Explorer Ventures Trip Report - Turks & Caicos Explorer II

[EVMike]

Turks & Caicos Explorer II - Trip Report - 11/10-17, 2012
The beginning of our week was a bit of a blowout. The same winds and sea conditions that shortened the previous charter prevented this one from going out for the first two days. However, this did not deter divers from getting wet. The Emerald Bay Marina basin turned out to be a very interesting location, full of life and great visibility! Even in 10 feet of water there were lobsters along the wall, a few varieties of nudibranchs, including the Leech Head Shield Slug. Mangrove jellies, barracudas, Rough head Blennies, juvenile French and Grey Angelfish and High hats, long spiny urchins, an octopus, Queen Conchs, and a small turtle. Critter spotting wasn’t as plentiful for the night dives but the octopus and lobsters were still around.
Tuesday morning took us Rock’n & Roll’n to Conception Island. We arrived to calm waters, sunny skies, and good visibility. First stop Missing Link for one dive then on to Grouper Ledge for the last two dives of the day. Divers were joined by several Grey Reef Sharks on the fist dive, even though the dolphin was spotted as we approached the second mooring, it was nowhere to be seen during the dive. A Silky Shark was spotted on Grouper Ledge and the night dive produced an octopus and rather large Green Turtle.
The diving was absolutely amazing at San Salvador this week. A Great Hammerhead was spotted at both Double Caves and Devils Grotto. A lone Spotted Eagle Ray was seen on the wall ridge at Double Caves. The bottom topography at Devils Grotto was a labyrinth of huge canyons and swim throughs leading out to a big wall with loads of crevices and caves to swim in and out of without disturbing anything. Long whip corals hung from the edges and enormous barrel sponges dotted the sides of the wall in all directions. Fish life at both sites was plentiful.
We returned to Conception Island Thursday morning and dove Wedge Point and Chutes & Ladders. The big sighting of the day was a 12’ Bull Shark. Again, nice crevices and swim throughs with a good variety of schooling fish around the edges and on top of the wall.
Our last day was spent at Long Island where we dove the Camberbach wreck, a 100’ inter island ferry sunk in the seventies. Beside it a 40 foot sail boat sitting not far away in the sand. This wreck sits upright on the reef with its cargo hold open, exposing a lone van. Schools of Atlantic Spadefish were around as well as a few barracudas and algae grazers.
By the time we returned to the Marina Friday afternoon, the sun was out, the seas had calmed, and gear was drying nicely for the packing up process.
A good week was had by all. Congratulations to Julie, Jared, and Kevin for completing their Nitrox courses. Thanks to Carol and Bob, and everyone for sharing such great photo’s of the week.

 

[beaverdivers]

Thanks for your trip report.

 

[EVMike]

