Perfect1
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Can anyone give me some first hand information on the live a board called Caribbean Explorer I? Thinking about doing my first live aboard this May. Thanks for all your help. See you on the bottom.
Caribbean Explorer I
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NAIBdiver1
Contributor
First off - do a search in this forum and you'll find a couple of trip reports.
We were on the CE last year on the first trip to their new dive locations. We had a good time and enjoyed ourselves alot.
One question - what level diver are you? The dive sites we visited, I don't think are suited to a new Open Water diver as all the sites where rather deep - 90 + feet and deeper. Current, however didn't exist.
Because of the number of repetitive dives - Nitrox (at least for us) was a must.
Dive sites, crew, rooms, boat all very nice and wouldn't hesitate going back.
Saw many great animals including Greater Hammerheads, a real trip highlight.
NAIBDiver1
We were on the CE last year on the first trip to their new dive locations. We had a good time and enjoyed ourselves alot.
One question - what level diver are you? The dive sites we visited, I don't think are suited to a new Open Water diver as all the sites where rather deep - 90 + feet and deeper. Current, however didn't exist.
Because of the number of repetitive dives - Nitrox (at least for us) was a must.
Dive sites, crew, rooms, boat all very nice and wouldn't hesitate going back.
Saw many great animals including Greater Hammerheads, a real trip highlight.
NAIBDiver1
nvert
Contributor
I did this trip Dec 10-17 2005 and loved it so much I'm going next week March 4-11. It was my first liveaboard so I didn't know what to expect and I came home with nothing but great memories of diving and making new friends. At that time the crew was a "fill in" because the regulars were on vacation. I have no idea what to expect next week with the regular crew. Bottom line:
Diving was great (walls and macro life) although I did not see any large animals.
Crew was great.
Food was great.
Night dives kicked butt! They were handing us hot chocolate when we got back on board. Very nice attention!
The weather this time of year was ok, sunny but a bit breezy which made me cool down very quickly after the dive. I dove a 5/4 with a 1mm the whole trip and by day two I was cold on every safety stop. Next time I'm going with more layers and warmer surface clothes (especially since they keep the cabins very cool with AC).
For the price, you can't beat it. If you're diving experience is only OW, get your AOW on board. Like Perfect1 said, most dives are deep (the majority of mine ranged between 60-80' however several were down to 110'). Diving Nitrox is a MUST if you're going to do multi-day repetitive diving. They offer a course on board too.
My first trip with them I had only 24 dives and was worried that I was not experienced enough for a liveaboard - no problem - 'cause you will be after 25 dives in 5 days!!! I learned more in that one week of constant diving than I did doing 24 dives in 6 months.
Do it!!! You won't regret it.
Diving was great (walls and macro life) although I did not see any large animals.
Crew was great.
Food was great.
Night dives kicked butt! They were handing us hot chocolate when we got back on board. Very nice attention!
The weather this time of year was ok, sunny but a bit breezy which made me cool down very quickly after the dive. I dove a 5/4 with a 1mm the whole trip and by day two I was cold on every safety stop. Next time I'm going with more layers and warmer surface clothes (especially since they keep the cabins very cool with AC).
For the price, you can't beat it. If you're diving experience is only OW, get your AOW on board. Like Perfect1 said, most dives are deep (the majority of mine ranged between 60-80' however several were down to 110'). Diving Nitrox is a MUST if you're going to do multi-day repetitive diving. They offer a course on board too.
My first trip with them I had only 24 dives and was worried that I was not experienced enough for a liveaboard - no problem - 'cause you will be after 25 dives in 5 days!!! I learned more in that one week of constant diving than I did doing 24 dives in 6 months.
Do it!!! You won't regret it.
Good point on the AOW course, just try to do nitrox as one of your specialties. You'd definitely get in a lot of deep experience. If you dive nitrox your limited in depth any way and will give you less of a buzz I was on this boat in october and with a 3 mil full suit I was plenty warm. They really do keep the interior of the boat ice cold(must have something to do with the crew being from the UK), our group spent most of the time between dives on the sundeck and the adjacent bar area. We never saw the hammerheads but we did see some good sized hawksbill turtles.
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