2011-07-30 Saba and St. Kitts - Review by Mike French

First of all, if you have never been on a livaboard before, you really need to understand two things that, while obvious, can turn ugly if you're caught unprepared. #1: You're on a boat. A constantly-moving vessel that traverses the ocean in up to 8-foot seas. If you've never been on a boat for an extended period of time, then bring some kind of anti-seasickness medication. The Scopolamine patches worked extremely well for me. #2: You're on a boat with 18 or so of your closest, newest, best friends. Be aware that with differing personalities, conflicts may arise. A huge recommendation here is that you book with a friend; someone with whom you have previously dove, and one with whom you can bunk and get along in what will be tight living quarters.

Regarding the ship, the Carib Explorer II is an 18-passenger vessel and was quite smaller than the 20-passenger ship I was on during a Galapagos vacation in 2009. The Caribbean Explorer's common areas are small, and the sun deck only has room for 8 lounge chairs for sunbathers and 3 regular chairs. Therefore, there are times when the sun deck is overcrowded, or out of room entirely. The living quarters are efficient but on the small side. The dining area comfortably seats everyone though, and served as a nice place to read, watch TV, or share photos on a laptop. The dining area is also air conditioned, as are all of the cabins.

The food on this vessel absolutely exceeded any expectations I may have had. Our chef for the week, Jane, did an outstanding job each and every day. A very nice touch is the gas grills out on the sun deck where a couple of her extraordinary meals were prepared. Trust me when I say that you will not go hungry on this ship!

As for the dive crew, they truly were helpful, friendly, chatty, and pleasant. Safety was always a concern, and I never saw anything that made me feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Their diving procedures (which they will explain in detail) are well thought out and logical. From checking your air before you enter, to the two safety stop lines they sink at the stern of the ship, to the assistance they give you upon the completion of your dive, to the refilling of your tanks, everything is as easy as they can make it for divers.

As to the diving itself, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised by the abundance of reef and marine life on this dive trip. Each day we made two morning dives, two afternoon dives, and one night dive, and the visibility was near 100 feet or more on each and every dive. The amount of coral and underwater critters rivaled Bonaire, and each dive site was as good as the last. The crew does a thorough job of giving a dive briefing before each dive, including a whiteboard drawing of what the reef looks like and what you can expect to see on that particular site. And another nice fact is that they choose a variety of dive sites to suit a lot of tastes. On this trip we dove wrecked ships, vertical coral reefs, gently sloping corals, an old naval battle site with many anchors still in place, and artificial reefs made of other manmade objects. Of particular note was that there were a lot of BIG things to see underwater. We encountered turtles on nearly every dive (one of which was the largest I'd ever seen; his shell was the size of the hood of a VW bug and he had a remora attached to him!), several nurse sharks, two moral eels, lots of lobster and crab, stingrays, and a 6-foot barracuda!

So overall, if the diving itself is what is most important to you, then I would highly recommend this trip and this itinerary. If you're looking for a ship with more comfort, more common areas, and more space for you to enjoy getting sun on the deck or having a quite place to read, then this may not be for you. And for non-divers that wish to snorkel, unfortunately this trip would not be one where you would have the opportunity. All of the dive sites were in the open seas and all of the reefs began at 50 feet or so. But I am sure you would not be disappointed in the dive sites!