Turks & Caicos Explorer II March 29th-April 5th, 2008

disclaimer: I tend to report more on the people, boats & operations as opposed to the diving.

weather for the week ranged from temperatures of low 60's at night to high 70's during the day; most days we were being hit w/ chilly winds from the NW and had overcast skies; we had a couple of days w/ nice clear, sunny skies but the wind never would die down. water temps were a consistent 77 degrees.

Provo Airport & trip to boat: arrived on a 3pm American Airlines flight, had the pleasure of having to circle the island for a short while due to "inbound traffic" - no worries, views were nice from the plane while it circled over the islands; actually got to fly over the West Caicos reef area where we would be diving in a few days. no jetways at this airport, disembark planes via push up ramps. bags come thru on carousel #1 - the only carousel; if multiple flights were to arrive at the same time it may be quite chaotic, we thought this may have been why they had us circle for a while; was our second time going thru this airport, both times have been smooth & uneventful. clear customs by someone pointing left or right; seemed that they would make random choices on whose bags were inspected; if chosen, bags were thoroughly searched; if not, then you were out the door and in the main concourse; Exit the terminal to the sidewalk & promptly found one of the Explorer crew, Sean, standing there holding up a sign waiting for us; he then went into a cafeteria, grabbed another couple that had been waiting for us to arrive and had us all in a van and heading for the boat. $18 per person for the van/taxi ride to the boat; The Explorer II docks at the Caicos Marina, south side of the island -first half of the 20 minute drive is fine, second half is along a rough dirt/rock road; the boat dock is tucked behind a dry-dock boat maintenance / storage yard; not pretty and you may start to feel a bit apprehensive, relax. once the boat comes into view you realize that you're not getting on something that just came out of the maintenance sheds that you just drove around; pay the driver, take off your shoes & you're promptly shown to your cabin for unpacking.

cabins: wife & I were celebrating our wedding anniversary on this trip, we had taken advantage of a "free cabin upgrade" special to go from a lower berth to a middle tier berth and were pleasantly surprised to find that the company had upgraded us another level to one of the upper cabins, cabin 2. cabins 1 & 2 have a short, queen sized bed w/ 2 large drawers under the frame; tv w/ dvd player sitting on top of a cabinet that has inside storage shelves; a nice size closet at the foot of the bed; for a live-aboard, TONS of storage space. small bathroom w/ snug shower stall; overall, more room than we needed. my only irritant about the cabin was that the air was either on or off, when it was on, what came out did not seem to correspond with the thermostat setting; throw in some thin blankets & you may be sleeping with some chill; no worries if you've got someone to snuggle with; given the cool air temps we had, this was the only thing that made the cabin uncomfortable; regarding storage - if you need it, the crew has a spot they use to stash oversized bags so that you don't have to keep the bags in your room after you've unpacked - many took advantage of this offer.

middle tier cabins - one I saw that my brother was in (#3) had two twin beds & a separate bathroom; he was sharing the room w/ "Aussie John" & both said that there was plenty of room in the cabin; lower tier cabins & middle tier w/ bunks - I didn't take the opportunity to view any of the rooms downstairs or the middle tier cabins w/ the bunk beds, but I did not hear of ANY complaints regarding those cabins during the week. the only comment I did hear - from my brother & another twosome across the all from them in cabin #4, both cabins being on the middle tier and closest to the bow - was that when the bow thrusters were used and/or the boat was moving from one mooring to another, the noise level in these cabins was quite high.

boat: fresh, drinkable water is available from ALL of the faucets. one item I had read when researching for this trip stated that the boat did not have water available on the dive deck - there is a sink on the dive deck & the crew does keep cups next to that sink; the crew made a point of stressing that this was their dive deck water source; we had no worries using that as a source of quick fluids after a dive. salon is just roomy enough for the passenger complement. we sailed w/ 16 divers & they take a max of 18; some of the seating is snug quarters, but as divers tend to do, everyone seemed to make do; we were not blessed w/ warm sunny weather all week, if the weather would have cooperated, I think there may have been some folks taking their food topside to eat; as it was the close quarters made for enjoyable "get to know each other" moments. coffee, hot water, tea bags, sodas, wine & other liquors were available at all times - it is a completely "make yourself at home" atmosphere; if you didn't see it, ask for it and the crew quickly responded; if what was on the counter was empty, let someone know or stick your head in the galley and it was promptly refilled. fruit was always out and available for snacking; if you wanted for anything it was because you were mute and couldn't make yourself understood. sun deck size is ample. no hot tub. probably the only thing I would ask that be changed; having a hot tub to climb into would have been very nice on this trip. another shaded seating area is above that, the fly deck; an excellent place to sit & share stories, smoke, star gaze, nap, etc.

