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Turks & Caicos Captain's Report August 28, 2013 - September 7, 2013
Water Temperature: 83-85° F
Thermal Protection Recommendation: 1-3 mm
Visibility: 80-100 feet
Greetings again from the Turks and Caicos, Aggressor II. Our guests for this special 10 day charter are Wayne, April, Sheree, Denise, Mark, Lucia, Rachel, Beth, Tim, Kevin, Gary, Liz and Stanislas.
After greeting everyone with snacks and drinks, followed by a lovely dinner from our awesome chef Ailsa, we got a good night rest for our early departure to Grace Bay. We poked around to North West Point and done our first two dives at Eel Garden and The Crack which went splendidly we even got to see a pod of dolphins in the distance off the boat chasing bait fish to surface so they could snack!
A delicious lunch followed quickly after our second dive before moving to Stairway for our afternoon dives where we were greeted with curious reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, and even a few Nudibranchs on the beautiful reef. Afternoon naps came soon after before dinner was served, and we embarked on our first night dive of the trip which was a nocturnal drivers dream with free swimming eels, stingrays, lobsters and sharks on the hunt for dinner of their own.
The next morning we moved on towards West Caicos and done our morning dives at Driveway where we were greeted with a huge green turtle, great barracudas and bottom feeding goatfish sucking up the sand in search of their next meal.
Chocolate chip cookies and warm towels were waiting on the surface after the morning dive, and yet another exceptional lunch was served with a delicious Scottish-broth-style vegetable soup (thanks again to our amazing chef Ailsa), along with butter chicken, curry and eggs, and salads before we moved on to Brandywine for our afternoon and night dives where we encountered countless curious sharks, golden morays, spotted drums, jaw fish, ocean triggerfish and many other beautiful critters.
Saturday morning seen us arrive in French Cay with a morning dive at Rock n Roll with many beautiful colors in the wide array of abundant soft corals and spectacular marine life, with many saying it was the best dive so far. A sweet morning snack soon followed, with many of our guests heading back for a few hours of extra sleep time while we crossed over to South Caicos and dived
Spanish Chains for the afternoon/night which offered some world class diving indeed schools of eagle rays, pods of dolphins, huge southern rays gray reef sharks and hawksbill turtles (and quickly dubbed the new best dive so far). Happy days!
We pulled up the lines early Sunday morning and set sail for Grand Turk. A site by the name of Fish Pond was where we spent our morning which had lots of beautiful soft coral gardens with every color of the rainbow, twin juvenile spotted drums fighting over territory, schooling barracudas and some gigantic crabs made for a great morning of diving.Another delicious lunch was then served before we moved to McDonalds to settle for the afternoon and night dives. It was absolutely stunning to say the least. It really must be said that Grand Turk offers some absolutely spectacular diving and is possibly one of the best spots in TCI; Healthy, colorful and nutrient rich reefs that are endless gardens of corals along with abundant schools of marine life. It is simply incredible. And we even got to have some NY strip steaks on the BBQ with our dinner with banoffee pie (banana, toffee with cream = yum) for desert talk about awesome!
Monday morning saw us turning around to slowly start making our way our way back and stopping at Arches for the morning dives before crossing back to French Cay. Both dives at Arches offered beautiful scenery with a nice school of barracuda hanging out, extremely friendly and playful queen angel fish, a big nassau grouper chilling in a cleaning station, ocean triggerfish and some well hidden peacock flounders.
The afternoon saw us arrive back in French Cay which was spectacular indeed. A huge group of dolphins swimming along with the boat all swimming, twirling and playing games on the last stretch until we moored up was absolutely amazing, and the dive at 1/2 Mile didnt disappoint with a few of the girls even getting to see a hammerhead coming up the wall on to the reef. After an incredible sunset on the water, another brilliant night dive (sharks, squid, eels, octopus, lobsters and rays) was followed by hot chocolates and warm towels to finish off yet another great day.
Come Tuesday morning we headed over to Dax Canyon for our morning dives and were greeted by a few ultra-chilled hawksbill turtles cruising around and some gigantic female southern rays trying their best to hide in the sand banks so not to be disturbed along with a few reef sharks passing by. Blueberry muffins along with fruit smoothies were served between dives, followed by a delicious lunch and some nap time before we moved to G-Spot.
The afternoon and night dives proved exceptional as well with some nice macro diving (banded clinging crabs, squat anemones, pederson cleaning shrimp, Nudibranchs) along with a ton of curious reef and nurse sharks swimming around bumping into people (especially on the night dive; we had a group of about 6 sharks following us for the whole dive on the hunt for food and getting up very close and personal with our guide Azza as if he were one of there own - many guests came up saying it was the best night dive they have ever done), and a plethora of beautiful tropical reef fish. And lets not forget the grilled mahi mahi our super-chef Ailsa cooked up for dinner along with some apple pear crumble for desert. Yummy!
