Dive Review of
Aggressor/Belize Aggressor III in
Belize

Mexico, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Utila, Roatan, Belize, Florida Keys, Flower
Gardens, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Galapagos Islands

Dive Conditions

Buddy diving required.  

There was a large camera table, 3 tiers, with power strips on the second
tier for recharging batteries.  There was also a large freshwater tub to
put cameras.  

Overall Rating

Fantastic trip! This was by far one of the best liveaboard dive trips I
have taken. On Saturday we were met at the airport by one of the
divemasters from the boat. The ride to the boat took about 30 minutes
through Belize City. We had two divers whose flight was cancelled and were
to be in the next day and brought to the boat by water taxi. I learned
something from this, if an airline has more than one flight per day there
is a good chance the second one will be cancelled. 

Boat: The cabins are fairly spacious with a double bed with a twin bed bunk
with a private bath.  There were two drawers to put clothes and room under
the sink to store toiletries and a space under the bed to store some
smaller luggage or other personal items. The salon has a large couch, TV,
DVD player, etc. and there is a separate dining area. There is a large sun
deck (half is covered) with a hot tub (very interesting being in the hot
tub with the boat gently swaying!). The beer tap and soda dispenser is also
on this level. There is a smaller deck above the sun deck with additional
seating, very nice to look at the stars. 

The food was good and there were always snacks after dives. Couple times
luke-warm food, but personally I am not on these boats for gourmet meals.
Wine, beer, sodas, ice tea, lemonade or another flavor were always
available. And you were allowed to raid the pantry/frig whenever you wanted
something. 

After diving there were two hot freshwater showers are located on the dive
deck; they had shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in dispensers to use.
And someone was always there to give you a fresh, warm towel. As an added
touch, after every night dive there was hot chocolate and warm cookies!!
They really went the extra mile.

Crew:   Captain (Jay), instructor (Juan), divemaster (Bart), chef (Anna),
stewardess (Lourdes). This was certainly the most well oiled crew of any
liveaboard I have been on. They all worked as a team, were well organized,
and everyone helped each other out. The captain was just as part of the
operation, i.e. from handing out snacks to dive guide. 

Diving: The dive deck was set up very well and one of the largest of any
liveaboard I have been on. Nitrox is available, but during our trip they
were waiting to get a replacement part that did not come in before our trip
so it was not available. The camera table is a three tiered, very large
table, with several power strips for recharging batteries on the second
tier. There is a large tank at the back of the boat for cameras, a mask
bucket, and a large trashcan to rinse gear. The dive platform is spacious,
4 divers at a time could be getting their fins on, which were kept on the
dive platform. The daily schedule: 7AM Breakfast, 8AM first dive, snack,
10:30AM second dive, 12:30PM lunch, 2PM third dive, snack, 4:30PM fourth
dive, 6PM dinner, 7:30PM fifth dive (night dive). 

Water temperatures were a constant 84°. I used either a fleece lined or
3-mil suit. With 5 dives a day the 3 mil really came in handy. Most dives
there was no current. Entering the water was easy from the dive platform,
just a giant stride off the boat. Exiting the water was easy also via two
ladders. Juan, Bart, or Jay were always there to take your fins and assist
you out of the water if needed. A regulator from the boat was placed at
about 15 feet just in case anyone ran low on air (although no one ever
needed it), and a triangle bar to hang onto for safety stops.

We started off on Turneffe Island Atoll for the first three dives then
moved on to Lighthouse Reef Atoll after our two stragglers arrived. This
area is by far one of the best areas in the Caribbean to dive.  A total of
27 dives were offered. All sites are wall dives. We dove two dive sites per
day, which at first I was not sure about, but because it is all wall diving
it was great, one way one dive-the other way the second dive. Half Moon
Caye Wall was the best Caribbean dive I have ever done. The reefs are very
healthy, but I did see some coral disease in areas. Reef fish are plentiful
but pelagics are few, but there were lots of large grouper, snapper, and
tarpon. We saw turtles, spotted eagle rays, whitespotted toadfish (endemic
to Turneffe), green morays, spotted morays, lost of small sea life. 

We dove the blue hole, which had great visibility of about 80 feet! To off
gas from this deep dive, we took a tour to Half Moon Caye to see the
red-footed boobie birds and magnificent frigate bird.

The Captain took video during several of our dives and put together a CD
for purchase. The video was very well done, and one of the best from any of
the liveaboards I have done. Pictures were also taken throughout the trip
and the CD was given to all the passengers on the last day.

We arrived back in Belize City at 1PM on Friday and went cave tubing at
Jaguar Paw Resort. I highly recommend this, it was my second time doing it
and what a blast it is!! That evening the crew puts on a wine and cheese
party before we went to dinner at a local restaurant. Several of us had
late flights out on Saturday so we took a zip line tour at Jaguar Paw. Both
these tours were set up by the Captain, there are other options also. The
tour guides would narrate all the way telling us things about Belize, this
was very interesting.  This was a great way to end a fabulous trip!

 

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