Explorer Ventures Turks and Caicos- any reviews?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

muzicgirl

Contributor
Messages
190
Reaction score
0
Location
NYC
# of dives
100 - 199
Hi all!
We are going on the live aboard to Turks and Caicos in a few weeks with Explorer Ventures....
Would love some reviews, tips, any good things/bad things to look out for? How was the boat? I am used to doing a live aboard on the Aquacat- double catamaran....hopefully I won't get too sea sick. I had no problems last time. How was the crew, the food, the boat itself, the water conditions? We can not wait to go! It's been cold in NYC the last few weeks...thanks and looking forward to hearing!
-M
 
We were on the T&C Exp II over Christmas week and had a great time !

The crew and the food - great (Cooked special meals for gf & me - not meat eaters)

Water conditions - Since it was the third week of December, there was quite abit of wind and the boat REALLY swings on the mooring. The crew will brief you on this if the winds are up, but it wasn't a real problem.

We saw all the usual animals, but not a lot of them.

I enjoyed the trip and would go again

NAIBDiver1
 
Last edited:
Going out with the Turks and Caicos Explorer is a great experience. Most important: The diving is perfect organized and there are always enough helping hands when needed (includes hot tea or chocolate when needed (-; )
We could always decide if we wanted to dive by our own or to go with a dive guide. There were a few places, the guides were really helpful, like in the seagrass - they saw everything!
The crew is great and we had a lot of fun with them.

As naibdiver1 told: the boat really swings on the mooring - and it's great fun to use the mooring line as a special kind of merry-go-round without paying extra!!!

The boat itself is very comfortable with a lot of places to relax and enjoy the sun or the shade.

Food is excellent and varied - and if you have problems or aversions to anything - tell them and you get always an alternative!


I'm sure, that once again I will make a trip with this boat!!!!!

Have a nice holiday
Tuepfel
 
I did not post a trip report after our trip last October. I got busy with other things and to be completely honest, I got lazy. So here are the details. Trip in to Provo was from Richmond, VA to Charlotte and then to Provo. The flights were easy and no complaints with USAir. We were met outside the airport by a crew member and the pickup from the airport went very smoothly. There were a few other guests that came in earlier in the day and they were picked up and taken to a local hotel with a restaurant /bar to use the pool and facilities there while waiting on the rest of the passengers to arrive. We picked them up and then made our way to the boat. The vessel was in good shape, but was in need of some touchup painting here and there. The crew had scheduled some down time to do most of that type of work about two weeks before our trip, but was kept busy with a hurricane and was not able to handle a lot of the routine maintenance trying to keep the boat in one piece. The minor repair work was not really noticeable unless it was pointed out and one of the crew members apologized for the appearance of the vessel before I brought it up. It is nice to see pride in your home even if it is temporary. The boat was in overall good condition and was by far the nicest live aboard I have ever been on. My wife and I had one of the cabins on the top and it was huge (by live aboard standards). Unfortunately because of the winds at night I had a hard time sleeping with the listing of the vessel. No one else on board seemed to have any problems at all with this and it was not that severe, but I have a history with live boards and it is still a bit unnerving to rock while I am trying to sleep in a dark cabin at night. (I was on board the last WaveDancer trip in Belize in 2001.) The meals were great. Stan the chef has worked on live boards in Provo for years and is very good. The crew was good about letting everyone set their dive plan and getting out of the way. They were available if you needed anything and quick to respond to any request. The diving unfortunately was not that good, due to the recent storms and the visibility was down significantly from where it has been in past trips to the area. We also drew the unlucky card of having pretty strong winds for our entire trip. The winds blew the boat in about a 200 yard arch when we were moored to a dive site. This made finding the boat a little more of dive on faith that the boat would swing back around to you at the end of your dive if you were just patient. After the first day or two everyone seemed to get it and there was not too much of a pile up trying to get back on the boat at the end of the dive. If you were last to get back to the boat hanging on to the down lines off the back of the boat would give you a great high speed tour over the reef, but only one diver per line or the speed of the swing would cause everyone to surface. I am sure that the visibility has returned by now and the wall diving is excellent in Provo. When your diving is finished for the week and you make it back to shore, I would recommend getting a rental car from the same agency that the crew uses, if you are going ashore. Our group separated when we got in and I went with the crew. Our rental car was about $35 for the day and was returned to the airport when we were done. Others paid as much as $85 for the day and could not return to the airport. To make a long story a little shorter, I would definitely recommend the trip and the vessel to anyone. I think for me it will be a little while longer before I try another mono hull vessel for a week of diving. Luckily for me there are still several twin hull boats working out there and these provide a much more stabile base for me to sleep on.

If you have any specific questions please let me know and I will be happy to try and answer them.

Rick Patterson
 
Thanks so much! Rick- I understand, I get queezy when things sway around too much. But, if you are looking for a great double-hulled live aboard, try the aquacat - we were onboard last february and honestly, I can't say enough good things about the whole trip.
 
I don't have much of a problem with motion sickness or sea sickness. The vessel is very stable overall. I still have a bit of a fear of capsizing. I have looked into the Aquacat and may indeed give them a try soon. Thanks for the recommendation.

Rick
 
My wife and I did the T&C Explorer in 2005 and we're doing it again March 14th. It's a great boat and the diving in T&C is fabulous. Stan the cook will keep you full and happy. Several people have mentioned the boat swinging on it's mooring, which is true but really is not a big deal at all. One thing that is different about T&C is we would see reef sharks on almost every dive. Also, there were several opportunities to see eagle rays. Great stuff!

Here's some pictures from our 2006 trip:

Picasa Web Albums - John - Turks and Caicos

Enjoy T&C, I know we will!
John Pierce
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom