What did you like most about Turks & Caicos liveaboards?

[Ironborn]

I have a question for those of you that have done a liveaboard in the Turks & Caicos - primarily the Explorer, which seems to be more popular and receive more favorable reviews than its Aggressor counterpart. What aspect of the experience in general and the diving in particular did you enjoy the most?

1) What jumps out at me from the reviews and trip reports is the frequency of large(r) animal sightings - sharks, rays, turtles, perhaps the occasional dolphin or manta, and maybe even a distant whale's song. It seems like the relative abundance of these larger animals is a chief selling point, if not THE chief selling point, for Turks & Caicos liveaboard diving. Would you agree?

2) What about the health and overall condition of the reefs? I did not see as much in the way of glowing assessments of the reefs, compared to say, Bonaire, and some observed hurricane damage even long after hurricanes. How would you compare the reef health there to other Caribbean destinations?

3) The reviews of the Explorer as a boat and its crew and dive operation were consistently quite favorable, more so than those of its Aggressor counterpart. They seemed to find the Explorer relatively comfortable and spoke well of the DMs.

I had been thinking about going on this liveaboard in mid-late November, but Hurricanes Irma and Maria prompted me to reconsider, given the risk of reef damage. Other members of this board suggested that it might not be too bad, given the depth of most of the sites there and the vertical topography of the many walls there. The Explorer put out this statement, describing damage to sponges and soft coral, as well sedimentation that they expect to disappear in 1-2 months (i.e. by the time of my trip). They also reported the presence of fish species that they did not normally observe.

Hurricanes Irma and Maria update - Caribbean operations

So perhaps the Explorer might still be a viable option for me. If the larger animals are a primary or THE primary selling point of the trip, then the condition of the reef would be less important, and I did not see as much to suggest that reef health was a key selling point anyway. Of course, all of this may be a moot point if the sedimentation clears up by the time of my trip. What do you think?

 

[pconsidine]

I was on The Explorer II last may and loved it ,was with total of 20 divers from my local dive club in New York. The crew was exceptional and Stan the Chef made some amazing meals. I did 25 dives in one week and suggest you do not miss any of the night dives-plentlyyon sharks, turtles,rays and goliath snappers. The ease of diving compared to Bonaire is amazing-everything is setup in your area & just take valve off of tank after eac dive and DM's will whip up your tanks & Nitrox is pretty much dead on 32%. To me this was he best bang for the buck dive trip I was ever on and
plan on returning..

 

[scubadada]

Are the two LOBs currently going out from Providenciales?

 

[pconsidine]

Are the two LOBs currently going out from Providenciales?

yes I am pretty sure- I know Explorer is out of Providenciales about 1/2 drive from airport and pretty sure Agressor is the same..

 

[Ironborn]

I did 25 dives in one week and suggest you do not miss any of the night dives-plentlyyon sharks, turtles,rays and goliath snappers.

Excellent, thank you for your feedback. Yes, I would like to do a night dive every night.

Based on your response, it sounds like the larger animals, rather than the reefs, were a chief selling point of the actual diving. Would you say that is correct? If the reefs were in a poorer condition - say, after two major hurricanes - do you think that the actual diving would have still been quite good because of the larger animals?

 

[pconsidine]

Excellent, thank you for your feedback. Yes, I would like to do a night dive every night.

Based on your response, it sounds like the larger animals, rather than the reefs, were a chief selling point of the actual diving. Would you say that is correct? If the reefs were in a poorer condition - say, after two major hurricanes - do you think that the actual diving would have still been quite good because of the larger animals?

Wehen I was there the reefs were in good condition but nothing compared to Bonaire , but I love divin with larger critters or wreck diving. There was plenty of large critters but no wrecks, only a steel structure called thunderdome used in a French reality show. Also when on night dive if you see a octopus turn light away quickly or use red filter- I saw 3 during week but when I signalled other divers- either they changed color so fast or took off, but amazing to see them blend to color of sand but dark brown spots. If Joe is on boat when you go- stay close to him, he studied marine biology and can really point out small critters- also we did a cool night dive with only 5 divers- came back to under boat and turned lights off and just followed boat's strobes to see reef, blk tip and nurse sharks feeding off school of jacks under boat.

 

[Hoag]

I was on the Turk & Caicos Explorer in the fall of 2014. Here are some of my impressions:

The Boat & Crew:
The boat is not a 5 Star resort, but within a few minutes, it will be home.

Dining area and Main Salon


The Dive Deck

You will be made to feel welcome and the crew will hit that magical balance of treating you like family while still looking after your every need. The two DMs while I was on board were a pair of sisters from the UK, Pippa and Bunjee Jo. Their dive briefings are among the best I have ever seen. Here is an example from the week that I was on of their briefing for a dive site known as "G Spot" (unfortunately, the sound is not that great).

The Diving:
IMHO, the reefs were healthy but perhaps not spectacular. There was abundant fish life and as noted, it was very "sharky", with Reef Sharks being seen almost every day. The "typical" dive site would be a sandy flat at about 50 feet leading to a sheer wall that drops of to the abyss.

