Is the Bay Islands Aggressor not really worth it?

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pisces

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Hi!

I know, oddly worded title....

For the last 4-5 days, I've been researching, trying to put together a last dive minute trip for my birthday the last week of February. Because of time & money constraints etc., I've been looking at Central/South American and Mexico. (I'm coming from San Francisco.)

But, no matter how I try to put a trip together, when it comes down to maxiumum bottom time, it really seems like a liveaboard is the most cost effective, efficient, and easy way to go, especially if you are traveling alone. I did Belize on the Nekton last year. It was nice (great crew of course) but not wildly exciting diving and quite cold for me. So, the only other location for a liveaboard is the Bay Islands Aggressor (BIA).

Unfortunately, I can't find that many reviews on the BIA on the internet, so I don't really feel like I can make a fair judgement. As far as I can tell from the comments, the diving is only so-so. What might be appealing about BIA are warm waters, lots of nudibrachs, seeing at least one seahorse.... But my questions are:

Are the waters warm w/plentiful nudibrachs & seahorses?
Is the diving on the BIA less interesting than Belize?
Is the boat still not up to the standards of other Aggressor boats?
Should I save my money & "delay" my birthday until I can go to Bali or Thailand or Truk or Palau or etc....?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!
 
pisces:
Are the waters warm w/plentiful nudibrachs & seahorses?
Is the diving on the BIA less interesting than Belize?
Is the boat still not up to the standards of other Aggressor boats?
Should I save my money & "delay" my birthday until I can go to Bali or Thailand or Truk or Palau or etc....?
IMHO, I'd move my birthday to March or April :wink:. I can't speak about the BIA. In the Caribbean I've only done resort diving for one week in Utila and another in Grand Cayman. While both of those places have an awful lot to offer, I think South East Asia has much better diving. If it's small critters you are after, you'd have a tough time beating the Lembeh Straits or Mabul / Kapalai anywhere in the world. For bigger fish, I'd spend my money on Sipadan, Manado, Layang-Layang, LOB's around Phuket, Sangalaki, etc. or go to Truk, Palau or the Maldives.
 
Zippsy:
IMHO, I'd move my birthday to March or April :wink:. I can't speak about the BIA. In the Caribbean I've only done resort diving for one week in Utila and another in Grand Cayman. While both of those places have an awful lot to offer, I think South East Asia has much better diving. If it's small critters you are after, you'd have a tough time beating the Lembeh Straits or Mabul / Kapalai anywhere in the world. For bigger fish, I'd spend my money on Sipadan, Manado, Layang-Layang, LOB's around Phuket, Sangalaki, etc. or go to Truk, Palau or the Maldives.


Hey Zippsy!

Yes, in my heart-of-hearts, I already knew what the answer would likely be.... When I see pictures of those amazing nudibrachs, my heart just aches.... A hammerhead or whale shark here and there would be great, if it weren't for the cold water temps.

It's just that I haven't been diving in quite some time and am starting to expererience withdrawal symptoms.... I am a bit tired of Caribbean diving (please don't flame me) and was hoping that maybe I've just been going to the wrong places. I was hoping that, by some miracle, someone would reply "The Bay Islands kick a**!!! You won't regret going there!!!"

I don't know when I'll be able to plan a long trip to Southeast Asia or thereabouts because if I go all that way, I want to stay at least 2 weeks. But I kind of need a fix soon.... (I sound so sad... like an addict out of control...)

Since you are in Singapore, I bet you've seen quite a few amazing nudibrachs, eh? Sea horses? (I've not seen one yet) Those are my two latest obsessions! Ok, I'm going to come looking for you for advice when I get my act together to plan a nice long trip!!!
 
I don't know how far you are from warm water diving (polar bears: please don't flame me!) but get in the water quick! You do sound like an addict (that's good) but you also sound like you need a fix immediately (that's bad). No matter where you dive, remember to enjoy the experience you are having. Don't just compare it to better places. In Utila, I really enjoyed gently waving my hand over sand patches and watching dozens of tiny flounders shift position, looking under every small ledge and finding a wide variety of shrimps, staring at one nudibranch up close only to have a banded pipe-fish get in the way. In the Caymans, the enjoyment came from being surprised by a moray with a head bigger than mine, and Southern rays that would circle inches away from your body (and not even at the Stingray City Circus).

