Whales of the Silver Bank; Sun Dancer II or Turks and Caicos Aggressor, any comments?

[ewaiea]

Hey all,

I have been reading with curiosity some of the trip reports of the Turks and Caicos Aggressor and the Sun Dancer II - who run the charters during Feb-Apr to the Silver Banks for the humpback whale encounters.

Has anyone on here done one of these charters and can you provide some words of wisdom? I consider myself a pretty experienced free diver and if I was to do a trip like this (since you can't bring dive gear) I would want to bring my free-diving fins. The catch is - these trips are "soft-water encounters". This means only floating on the surface is allowed. For those that have done this trip....I'm sure the experience was exhilerating, but did it get a little old? Did you want a bit more freedom in the water? Maybe a chance to do some light free-diving?

I know just getting in the water with humpbacks should be enough, but to do a full week long liveaboard? I'm not sure if I'd want to invest my "liveaboard fund" for the year on a week of floating on the surface...maybe considering how unique it is...but I don't know.

It's kind of like those great white shark liveaboard trips in Guadalupe....all you do all week is get in and out of the cage....would this get old after a week? Or was the last dive as much fun as the first?

I'd love to hear comments from all those who have first hand knowledge...I have an 8 year old step-daughter that's not dive certified yet (but a complete water bug) and I'm thinking for when she's 9 that a Silver Bank trip might be a fun excursion...

Any thoughts?

 

[robint]

I haven't done it but a group that I know did. They are hard-core divers but also photographers and they loved it. But they spent most of the time in the chase boats, just sitting out there with the whales taking photos. Some time was spent in water, but not as much as you would think. They got pretty familiar with the whales as their group had a whale expert guide (I am pretty sure every trip has one of these guys), there were lectures about whale behavior, breeding and male/female differences, etc.

Most of the participants on these whale watching trips are people that do not dive at all. The group I know had booked the whole boat, so they didn't have any issues with non-divers, but I know the Nekton used to do these trips and I had some talks with the crew about them. They said at least 90% of the participants were non-divers so they had a whole different level of understanding about the ocean, fish, whales, diving, etc. Something to keep in mind.

robin

 

[ewaiea]

Thanks Robint,

As always you are a generous source of useful information that benefits us all. :cool2:

I'm not sure why these trips continue to catch my attention, because I've wondered about this a couple of other times. But me personally, the themed trips where you do a whole week of cage diving with sharks all week long, or snorkeling with humpbacks the whole week would seem to be a bit of a let down after a while. The first few encounters would be awesome, but after a couple days it'd be like.....uh, okay.....more whales.....oh look! This time the whale looked at me with his LEFT eye!

Sorry, I am not doubting the enormity of a trip of this nature but from a diver and photographer's standpoint I'm just trying to get a better grasp of these trips from those who have done them.

Thanks all!

 

[Manuel Sam]

I just did this trip in February on the Sun Dancer II. I also did it on the Aggressor two years ago.

Would I do it again? Probably not - unless I am allowed to freedive, which as you already know, is not allowed in the Silver Banks trips (I believe that they allow you to freedive with them in Tonga).

Did I really have to do it again after just two years? No, but I went because I was going with some good friends, and I was also hoping to (1) get better shots than on my first trip (which I am happy to say I did for topside shots) and (2) get to see some different behaviors that I hadn't seen before (for example, read the early and mid-February Aggressor reports and their reference to a "valentine", which I unfortunately did not see).

I think that the encounters themselves are never tiring - at least with me, I enjoyed every in-water encounter and it never got old. It might get old if all you have to do is jump in the water and they're there, and after a while, you'd take them for granted. Well, trust me - that is not the case.

The in-water encounters are usually brief relative to the amount of time you spend riding on the chase boats trying to find the right opportunity and the right whales. It's like, after hours of sitting in the tender, you are thrilled just to finally get the chance to get wet. In addition, there can be days when you only get wet from the waves splashing into the boat or because you had to go potty - so to me, every single in-water encounter is much anticipated and cherished.

Beyond that, I think that there is a little kid inside of most or all of us who enjoys being in the water with highly intelligent creatures such as these. You get to learn (and marvel) about their behaviors. It's like no matter how many times I get into the water with dolphins, I still get excited to get into the water with them.

But to each his or her own. You are also absolutely right as it pertains to money. These are not cheap trips by any means when you consider that you pay just as much or more than a liveabord diving trip, where you get 4-5 dives a day, but here you only get to snorkel. Two years ago, I think I paid around $2400. This year I paid around $3200, and all you get is 4 1/2 days of in-water opportunities. So it is definitely not for everyone.

But for whatever it's worth, I'm willing to bet that it will take you years to wipe the smile off of your step-daughter's face.