dive ops: gear setup - is standard liveaboard pick a spot, set up your rig, use that spot for the week; the arrangements were a bit snug but not too bad; one note about the spots along the outside - the tank brackets are mounted in a unit that allows the bracket to slide from side to side; you can adjust the accommodations slightly if necessary; another note - if you're new to liveaboard diving, please be aware of your surroundings, doff your rig, stash your stuff and move out of the way for others; it is considered bad form to leave your rig, even if it is rental, spread across the seating area; if someone whose gear station is next to yours is standing next to you in full gear while you dry your hair, wring out your wetsuit or generally fuss around - have some courtesy and move a little quicker. if you continue to do this all week, don't look surprised if the diver stationed next to you begins to not give a sh*t about your gear and begins to become a little more rude. wet suits are hung from racks over the center console and get a slight warming from heat rising from the engine room directly below; no hot towels after each dive as on "the other boat". grab an "outside" towel in the morning & use it all day. you may or may not have the same towel all day. the crew "wash" & dry them prior to night divers getting back on board but getting your towel air dried between dives during the day is your responsibility; EXCELLENT hot water showers on the transom. very, very nice! the under seat storage works good; we were a little concerned that we wouldn't like this setup; our concern was the openness would allow items to want to roll out; we had no problems and afterwards agreed that we enjoyed this setup over Aggressor's covered areas under the bench; the open slot made it quicker & easier to put stuff away; divers in the water routine - crew person stands over the transom and makes a note about who is going in the water & at what time; when you exit, you call out your max depth & remaining air psi; your line on the form is maintained all week & we were told that it is there in the event that there is a need to review your dive profiles for the week; one concern we had early in the week - there were two male divers with the same first name & two female divers with same first name; early in the week one crew person worked the sheet on the dive entries and a different person worked the sheet on the exits; my wife & I discovered that they were mixing and matching us w/ two other divers that shared our first names. not that big of a deal, just something that could be an issue in a worst case scenario; nice touch they do perform - do the night dive & they reward you with a pitcher full of very warm water poured down the inside of your wetsuit as you are storing your gear; hot chocolate w/ or w/o baileys available on the dive deck after putting stuff away.

camera table: at the rear of the dive deck overlooking the transom; room enough for the photographers we had on the cruise; throw in a couple of video shooters and maybe one or two SLR rigs and it would be snug. no air hoses. shelving underneath the table allowed for a place to sit a recharger; again, a few more photographers and this would get crowded because that space is shared w/ crew items; a good size camera rinse tank is positioned at the end of the center console - all divers respected that tank during the week. heard no complaints from any of the photographers during the week.

special mention: do the research and you'll read about how much this boat swings on its mooring line; while diving DO NOT discount this. this boat's swing arch can be close to 180 degrees and it can take up to five minutes to swing from one end to the other. this swing got me and the wife a couple of times, once because we lost our turn in point along the wall and another because we didn't pay attention to the slight current pushing us off our safety stop hang point; about half the divers choose to do their safety stops on the down lines - beware. get more than two or three divers on that line, the boat starts swinging to the other end of the arch & those divers quickly rose to the surface as they turned into pennants on a sail line; hanging out at 15- 20 feet watching the underside of the boat fade away and then waiting patiently for it to return, three to five minutes w/ no one else around can seem like a lifetime and can be a little unnerving; relax & enjoy the view, just be sure to pick a spot within the boat's swing arch, maintain your hover in relation to that spot & trust that the boat will come back to you. this process takes some getting used to.

the diving: very nice walls. sharks on most of the West Caicos dive spots. we got blown out of French Cay which was a bummer. the strong winds kept us from making the crossing. good news to that is that it makes us have to come back, I've heard so many good things about French Cay and would really have liked to spend a couple of days over there. Loretta the grouper at "The Gully" is a hoot. wife and I were looking at a large free swimming green moray when Loretta got jealous & I'll be d*mned if that fish didn't push the moray and a queen angelfish out of the way so that it could have our attention. too funny. lots of cleaning stations offered good photo ops of groupers, morays and even barracudas. did I mention the shark sightings. this was the main reason why I wanted to do this trip and they did not disappoint. they're curious about the divers but wary. don't rush towards them & you'll be rewarded. for some nice photo ops, hang out about 50-75 yards off the wall & wait for them to come by as they cruise the reef overhang. lots of morays. quite a few eagle ray sightings

night dives: bar jacks. you'll notice early into your night dives that there doesn't seem to be much fish life out and about. then these big jacks come rushing thru and you soon realize why there's no fish out and about. ANYthing that ventures out is bait. hang out up on the sun deck of the boat & watch out over the stern while the boat's dive lights are on. nothing that ventures up to the lights survives. these jacks are voracious feeders.

departures: back at the dock by friday afternoon; you get a chance for three dives friday morning, a dawn dive & two after breakfast dives; if the wind & waves are up the boat will anchor outside of the marina upon returning & the skiff will be used to ferry people to the island for afternoon shore excursions; you may consider taking along a "fair weather" pull-over for just this occasion; you will get wet if taken in on the skiff, you may get soaked; we always travel w/ a small backpack & found the backpack useful for keeping our shoes, socks and/or sandals dry during the ride in; saw others w/ wet shoes and soaked shirts after the ride in and were happy we had the backpack; Donna, the purser, made a good suggestion the day before we headed back - you may want to consider renting a car for friday afternoon; you may even consider keeping that car until Saturday & use it as your transportation back to the airport on Saturday. there's not a whole lot to see and do on the island but there's absolutely nothing to do at the Caicos Marina. most everyone went together to dinner at the Coco Bistro and came back w/ good reviews; we spent the afternoon driving the island & then had dinner & drinks at the Turtle Cove restaurant. excellent spot to lounge & enjoy the multi-million dollar yachts. very good food. drinks on the boat friday night can turn into quite a bit of fun.

closing: this was our third liveaboard. we've now done one on the Nekton Pilot (southern Bahamas itinerary), one on the Cayman Aggressor and this one. all three had their ups & downs. this boat & itinerary rates first on our short list - we're hoping to continue our research and we'll see how they rate against others. size of the boat is fine, even if they had a full passenger load I think this boat would be comfortable. the crew was friendly, the boat was well maintained and the diving was very good. yea, we'd do this trip again. send a note if you have questions. photos are available in the photo gallery.