Liveaboard December 28 2019-Jan 4 2020

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Redfoot

Contributor
Messages
740
Reaction score
895
Location
Detroit, Michigan
# of dives
100 - 199
I have the week off work, and would be able to make a Liveaboard trip.

Would like to keep it in the Caribbean.

Any suggestions? I know availability might be an issue, but a quick glance shows some spots open on below.

My short list (in order of favorite as of now):

Roatan
Belize
Cayman
Bahamas

I should have around 30 dives logged by then. I completed Nitrox certification & OW certifying on the T & C Aggressor.

Weather issues? Boat reviews? I have not seen anything current on the Roatan aggressor, but the older reviews make it sound great.

Budget is not huge concern. I want to do more Caribbean diving before going further south or east..... Want to enjoy it before I spoil it!

Any help appreciated!

Thanks
 
I think that you meant Dec 2019 - Jan 2020, correct? The water is too cold for me in the Bahamas at that time of year so that wouldn't appeal to me.
 
Gahhhhh

Yes, you are correct Kathy. I just fixed it!

Thanks
 
I'd look at Belize first. Both boats do similar routes (I've not been on either) Southwest is now flying to Belize City which is where you meet the boat(s)

Caymn's north side can be unpredictable in winter but the best GC diving is the North Wall. Since they brought the CA5 online there's an excellent chance of making the crossover to the Sister Islands - that wasn't always an option. They're the better diving.

I've seen the Roatan Aggressor off Utila when it was still the MV Pearl. They were diving the same site we were from a dayboat. I saw it again later that week at another site nearby. I rented a house on Roatan near Half Moon Bay, One morning the Aggressor was moored out front diving a site we also dove that day from a day boat out of the West End. I understand they do the seamounts during the trip which is something you can't do from land.

I agree with Kathy, Bahamas will be colder. I personally feel the diving there is not as good as it once was. My buddy did the old Aggressor route (not the curent one) and said some of it was disappointing. We both did Cay Sal on the Nekton years ago and he said his trip wasn't as good.

Turks/Caicos might be an option but might also be cooler since they're near the Bahamas. Also both boats move over sometime in winter to whale watch(snorkel only) at the Silver Banks - not sure when that is. We did the T/C Explorer trip a few years ago - nice boat, crew and a lot of deep wall diving.The corals are lush and there's a lot of sharks.

We were able to fly in that morning (thru CLT) and had time to stop for lunch b4 boarding. On the return you spend Fri. night on Provo but still sleep on the boat - they need you off Sat. morning to prep for the next trip though.
 
@Redfoot, out of your 4 Caribbean options I like Cayman the best. It will be similar to your experiences on the T&C Aggressor but closer to shore and the Cayman reefs start more shallow so you can have easy, long dives. I feel that the corals and reefs are better in the Caymans than the T&Cs but you won't see as many sharks. You will see some sharks and turtles, rays and lots of great fish life - especially the friendly groupers off of the sister islands.

The Cayman Aggressor dives some of the best sites off of all 3 Cayman islands and that is a great option because the Bloody Bay Wall off of Little Cayman is really special and my favorite Caribbean diving, and the Russian Frigate off of Cayman Brac is a great wreck dive, but there is another factor to consider.

If the weather is rough the Cayman Aggressor won't make the crossing from Grand Cayman to the islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac and you will spend the week diving off-shore of Grand Cayman, which is very good Caribbean diving but will not give you the chance to sample all that Cayman has to offer.

I believe that the Cayman Aggressor makes the crossing to the sister islands about 75% of the time, so I would investigate how frequently it gets to Brac and Little during December and January before making a decision.

My next choice on your list would be Belize and you could also look at the Caribbean Explorer that dives Saba and St. Kitts as a Caribbean LOB option. It was a fun trip and good diving, but I still like Cayman better.

You are at the beginning of your diving experiences and it is likely that you will get to all of these Caribbean locations eventually, either as LOB or land-based diving. So do some research and pick the one with the greatest likelihood of good weather conditions and good diving during the holidays.

Another thing to consider is travel time, ease, and costs during the busy holiday rush. It should be fairly easy for you to get to Nassau or Grand Cayman, while Roatan or Belize City might be a bit more difficult from Detroit during the holidays.
 
Great information, thanks!

Doing more research now, especially on flights.

Thanks!
 
I just came off the cayman aggressor and i have lots of experience with the Belize itinerary. Both are great, but i would mirror most of the above thoughts. I wouldn;t risk Cayman at that time of year to not make it over to LC AND CB. I also feel that while some of the individual divesites on LC were better than the individual dive sites in Belize and you get the wrecks, the overall variety of divesites was better in Belize as we found ourselves diving 2, sometimes 3 times on the same divesites in Cayman which became a bit yawn inducing. IMO, but it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other. When you take the season in account i would do belize then save cayman for something like may when we went and it was pretty much perfect conditions....but i still don't need 3 dives on the same wreck.

I.E. of my top 10 ddivesites in cayman/belize you would probably find 3 of the top 5 in cayman, but more of the top 10 would be belize ( excluding wrecks)
 
Check with AllStar Livaboards and see if they have any spaces open on Aquacat (if you want fancy) or Blackbeards (if you want camping on water) - they may be able to put you in touch with whomever has the boat chartered that week if they don't have direct spaces available.

Done Aquacat twice - loved it both times. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
 
The Allstar boats are full.....

Cayman aggressor is as well, there were a few available last week but then it got booked.

Marked Bahamas off, as it looks like the best shark diving is in summer and that would be my primary interest.

Spots on Belize and Roatan aggressor available.

I am leaning towards Roatan, the boat gets great reviews and looks like a good mix of diving (reefs,wrecks, big/small critters)

Wondering why it didn't make anyone's list here, kind of makes me nervous!

I understand it may only go to sites that can also be hit by dayboats, but I am in it for the max dives per week. If I was travelling with my fiancee, I would opt for land based, but since this is a solo trip I would just like to DIVE DIVE DIVE!

Any input?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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