Belize Aggressor III Trip Report April 7-14

[Cali_diver]

Just got back from an awesome week aboard the Belize Aggressor III. We had beautiful weather with calm seas!! A great group of people and fantastic diving made this trip a perfect first liveaboard experience for us. We had 14 people and 13 divers!! Only one diver was a little rusty and the crew took awesome care of her!

The dive deck was designed so well. Each person had his or her own station with a huge locker to store stuff in. It was so easy getting ready for each dive. The DM’s were great. They would leave you alone but if you told them you wanted to look for something in particular they would do a great job pointing things out, especially the Macro stuff (thanks Chris)!! The camera table was a good size with lots of plugs and room to work. The warm showers at the back of the boat were a great plus and the BA always had shampoo and conditioner for us. They would hand us nice warm towels as soon as we were done.

The food was great and snacks in between dives were delicious! The salon and dining room were comfortable and a great place to share pictures and dive stories! The rooms are pretty small but we didn’t spend much time in our rooms. We never had to take showers since we had the showers at the back of the boat. The sun deck was nice with lots of room and the spa was great for warming up after a dive.

The diving was easy and the reefs were beautiful! We saw Spotted Eagle Rays on every dive and lots of turtles, Southern Stingrays, Green and Spotted Morays, and plenty of overly friendly Barracudas. The highlight for me was the Goliath Grouper. I have seen some big ones before but this one took the prize! Night dives were a blast and easy to navigate since the BA has two big lights that shine down from the bottom of the boat! Which also attracted lots of hungry fish looking for an easy meal! There was always quite a show on your safety stop!!

Overall the trip was fantastic and the passengers and crew made it even better!!!!

 

[electrix]

Thanks for posting, we are going to be there in 2 weeks glad to here it was a good experience. We have been reading about the bad currents around Coz glad you were not effected. My wife sometimes has motion sickness how was the stability at night while sleeping? Any tips for us, this will be our first live aboard too?

 

[Cali_diver]

We had pretty calm seas so no problem with motion sickness. We usually stayed moored at night and motored in the morning so nights were pretty mellow.

Bring lycra socks!! I brought a pair after reading posts here and I was so thankful. By the middle of the week everyone was comparing blisters and gashes on their feet and my feet still looked great!! The wear and tear on people's feet was crazy! Weather was warm so just take a sweatshirt for trip there and home. Only need a couple t-shirts and the dry fit ones are the best. For boys bathing suits work as shorts so you only need one pair of shorts for airport. For girls, I brought yoga tanks with built in bras and a couple pair of shorts with a bathing suit cover-up. Bring lots of bathing suits so you can put a dry one on after the dive. We dove 5 times a day so it was nice to be dry!! Don't over pack. The rooms are small and there is a large area under the bed for bags but only two little drawers.

I tend to be cold and my husband pretty warm. By the end of the week he was thankful I talked him into bringing an extra wetsuit (4/3) for the afternoon and night dives.

 

[electrix]

Thanks for the tip on the socks I have tender feet !!! We both bought an extra wetsuit so we might have a dry one to use each dive. Was there any problem with anything stinging you in the water I had read about "pica pica" some kind of little jellyfish? There wasn't any biting / stinging flying insects around the boat was there?

 

[Doubler]

You need to watch out for sea wasps on night dives. These are a member of the box jelly family and the sting is quite painful. They are attracted by the lights on the bottom of the boat. They are good size so keep your eye out when entering and exiting. I've been on the BAIII 4 times and love the boat. We always go down the day before and stay at the Radisson. We also stay there Friday as it gives us a place to hang Saturday waiting for return flights and we don't worry about being rushed off the boat.

 

[Cali_diver]

Just the usual suspects(hydra etc) but I guess they get sea wasps every once in awhile at the back of the boat, but you just purge your reg and they clear the way. No bugs that I noticed and we went cave tubing as well.

 

[electrix]

Thanks again, my wife is sensitive to bee stings, poison ivy etc. A sea wasp is a small jellyfish?

 

[Doubler]

The ones that I almost giant strided onto were a good six inches square with two foot tentacles. You will see them.