Come Wednesday morning, our guests awoke to see we had already arrived back in West Caicos at a site called The Anchor. After some bacon and eggs for breakfast, we quickly jumped in and were greeted with a huge cubera snapper, shy masked hamlet, juvenile filefish, sleeping nurse sharks, placid yellow rats and some spotted morays swimming around. Cinnamon rolls were served before we jumped back in again for another dive before moving to RGI while our guests had some lunch and relaxed for the afternoon dives.
The eating like royalty then continued with strip steaks for dinner with an absolutely incredible tasting (and looking) strawberry cheesecake. The night dive was great as usual, with a very arrogant lobster strutting around without a care in the world showing us that the underwater world is his territory come nightfall.
The dives on Thursday morning were at Elephant Ear. Some great encounters with lots of stingrays and sharks made a great start the day. Things got even more awesome when a huge pod of spotted dolphins started circling the boat on our surface interval whilst we were eating our chocolate chip cookies. Guests (and crew) quickly found their masks and fins so they could enter the water and spent a good 10 minutes face-to-face with these curious creatures watching them play around and listening to their unique sounds before they swam off into open ocean. With huge sharks swimming around under the boat over the top of stingrays and a big group of horse eyed jacks hanging around as well made it an incredible experience indeed.
After some delicious chicken and mushroom pie for lunch, we moved on to The Dome. The afternoon dive was nice and relaxing; the night dive was pure pandemonium sharks, rays, squid, lobsters, eels and all the rest made it a memorable one. Add on the hot chocolate with rum cream and there isnt really much more you could ask for!
Whilst the night diving has been great, the dawn dive on the last day was a memorable one to say the least. Many of our guests encountered two friendly dolphins that were cruising around the dive site, a few decent sized reef sharks still circling around and even some spotted eagle rays sifting through the sand. Breakfast followed straight after shortly proceeded for our last dive of the trip before heading back for our afternoon cheese and wine party to bring things to an end.
Overall it was a great 10 day charter with many happy times. The diving was superb and the weather spectacular, but the great guests we had aboard are what made it a truly memorable one. Thanks guys, you rock! We are off for routine maintenance in Florida at the end of this charter so check us out on Facebook to see what is going on and we are already looking forward to being back in the waters around Turks & Caicos in October.
Your crew this week was Captain Amanda, Warren, Dave, Ailsa, Neo & Azza
Water Temperature: 83-85° F
Thermal Protection Recommendation: 1-3 mm
Visibility: 80-100 feet
Greetings again from the Turks and Caicos, Aggressor II. Our guests for this special 10 day charter are Wayne, April, Sheree, Denise, Mark, Lucia, Rachel, Beth, Tim, Kevin, Gary, Liz and Stanislas.
After greeting everyone with snacks and drinks, followed by a lovely dinner from our awesome chef Ailsa, we got a good night rest for our early departure to Grace Bay. We poked around to North West Point and done our first two dives at Eel Garden and The Crack which went splendidly we even got to see a pod of dolphins in the distance off the boat chasing bait fish to surface so they could snack!
A delicious lunch followed quickly after our second dive before moving to Stairway for our afternoon dives where we were greeted with curious reef sharks, hawksbill turtles, and even a few Nudibranchs on the beautiful reef. Afternoon naps came soon after before dinner was served, and we embarked on our first night dive of the trip which was a nocturnal drivers dream with free swimming eels, stingrays, lobsters and sharks on the hunt for dinner of their own.
The next morning we moved on towards West Caicos and done our morning dives at Driveway where we were greeted with a huge green turtle, great barracudas and bottom feeding goatfish sucking up the sand in search of their next meal.
Chocolate chip cookies and warm towels were waiting on the surface after the morning dive, and yet another exceptional lunch was served with a delicious Scottish-broth-style vegetable soup (thanks again to our amazing chef Ailsa), along with butter chicken, curry and eggs, and salads before we moved on to Brandywine for our afternoon and night dives where we encountered countless curious sharks, golden morays, spotted drums, jaw fish, ocean triggerfish and many other beautiful critters.
Saturday morning seen us arrive in French Cay with a morning dive at Rock n Roll with many beautiful colors in the wide array of abundant soft corals and spectacular marine life, with many saying it was the best dive so far. A sweet morning snack soon followed, with many of our guests heading back for a few hours of extra sleep time while we crossed over to South Caicos and dived
Spanish Chains for the afternoon/night which offered some world class diving indeed schools of eagle rays, pods of dolphins, huge southern rays gray reef sharks and hawksbill turtles (and quickly dubbed the new best dive so far). Happy days!
