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

Bahamas, Cay Sal Bank, Los Roques, Saba, Cozumel, Utila, Belize, Cayman
Brac, Grand Turk, Hawaii, Galapagos

Dive Conditions

Recreational Limits for Nitrox or Air  

Carpeted camera table overlooking the dive platform.  Dedicated camera
rinse tanks.    

Overall Rating

Our group of eleven, mostly from the Chicago area, spent an enjoyable week
aboard the Turks and Caicos Explorer II.  The boat, which holds up to
twenty, is in good shape; the crew didn’t spend a lot of time fixing things
as I have seen on other vessels.  I found the cabins to be pretty roomy by
liveaboard standards, even the lower cabins with bunks.  Some people found
the public areas of the boat to be a little cramped, however.  Everyone
agreed that the sectional sofa in the lounge was not very comfortable.  The
boat has a sun deck with about a dozen chaises as well as a covered flying
bridge for those in the SPF 30+ crowd.  Chef Stan who has been cooking on
boats for years continues his culinary magic on the TCEII.  His desserts
were particularly good.  Two refrigerators, one on the flying bridge and
one in the lounge, stock soft drinks and beer.  Red and white wines were
available along with a limited selection of hard liquors.  As on most
liveaboards, no drinking and diving.  There was a roomy, carpeted camera
table overlooking the dive platform.  A cameras-only rinse tank was
available.  Each diver was provided an aluminum 80 with a few larger or
smaller tanks as options.  Nitrox at around 31% was available for an extra
charge.  Most divers were using it.   Each station on the dive deck had
under-seat storage for small items.  With everyone gearing up the dive deck
became crowded.  We soon learned to stagger gearing up to avoid our
neighbors.  The largely Canadian crew was joined by one Scot and one
Frenchman.  They functioned smoothly and seemed to enjoy working together. 
Divemasters were available to lead every dive but mostly gave a tour of the
site rather than pointing out things of interest.  The TCEII is a
relatively tall vessel and as a result it swings at anchor as much if not
more than any other of the many liveaboards on which we’ve been.  This made
site navigation a bit trickier than usual.  Heavy Westerly winds with
accompanying surge made diving at many of the usual dive sites impossible. 
Most of our dives were done at French Cay or West Sand Spit.  Captain
Jean-Francois took advantage of the flat calm seas on Wednesday to do a
couple of semi-drift dives in an area the boat seldom visits.  But by
Thursday the winds had returned scrubbing the last two dives of the day. 
We enjoyed the healthy looking reefs during our week of diving along with
the usual tropicals. Caribbean reef sharks were seen on a number of dives
along with the occasional turtle, nurse shark and spotted eagle ray.  We
noted quite a few large Tiger and Nassau groupers, something not seen at
many locales these days.  Large schools of jacks swirled under the boat at
many dive sites.  Transfers to and from the airport are arranged but not
included in the price of the cruise.  What’s a dive trip without a travel
snafu?  The airport on Provo hasn’t changed since I was last there about
eight years ago and is severely taxed by the current passenger volume. 
USAirways computers were down leaving their small staff to handwrite
boarding passes for three 757’s worth of passengers on flights supposedly
due to depart at hourly intervals.  The airport manager (not USAirways)
prevented total chaos by grouping passengers from each flight.  Since we
were on the last flight we waited in line over four hours to check in
followed by 45 minutes more in the security line.  Our 3:15 p.m. flight
departed at 6:15 p.m.  Passengers on other airlines did seem to fair
better.  Our group agreed that we enjoyed the trip and would return to the
Turks and Caicos Islands and the TCEII.  We also agreed that we wouldn’t
fly USAirways.   

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