Silver knife
Registered
Off the boat for a day and a half before beginning the Southern Trip. Very short preface: I have done 3 previous Agressors and several other live aboards including Fiji, Australia, Truk, PNG, The Soloman Islands, Palau, Guam, the Carribean, and Yap. Started diving in 1963. Not the most traveled diver in the world, but have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
THE BOAT
We had about 14 divers on board for the Northern route. The boat was comfortably outfitted and everything worked as it should. the marine toilets looked new and functioned flawlessly. The cabins were neat, clean, adequately furnished, comfortable and perfectly serviceable. Not luxurious, but the racks were comfortable and the towels changed every day. Every cabin had its own head with a toilet and shower. During the trip a pipe broke in the overhead raining water into the hallway ind putting water into a few of the cabins. Within 1/2 hour the crew had the situation stabilized and the water cleaned up. The mishap did not affect the operation of the boat or the comfort of the divers in any fashion. Every cabin had its own independently operated air conditioning system which performed flawlessly during the week. The dining room was nicely laid out with comfortable couch like seats, tables, and some chairs. There was a sun deck where you could get a second degree burn if that was what tripped your trigger. The dive deck was well laid out and functional. I heard no complaints relating to the camera table, charging station, or dive deck. Entry was most often off the dive platform, although for one location we rolled off the skiffs. Return to the boat was always by skiff. More on that later.
Unlimited nitrox was available for an added $100 USD. The mix provided was a very constant 32-34%. When you first come on board and are setting up your gear they make sure you have a safety sausage and give you one if you do not. They issue you a Lifeline GPS/vHF Radio set to marine channel 16 and 69 for no charge. If you are not familiar with the equipment take a look at it on the Internet. Every diver who goes out to sea should have one. Kudos to the Aggressor for issuing one to each guest.
One slightly annoying quirk regarding the stability of the boat: even in calm seas, the boat had a tndancy to roll with just the most gentle of beam seas or slight variable breezes. I'm not a naval archetect, I don't play one on TV, and I have not stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately, but I think that she is a little top heavy and the keel may be too deep a V shape so that she rolls in response to environmental conditions that should not induce the roll. It got pretty uncomfortable twice during the voyage.
THE FOOD
Breakfast was your choice of freshly cooked eggs, pancakes, French toast, bacon, ham, juice, coffee, milk, toast, cereal, etc. etc. All you wanted to eat. Quality of breakfast was ok, not great, but ok. Lunches were usually several prepared dishes of westernized Thai food. Not particularly good and usually cold by the time the lunch bell was rung. You served yourself lunch. Dinner was served by the crew, and the food, though plentiful, was not particularly good and was always lukewarm at best. you don't go away sick or hungry, but if you take the trip, you will not be talking about the great food. My description would be "disappointing". My opinion was shared by most of the guests,although some were considerably more critical than I. Personally, on a liveaboard, if the food doesn't make me sick, is edible, and in sufficient quantity, I'm disappointed, but not demanding an adjustment. The food should be really good, as it has been on other boats I've been on, but if it's not,and the diving is good, I'm OK with that. It's about the diving.
THE CREW
On board the boat you cold not ask for a more attentive, want to help you and get you anything you need group of people. The captain was often on the dive platform helping to launch the divers safely. They put your fins on for you and other than to analyze your gas mix if you were diving Nitrox, check you tank fill, and do safety checks of your gear, you never touched it once after you did the initial set up. Concierge diving at its best. In fact,to me, and this may just be my cranky ass talking, it actually got a little annoying when I was stowing some gear after a dive and the crew was unzipping my wetsuit and "helping" me off with it when I was not expecting it. Really crew, I appreciate your intentions, but I can undress myself! But...like I said, they were just trying to be as helpful as possible so criticism would be unfair. HOWEVER once in the water, it was a different story. The dive masters spent more time taking photographs of each other, and finding the little critters for themselves than they did diving with the guests and finding cool stuff for us to see and photograph. Sure, they did the diver "round up" towards what they figured ws the end of the dive if you wanted to ascend with them, but, thankfully, they let you dive your own profile if you wanted to, and they saw that you were a safe, competent diver. All of that said, they have dived the spots many times before and should know where the macro lens wildlife was hiding out so they should have guided the guests to the good spots.
THE DIVE PROCEDURE
Every dive was more or less a drft dive. Enter the water, do your dive, while at your safety stop, if alone with your buddy, deploy your sausage. After your 3 or 4 minutes, come to the surface and wait for one of the two skiffs to pick you up. Easiest and preferred method is to remove your weight belt or weight pouches and hand them up to the skiff driver. Then remove your gear and the skiff driver will drag it up and into the skiff. Remove your fins, hand them up to the skiff driver, and then climb up the ladder and into the skiff. Sounds complicated but it's really quite easy after you do it once or twice and only takes a minute.