We pulled up the lines early Sunday morning and set sail for Grand Turk. A site by the name of Fish Pond was where we spent our morning which had lots of beautiful soft coral gardens with every color of the rainbow, twin juvenile spotted drums fighting over territory, schooling barracudas and some gigantic crabs made for a great morning of diving.Another delicious lunch was then served before we moved to McDonalds to settle for the afternoon and night dives. It was absolutely stunning to say the least. It really must be said that Grand Turk offers some absolutely spectacular diving and is possibly one of the best spots in TCI; Healthy, colorful and nutrient rich reefs that are endless gardens of corals along with abundant schools of marine life. It is simply incredible. And we even got to have some NY strip steaks on the BBQ with our dinner with banoffee pie (banana, toffee with cream = yum) for desert talk about awesome!
Monday morning saw us turning around to slowly start making our way our way back and stopping at Arches for the morning dives before crossing back to French Cay. Both dives at Arches offered beautiful scenery with a nice school of barracuda hanging out, extremely friendly and playful queen angel fish, a big nassau grouper chilling in a cleaning station, ocean triggerfish and some well hidden peacock flounders.
The afternoon saw us arrive back in French Cay which was spectacular indeed. A huge group of dolphins swimming along with the boat all swimming, twirling and playing games on the last stretch until we moored up was absolutely amazing, and the dive at 1/2 Mile didnt disappoint with a few of the girls even getting to see a hammerhead coming up the wall on to the reef. After an incredible sunset on the water, another brilliant night dive (sharks, squid, eels, octopus, lobsters and rays) was followed by hot chocolates and warm towels to finish off yet another great day.
Come Tuesday morning we headed over to Dax Canyon for our morning dives and were greeted by a few ultra-chilled hawksbill turtles cruising around and some gigantic female southern rays trying their best to hide in the sand banks so not to be disturbed along with a few reef sharks passing by. Blueberry muffins along with fruit smoothies were served between dives, followed by a delicious lunch and some nap time before we moved to G-Spot.
The afternoon and night dives proved exceptional as well with some nice macro diving (banded clinging crabs, squat anemones, pederson cleaning shrimp, Nudibranchs) along with a ton of curious reef and nurse sharks swimming around bumping into people (especially on the night dive; we had a group of about 6 sharks following us for the whole dive on the hunt for food and getting up very close and personal with our guide Azza as if he were one of there own - many guests came up saying it was the best night dive they have ever done), and a plethora of beautiful tropical reef fish. And lets not forget the grilled mahi mahi our super-chef Ailsa cooked up for dinner along with some apple pear crumble for desert. Yummy!
Come Wednesday morning, our guests awoke to see we had already arrived back in West Caicos at a site called The Anchor. After some bacon and eggs for breakfast, we quickly jumped in and were greeted with a huge cubera snapper, shy masked hamlet, juvenile filefish, sleeping nurse sharks, placid yellow rats and some spotted morays swimming around. Cinnamon rolls were served before we jumped back in again for another dive before moving to RGI while our guests had some lunch and relaxed for the afternoon dives.
The eating like royalty then continued with strip steaks for dinner with an absolutely incredible tasting (and looking) strawberry cheesecake. The night dive was great as usual, with a very arrogant lobster strutting around without a care in the world showing us that the underwater world is his territory come nightfall.
The dives on Thursday morning were at Elephant Ear. Some great encounters with lots of stingrays and sharks made a great start the day. Things got even more awesome when a huge pod of spotted dolphins started circling the boat on our surface interval whilst we were eating our chocolate chip cookies. Guests (and crew) quickly found their masks and fins so they could enter the water and spent a good 10 minutes face-to-face with these curious creatures watching them play around and listening to their unique sounds before they swam off into open ocean. With huge sharks swimming around under the boat over the top of stingrays and a big group of horse eyed jacks hanging around as well made it an incredible experience indeed.
After some delicious chicken and mushroom pie for lunch, we moved on to The Dome. The afternoon dive was nice and relaxing; the night dive was pure pandemonium sharks, rays, squid, lobsters, eels and all the rest made it a memorable one. Add on the hot chocolate with rum cream and there isnt really much more you could ask for!
Whilst the night diving has been great, the dawn dive on the last day was a memorable one to say the least. Many of our guests encountered two friendly dolphins that were cruising around the dive site, a few decent sized reef sharks still circling around and even some spotted eagle rays sifting through the sand. Breakfast followed straight after shortly proceeded for our last dive of the trip before heading back for our afternoon cheese and wine party to bring things to an end.
Overall it was a great 10 day charter with many happy times. The diving was superb and the weather spectacular, but the great guests we had aboard are what made it a truly memorable one. Thanks guys, you rock! We are off for routine maintenance in Florida at the end of this charter so check us out on Facebook to see what is going on and we are already looking forward to being back in the waters around Turks & Caicos in October.
Your crew this week was Captain Amanda, Warren, Dave, Ailsa, Neo & Azza