Coral Head in the shallows


The edge of the wall


The face of the wall


Reef Shark in the shallows


Over/Under shot

Conclusion:
I guess the best way to sum up any trip is to ask myself "If I had the chance, would I do it again?" I would whole heartedly answer that with "Yes".

 

[Ironborn]

Also when on night dive if you see a octopus turn light away quickly or use red filter- I saw 3 during week but when I signalled other divers- either they changed color so fast or took off, but amazing to see them blend to color of sand but dark brown spots.

Yes, I tend to cover my light with my hand whenever we see a light-sensitive creature on a night dive, letting out just a little bit of light between my fingers and from around the edges; that little bit of light, plus the light from other divers' lights, is usually enough to see the creature well, but not enough to scare it away. Does anyone else do this?

 

[Ironborn]

I was on the Turk & Caicos Explorer in the fall of 2014. Here are some of my impressions:

The Boat & Crew:
The boat is not a 5 Star resort, but within a few minutes, it will be home.
View attachment 428322
Dining area and Main Salon

View attachment 428323
The Dive Deck

You will be made to feel welcome and the crew will hit that magical balance of treating you like family while still looking after your every need. The two DMs while I was on board were a pair of sisters from the UK, Pippa and Bunjee Jo. Their dive briefings are among the best I have ever seen. Here is an example from the week that I was on of their briefing for a dive site known as "G Spot" (unfortunately, the sound is not that great).

The Diving:
IMHO, the reefs were healthy but perhaps not spectacular. There was abundant fish life and as noted, it was very "sharky", with Reef Sharks being seen almost every day. The "typical" dive site would be a sandy flat at about 50 feet leading to a sheer wall that drops of to the abyss.
View attachment 428324
Coral Head in the shallows

View attachment 428325
The edge of the wall

View attachment 428326
The face of the wall

View attachment 428327
Reef Shark in the shallows

View attachment 428328
Over/Under shot

Conclusion:
I guess the best way to sum up any trip is to ask myself "If I had the chance, would I do it again?" I would whole heartedly answer that with "Yes".

Excellent, thank you for the feedback and photos. Your assessment is consistent with what I read elsewhere: a comfortable but not luxurious boat, a great crew, lots of mobile marine life, and good but not stellar reefs.

 

[diversteve]

What sold us on the Explorer over the Aggressor was the space among other things. It does appear to be the older boat but is well maintained. Our main-deck cabin had windows (one - maybe 2) and real beds with storage underneath. Plus there was room for a corner desk and that much space to the door. Aggressor is all below deck cabins with bunks/portholes. Also there's an extra deck on Explorer - the fly bridge is covered with padded benches/tables and a small drink frig. A group of us spent surface intervals there freeing up space on the sundeck below it.

What I liked is from our cabin you walked 20' to the dining room, thru the lounge and onto the dive deck. Once geared up you can go off the side (pretty good drop) or down a few stairs to the back deck/dive ladders.

Either boat provides airport meet/greet and transport. We were early so ours dropped us at Salt Mills mall for lunch and took our bags to the boat. Picked us up a few hours later with the group from the later flight. They do drop you off at the airport early on the return so we took over a couple tables in the restaurant - there's wifi. The terminal itself is one big hall with several gates next to each other so listen for your flight.

As far as reef sharks, I've never seen more than at French Cay except at shark feeds and I've dove a Bahamas liveaboard also. I also counted about 2 dozen Stingrays one dive - most sleeping on the sand near the mooring. Many with their compannion fish so that was cool to see. A couple let me get real close b4 raising their tails to warn me off - I'm talking 3-4' away. I was ambushed by a big old turtle at one of the West Caicos sites - swimming out to the reef he was suddenly in my face. The DM said sometimes he bumps people in the chest as he goes by.

We also hung off the back one night and watched the reef sharks feed in the bow lights - later that night when we were done diving they moved to the back and I watched them feed there also.

We didn't see any dolphins but heard them once at a site they were known to visit. As mentioned no wrecks except Thunderdome - a shallow re-bar set of domes used by a defunct tv show. It's one of the first dives you do off NW Point.

One night dive we followed some conch for a while, they make very distinct patterns in teh sand. A huge eagle ray flew over.

The water is crystal clear so you need less light than you think. I amused myself at safety stops lighting up the bottom 60' below and I only have a cheap 200lumen dive light.

Stan the cook is a legend. The captain of the Aggressor has an excellent reputation also though. Our captain was just a fill-in so is no longer on the boat. At some sights we saw them at the next mooring over several times during the week.

One last thing, the Explorer swings on it's mooring a lot. Being fully enclosed the winds move it around pretty good. If you miss it, don't try to catch it, just wait for it to come back. Also a tip I learned was to ask the DM running the dive deck when the swing was closest to the wall b4 splashing - it saved considerable distance swimming.

I'd go again...