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Dive Review of Turks and Caicos Aggressor in
Turks and Caicos

Turks and Caicos Aggressor, Feb, 2004,

by Rick Cavanaugh, MD, USA . Report 1192.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments This was my first liveaboard so I can not compare it to others.

The boat was recently had a complete overhaul. So needless to say it was beautiful. My only complaint would be that the AC was too cold.

The food was excellent, but it is standard American fare. No local food. The chef did an excellent job though

The dive masters seemed to be more interested in doing their underwater video that they sell at the end of the trip and their underwater photo album then trying to point out interesting critters.

I did 5 dives per day. 2 morning dives at the same location, boat moved during lunch, 2 more afternoon dives at a new location. And a night dive after dinner at the afternoon location.

The dive sites at West Caicos were in pretty rought shape. On some sites the majority of the coral was dead and or diseased. One or two sites there were so so. The dive site the Anchor was dececent.

French Cay was much more impressive. Coral was in very good shape, very healthy reef, excellent growth. When the reef is healthy there are lots of fish to go with it. Quite nice. If all of the dives were done at French Cay I would have been much more impressed with the trip. Just remember, that they only make it to French Cay in good weather.

The amphitheater on provo was a good location with lots of macro activity on the cage

There were a couple of things that happened on this trip that I found very disturbing.

First was the lack of moorings for the Dive ships at French Cay. The Aggressor droped its anchor more than one time into coral and large sponges. Needless to say there was significant damage to the area where the anchor and chain dragged over night. The area can not sustain this type of damage.

Second was the filling of NON Nitrox tanks with Nitrox.

I tried to calibrate the O2 meter on a friends tank. He was a new diver and NOT nitrox certified. The reading was way off on my nitrox filled tank. I repeated the calibration on another tank and got the correct reading on my tank. I then went to recheck my friends tank. Yup, it was full of nitrox!

I notified the dive masters, who then drained and refilled the tank. It did not seem to bother them that this happened. I don't know how many times this happened on the boat, but it could be a deadly mistake. But it did happen at least 2 times as I told my story to someone else on the boat after the trip and the same thing happened to them.

I have made many deep dives on air and it has never occured to me to test the air before the dive but I think we may have hit the point where air and nitrox divers need to both test their tanks.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Belize, Bequia, Bonaire, Cozumel, Dominica, Little Cayman, St Croix, St. Vincent, Tortola
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm, noCurrents
Water Temp 75-78°F / 24-26°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions NO
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas 1 or 2
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 3 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 4 stars

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

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Great camera table and help available from boat photographer and captain.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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