Turks & Caicos Explorer II - Trip Report – November 17-24, 2012
Southern Bahamas Itinerary
Our week started with a calm overnight transit to our first island on the tour, Conception. This 3 mile long speck in the southern Bahamas chain is a jewel. Lots of beautiful beaches and rocky outcroppings can be seen from the boat at all of the dive sites. There’s a large lagoon in the middle of the island which provides a sanctuary and nesting ground for boobies, terns, and other sea faring birds. A pair of Osprey was seen fishing together along the coast.
Our first daylight dives at Grouper Ledge and Chutes & Ladders provided opportunities to see turtles, rays, reef sharks, and a friendly Nassau grouper. The days diving was followed by a spectacular cloud vista during sunset.
Next stop, San Salvador. A populated island with Club Med as the main stakeholder. Our first of three days at San Sal started at Double Caves. Visibility was fantastic. A slight surface surge but calm beneath. Divers were able to hang out with a Hawksbill Turtle for 15 or 20 minutes. Two Spotted Eagle Rays were seen on the first dive and a Hammerhead on the second. The barracudas were all a good size. A small group of guests ventured ashore between dives for some beach walking and exploring. Our afternoon was spent at Great Cut. Due to a northerly surge, visibility in the shallows wasn’t too good but improved with depth.This site gets its name due to an enormous break in the wall starting at on the ridge and extending down to a 120 ‘ or so. The inner wall is covered with whip corals, encrusting sponges, and home to groupers, squirrel fish, and lobsters. We returned to Double Caves for the night dive and a sleep over.
As with many days, our wakeup call was the diesel engines firing up. We moved to a great deep site called North Pole Caves. This site has a vast chimney like formation in the wall that spits divers out at two significant exit points. The first is at 110’ which divers taking the express train seem to miss, and ultimately get off at the 130’ stop. Those taking the slower more scenic route, make several stops along the way exploring all the nooks and crannies for lobsters, crabs and shrimp. They usually by-pass the 110’ stop by choice as it’s a very picturesque swim through with loads of light penetrating through the gaps, providing excellent photo opportunities. There were occasional Schoolmasters, Black Margate’s, Tiger and Groupers dotted throughout. Two Nassau Groupers lingered near the 110’ opening, greeting divers as they slid out. Once outside the cut, the bottom disappeared, and a vast expanse of deep sea blue appeared. Didn’t see any sharks but the top of the wall was teeming with schools of Blue Striped Grunts, Bermuda Chubs, Ocean Triggers, Schoolmasters, Black Durgeons, and Chromis. We moved up the west coast a few miles to a site called Pyramid. Named for a triangular rock formation on the wall ridge to the south. This was another good wall dive and proved to be a great night dive as well.
Conditions Wednesday morning were good for a drift dive in the Devils Claw area; a site close to Cockburn Town, the San Sal capital. A perpetual north swell was creating really poor visibility and several other sites, so we opted for another drift dive on the south side of the island. This was an awesome dive made possible not just for the improved conditions but probably more so because of the 7 Scalloped Hammerheads that appeared from the blue, joining divers for a little while.
More Hammerheads!!! Thursday was a big day for Hammerheads and Eagle Rays.
Strong winds and seas continued to prevail from the west, preventing us from diving on the receiving side of the island. We moved around to the south, and again, dived from our Double Caves mooring. We did several drift dives near this location and further along to the SE. 10 or 11 Spotted Eagle Rays passed by off the wall around a depth of 70’. Diver Lynn caught some great footage of a close flyby. In the afternoon we explored a new site “Yet to be named”. Two schools of 6 and 10 Hammerheads respectively were seen by the divers. During the course of the day, winds had increased and the sea state had deteriorated. We opted for one last dive Friday morning at “Double Caves” before the long trek back to our dock in Great Exuma. More Eagle Rays and Hammerheads, yet again!
Despite the weather - Outstanding week!

 

[tajkd]

Sounds like a great time. Thanks for posting.

 

[EVMike]

Turks & Caicos Explorer II - Turks & Caicos Islands - Trip Report - December 29-January 5, 2013. This week marked the beginning of a new year for us and the first charter with a recently spruced up boat. Our group of 20 plus started out at our usual Turks and Caicos run at North West Point. We had a lovely day of diving with calm seas and sunny conditions above; good visibility and creature spotting below. We opted to make our move to the island of West Caicos on the first evening as weather reports indicated the potential for very high winds developing overnight. The typically calm leeward side of West Caicos wasn’t to be, so divers were subjected to strong winds and a northerly swell that effected the diving to some degree. Divers selected their dives, had a relaxing day, and brought the New Year in with lots of dancing, music and champers (the latter in moderation of course). The next few days in West Caicos brought lots of sunshine and much calmer seas typical of this area. This was a big week for Spotted Eagle Rays. Lots of turtles around, spotted morays, and a more than usual number of channel cleaning crabs day and night. A tiny octopus was spotted on a night dive along with plenty of jacks and sharks to keep divers wary of movement and shadows in the peripheral torch light. Wednesdays night dive at French Cays’ G-Spot at was full of nurse shark action, the smaller of the bunch staying relatively close to divers for the duration. The week ended a good note with slightly windier conditions but great diving. Our group enjoyed a wonderful dinner out together Friday evening at one of our favorite restaurants by the sea (and no mozzies, thanks to those winds). Here’s to silver linings.

