water twice a day for about 5 hours during low tide. The boat captain said that they were only able to dive the site between 5 - 7 times a year because it was best to dive the site during low tide and when the weather was perfectly calm. This is because there is no island near by, which means that there is no protection from the elements. When the conditions aren’t perfect there can be prevailing currents and visibility can be quiet bad, according to our boat captain. Once in the water you can definitely tell that the site doesn’t get dove very often. The reef system was in imaculate condition and there was wildlife everywhere. At this particular site I found a rare fish that is only found in the Caribbean called a bat fish. Our dive guide was so excited that he spent most of the dive filming the fish, even when it was just sitting in the sand watching us watch him. It was definitely one of the wierdest looking fish that I have ever seen.
Some of the wildlife I saw:
* Caribbean Reef Sharks
* Nurse Sharks
* Octopus - Not sure which species
* Jellyfish - Not sure which species
* French Angelfish
* Squirrel Fish
* Damsel Fish
* Garden Eel
* Green Moray Eel
* Spotted Moray Eel
* King Crab
* Flying Gunards
* Bat Fish
* Lobster
* Blennie
* Sting Rays
* Eagle Rays
* Hawksbill Turtle
* Trumpet Fish
* Parrot Fish
* Goby
* Lizard Fish
* and much much more….
Most sites had visibility in excess of 100 feet. Some sites had visibility at around 75 feet, but that was most likely due to corals spawning and currents at some sites.
Water temperature ranged from 80 - 84 feet. Some sites had thermoclines at around 70 feet and 90 feet, but it wasn’t noticable in a 3mm suit. It was noticable in swim trunks and a rash gaurd top.
I dove Nitrox the entire week. All my mixes analyzed between 34 - 36%.
My deepest dive was 97 feet.
My longest run time was 64 minutes.
In 23 dives I logged 21 hours.
Here is a list of the sites I dove in the order that I dove them:
1. Northwest Point - Stairway
2. Northwest Point - Stairway
3. Northwest Point - The Crack
4. Northwest Point - The Crack
5. Northwest Point - The Crack (Night Dive)
6. West Caicos - The Anchor
7. West Caicos - The Anchor
8. West Caicos - G-Spot
9. West Caicos - G-Spot
10. West Caicos - G-Spot (Night Dive)
11. French Cay - Rock & Roll
12. French Cay - Rock & Roll
13. French Cay - West Sand Spit
14. French Cay - West Sand Spit
15. French Cay - Rock & Roll (Night Dive)
16. West Caicos - Gullies
17. Southwest Reef - Falls
18. Southwest Reef - Falls (Night Dive)
19. West Caicos - Gullies
20. West Caicos - Gullies
21. West Caicos - R.G.I. (Rock Garden Interlude)
22. West Caicos - R.G.I.
23. Northwest Point - Black Forest
We did have a dive accident on the trip. One member of our group started showing signs and symptoms of DCS on Thursday evening. The diver was using nitrox through out the week, stayed at shallower depths because he was taking photos, and dove within the no-decompression limits. It goes to show you that DCS can hit even when taking proper precautions. He ended up doing two chamber treatments. One on Friday morning and the second on Saturday morning and the lucky ... erm; diver got to stay four extra days and do some fishing.
The professionalism of the crew shined during this incident and we even had one of the crew members ride in the chamber with the diver as a chamber technician.
Overall I was very impressed with the crew professionalism, enthusiasm, and the love for their job. We had an awesome week that I won't forget soon.
here are some pictures from the trip:
All dives were wall dives. Most of the dives started with a sandy bottom starting off around 50 feet, which led to the wall which had very distinctive features that varied greately from walls in Cozumel. Most of the walls were vertical drop offs that “stair stepped” down to deeper depths. All the dives were full of life and I greatly enjoyed all the dives.
My favorite dive site was called “West Sand Spit” It was a dive site located about 5 miles southeast of French Cay. The “island”, or sand spit was only above water twice a day for about 5 hours during low tide. The boat captain said that they were only able to dive the site between 5 - 7 times a year because it was best to dive the site during low tide and when the weather was perfectly calm. This is because there is no island near by, which means that there is no protection from the elements. When the conditions aren’t perfect there can be prevailing currents and visibility can be quiet bad, according to our boat captain. Once in the water you can definitely tell that the site doesn’t get dove very often. The reef system was in imaculate condition and there was wildlife everywhere. At this particular site I found a rare fish that is only found in the Caribbean called a bat fish. Our dive guide was so excited that he spent most of the dive filming the fish, even when it was just sitting in the sand watching us watch him. It was definitely one of the wierdest looking fish that I have ever seen.
Some of the wildlife I saw:
* Caribbean Reef Sharks
* Nurse Sharks
* Octopus - Not sure which species
* Jellyfish - Not sure which species
* French Angelfish
* Squirrel Fish
* Damsel Fish
* Garden Eel
* Green Moray Eel
* Spotted Moray Eel
* King Crab
* Flying Gunards
* Bat Fish
* Lobster
* Blennie
* Sting Rays
* Eagle Rays
* Hawksbill Turtle
* Trumpet Fish
* Parrot Fish
* Goby
* Lizard Fish
* and much much more….
Most sites had visibility in excess of 100 feet. Some sites had visibility at around 75 feet, but that was most likely due to corals spawning and currents at some sites.
Water temperature ranged from 80 - 84 feet. Some sites had thermoclines at around 70 feet and 90 feet, but it wasn’t noticable in a 3mm suit. It was noticable in swim trunks and a rash gaurd top.
I dove Nitrox the entire week. All my mixes analyzed between 34 - 36%.
My deepest dive was 97 feet.
My longest run time was 64 minutes.
In 23 dives I logged 21 hours.
Here is a list of the sites I dove in the order that I dove them:
1. Northwest Point - Stairway
2. Northwest Point - Stairway
3. Northwest Point - The Crack
4. Northwest Point - The Crack
5. Northwest Point - The Crack (Night Dive)
6. West Caicos - The Anchor
7. West Caicos - The Anchor
8. West Caicos - G-Spot
9. West Caicos - G-Spot
10. West Caicos - G-Spot (Night Dive)
11. French Cay - Rock & Roll
12. French Cay - Rock & Roll
13. French Cay - West Sand Spit
14. French Cay - West Sand Spit
15. French Cay - Rock & Roll (Night Dive)
16. West Caicos - Gullies
17. Southwest Reef - Falls
18. Southwest Reef - Falls (Night Dive)
19. West Caicos - Gullies
20. West Caicos - Gullies
21. West Caicos - R.G.I. (Rock Garden Interlude)
22. West Caicos - R.G.I.
23. Northwest Point - Black Forest
We did have a dive accident on the trip. One member of our group started showing signs and symptoms of DCS on Thursday evening. The diver was using nitrox through out the week, stayed at shallower depths because he was taking photos, and dove within the no-decompression limits. It goes to show you that DCS can hit even when taking proper precautions. He ended up doing two chamber treatments. One on Friday morning and the second on Saturday morning and the lucky ... erm; diver got to stay four extra days and do some fishing.
The professionalism of the crew shined during this incident and we even had one of the crew members ride in the chamber with the diver as a chamber technician. Overall I was very impressed with the crew professionalism, enthusiasm, and the love for their job. We had an awesome week that I won't forget soon.
here are some pictures from the trip:
