Dive Review of Turks & Caicos Explorer II in
Turks and Caicos

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Turks & Caicos Explorer II, Feb, 2005, by Bob and Carolyn Smith, MA, USA ( Reviewer 3 reports). Report 1582.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We just spent an enjoyable week as part of the second group of paying passengers on the new Caribbean Explorer II. We had trouble finding the boat, despite an email from the main office two days before with a last minute change of location and an erroneous phone number. They apparently are having trouble accessing dock space with this larger vessel. They were anchored in a large cove, alongside the old Caribbean Explorer, destined for the Bahamas. The crew brought the dinghy over to collect our luggage, and Brian, the engineer, kindly drove us over to Turtle Cove so we could have lunch and wait in the shade until Herbert came to pick us up. The boat is beautiful, well appointed and nice layout, with roomy state rooms and private ensuite heads with showers. The dive deck is conveniently located just aft of the salon. There is an amply sized camera table and large camera tank, which was a bit too deep. The dive deck is located a few steps down, and there is a place to sit to put on fins and mask. The dive platform is low to the water, making an easy entry, and the ladders are sturdy and easy to climb. Two lines hung off the boat for safety stops. They provided quite a ride when the boat swung around due to wind and/or current. As it was only in its third week of service, the crew was still shaking down the boat, sometimes discovering problems that affected the passengers, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. The crew was short-staffed by one person, and ended up short by two when Brian became seriously ill with a bad infection that required us to motor back from West Cay so he could be hospitalized. Although the extra work was tough on the crew, they remained cheerful, attentive and ever-helpful throughout the trip. Captain JF is a knowledgeable and personable captain who did his best to provide us with the best diving possible, but the weather, while not awful, did not work in his favor. This boat swings quite a bit when it is breezy, causing some ascents and safety stops to be a bit challenging. The government also has been slow in providing moorings (which the dive boats apparently would be glad to install themselves), and JF anchored a couple of times, once with disastrous consequences for some huge corals. Apparently he discovered the anchor chain on this boat lays down in the sand more than the old boat did. Hopefully he’ll stick with moorings in the future, and I would encourage future passengers to request no anchoring. The dive sites ranged from OK to terrific. The walls are spectacular in their drop-offs. We saw lobsters, crabs, eagle rays, plenty of sharks, turtles, and moray eels, lots of queen angels, queen triggers, and all the beautiful tropicals, and a great variety of soft and hard corals. Water temps ranged from 75 to 77 degrees. Our 3 ml. fullsuits were perfect for this time of year. There were surface currents but only a couple of dives with noticeable current below. Viz was about 70 feet on average, greater over the wall, less in the sandy areas. Some of our most interesting dives were in the shallows…especially when we poked our heads into a cavern and came eye to eye with a nurse shark that we became frightened, and in turn frightened us when he charged between us to get away! Stanley was our chef for the week, and made sure we were well fed. He prepared delicious meals and snacks from scratch every day. Almost every time I walked past the galley, he was chopping fresh vegetables. The rest of the crew, Julie, Graham and Mike worked diligently to keep things moving smoothly. A very enjoyable trip!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Bahamas, Belize, New England
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, noCurrents
Water Temp	75-77°F / 24-25°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	130 Foot Max.; return with 500 lbs minimum; do safety stops;
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	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	Large table and rinse tank, towels provided for cameras.

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Dive Review of Turks & Caicos Explorer II in Turks and Caicos

Turks & Caicos Explorer II, Feb, 2005,

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 Turks & Caicos Explorer II in
Turks and Caicos