darook
Contributor
Wind, more wind and yet, more wind. Those were the conditions all last week on the T&C. Wind aside, the trip was really fun. This was my fourth Aggressor charter and they are consistently fun. Typical Aggressor in that the boat is a bit tired, the heads a bit small and the beds a couple inches too short. But also typical Aggressor with delicious well prepared food, super helpful crew, terrific briefings, a focus on safety and a lot of fun.
For a very comprehensive review see this report. For my own opinion see below:
Diving. Viz was fine to great all week, lots of fish, no real current other than the wind driven surface current. Nitrox is a requirement IMHO. There is no shallow bottom to check out so you are always accumulating nitrogen until you ascend towards your safety stop. Depths under the boat were 40' at the shallowest and typically 50' plus. My NDL was regularly getting into the single digits on my Aqualung computer. Other folks were diving more aggressive algorithms and were rewarded with skin hits.
Diving from the boat was fine. They have a hangbar at 22' and a hooka down to about 25'. Since we had crazy wind all week the boat was swinging broadly and the rides on the hang bar were fast! It would rise to about 12' if there were a few folks on it. You would spot the boat and ascend to it's swing zone and do your SS while waiting for it's return. It seemed to be on a three minute cycle. I was doing very slow ascents and long stops to suck the enriched O2 at the lower PPs. I am a big believer in the final ascent to the surface being achingly slow as it is the largest gradient. That was easy to do with their lines and ladders set up. They were great with my monster camera too. One on board you were battered by the wind but that was alleviated by the hot shower on the stern and the towel handed to you immediately as you ascended the ladder to the dive deck.
Reef health. Fish life is good. Lots of Nassau Groupers, Coneys, Black Durgon, Burrfish, Reef Sharks, Eels of all types, and Jacks. Lots of Jacks. The early afternoon dives were the least fishy but the morning and later afternoon dives were very fishy. The coral is healthy but not dense. There are lots of old dead coral heads with a patch of new coral growing on it. The plate coral did get very dense at about 80' on down. I definitely preferred the sites at West Caicos to Northwest Point though there were lots of similarities between them. The day boats primarily stayed at Northwest Point though a couple did make their way to West Caicos. Those folks had a long day!
Travel to the T&C is easy. Entering the country through immigration is trivial. Leaving the country means more time at the airport and ample opportunity to understand how badly the airport sucks. It is way too small for the number of people that move through there on a Saturday. Waiting to get out of the airport to board the plane was sweltering. Once on the tarmac it was immediately cooler which is ironic in that destination. Great news for those of us for whom Atlanta is a necessary transit point. Immigration is greatly improved and they have TSA Pre Check. Normally, it was a long line at security to get back in for your connecting flight. Yesterday there was none. My only delay was caused by an agent who didn't recognize what a drone looks like in your bag.
I will get a link to pics and video added to the thread once I am done editing them all. I did find myself primarily shooting macro for stills as it was a great place for it.
Final thoughts. Would I recommend it? Very much! This type of diving will improve your skills, you will see lots of cool fish and have a bunch of fun. Will I return for this itinerary? Probably not. There are other places I want to see. I do return to Cozumel and Bonaire but those destinations are a cut above this one for my preferences. I do plan to do Tiger Beach again on the Aggressor again as that is an amazing trip.
For a very comprehensive review see this report. For my own opinion see below:
Diving. Viz was fine to great all week, lots of fish, no real current other than the wind driven surface current. Nitrox is a requirement IMHO. There is no shallow bottom to check out so you are always accumulating nitrogen until you ascend towards your safety stop. Depths under the boat were 40' at the shallowest and typically 50' plus. My NDL was regularly getting into the single digits on my Aqualung computer. Other folks were diving more aggressive algorithms and were rewarded with skin hits.
Diving from the boat was fine. They have a hangbar at 22' and a hooka down to about 25'. Since we had crazy wind all week the boat was swinging broadly and the rides on the hang bar were fast! It would rise to about 12' if there were a few folks on it. You would spot the boat and ascend to it's swing zone and do your SS while waiting for it's return. It seemed to be on a three minute cycle. I was doing very slow ascents and long stops to suck the enriched O2 at the lower PPs. I am a big believer in the final ascent to the surface being achingly slow as it is the largest gradient. That was easy to do with their lines and ladders set up. They were great with my monster camera too. One on board you were battered by the wind but that was alleviated by the hot shower on the stern and the towel handed to you immediately as you ascended the ladder to the dive deck.
Reef health. Fish life is good. Lots of Nassau Groupers, Coneys, Black Durgon, Burrfish, Reef Sharks, Eels of all types, and Jacks. Lots of Jacks. The early afternoon dives were the least fishy but the morning and later afternoon dives were very fishy. The coral is healthy but not dense. There are lots of old dead coral heads with a patch of new coral growing on it. The plate coral did get very dense at about 80' on down. I definitely preferred the sites at West Caicos to Northwest Point though there were lots of similarities between them. The day boats primarily stayed at Northwest Point though a couple did make their way to West Caicos. Those folks had a long day!
Travel to the T&C is easy. Entering the country through immigration is trivial. Leaving the country means more time at the airport and ample opportunity to understand how badly the airport sucks. It is way too small for the number of people that move through there on a Saturday. Waiting to get out of the airport to board the plane was sweltering. Once on the tarmac it was immediately cooler which is ironic in that destination. Great news for those of us for whom Atlanta is a necessary transit point. Immigration is greatly improved and they have TSA Pre Check. Normally, it was a long line at security to get back in for your connecting flight. Yesterday there was none. My only delay was caused by an agent who didn't recognize what a drone looks like in your bag.
I will get a link to pics and video added to the thread once I am done editing them all. I did find myself primarily shooting macro for stills as it was a great place for it.
Final thoughts. Would I recommend it? Very much! This type of diving will improve your skills, you will see lots of cool fish and have a bunch of fun. Will I return for this itinerary? Probably not. There are other places I want to see. I do return to Cozumel and Bonaire but those destinations are a cut above this one for my preferences. I do plan to do Tiger Beach again on the Aggressor again as that is an amazing trip.