I did Utila Aggressor

[2 Bar]

I was on the third trip out 25 Feb - 04 March.

Let me tell you. Firstly, what I spent on that trip with everything included I expected a lot. You know what? The experience I had was worth even more.

I had so much fun on that dam boat it was unreal. What a great group of divers and crew. For some reason the planets were aligned right and everyone of us (13 divers & 6 crew) just got along very well. The crew kept saying they were having as much fun as we were.

We had Eddy, Furgi, Alex, Shara, Nester, and Miss Marna who cooked such good food we were each planning to take her home with us. They were all over it. I could not even offer constructive criticism. On their one night off after the trip we were out at the bars with half the crew. As for the divers, we all exchanged emails and are keeping in touch. We plan to dive again and some are going to visit me and my frineds here in the NYC area.

But I cannot say enough about this specific crew. If you like to laugh and have fun and enjoy yourself this is the crew you want to be with. At the end of the trip I told them they should be selling a shirt "what happens on The Aggressor stays on The Aggressor."

Oh yeah...we dove also.

No we unfortunatley did not see Mr. Big. We though we did once when we followed a bait ball and bird activity. Snorkelers on the island did see some young 12-15 footers. If you are inot macro shots you will have a ball. We did some awesome walls and sea moounts. Tons of small life. I saw some spotted sting rays, eels all over, many puffer fish, huge schools of jacks, southern sennets, and chromies, some turtles, stingrays, puffer fish, a cero, lizzard fish, lobsters, king crabs. I also saw some cool stuff one of the DMs pointed out like some snail that's I wrote in my log book, some purple slippery something crab, and other stuff. Someone saw a Spanish Dancer. Water temp was 79F air was 85ish.

Bottom line is the boat was nice. I was in the quad room with 2 other friends, the dive area on the boat was top notch - plenty of room, warm showers after a dive, towels out of the dryer after night dives with hot chocolate, assistance all over with equipment and comfort, more than enough beer and wine, and a 5h!t load of good times.

I doubt its like that ever week for them. Maybe we caught lightning in a bottle. But you need to get there right away. If you are going down soon, make sure you say to the crew, "Marc said, "yoo got a problm wit dat?""

I could not recommend these guys enough and I have new memories and friends forever. We should all go down there together.

 

[Queequeg]

Hey Marc,

Sounds like a good time. We've been thinking of doing this trip, maybe next Jan-Feb. How were the sea conditions? Was it rough, choppy, windy?

 

[Damselfish]

what sites did they dive?

 

[2 Bar]

Conditions were good. Viz was generally good, but no Cozumel. There was surge in shallow areas at times making macro shots tough unless you overweighted yourself. When the seas picked up they moved the boat to the other side of the island for comfort. There was a little current returning to the boat on one dive.

They were going to hook u up and go over to Roatan, but paperwork allowing that did not get to the boat in time. DSo maybe they are out there now.

My particular week we visited, Jack Neal's Reef, Blaquish Point, The Pinnacle, Black Hills, Old House, Ted's Point, Hawk's Bill Bank, Turtle Bay, Raggedy Cay, Cannary Bank, Great Wall, Duppy Wall, Blackish Wall, and Radar Reef.

Every night weather allowed a night dive, and they always did the night dive where the last afternoon dive was for familiarity.

 

[Divmstr223]

How much was the trip per person? Did you get a cheaper rate with more people going?

Glad you had a great time.

Steve

 

[2 Bar]

All rates are on www.Aggressor.com

We paid less because we booked the quad room. The quad is less money I assume because you have less privacy. But originally there were 4 of us going together (1 backed out) so it was perfect.

You can book a spot in the quad if you are going alone or as a couple. You don't need a group of 4.

 

[Doc]

I sure hope that they do well, sounds like they're off to a good start.

The trick will be to not just be diving one locale. So far, from the list, they're not giving access to anything more than any Utila resort could at 1/3 the price. This is the trap that the Roatan Aggressor slipped into- they stopped going to Cayos, Utila, Guanaja- just laying off the Southern coast of Roatan.

They may be waiting for their troops to re-install proper large boat moorings on the existing BIA mooring weights, but I hope they expedite that process. There is no better way to see the Bay Islands than aboard a ship that is moved to the best of the best- there's so very much to see that isn't available from just one resort or island.

Sounds like you had a perfect trip!

 

[mjh]

We are thinking about this trip. Doc referred to the question I have. You mentioned the sites are they all Roatan sites? Are they getting to the other islands like Utila & Cayos? Do you feel the likelihood of seeing a whale shark is less since they must maneuver a large boat into position or would they run you out in a zodiac?

Sorry for all the questions

 

[2 Bar]

We are thinking about this trip. Doc referred to the question I have. You mentioned the sites are they all Roatan sites? Are they getting to the other islands like Utila & Cayos? Do you feel the likelihood of seeing a whale shark is less since they must maneuver a large boat into position or would they run you out in a zodiac?

Sorry for all the questions

Dude, first off don't apologize for questions. That's what we are here for. Plus I probabaly have only given 10 answers out to the millions of research questions I have asked on this board.

All the sites we hit were Utila. They were planning to take us out to Roatan hot spots one or two days but were not allowed because the owner of the boat did not get the proper paper work in time. They were hpoing for a faz, but nothing. By the time you go you should be able to go. The crew are open to requests for sites and will accomodate of they can.

I don't think we scared off any whale sharks being in a larger boat. When we saw the tuna boil and birds the one time, they turned down and at times off the motor. The fish were surrounding us. They know how to position the boat and are well aware of scaring off Mr. Big. One note I was not aware of. Of course there is always the chance you could see a whale shark when doing a wall. But if you spot one at the surface from the boat you will not be diving with him. They will get you close and you will quietly slip into the water and snorkel with him while he eats at the surface.

 

[Doc]

We are thinking about this trip. Doc referred to the question I have. You mentioned the sites are they all Roatan sites? Are they getting to the other islands like Utila & Cayos? Do you feel the likelihood of seeing a whale shark is less since they must maneuver a large boat into position or would they run you out in a zodiac?

Sorry for all the questions

I think those are all Utila sites. I'm terrible at names. The trick is... are they burning any fuel to show the divers some of the other cool stuff in the nearby waters of the Bay Islands? The first poster who mentioned this ship on SB also works for her- she mentioned Cayos Cochinos. You can only hope.

If you had good intel, a Zodiac would be the way to go Whale Sharking. Intel is the key, though- do they have good friends amonst the seafaring locals who will alert them instantly? Time will tell.

Anyway, go to the Bay Islands for the cool micro stuff. Whale Sharks are a bonus. If any resort/liveaboard holds themself out as a Whale Shark spotting mavens, they had better raise their prices on the Full Moons of those special months!