Of course there's enjoyment in Asian diving too: flying next to mantas on almost every dive in the Maldives, getting checked out by whalesharks at the Seven Skies wreck in Anambas, counting 10 different kinds of nudibranchs on a single rock at Lembeh, being surrounded by 10,000 jacks (or a dozen turtles, or a half dozen sharks) in Sipadan, ducking to avoid getting whipped by a leopard shark's tail off Kuantan, coming face to face with a herd of huge hump-head parrot fish in Tioman, etc., etc., etc ....

I hope you make it somewhere soon!
 
Zippsy:
I don't know how far you are from warm water diving (polar bears: please don't flame me!) but get in the water quick! You do sound like an addict (that's good) but you also sound like you need a fix immediately (that's bad). No matter where you dive, remember to enjoy the experience you are having. Don't just compare it to better places. In Utila, I really enjoyed gently waving my hand over sand patches and watching dozens of tiny flounders shift position, looking under every small ledge and finding a wide variety of shrimps, staring at one nudibranch up close only to have a banded pipe-fish get in the way. In the Caymans, the enjoyment came from being surprised by a moray with a head bigger than mine, and Southern rays that would circle inches away from your body (and not even at the Stingray City Circus).

Of course there's enjoyment in Asian diving too: flying next to mantas on almost every dive in the Maldives, getting checked out by whalesharks at the Seven Skies wreck in Anambas, counting 10 different kinds of nudibranchs on a single rock at Lembeh, being surrounded by 10,000 jacks (or a dozen turtles, or a half dozen sharks) in Sipadan, ducking to avoid getting whipped by a leopard shark's tail off Kuantan, coming face to face with a herd of huge hump-head parrot fish in Tioman, etc., etc., etc ....

I hope you make it somewhere soon!


Ok, your second paragrah made me whimper....

No, I don't mean to sound unappreciative of all of my dive opportunities. I enjoy ALL of my "tropical" dives & trips even when the water temps are 68F and the windchill is below 60F.... It's great just to be suspended underwater, breathing compressed air! My motto is that I must take EVERY opportunity to dive when on my trips, even if my teeth are chattering; even if my fingers & toes are numb; even if the currents are so strong that all I can manage to do is hang on the anchor line, flap like a flag, and watch everyone else until my air runs out.... It's just that resources ($) & time are limited commodities, and thus, I must ration for dive trips accordingly!

(Note to self: start saving every penny for Asian dive tour; until then, sit in bathtub w/dive gear on until withdrawal symptoms pass....)

--------------------

Edited to ask: when is the "best/ideal" time of the year for diving in Lembeh Straits or Mabul / Kapalai? Liveaboards? Thanks!!!
 
pisces:
Hi!

I know, oddly worded title....

For the last 4-5 days, I've been researching, trying to put together a last dive minute trip for my birthday the last week of February. Because of time & money constraints etc., I've been looking at Central/South American and Mexico. (I'm coming from San Francisco.)

But, no matter how I try to put a trip together, when it comes down to maxiumum bottom time, it really seems like a liveaboard is the most cost effective, efficient, and easy way to go, especially if you are traveling alone. I did Belize on the Nekton last year. It was nice (great crew of course) but not wildly exciting diving and quite cold for me. So, the only other location for a liveaboard is the Bay Islands Aggressor (BIA).

Unfortunately, I can't find that many reviews on the BIA on the internet, so I don't really feel like I can make a fair judgement. As far as I can tell from the comments, the diving is only so-so. What might be appealing about BIA are warm waters, lots of nudibrachs, seeing at least one seahorse.... But my questions are:

Are the waters warm w/plentiful nudibrachs & seahorses?
Is the diving on the BIA less interesting than Belize?
Is the boat still not up to the standards of other Aggressor boats?
Should I save my money & "delay" my birthday until I can go to Bali or Thailand or Truk or Palau or etc....?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!

delay, after returning from PNG in Oct I can honestly say its the best diving I have ever done. All the things you said you wanted to see are there in abundance, truly a unspoilt paradise, water temp in OCT 87.
 