THE DIVING
i know...this part should have come first but it's a little tough to write. For the most part it sucked rotten eggs. Boulders, dead coral, very little marine life, after a few days the guests, including this one, were getting really pissed off. "Pearl of the Andaman Sea" our collective asses! We all had pretty much composed in our heads the letters to Wayne and Wayne, and Anne demanding refunds and threatening complaints to every consumer protection agency we could think of regarding false advertising! Social Media sights such as Scuba Board were also identified as places to air how genuinely unhappy we were about the piss poor diving. Collectively we agreed that we had been scammed by false advertising. Then we dove a sight called Raichle Rock that was gorgeous. In a way it made things even worse because we agreed that all of the diving should have been like that. Beautiful soft corals, hard corals, macro animals galore, shrimp, crabs, banded sea snakes, even a hawks bill that was more than happy to hang out munching on coral while we took pictures and visited. Dove that site twice and moved on as we made our way back towards Phuket. Then we dived a place called "Elephant Head Rocks". Of course we all laughed sarcastically, more freaken ROCKS, but what the heck, in we went, down we went, and as my buddy and I looked around, here it came, a whale shark. thermocline had brought up some cold water and the most majestic animal I had ever seen in its natural environment. It was not a gigantic animal, maybe 6 to 7 meters long, but simply magnificent. My dive buddy who I met on the boat, Greg Piper, a very talented photographer, Greg Piper Art got some great shots as it moved off. Later in that dive we saw what we think was a second whale shark, although the viz had deteriorated and it is possible that it was the same animal circling the dive site. Obviously we insisted on remaining at that site for a second dive and yes, the whale shark(s)? were still there for us. The next couple of dives as we made our way back south to Phuket were better, by comparison, then the dives earlier that week, but definitely not worth traveling half way around the world to see.
SUMMARY
The boat was fine, the crew, great on board, not great as dive guides, food was mediocre, diving pretty much sucked, but we saw whale sharks so that was worth the price of the Northern Trip. That said, since the diving would have been a disaster and I definitely would have demanded a full refund if the whale sharks had not appeared, I would not recommend the Thailand Aggressor Northern Route. Tomorrow Greg and I rebord the boat for the Southern route. There were several people on board who had done that trip who spoke very highly of it. I will report back on the diving when we get back. I expect the boat, food, and crew to be the same.
THE BOAT
We had about 14 divers on board for the Northern route. The boat was comfortably outfitted and everything worked as it should. the marine toilets looked new and functioned flawlessly. The cabins were neat, clean, adequately furnished, comfortable and perfectly serviceable. Not luxurious, but the racks were comfortable and the towels changed every day. Every cabin had its own head with a toilet and shower. During the trip a pipe broke in the overhead raining water into the hallway ind putting water into a few of the cabins. Within 1/2 hour the crew had the situation stabilized and the water cleaned up. The mishap did not affect the operation of the boat or the comfort of the divers in any fashion. Every cabin had its own independently operated air conditioning system which performed flawlessly during the week. The dining room was nicely laid out with comfortable couch like seats, tables, and some chairs. There was a sun deck where you could get a second degree burn if that was what tripped your trigger. The dive deck was well laid out and functional. I heard no complaints relating to the camera table, charging station, or dive deck. Entry was most often off the dive platform, although for one location we rolled off the skiffs. Return to the boat was always by skiff. More on that later.
Unlimited nitrox was available for an added $100 USD. The mix provided was a very constant 32-34%. When you first come on board and are setting up your gear they make sure you have a safety sausage and give you one if you do not. They issue you a Lifeline GPS/vHF Radio set to marine channel 16 and 69 for no charge. If you are not familiar with the equipment take a look at it on the Internet. Every diver who goes out to sea should have one. Kudos to the Aggressor for issuing one to each guest.
One slightly annoying quirk regarding the stability of the boat: even in calm seas, the boat had a tndancy to roll with just the most gentle of beam seas or slight variable breezes. I'm not a naval archetect, I don't play one on TV, and I have not stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately, but I think that she is a little top heavy and the keel may be too deep a V shape so that she rolls in response to environmental conditions that should not induce the roll. It got pretty uncomfortable twice during the voyage.
