Caribbean Liveaboard

[shawrg]

OK, with those dates I now understand how you get $900 for airfare! I guess because of the holiday travel although, I have gotten good fares for flights on christmas day and new years day.

Belize-Air Temp. 81 -85 deg F, Water Temp. 79- 81 deg F
T&C-Air temp 77-79 deg F, Water Temp. 77- 80 deg F

I haven't been to roatan in december.

December 25-January 1. Is this a busy time? How will the water temp and conditions be?

Thanks for the help.

 

[diversteve]

What about the Cayman Aggressor? It's more likely to be moored up next to a resort dive boat than any of them yet people never say that about the Cayman boat.

OP didn't ask about Cayman...

 

[beautybelow]

Just saying, in general I always hear people talk about the Utila Aggressor that way. I was using the Cayman boat as a comparison.

 

[lmorin]

I can only address the Sundancer II which my wife and I did a few weeks after BrianOrange. It was our first liveaboard. It was great! Worth every penny, IMHO. Unlike a few others who have posted here, I have nothing but good things to say about the dive sites. Some of the walls were absolutely spectacular ridges with many passageways, a great deal of depth (into the deep blue on one side) and moderately shallow (35-60 ft) on the other. About a third of the dives we did rank among my top 10 all-time favorites. We saw numerous eagle rays and a few reef sharks along the deep sides. Sting rays on the other side, and loads of other fish and invertebrates in between. The total fish variety was really good, and I even found a species of goby not in the book! Moreover, diving from the boat was just lots of fun!

 

[rongoodman]

I've been on three trips with the Caribbean Explorer boats, all good. They're cheaper than the Agressor fleet. Probably my favorite trip was to Exuma, followed by Saba/St. Kitts.

 

[ScubaDiva]

We just did the Sun Dancer II last month. I can't say enough good things about the vessel, the crew, the rooms, etc. Although, the food isn't as fancy as they advertise it to be. This was not my first liveaboard, but it was the nicest vessel I've been on by far. We took a tour of the Belize Aggressor III when we returned to port. It looked like the Sun Dancer's crackhead cousin in comparison....and it was much more expensive than the Sun Dancer II, especially since we went on a 25% off Buddy Week.

The diving in Belize....wasn't anything amazing IMO. Everyday was pretty much the same without much variety. There were usually two wall dives and two shallower above-reef dives + a night dive. The first 2 dives of the day were the same dive, and the 3-5 dives were the same dive. The Aggressor was almost always near by at the same location, with the exception of the day we went to the Blue Hole.

The viz was not the best. At some times, we were only at 20-25 feet and couldn't see the boat above us. But for the most part, it was around 50, I'd say, for most of the trip. There were a ton of macro critters, which I love to see because I like to practice with my camera. As far as big guys go...we did see a few Eagle Rays, quite a few Stingrays, a few people saw sharks (but we missed 'em), lots of Moray Eels, etc. The best part of the dive is taking a ride on the hang bar at 15 feet!! I didn't touch it until we were about 4 days into the trip because I'm a fairly independent safety stopper ~ but it's fun to hang on to when the boat is really thrashing from side to side.

Overall....I love being on a liveaboard more than anything in the world, loved the crew, loved the vessel, and we had a great crew of divers on board...so I would definitely go again. But I'll never brag about the diving on that trip. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't bad diving. It's just not what it's all hyped up to be.

Hope that helps a little.

Just my $.02

 

[Shasta_man]

Diving quality is always judged by previous experience. One person's fantastic is anothers ho hum. We almost need people to state their experience to qualify the comments.

 

[Mossman]

I had a great time on the T&C Aggressor, but with Piers and Christopher both off the boat, I can't say if it would be as flawlessly run as during our trip. I've only done Nekton's Belize itinerary, so can't comment on the sites that the Aggressor or Dancer boats might visit (Blue Hole, etc.), but I definitely preferred the variety of sites we accessed on the T&C Aggressor over the healthy Turneffe Reef sites that we spent our time on during my Nekton Belize trip, mainly because of the pelagics (i.e. sharks!), but we still had some nice coral reef dives as well. The Bay Islands Aggressor offers the best chance of seeing whale sharks, but that's not guaranteed. (We did get a chance to snorkel with a baby whale shark on my one land-based trip in Roatan.)

Overall, I doubt you'd go too wrong by choosing randomly at this point, taking the best-priced liveaboard now, and making sure to keep the other two on your list for potential future trips.

 

[Mossman]

We are both in our early 30's, I love to dive, but she's just doing this to shut me up. (If we can see dolphins in the wild, then her life will be complete)

As for seeing dolphins in the wild (underwater, as you can regularly see them topside in various locations), the only time I saw an entire pod swim by was in Cozumel. I've encountered solo dolphins in Puerto Rico (Humacao) and in the Tuamotus from the ex-Tahiti Aggressor. Unfortunately, they're rather unpredictable. The Kona Aggressor might be a good bet? (I haven't done the KA personally, but there are lots of dolphins hanging out in Hawaii so I figure that would be a definitely strong possibility.)

 

[Utila Simon]

Hi Tubbyka.
The time of year you are thinking of can be hit and miss weatherwise with cold fronts pushing down from Florida and through the whole Caribbean. In general the further south you are the better.
Diving can also be hit and miss, vis changes daily & sharks and other "must see' creatures come and go. Water temps ARE generally steady though and covered by someone else further up the thread.
If you are looking within the Caribbean then what REALLY makes the difference is the boat and the crew. I have been told this time and again by guests and having just been a guest on a Liveaboard myself, the Galapagos Aggressor I, I entirely understand what they mean.
Whatever you decide, I hope you enjoy yourself and dont sweat it too much, I am sure you will have a good time whatever you decide!
Maybe we will be spending Christmas together...?
Capt Simon
(Sun Dancer II, Belize)