Dive Review of Caribbean Explorer II in
Saba

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Caribbean Explorer II: "Returning to an old favorite after 20+ years", Aug, 2023, by Mike Szathmary, TN, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12751.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After a prolonged absence (2001) from the boat and the area my daughter/dive buddy and I chose this trip because of the atypical Caribbean diving. As you would imagine, a lot has changed in the ensuing years. The travel: Travel to and from the Caribbean Explorer involves flying into St. Martin or St. Kitts and flying out of the other airport from your arrival. We flew into St. Martin and coming from the SE USA the travel time is relatively short, arriving in early afternoon. The St. Martin airport is under intense renovation to repair damage from Hurricane Irma and as a result I would recommend flying into St. Kitts. With all the construction going on they only had one luggage carousel operating; there were at least two flights that arrived at roughly the same time and the congestion and confusion of all those people in a relatively small area created a real cluster. The countries: The itinerary involved diving around Saba and St. Kitts, along with island tours of both. In 2001 St. Eustasius was also included. Both islands are volcanic and neither would be included in a travel brochure of a typical "beachy" island destination. We did both of the island tours and feel they are well worth it. I was saddened to hear that the guide we had for our Saba tour passed away a couple of weeks after our trip. A note on the tours-if you start your trip in St. Martin you will miss one dive; if you start in St. Kitts you will miss two. The boat: On the 2001 trip I was on the original Caribbean Explorer. On this trip it was the Caribbean Explorer II which used to be the Peter Hughes boat Sea Dancer that used to ply the waters of Turks and Caicos and which we traveled with in 2000. We stayed in one of the main deck cabins with the bunk beds and let me tell you, it was small. The lower deck has cabins that have side by side bunks. So you pick your poison; smaller cabin but no stairs or a larger one with (steep) stairs. Food was good and plentiful but the cook for our trip, Julian , really excelled at the baked goods he concocted for between dive snacks. In other respects the boat was nothing fancy but served its purpose well. The crew: No complaints at all about the crew, although it seemed it was a small staff of six for having the maximum 18 guests. On the week before our voyage one of the guests tested positive for Covid. A couple of days after getting underway Captain Rodney tested positive and was quarantined to the bridge and his cabin. A day later one of the guests tested positive and was quarantined until he was off-boated at St. Kitts. The only other person I know about that got Covid was me, testing positive on the day after I got home. The diving: It was really a tale of two islands. The underwater landscape in Saba was very volcanic in nature which was quite interesting but there didn't seem to be as much life there as St. Kitts. The sites in St. Kitts had more coral and sealife and macro subjects. On the 2001 trip we did the Eye of the Needle but the boat now does not go to that side of the island, which is disappointing; it was one of the dives I was looking forward to. Diamond Rock on Saba was the best dive on that end of the trip. Conclusion: Bang for the buck, this is probably the best option for Caribbean liveaboard diving, especially if you take advantage of their many specials and/or discounts. The diving is varied and some are unique from the rest of the Caribbean and I would recommend this trip to anyone considering going.
Websites	Caribbean Explorer II
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean, North America
Closest Airport	St. Martin	Getting There	Flew American through Miami.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	83-86°F / 28-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	50-70 Ft/ 15-21 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	100 ft. max depth, 60 minute dive time
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Large camera table easily accommodated all the cameras on a full boat.

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Dive Review of Caribbean Explorer II in Saba

Caribbean Explorer II: "Returning to an old favorite after 20+ years", Aug, 2023,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Caribbean Explorer II in
Saba