Dive Review of Belize Aggressor in
Belize

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Belize Aggressor, Feb, 2003, by Fred Swerdlin, Texas, usa . Report 433.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Belize Aggressor III 08 FEB thru 15 FEB 2003 We arrived without incident and on time in Belize at about 4:00 PM on Saturday. We were picked up and taken to the boat with our luggage. It appears that the principle Group Charter, of 16 person’s luggage, on an earlier Continental flight did not arrive, 25 pieces total, and would not arrive for another 24 hours. Although, we were asked, the Captain decided that the B/A III would stay in port for another 24 hours until the luggage did arrive. The Charter Group Trip Leader did not want to use borrowed equipment for any of the dives and especially the dive computers. Since we would be 4 hours to the dive site, if we had elected to leave on-time, to transit 25 pieces of luggage to the B/A III would have meant we would have to leave and go back to port and pick up the luggage ourselves, if arrangements could not be made for Continental Air Lines to deliver the luggage. When we finally did leave port, there were some problems on the way with the steering and exhaust manifold that allowed exhaust to enter the passenger passageway, setting off the smoke detectors. We finally arrived at the dive site, but the Captain did not want our first dive to be a night dive, so we had to wait until morning, before we could take our first dive. After our 2nd dive, the O2 meter broke and the crew had to obtain a spare from another dive boat that was in the area for the rest of the trip. The dive sites diving, accommodations, and the diving was great, as they were on the Kona Aggressor. The food was great and plenty of it, and the crew worked well together, although there seem to some conflict between the Captain and crew. Tuesday morning after our first dive, the hot water heater broke, and could not be repaired. So for the rest of the trip, we had to make do without hot water. The crew responded with an innovation by heating up some hot water in the galley coffee maker, and placing it in a 5 gallon plastic jug, punching holes in it and pouring it on people while they were showering on the dive deck with the cold water running, kudos for the crew. Wednesday, we were supposed to transit to the Blue Hole, with a checkout deep dive Tuesday. The trip was called off for Wednesday because “the visibility was not good”. From my 6.5 years of sea duty on cruisers & destroyers in the US Navy, it appeared to me that visibility was at least 5 – 8 miles. So we were treated to a sunrise dive Thursday morning that we also had on the K/A II in Hawaii. It was great watching the night critters go into hiding and the day critters adventuring out for the new day. Friday, our final 2 dives started at 5:30 AM, then we had breakfast and back into the water and out by 8:30 AM, then the 4 hour transit back to port. Upon our arrival, they immediately went about preparing for the next week’s trip. The hot water heater was changed out in about 3 hours, and we had hot water once again by 5:30 PM in time for our dinner on shore. But Saturday morning, getting ready to leave the boat, the hot water had been secured, unknown to us, and we had to take cold showers before departing the boat. Some other comparisons follow: The K/A had ice machines & soda wand on both the dive deck and the sun deck, but the B/A had them only on the sun deck, but the B/A crew did provide ice at the meals on the main deck in the dining area. The menu board on the K/A identified where & what was for dinner hours before the meal, but on the B/A only identified what. We were not greeted at the Baggage claim area by anyone who had Aggressor identification on him or her, only afterwards outside the baggage area there was someone from the crew greeted us, but the K/A crew greeted us at the baggage claim area. The hot tub & the selection of VHS Tapes on the B/A were much better than the K/A. The dive briefings on the B/A were much more detailed and colorful than the K/A. The shower in my berthing compartment #1 was made for someone less than 6’, but I had no problem on the K/A being 6’2”. The Kona Agressor was Great in every detail. It is surprising the difficulties this boat had since returning from a yard period in Louisiana less than 6 months earlier. Further, I had attempted calling Aggressor at least 5 times to talk with management over the last 4 weeks, but ended up talking with the Agent that I booked my trip with and using e-mail once to attempt to communicate with management. After 4 weeks, a voucher came in the mail for a 10% discount on another Aggressor trip for the both of us. We lost a full day’s of diving for my wife & me, 18% of the diving, the ½ day’s diving Friday morning was much too early for us, and so we sat them out. I sent a response to the Management by mail for the discount on a future trip, wanting to discuss the problems on this past trip and received a response by email 3/26 that someone would get back in-touch with me after 4/1/03, but here it is 4/15/03 and no contact. This Belize trip, although was quite satisfying, I would not want to do it again. And traveling the Aggressor Fleet, gives me pause to consider: what if the KONA Aggressor was a fluke?
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, St. Lucia' Roatan Honduras' Cozumel Mexico (3 times), Kona Aggressor Hawaii,
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, choppy, noCurrents
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Since I do not feel comfortable diving more than 110 feet, I stayed Maximum depth of 90 Feet the entire dive trip.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	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	[None]

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Dive Review of Belize Aggressor in Belize

Belize Aggressor, Feb, 2003,

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 Belize Aggressor in
Belize