I have only been on one Aggressor boat (the Bay Islands Agressor) and it was within the last year, so my experiences may still be relevant. Compared to another liveaboard I'd been on the boat was not as nice, the food not nearly as good (although the cook is very friendly), and the diving not as varied. I'm sorry to say there weren't all that many nudibranchs (we found only a few, but not sure if that was more a matter of them not being there or us not finding them, although we did look) and the DM said seahorses are very rare (that's usually DM-speak for "never seen one"). There were virtually no big critters seen, and only one shark was encountered the entire week. Plenty of eels and turtles, though.
The staff was generally good although the one knowledgeable DM they had was only visible around dive times. The captain elected not to take us to a few of the sites with better reputations due to "weather" but I did not see any weather that would have called for such caution (it's a good sized boat). We were told that based on the clientelle the boat attracts they choose calmer water over better sites, which I had trouble agreeing with (why go there for calm water when the sites aren't worth diving? was my opinion).
There was a guy on the trip who was on his third or fourth Agressor boat and he did nothing but complain that this one (a converted Great Lakes boat) was just not up to what he'd come to expect. It is my understanding this is the cheapest Aggressor boat, so that alone may tell you something.
I wish I could give you a thumbs-up to do this trip, but it sounds like there are considerably better liveaboards out there for what you're looking for. I'm still glad I went and we did have a good time, but I personally would not go back there again.
 
I've never been on the BIA but every year when we are at CoCo View Resort on the south sides, the BIA stays moored in front of the resort for a couple of days, moving from one site to another. Marv, I don't want to disagree with your report but we see sea horses all over the place! They are on the Prince Albert wreck, on CCV Wall and Newman's Wall, all in easy shore diving distance from the resort. We also see them at the top of Mary's Place, at Calvin's Crack and Gold Chain. These are the sites we see them at year after year. Plus they are sited at various other sites.

Now Nudi's, I've only seen 3 in Roatan and they were all on Menagerie reef. The BIA parks right over Managerie for a whole day. I'm not a big Nudi fan so I don't really look for them either.

Have you thought about going to CCV? If you sign on as a 'share'...meaning you're willing to share a room with another female, they will assign you a roomie and you don't pay a single supplement. If there is no one needing a roomie, you get the room to yourself. One of the girls on our trips has done this the last 4 years and has never had a roomie!
 
pisces:
Edited to ask: when is the "best/ideal" time of the year for diving in Lembeh Straits or Mabul / Kapalai? Liveaboards? Thanks!!!
Lembeh Straits can be dived anytime since it is fairly well protected from the monsoon. The good news is that it is only an hour or two from Minado on the other side of the penisula. If you want, you can combine some great muck diving with wonderful wall diving looking for the big stuff. Minado does get hit by the monsoon so anytime from March to mid-November is best for that.

The same combination of diving is available between Mabul / Kapalai and Sipadan. They are only a short 30 - 60 minute boat ride away from each other. The best season here is also from March to mid-November although I was there in February and it was still the diving I have ever done.

FYI, all four places have great resorts and I would recommend using them rather than any (?) LOB. I would rate Lembeh better than Mabul / Kapalai but Sipadan better than Minado. All four places I would rate at least a 9 if Grand Cayman is a 5 on the same scale to 10.

I forgot about PNG - that definitely should have been on my initial list.
 
cdiver2:
delay, after returning from PNG in Oct I can honestly say its the best diving I have ever done. All the things you said you wanted to see are there in abundance, truly a unspoilt paradise, water temp in OCT 87.

WOW!!! Water temps of 87?! That's amazing!!! I might be able to get away with just a 3mm.... Ok, maybe just my .5mm and a hood.... I didn't know that fishes could live in water that warm! That is awesome!!!

Did you do a liveaboard? Travel around? (or did you post about it already on the boards?) I'm still looking for that "unspoilt paradise".... I guess I have to go to PNG!

Thanks for the tip!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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