Turks & Caicos Explorer II report (August 2009)

[conradb212]

I just put up a very detailed review of the Turks and Caicos Explorer II we spent a week on in August.

The TC Explorer II is a spacious, 124-foot long liveaboard vessel providing all-inclusive liveaboard dive vacations. Trips start and end at the Caicos Marina on Providenciales, which is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Dive locations vary, but usually include dives off the Northwest point of Providenciales, West Caicos, and French Cay.

The ship has 10 staterooms for a maximum of 20 passengers and usually a crew of about seven, including three divemasters. Each room has its own bathroom/shower (comfy beds, lots of hot water), the diningroom/salon is nicely sized, air-conditioned and comfortable, there are two upper lounging and observation decks, and guests can do up to five dives per day.

The reefs showed quite a bit of leftover hurricane damage, but still were great diving, especially West Caicos and French Cay. Saw a good number of reef sharks, nurse sharks and a couple of blacktips and silkies. Sometimes as many as a dozen reefsharks cruising around us.

Excellent crew, lots of space on the boat, very good food, warm and friendly atmosphere, great dive masters, boat not as new as the TC Aggressor, but cost seems lower. Would definitely go again.

See my full and illustrated Turks and Caicos Explorer II trip report.

 

[BTravlin]

Excellent report. We stayed in the same cabin. I look forward to exploring the website when I have more time.

 

[under water]

We just got back from a week aboard the Turks & Caicos Explorer II and I was thinking about writing a trip report, but it would be pointless, since you pretty much covered everything in your excellent report at your link.
I will add a link to the pictures that I took though for those that are interested in what to see underwater.
Venture Explorers Live-Aboard in Turks & Caicos

 

[highdesert]

Thanks for the report ... T&C aboard this boat is on our maybe list. Question for you ... what is the extent of the hurricane damage to the reefs, and how deep did the damage extend? Are we talking about Wilma type damage as in Cozumel, or the occasional piece of coral broken off, or in between? On what percentage of dives? Just trying to get a feel for it ...

Thanks!

 

[conradb212]

I have not been to enough similar places to provide a truly meaningful comparison. The damage seemed quite substantial to me (I went down to 120), with lots of toppled barrel sponges and other leftovers, razed areas, divesites named after things that were no longer there, and a general lack of the colorful lusciousness that I associate with Caribbean reefs.

The damage seemed worse off the NW point of Provo, a bit less so off West Caicos, and considerably less at French Caye. Pre-eartquake Roatan was much lusher, and so was Cozumel last Fall.

That said, diving was still sensational at T&C and it was marvelous to see how things are coming back, with lots of great macro opportunities. The awesome shots by BTravlin show that there is plenty of scenery and color left (and coming back).

For me, what stood out (in addition to the really wonderful boat and crew) was all the many sharks at T&C. Having good-sized sharks cruise around you instead of having to go on a special shark encounter was awesome.

 

[2Narced]

Thanks for the detailed report! You covered virtually everything anyone would want to know.