Instant Reader Report on Diving
Belize Aggressor in
Belize in
2003/02

by
Fred Swerdlin, Texas, usa
Report Number 030415221152573

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Send an email to the author of this report

 Bonaire, St. Lucia' Roatan Honduras' Cozumel Mexico (3 times), Kona
Aggressor Hawaii,  

Since I do not feel comfortable diving more than 110 feet, I stayed Maximum
depth of 90 Feet the entire dive trip.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

Belize Aggressor III 08 FEB thru 15 FEB 2003

We arrived without incident and on time in Belize at about 4:00 PM on
Saturday.  We were picked up and taken to the boat with our luggage.  It
appears that the principle Group Charter, of 16 person’s luggage, on an
earlier Continental flight did not arrive, 25 pieces total, and would not
arrive for another 24 hours.  
 
Although, we were asked, the Captain decided that the B/A III would stay
in port for another 24 hours until the luggage did arrive.  The Charter
Group Trip Leader did not want to use borrowed equipment for any of the
dives and especially the dive computers.  Since we would be 4 hours to the
dive site, if we had elected to leave on-time, to transit 25 pieces of
luggage to the B/A III would have meant we would have to leave and go back
to port and pick up the luggage ourselves, if arrangements could not be
made for Continental Air Lines to deliver the luggage.

When we finally did leave port, there were some problems on the way with
the steering and exhaust manifold that allowed exhaust to enter the
passenger passageway, setting off the smoke detectors.

We finally arrived at the dive site, but the Captain did not want our
first dive to be a night dive, so we had to wait until morning, before we
could take our first dive.  After our 2nd dive, the O2 meter broke and the
crew had to obtain a spare from another dive boat that was in the area for
the rest of the trip.

The dive sites diving, accommodations, and the diving was great, as they
were on the Kona Aggressor.  The food was great and plenty of it, and the
crew worked well together, although there seem to some conflict between the
Captain and crew.

Tuesday morning after our first dive, the hot water heater broke, and
could not be repaired.  So for the rest of the trip, we had to make do
without hot water.  The crew responded with an innovation by heating up
some hot water in the galley coffee maker, and placing it in a 5 gallon
plastic jug, punching holes in it and pouring it on people while they were
showering on the dive deck with the cold water running, kudos for the crew.
 

Wednesday, we were supposed to transit to the Blue Hole, with a checkout
deep dive Tuesday.  The trip was called off for Wednesday because “the
visibility was not good”.  From my 6.5 years of sea duty on cruisers &
destroyers in the US Navy, it appeared to me that visibility was at least 5
– 8 miles.

So we were treated to a sunrise dive Thursday morning that we also had on
the K/A II in Hawaii.  It was great watching the night critters go into
hiding and the day critters adventuring out for the new day.  Friday, our
final 2 dives started at 5:30 AM, then we had breakfast and back into the
water and out by 8:30 AM, then the 4 hour transit back to port.

Upon our arrival, they immediately went about preparing for the next
week’s trip.  The hot water heater was changed out in about 3 hours, and we
had hot water once again by 5:30 PM in time for our dinner on shore.  But
Saturday morning, getting ready to leave the boat, the hot water had been
secured, unknown to us, and we had to take cold showers before departing
the boat.

Some other comparisons follow: The K/A had ice machines & soda wand on
both the dive deck and the sun deck, but the B/A had them only on the sun
deck, but the B/A crew did provide ice at the meals on the main deck in the
dining area.  The menu board on the K/A identified where & what was for
dinner hours before the meal, but on the B/A only identified what.  We were
not greeted at the Baggage claim area by anyone who had Aggressor
identification on him or her, only afterwards outside the baggage area
there was someone from the crew greeted us, but the K/A crew greeted us at
the baggage claim area.  The hot tub & the selection of VHS Tapes on
the B/A were much better than the K/A.  The dive briefings on the B/A were
much more detailed and colorful than the K/A.  The shower in my berthing
compartment #1 was made for someone less than 6’, but I had no problem on
the K/A being 6’2”.  The Kona Agressor was Great in every detail.

It is surprising the difficulties this boat had since returning from a
yard period in Louisiana less than 6 months earlier.  Further, I had
attempted calling Aggressor at least 5 times to talk with management over
the last 4 weeks, but ended up talking with the Agent that I booked my trip
with and using e-mail once to attempt to communicate with management. 
After 4 weeks, a voucher came in the mail for a 10% discount on another
Aggressor trip for the both of us.  We lost a full day’s of diving for my
wife & me, 18% of the diving, the ½ day’s diving Friday morning
was much too early for us, and so we sat them out.

I sent a response to the Management by mail for the discount on a future
trip, wanting to discuss the problems on this past trip and received a
response by email 3/26 that someone would get back in-touch with me after
4/1/03, but here it is 4/15/03 and no contact.

This Belize trip, although was quite satisfying, I would not want to do it
again.  And traveling the Aggressor Fleet, gives me pause to consider: what
if the KONA Aggressor was a fluke?
 

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