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Dive Review of Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II in
Turks and Caicos

Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II: "Deep and easy", Nov, 2017,

by Ken, ON, CA (Contributor Contributor 15 reports with 15 Helpful votes). Report 10048 has 3 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments Yet another repeat trip for us. A direct flight from Toronto to Provo makes this an easy destination.

The boat operation was great as always. We had JF as captain (and Captn Bob showed up for the next week) with Chris and boy Joe as DM's. Chris did a few costumes. Proudly.

This trip was about a month after the hurricane Irma and Maria and there was some visible evidence in the shallows but this really only affected 2 dive sites and was unseen by the majority of the divers.

The top of the wall is around 60 feet at most sites and there was no visible damage at that depth or below. The rest of the boat did group dives with the DM which were always over the wall, so they never saw the damage in the shallows. If you went forward of the mooring then you could find a few debris fields in 35 of water - the scenes reminded me of trees / log jams you encounter on the surface of a river back home after a flood. The debris was mostly the soft corals which had been scrubbed clean away.

On French Cay everyone got to see the damage. Rock n Roll has a depth of about 38 feet above the wall and it was a rubble field. But lots of little fish in the rubble. The viz here was down to about 40 feet. G Spot was similar (about 55 ft depth) with lots of rubble and very few small stands of soft coral left. Thunderdome on Northeasteast point with a sand bottom at 43 feet was unaffected - great viz and no movement of the dome pieces.

So no need to stay away due to poor diving. Only a few dives were affected by the damage. On island we did see a patchwork of plywood over windows in multiple places. All services were open and working as usual.

Another thing to note for first timers is that the majority of dive sites start deep. The edge of the wall at most sites is at 50 to 70 feet. You can find shallows above 50 feet at most sites (but not G Spot) if you head towards the mooring. 1 novice diver went into deco, did not understand what their computer was telling them, locked out and ended up sitting out 24 hours. The majority of divers were coming up with less than the mandated 500 PSI after 50 or so minutes.

The boat crew were great as always. A diver with a hosed AI computer called a dive midweek due to an air leak in the disconnect. When we surfaced Captn JF was just finishing the repair to her gear. Another diver had a first stage failure (details unknown to me) and the crew provided a replacement first stage and swapped the divers second stages over.

We had lots of unprepared night divers. The boat rented dive lights and sold tank markers for these people. The tank markers were long life water activated solid lights - they are a sealed unit with 2 exposed prongs that turn the light on when you hit the water.

A great trip we will be back, as soon as we can.

P.S. We saw a squad of 6 Eagle Rays soar past us in the shallows. The only sighting of the week. There were 1 or 2 turtles every day. Sharks always. could not find pipefish, pipehorse of head shield slugs this trip.


Websites Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Multiple Caribbean, Hawaii, PNG
Closest Airport Getting There Direct flight from Toronto

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp -°F / -°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 40-90 Ft/ 12-27 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Dive with your buddy. 110 on nitrox, 130 on air, 60 minutes max. 5 dives per day available
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas Squadrons
Dolphins 1 or 2 Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 5 stars

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments dedicated camera table at the back of the boat - with room for about 5 DSLRs it would be too small if everyone had a camera. dedicated camera rinse tank and charging facility under the camera table with multiple power bars.

They also allowed in room battery charging.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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