Scott from LongIsland
Contributor
Had a wonderful trip aboard the Turks and Caicos Aggressor II back in July. I always like to read trip reports when hunting for a new trip so I figured I would put one up here.
After gathering people together at the airport we were whisked off to Turtle Cove marina. One thing to note here is that the guy who held the Aggressor sign was NOT our driver. We all thought that he was our driver and when he put our baggage into the taxi many people tipped this guy. Then he went back into the airport. In retrospect, he deserved nothing as we wheeled our own bags to the vehicle. I am all for tipping but this reminded me of the Jamaica grab your bags and you must tip me kind of deal. Just a forewarning.
We took the short taxi ride to the marina and waited about 10 minutes for the RIB to come pick us up. Due to the tides the mother ship stayed out of the marina. Once arriving on the boat we were immediately greeted with cold beverages, fruit, etc. Not to knock the Explorer boats, but this was quite a different greeting and made for a nicer welcome to the boat. After a cold beverage everyone set up there dive gear and then were shown our cabins.
My previous liveaboard experience was on the Caribbean Explorer II (Saba/St Kitts) and this boat was far nicer and set up much better. What struck me immediately about the T&C Aggressor was that it was spotless, the entire boat. It stayed this way the entire week. I thought that the crew was fantastic. They kept everything running smoothly at all times and the service came off as more friendly than fake. I liked how the dives were organized and at the same times each day. This was not the case when I was on the Explorer and it made for a confusing day when dive times were constantly changing for various reasons. I also appreciated that the Aggressor did not have a "purser" like the Explorer did. It may have been the particular purser that was on our trip but I found this person to act like a babysitter and she put off quite a bad/condescending attitude. This attitude was nowhere to be found on the Aggressor.
I found the rooms to be adequate in size. My only complaint was that being on the top bunk makes it a challenge to get down without falling on the person below. a little notch or something on the end of the bed would be quite helpful.
The diving was great. Our first stop at NW Point was somewhat average but once we got over to West Caicos the diving improved dramatically. Lot of sharks on pretty much every dive. Sometimes you would be looking into a coral head for some macro life when a nice size reef shark would catch you by surprise.
What i was most surprised about was the visibility. I had read good things but the viz was remarkably good and this was less than a week after a tropical storm passed through. I would estimate 80-100 ft viz on every dive. The "blues" once you hit the wall were beautiful. There were two giant hammerhead sightings on the trip too and that got everyone excited.
In general the routine was that the boat would moor very close to the wall...you would drop down and follow the wall one way and then turn around. Extremely low stress diving where it is almost impossible to get lost and virtually no current at all.
Overall it was a fantastic trip that I would do again in a heartbeat. I really liked the combination of pelagics and macro. If you wanted to see the sharks you could drop down the wall. If you wanted to find macro you just hung around the ledge.
Here is a video that I put together using a rental GoPro on the boat. I flooded my camera on the first day but fortunately, they offer a GoPro rental for $25/day. It was a great deal as they charge and upload all videos for you. Basically, I was handed the camera in the water each time and it was fully charged, ready to go. When I surfaced, I handed the camera back and it went right to the charger. This way I had no opportunity to flood it and it made for a very worry free camera setup. Considering the way camera technology changes so frequently...this setup seems like a nice way to not fully invest in a camera rig, yet still use something nice on a trip. Makes for easier packing too. The camera was rigged on an Ultralight tray (1 handle) with a Sola 600 and a red Polar Pro filter. It was a great little setup.
Hope you enjoy my video:
[video=youtube;J2HeL45liSo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2HeL45liSo&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVzJA0ErydhJWl4wWd9dUIA[/video]
After gathering people together at the airport we were whisked off to Turtle Cove marina. One thing to note here is that the guy who held the Aggressor sign was NOT our driver. We all thought that he was our driver and when he put our baggage into the taxi many people tipped this guy. Then he went back into the airport. In retrospect, he deserved nothing as we wheeled our own bags to the vehicle. I am all for tipping but this reminded me of the Jamaica grab your bags and you must tip me kind of deal. Just a forewarning.
We took the short taxi ride to the marina and waited about 10 minutes for the RIB to come pick us up. Due to the tides the mother ship stayed out of the marina. Once arriving on the boat we were immediately greeted with cold beverages, fruit, etc. Not to knock the Explorer boats, but this was quite a different greeting and made for a nicer welcome to the boat. After a cold beverage everyone set up there dive gear and then were shown our cabins.
My previous liveaboard experience was on the Caribbean Explorer II (Saba/St Kitts) and this boat was far nicer and set up much better. What struck me immediately about the T&C Aggressor was that it was spotless, the entire boat. It stayed this way the entire week. I thought that the crew was fantastic. They kept everything running smoothly at all times and the service came off as more friendly than fake. I liked how the dives were organized and at the same times each day. This was not the case when I was on the Explorer and it made for a confusing day when dive times were constantly changing for various reasons. I also appreciated that the Aggressor did not have a "purser" like the Explorer did. It may have been the particular purser that was on our trip but I found this person to act like a babysitter and she put off quite a bad/condescending attitude. This attitude was nowhere to be found on the Aggressor.
I found the rooms to be adequate in size. My only complaint was that being on the top bunk makes it a challenge to get down without falling on the person below. a little notch or something on the end of the bed would be quite helpful.
The diving was great. Our first stop at NW Point was somewhat average but once we got over to West Caicos the diving improved dramatically. Lot of sharks on pretty much every dive. Sometimes you would be looking into a coral head for some macro life when a nice size reef shark would catch you by surprise.
What i was most surprised about was the visibility. I had read good things but the viz was remarkably good and this was less than a week after a tropical storm passed through. I would estimate 80-100 ft viz on every dive. The "blues" once you hit the wall were beautiful. There were two giant hammerhead sightings on the trip too and that got everyone excited.
In general the routine was that the boat would moor very close to the wall...you would drop down and follow the wall one way and then turn around. Extremely low stress diving where it is almost impossible to get lost and virtually no current at all.
Overall it was a fantastic trip that I would do again in a heartbeat. I really liked the combination of pelagics and macro. If you wanted to see the sharks you could drop down the wall. If you wanted to find macro you just hung around the ledge.
Here is a video that I put together using a rental GoPro on the boat. I flooded my camera on the first day but fortunately, they offer a GoPro rental for $25/day. It was a great deal as they charge and upload all videos for you. Basically, I was handed the camera in the water each time and it was fully charged, ready to go. When I surfaced, I handed the camera back and it went right to the charger. This way I had no opportunity to flood it and it made for a very worry free camera setup. Considering the way camera technology changes so frequently...this setup seems like a nice way to not fully invest in a camera rig, yet still use something nice on a trip. Makes for easier packing too. The camera was rigged on an Ultralight tray (1 handle) with a Sola 600 and a red Polar Pro filter. It was a great little setup.
Hope you enjoy my video:
[video=youtube;J2HeL45liSo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2HeL45liSo&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVzJA0ErydhJWl4wWd9dUIA[/video]
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