Dive Review of Caribbean Explorer II in
Caribbean (General)/St. Kitts, Saba

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Caribbean Explorer II: "CARIBBEAN EXPLORER II: ORGANIZED, EFFICIENT & FUN", Jan, 2019, by NEAL LANGERMAN, CA, US ( Contributor 17 reports with 19 Helpful votes). Report 10829 has 4 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We dove the Caribbean Explorer II (CEX II) on the St. Kitts – Saba – St. Maarten route, and in retrospect, are very glad we did. Diving St. Kitts was mellow, easy and generally shallow. Great to restore skills and confidence. Saba, on the other hand, was deeper, with challenging and unpredictable currents. The CEX-II is a very well maintained, comfortable, diver-friendly live-aboard. The individual dive stations are well-designed and easy to store gear. Entries are a giant-stride from the port-side. There is a permanent portside tag line attached to the bow, which gave some assistance swimming forward against the current. This would have been more useful if a line connected the tag line to the descent line in strong current conditions - at the bow, a mooring line or the anchor line is used for descent.. Two excellent boarding ladders attach to the stern platform. A crew member is always present to take fins and assist. Warm fresh water showers and designated-purpose rinse tanks on the aft dive deck make rinsing easy. A large camera table on the dive deck easily handled our two professional grade camera kits. On our trip, we were the only divers with large cameras. When cameras come out of the water, the crew immediately puts them in a large fresh-water rinse tank. The charging station was small, but the cabins have adequate outlets to stay ahead of battery needs for cameras and lights. As good as is the CEX II, the 7-person crew is even better. They are knowledgeable, helpful, friendly, energetic and FUN. The crew works very well together and anticipates what a diver might need. Three of the crew are the dive masters. They rotate in-water dive leadership. The dive master who gives the very detailed dive briefing also leads the dive. The diving is typical Caribbean. St. Kitts has lots of soft corals and small fish. A few reef sharks were spotted, but they generally stay 10 or more meters from divers. Many small turtles were seen. Much of the reef and rock structure was covered with sand and silt, which is a residue of Hurricane Irma. I shot wide-angle for the first day and a half and then a mid-range (60 mm) lens for the remainder of the St. Kitts portion of the trip. Saba has fewer corals and much more bare rock. The rocky terrain provides hiding places for small critters. After two dives at Saba using a 12-24 mm wide-angle, I switched back to a 60 mm lens for the rest of the trip. Overall, the diving was good. While I got very few images of new critters, I was able to refresh and update my Caribbean collection. Meals were plentiful and varied. All meals were served buffet style. Because three of the crew followed a vegan diet, every meal provided excellent vegan options. Wine, beer and hard liquor were included in the trip cost and available every evening. Of course, your first drink follows your last dive. The cabin was comfortable and roomy, with plenty of hot fresh water. The A/C was very efficient, making the room cold, but there were ways to mitigate this. The marine toilets allowed used toilet paper to be flushed, removing the less than pleasant disposal can on many live-aboards. The bed was very comfortable. While much was really good, there are a few areas that could be easily improved. One dive master in the water with 12 divers pushes our comfort level. The out and back dive plans required that you either keep up with the guide or be able to navigate back to the mooring, through generally confusing underwater terrain. The three guides were very different in their styles. One swam very slowly and turned around often to check on her divers. She paced herself to accommodate slow swimmers, like me. At the other extreme, another dive master swam her planned course with little attention to the divers spread out behind her. The third dive master was intermediate in diver attention. As an instructor and former resort dive master, I strongly urge CEX II to review their dive leadership profile. Where swimming against a current is needed, as it often was in Saba, to reach the mooring line, a tag line to the mooring line, rather than 3-5 meters away from it is very helpful, especially for divers handling large cameras. This is easy to rig with limited downside. Finally, and this is totally personal, the crew blasted their favorite play-lists while everyone was gearing up before each dive. For me, it was intrusive and very annoying. I opted not to say anything, figuring I was the only person who really tries to enter a relaxed zone prior to every dive. My wife and dive buddy enjoyed the pre-dive music and dancing. Based on our experience with the CEX II, we are looking at other Explorer Ventures vessels and hoped to join them in the near future.
Websites	Caribbean Explorer II
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All of continental USA; Caribbean, Gulf, Sea of Cortez, Eastern & Western Pacific & more
Closest Airport	St Kitts	Getting There	We flew American Airlines via Miami
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	77-79°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No deco; about a 60 minute limit; 500 psi return
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Boat facilities excellent for cameras, large and small. Subject matter was only fair.

Report currently has 4 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Caribbean Explorer II in Caribbean (General)/St. Kitts, Saba

Caribbean Explorer II: "CARIBBEAN EXPLORER II: ORGANIZED, EFFICIENT & FUN", Jan, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Caribbean Explorer II in
Caribbean (General)/St. Kitts, Saba