 

[robint]

Thanks Robint,

As always you are a generous source of useful information that benefits us all. :cool2:

I'm not sure why these trips continue to catch my attention, because I've wondered about this a couple of other times. But me personally, the themed trips where you do a whole week of cage diving with sharks all week long, or snorkeling with humpbacks the whole week would seem to be a bit of a let down after a while. The first few encounters would be awesome, but after a couple days it'd be like.....uh, okay.....more whales.....oh look! This time the whale looked at me with his LEFT eye!

Sorry, I am not doubting the enormity of a trip of this nature but from a diver and photographer's standpoint I'm just trying to get a better grasp of these trips from those who have done them.

Thanks all!

We were invited on that trip I was talking about with the group of photo geeks. We thought hard about it but just couldn't get past spending so much money and not getting any diving time. If it had been even one or two days of diving closeby on a reef we might have gone for it, but ..... we just don't have that kind of cash for non-diving trips. They got some amazing photos.... but I know we made the right decision for us.

robin

 

[EVFleet]

I finally had the opportunity to go out to the Silver Banks in early February, with Aquatic Adventures, as they have our boat (Turks & Caicos Explorer II) out there from this season onward -

We had several guests on board who had been with us before on dive trips to our various destinations - all of them without exception said that they'd hesitated to go on a trip like this because they couldn't imagine not being bored being on a dive boat, and not diving for a week. By the end of the first in-water encounter (first day), they were all hooked - it was amazing to see groups of people from various backgrounds, divers/nondivers, liveaboard travelers or not, from all over the world, so energized by the same experience. I never heard one person say they got bored, or were chaffing at the bit to get into the water - just following them in the chase boats provides great photo ops, but the in-water encounters were definitely the icing on the cake.

I'd say that the week I was there, about 1/3 of the time was spent in the water, the rest looking for mother/calf pairs or following rowdy groups. Comfort of and space on the tenders is more important than usual itineraries. Tom Conlin of Aquatic Adventures has been leading these trips for 20 years now, and is the recognized expert out there. I'm sure the Aggressor and our boat will be there in 2011, perhaps Sun Dancer II as well but I took a quick look and didn't see it on the schedule yet.

There's more information at www.aquaticadventures.com -

Hope this helps!

- Clay

 

[johnspierce]

Last March, my wife and I were on the T&C Explorer for a week of excellent diving. Every day we saw Humpbacks breaching and on every dive I could hear them "singing". Of course, being in scuba gear, the whales are not going to get near us, but I was SO hoping for an encounter. That's when I decided I HAVE to do this!

For me, scuba diving is just a means to an end - I go for the encounters and the beauty of the ocean. What on earth could be better than spending time on and in the water with some of the most breath-taking creatures on the planet?

Just think, there are approximately 50 or 60 people per week for 3 months of each year who get to do this. It's totally on my bucket list!

 

[ptscubadude]

All I can say is DON'T GO! My wife and I have done this trip twice now. Once in 2003 and the last time 3/10. The problem is not the boats or the staff - the problem now is that the "rules of engagement" have changed. In 2003 we were allowed in the water at any opportunity, allowed to free dive (making for MUCH better photography), and you could actually swim with them. The whales interacted with us just as much as we did whith them, and THEY dictated the encounter. If they wanted you near them, they would - if not they would swim off. Trust me, you won't keep up with a humpback if it does not want to be there!

3 years ago there was an accident on the T&C Aggressor that changed life for everyone after. You can find the video on the web of a group that drifted into a mother with a calf. As she took off, her tail fluke broke one mans femur and tossed another lady up in the air and knocked her out. Since then, you are ONLY allowed in the water at the most IDEAL situation. You are instructed to hold hands and the dive masters in the water position you at the head of the whale. Sad that one incident in all of the years they have run trips there changes the experience that dratically! For the $3k plus air per person it takes to get there, for the 4 hours at a time twice a day you are on a zodiac bouncing on the water - it is not worth it. You could just as easy take a whale watching cruise in Hawaii or off the coast of Maine and have almost the same experience, minus the about 10 minutes total you are in the water - AND you will be in a much nicer place to relax after the whale watching.

If your desire is to get in the water with humpbacks - which is truly an amazing experience! Go to Tonga and enjoy being able to free dive, swim and interact with the whales. Oh yea, you can also scuba on the reefs near by along the way!

 

[Scared Silly]

One option that we did was go to Salt Cay. We would dive in the mornings and listen to the whales and then had to opportunity to go out in the afternoons and whale watch. We only did one day of watching and had a brief encounter - not enough of one to get in the water. We could have done more but were having fun diving.

For both of our trips to Salt Cay we stay with Debbie and Ollie who run www.saltcaydivers.tc