Dive Review of
Caribbean Explorer II in
Caribbean (General)/St. Kitts, Statia, Saba

Cape Ann, MA - Florida Keys - Bali - San Salvador - Northern Bahamas -
Aruba - Hawaii - Saba (land-based)

Dive Conditions

130 ft for air, 110 for Nitrox, 70 minute dive time, 500 PSI, no planned
deco. Pressure remaining and Max depth recorded after each dive. Light and
marker light for night dives.  

Good setup with two dedicated camera buckets and a dedicated camera table
with LP air hose and camera-only towels. Charging station near camera
table.  The position of the mask rinse buckets was such that some slop of
mask soap into camera buckets seemed likely.  The crew tended to pile all
the cameras into one bucket most of the time rather than distributing them
between buckets.   

Overall Rating

Room and bed comfortable, food good - great chef! Plenty of hot fresh water
for rinsing and showering including a shower on the dive deck. A/C a bit
aggressive, not adjustable, but not causing rain in the room, either. 
Quick tank refills between dives. Hot water poured down suit, hot towels,
and hot chocolate after night dives were very nice.  Daytime current tended
to quiet down at night, making night dives much easier.  Boat motion fairly
minimal and journey times usually quite short except for transit between
St. Maarten and Saba.  A good mix of wreck and reef diving - walls and
pinnacle at Saba are particularly impressive.  Good dive briefings helped
with navigating the sites.  Guided dives always an option for each dive.

Smokers were permitted on both bow and stern, which engulfed the whole boat
in the stench of tobacco smoke when the smokers were upwind (usually the
bow). Yuck.

The dive sites tended to be deep - not very good for repetitive air
profiles, particularly with a fairly tight dive schedule. Might want to do
a nitrox course at home before booking this trip (can do onboard, but it's
a waste of vacation time). 

A diver using their rental gear experienced an inflator hose failure. Also
seemed to have received incomplete instruction on use of rented computer -
got it locked out.

We had not thought to bring camera cable to connect to their TV but one of
the staff offered the chance to see our pictures on his own computer.

Dives at Statia are all "guided dives" to comply with Statian
marine park rules - not so good for diving at own pace and apart from the
crowd. Statian marine park ranger a great guy - very aware of what was
going on. 

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