Dive Review of Explorer Ventures/Caribbean Explorer II (boat) in
St. Kitts and Nevis/Saba Is The Caribbean

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Explorer Ventures/Caribbean Explorer II (boat): "An Average Experience at a Sale Price - 3 Stars out of 5", Dec, 2024, by Peter Arpin, CA, US ( 1 report). Report 13279.
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	Why I chose this trip: It was easy to reach from Miami, we had never been there before and it was on sale in December 2024. Logistics: The boat arranged taxis to/from the airport and hotels, but the guest had to pay for them. The first and last night were spent aboard in port. Essentially we did 5 ½ days of diving. The boat boarded in St Kitts and disembarked in St Maarten. The Food: The food was plentiful but simple. It ranged from OK to good. Overall though, it was not as good as that on any of my previous Live Aboard trips (on other boats). Beer, wine and spirits were available for free after diving. Extra Costs: Nitrox, Park Fees, “Fuel Surcharge” and Tips were extra. These were very clearly identified up front. All were at typical prices, but the “Fuel Surcharge” just seems like the reassigning of a cost that should be rolled into the advertised price. Unfortunately this is common across the industry. The Boat: The boat was in good condition and everything seemed to work. Safety was a priority with the crew. This ranged from managing batteries to wearing life jackets on dingy rides to shore. The cabins were very small and would be tight for two large people that were not already very good friends. My wife and I got a room with a lower queen and a twin bunk above it. We thought the arrangement would provide extra storage space on the top bunk. However the space between the two levels was so tight we could barely turn over. In fact it was too tight for two adults. I moved to the upper bunk, which had the same ~18” of head room as the lower. Neither of us slept well. NOTE TO SELF: Never again get a cabin with bunk beds. The saloon was of good size and layout for dining, but the only other “hang out” place was the adjacent sun deck. As named, it had no shade. Unfortunately, it was also the smoking deck. How spoiled we have become not to expect smoking in our eating and lounging areas. IMHO, the bow deck should have been the only allowable smoking area as it was far from the other common spaces. The dive deck was spacious and properly equipped. The Crew: I believe this boat was seriously understaffed and attribute MOST of my negative impressions to this. The crew consisted of two Dive Masters, one Purser, one Cook, one Engineer, one DeckHand, and the Captain. A total crew of 7 for 16 guests. The Operation: Because there were only two DMs, each led all 16 divers on alternating dives. Even in calm waters with good visibility, this was a lot of people per DM. With less than optimum conditions, it provided very little margin for problems. The DM had to wait to assemble everyone before heading out. While most of the guests were very good divers, if anything unexpected happened either the problematic person or the rest of the pod was on their own. We were allowed to “Do our own thing”, but being unfamiliar with the sites and currents, losing sight of the DM was not a great idea. NOTE TO SELF: Never again dive from a boat that has a higher than an 8 to 1 Guest to DM ratio. To complicate each dive, a giant stride leap was made off the side of the big boat and recovery was on the stern at the dive deck. This created situations with long swims, in varying degrees of current and visibility, from the boat to the dive site. You also had to find the mooring line to return to the boat, which was usually not visible from the bottom. The swim from the bow mooring line to the stern dive deck was over 25 yds and often in surging seas and currents. The lack of small dive tenders, capable of picking up divers wherever they might come up, restricted our options considerably. The big boat could not get into sheltered coves and each diver needed to start their ascent with about 1000 psi to ensure they made it back to the boat. Dives in currents required a strenuous round trip underwater. The swim to/from the mooring line and initially waiting for the entire pod to assemble also consumed extra air. That said, all tanks were always filled to over 3000 psi. I think short staffing kept the big boat from using small tenders, as at least two more deck hands would have been required. The one available dinghy was for “emergency pickups” only, and was so used, but that left the deck undermanned. Also, the dinghy only went out once the lost diver was seen floating away. NOTE TO SELF: Never again dive from a boat without small pickup boats. The Dark Side: While the two DMs (Tony and Henry) were extremely pleasant, capable and helpful, it was clear they were overworked. The Purser (Amber) was very efficient and also very overworked. Besides their dive and deck duties, each crew member also had to help with meals and housekeeping. The strain became noticeable as the week went on. The Captain (Ian) was unlike any other Live Aboard Captain I have experienced. To put it mildly, he was not a people person. He was very involved in all operations and clearly the boss. He was also quite unprofessional and condescending to his guests. In fact he was verbally abusive to some people in front of others. Basically he is one of those skippers that let you know it is his boat, and his way, or the highway. Every other skipper I have had was able to maintain order and safety without making paying guests feel like unsatisfactory employees. I will not list all the incidents, but they were enough to cast the trip in a negative light. Tipping: On every other dive trip the tipping protocol was to either put your money in an anonymous envelope, to be divided (according to a stated method) later, or directly tip each employee. On this boat, I was asked to provide the tip while settling the bill more than 36 hrs before disembarking. In fact this was required if I was going to be able to tip at all. I was told it was this way due to some “accounting procedure”. The tip envelope had my invoice number on it, eliminating any anonymity and allowing time for… repercussions for any tip perceived as inadequate. Also, how the tip was to be divided was never explained, making me wonder if it would be equitable. The Diving: Sites on St Kitts were not very interesting, even by Caribbean standards. There just wasn’t that much fish life. It was hard for me to know the condition of the reefs, since I had never seen them before, but they were “average” at best. Saba was better. The reefs were more alive with both flora and fauna. They were pretty good by Caribbean standards. Unfortunately this was offset by the stronger currents at Saba, which we were told were common. Summary: While I had an good time and in no way regret going, I would not recommend this boat because of the operational issues I have described. The crew issues only cemented this opinion. The islands of St Kitts, Saba and St Maarten were fun and worth a visit. One interesting fact is that other guests have done multiple trips on this boat. Apparently your mileage may vary.
Websites	Explorer Ventures
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Pacific: Palau, Philippines, Thailand, Fiji, Raja Ampat, Sea of Cortez Caribbean: Cozumel, Roatan, L. Cayman, Bonaire
Closest Airport	St Kitts	Getting There	Through Miami via American Air
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	None
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	I'm not an UWP, so I didn't pay attention to those accommodations.

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Dive Review of Explorer Ventures/Caribbean Explorer II (boat) in St. Kitts and Nevis/Saba Is The Caribbean

Explorer Ventures/Caribbean Explorer II (boat): "An Average Experience at a Sale Price - 3 Stars out of 5", Dec, 2024,

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 Explorer Ventures/Caribbean Explorer II (boat) in
St. Kitts and Nevis/Saba Is The Caribbean