THE FOOD
Breakfast was your choice of freshly cooked eggs, pancakes, French toast, bacon, ham, juice, coffee, milk, toast, cereal, etc. etc. All you wanted to eat. Quality of breakfast was ok, not great, but ok. Lunches were usually several prepared dishes of westernized Thai food. Not particularly good and usually cold by the time the lunch bell was rung. You served yourself lunch. Dinner was served by the crew, and the food, though plentiful, was not particularly good and was always lukewarm at best. you don't go away sick or hungry, but if you take the trip, you will not be talking about the great food. My description would be "disappointing". My opinion was shared by most of the guests,although some were considerably more critical than I. Personally, on a liveaboard, if the food doesn't make me sick, is edible, and in sufficient quantity, I'm disappointed, but not demanding an adjustment. The food should be really good, as it has been on other boats I've been on, but if it's not,and the diving is good, I'm OK with that. It's about the diving.
THE CREW
On board the boat you cold not ask for a more attentive, want to help you and get you anything you need group of people. The captain was often on the dive platform helping to launch the divers safely. They put your fins on for you and other than to analyze your gas mix if you were diving Nitrox, check you tank fill, and do safety checks of your gear, you never touched it once after you did the initial set up. Concierge diving at its best. In fact,to me, and this may just be my cranky ass talking, it actually got a little annoying when I was stowing some gear after a dive and the crew was unzipping my wetsuit and "helping" me off with it when I was not expecting it. Really crew, I appreciate your intentions, but I can undress myself! But...like I said, they were just trying to be as helpful as possible so criticism would be unfair. HOWEVER once in the water, it was a different story. The dive masters spent more time taking photographs of each other, and finding the little critters for themselves than they did diving with the guests and finding cool stuff for us to see and photograph. Sure, they did the diver "round up" towards what they figured ws the end of the dive if you wanted to ascend with them, but, thankfully, they let you dive your own profile if you wanted to, and they saw that you were a safe, competent diver. All of that said, they have dived the spots many times before and should know where the macro lens wildlife was hiding out so they should have guided the guests to the good spots.
THE DIVE PROCEDURE
Every dive was more or less a drft dive. Enter the water, do your dive, while at your safety stop, if alone with your buddy, deploy your sausage. After your 3 or 4 minutes, come to the surface and wait for one of the two skiffs to pick you up. Easiest and preferred method is to remove your weight belt or weight pouches and hand them up to the skiff driver. Then remove your gear and the skiff driver will drag it up and into the skiff. Remove your fins, hand them up to the skiff driver, and then climb up the ladder and into the skiff. Sounds complicated but it's really quite easy after you do it once or twice and only takes a minute.
THE DIVING
i know...this part should have come first but it's a little tough to write. For the most part it sucked rotten eggs. Boulders, dead coral, very little marine life, after a few days the guests, including this one, were getting really pissed off. "Pearl of the Andaman Sea" our collective asses! We all had pretty much composed in our heads the letters to Wayne and Wayne, and Anne demanding refunds and threatening complaints to every consumer protection agency we could think of regarding false advertising! Social Media sights such as Scuba Board were also identified as places to air how genuinely unhappy we were about the piss poor diving. Collectively we agreed that we had been scammed by false advertising. Then we dove a sight called Raichle Rock that was gorgeous. In a way it made things even worse because we agreed that all of the diving should have been like that. Beautiful soft corals, hard corals, macro animals galore, shrimp, crabs, banded sea snakes, even a hawks bill that was more than happy to hang out munching on coral while we took pictures and visited. Dove that site twice and moved on as we made our way back towards Phuket. Then we dived a place called "Elephant Head Rocks". Of course we all laughed sarcastically, more freaken ROCKS, but what the heck, in we went, down we went, and as my buddy and I looked around, here it came, a whale shark. thermocline had brought up some cold water and the most majestic animal I had ever seen in its natural environment. It was not a gigantic animal, maybe 6 to 7 meters long, but simply magnificent. My dive buddy who I met on the boat, Greg Piper, a very talented photographer, Greg Piper Art got some great shots as it moved off. Later in that dive we saw what we think was a second whale shark, although the viz had deteriorated and it is possible that it was the same animal circling the dive site. Obviously we insisted on remaining at that site for a second dive and yes, the whale shark(s)? were still there for us. The next couple of dives as we made our way back south to Phuket were better, by comparison, then the dives earlier that week, but definitely not worth traveling half way around the world to see.
SUMMARY
The boat was fine, the crew, great on board, not great as dive guides, food was mediocre, diving pretty much sucked, but we saw whale sharks so that was worth the price of the Northern Trip. That said, since the diving would have been a disaster and I definitely would have demanded a full refund if the whale sharks had not appeared, I would not recommend the Thailand Aggressor Northern Route. Tomorrow Greg and I rebord the boat for the Southern route. There were several people on board who had done that trip who spoke very highly of it. I will report back on the diving when we get back. I expect the boat, food, and crew to be the same.
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