Dive Review of Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II in
Turks and Caicos/West Cay and North Point

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Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II: "Great Viz and Sharks on Every Dive", Jan, 2023, by Rene Cote, VA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 16 Helpful votes). Report 12329.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
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	What a pleasant surprise to have really great viz in the Caribbean AND sharks on every dive. The Yacht: This was my 2nd time on the Turks & Caicos Explorer II, the last time was in 2017. By sheer coincidence Captain Bob was the captain then and was the captain on this trip. He was easy going and has a good sense of humor. I found the entire crew to be very professional, accommodating, and helpful. The yacht is in generally good condition, my cabin was comfy and the hot water worked - the essentials for a week-long trip on a liveaboard. I did find the shower to be rather cramped, but it's a liveaboard. There was plenty of space to hang out, either in the dining/lounge room or on the upper decks outside. The meals were ok, but nothing to write home about; simple buffet lunches and dinners with basic offerings like soup, sandwiches, chicken, ribs etc; think "good cafeteria" food... though in one meal I wasn't sure if the mashed potatoes were supposed to be potato soup, as they were extremely runny. CON: The one con of the yacht was the lack of charging stations. In one corner of the dining room was "THE" charging station, a bunch of plugs and power strips, but not much shelf space to lay things out, and in another corner was an outlet and a power strip and any connected devices were just piled up wherever they would fit. PRO: I was very impressed with the fire alarm system. Whenever I’m on a liveaboard, I try to find out whether the fire alarms are integrated - meaning that if one goes off, they all sound the alarm. There was no need to guess on this yacht because on the very first day the alarm rang loudly! I was in my cabin and someone accidentally triggered one of the smoke detectors; I heard several alarms blaring and a stern voice on a recording loop commanded "ABONDON SHIP, ABANDON SHIP"... there may have been other words it commanded, I didn't stop to listen to the precise message, I understood to get up and out, so I quickly grabbed my shirt and headed out to the deck. I was greeted with "sorry, false alarm" and the alarm was cleared. I didn't mind the experience; this was the first liveaboard that I had confidence that the alarm system is top notch. Related to that protocol, they have a crew member assigned as night watch every night, and as an early riser, I can attest that I found that crew member in the middle of the night. A+ to the crew for doing fire safety the right way. The Dive Operation: The dive deck is adequate with gear stations on both sides and in the middle. I chose one on the outer side rather than in the middle because the wetsuits are hung in the middle, and I was not about to have all those wetsuits dripping ‘stuff’ onto my gear. There is a large camera rinse tank directly across from the camera table – of note there are no charging stations at the camera table and the camera table is in the open air, so caution must be taken when disassembling cameras there. Nitrox fills were very consistent at 31-32% and they had both DIN and Yoke tank valves, and a few 100 cu ft/15L tanks available for rent. The crew also consistently filled the tanks! My 3000 psi 80 cu ft tank ALWAYS had 3000 psi or more. YAY! Dive entries are by giant stride from the dive platform at the stern, and there are 2 ladders for reboarding. The typical entry was everyone got in the water, aided by the crew, and hung onto a surface line; once everyone was in, all went down together. Getting back on the boat was sometimes quite the joy ride. The yacht was attached to a mooring line. Based on the wind, the boat could move 100 meters or more in roughly a 180-degree arc. To exit, you completed the safety stop and timed your ascent the last few feet to catch one of the lowered lines as the boat swung by. When the winds were really pushing the boat, it could be quite the superman experience to hang on to that line and be pulled along… some divers liked it so much they just hung out there for 10 minutes. The last part of getting on the boat was either surfacing further out and grabbing the surface line and pulling yourself in or going right to the ladder and removing your fins. For camera folks, the crew carried the camera up, rinsed it, and placed it on the camera table. During the dive, buddy teams could go off and do their own thing, but mostly everyone seemed to follow along with the guides. Explorer Ventures advertises that on some of their cruises, Turks & Caicos being one of them, “Solo” certified divers can dive solo as long as they have all the proper equipment (the boat has pony bottles & reg available for rent). When I boarded, I presented my PADI Self Reliant Card, but was told that PADI was not recognized by their insurance company as a qualified certification agency for Solo diving. The crew checked with the corporate office and conveyed to me I would not be able to do any solo diving, that their insurance carrier only accepted SDI. Oh well… Explorer Ventures recently changed their website to state that only SDI Solo certifications are accepted; prior to this change (after I contacted their corporate office) the website use to say that a certification from "agencies" that offer solo diving certs are acceptable. The Diving exceeded my expectations. First, the visibility was some of the best I have experienced in the Caribbean – on one notable dive viz was easily 150 feet. There were a few schools of jacks and barracuda, the occasional grouper and lion fish, but most fun was seeing sharks on every dive. It was only 1 or 2, but every dive offered a shark, some of which came nearly nose to nose with my camera. We only made it to North Point and West Cay due to the weather, but overall it was a very pleasant week of diving. Here's the video I made of the trip: [youtube.com link]
Websites	Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	FL, Morehead City NC, most of the Caribbean, Cenotes MX, La Paz, Socorro, Okinawa, Palau, Yap, French Polynesia, Komodo Islands, Bali, Maldives, Hawaii, Raja Ampat and Fiji
Closest Airport	PLS	Getting There	Easy flights from Charlotte and Miama
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	50-150 Ft/ 15-46 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Lack of charging stations; good camera rinse tank; camera table has air hose

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Dive Review of Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II in Turks and Caicos/West Cay and North Point

Explorer Ventures -- T&C Explorer II: "Great Viz and Sharks on Every Dive", Jan, 2023,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 -- T&C Explorer II in
Turks and Caicos/West Cay and North Point