 

[EVMike]

Trip Report: Turks & Caicos Explorer II – Turks & Caicos Islands – January 5-12, 2013.
We began the week with a private Dolphin escort to the first dive site and a Tiger Shark sighting, rare because we normally don’t see that species of shark around! The sea conditions were an improvement from the week prior and visibility was great! The usual suspects Spotted Morays, Spiny Lobsters, and Channel Crabs were all out in abundance during the day and at night throughout the dives.
West Caicos brought us quite a few Southern Rays, which we could see vacuuming the bottom under the boat. At least two dozen were actually spotted while diving in the area, all young females with their Bar Jack escorts hovering closely above. Several Reef Sharks made their expected appearance, displaying their usual curious demeanor. We also saw a lot of larger Tiger Groupers.
But sadly our friend Lucy hasn’t been seen in months. She was a large Nassau Grouper who always met divers at the top of “RGI’s” wall and followed along for the dive, flirting with everyone until they gradually made their way back into the shallows.
Our final dive of the week at Elephant Ear Canyon produced sharks, more rays, and for the macro enthusiasts a few Pipe Fish, Blennies, Juvenile Conchs and Shrimps hiding in the sea grass. A very relaxed and fun week had by all.

 

[beaverdivers]

Sounds like an excellent week!

 

[EVMike]

[FONT=&quot]Trip Report: Turks & Caicos Explorer II – Turks & Caicos Islands – May 10-17, 2014[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We started the week off at North West Point off the island of Providenciales. The wind was blowing at a steady 20 knots so divers quickly learned how to negotiate the “swinging” antics of the vessel during their safety stops. High winds and rough sea conditions prevented us from going to French Cay this week. This wasn’t a problem as there were so many great sites to choose from along the calm and peaceful leeward shore of West Caicos.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Spanish Anchor offered up some stuff this week– large Channel Clinging Crabs tucked into the crevices and shelves on the wall face. One in particular was quite content being observed at close range casually picking away at the algae, occasionally sampling a bit claw to mouth. He was a lefty. A yellow Neck Crab was spotted inside a small coral head putting up with the comings and goings of a very busy bi-colored Damsel fish. In the shallower reef where sand meets coral, a large coral mound was residence to a very large and grumpy Nassau Grouper, two good sized Lionfish, and a Porcupine Fish. None of whom seemed to mind the other too much. The curious grouper followed the diver’s position around the coral head. Peering out wherever the diver stopped to look in. We’re not sure if the grouper found this amusing but it was good entertainment value for the divers. There were loads of medium sized Barracuda around the sandy shallows with several Southern Atlantic Stingrays of all sizes male and female searching for tidbits along the bottom. Spotted Morays and mating lobsters were spotted on a mid week night dive. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Group Leader Mark, aka Sweets, lead his amazing team of divers into the beautiful blue hues of the Turks and Caicos waters. We enjoyed exploring the many dive sites off West Caicos and Northwest Point on Provo. A ‘shout out’ to Maddy for discovering a Long Horn Nudibranch on her night dive at Brandywine. We look forward to seeing the amazing Hawksbill Turtle footage by Sue and Ryan.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Congratulations to Llew and Marc for completing their Solo Diver course this week and to Mark S. for completing his Nitrox course and Advanced Open Water. Thanks for a great week![/FONT]

 

[EVMike]

Trip Report: Turks & Caicos Explorer II – Turks & Caicos Islands – June 6-13, 2015

This week on the Turks & Caicos Explorer II the photographers were in heaven! Be it macro critters like our now commonly seen minute Eyespot Costasiella Nudibranch or the wide angle subjects like the cruising Caribbean reef sharks and beautiful Black Gorgonian fans at the G-Spot at French Cay, there was something for everyone. We started the week at French Cay where all were entertained by the resident nurse sharks showing off their hunting skills at night. With the beautiful calm conditions, we were able to continue out further from the islands to the untouched sites at Molasses Reef and West Sand Spit.
Underwater photographers, Jeremy Moore and Jack Tse, announced that thanks to their keen eyed dive guides, Andy and Pippa, their eyes had been opened to the wonders of the macro world! Jeremy was able to take a great snap of a tiny and translucent Gorgonian hydroid and the rare and cunningly disguised Green alga crab. Both of them captured wonderful close up images so we thought we'd post some here for everyone to enjoy.

 

[drrich2]

Those are some nice shots. Liked the 1st one the best.

Richard.