Trip Report: Caribbean Explorer II (13-20 May 2006)

Here's my trip report from the liveaboard Caribbean Explorer II (13-20
May 2006)

Summary
My buddy and I headed down to St Martin/Maarten to catch the CEX2 boat
that sails to St Kitts. We arrived a day early to dive St Martin as the
CEX2 doesn't dive there. After the live aboard we stayed on the island
for an 'extra' day due to the volcano on Montserrat. Here's a quick
overview of my trip:


**** St Martin- land based ****
Scuba Fun Caraibes
scubafun.com, 011 590590 87 36 13
Philipsburg, St Maarten
2 dives
US$85/2 dives

Hotel Hevea
hotel-hevea.com, 011 590590 87 56 85
US$67/night

Alamo/National
compact for US$21/day
alamo.com


**** CEX2 ****
explorerventures.com

Saba (pronounced by most as 'Sae-ba' with a long 'a'. The Dutch call it
'Sa-ba' with a short 'a')
3 days diving
best diving of the 3 visited islands visited by CEX2
deepest dives of trip
optional tour stop on island

Statia (the real name is St Eustatius)
1 day diving
all dives guided due to archeological and environmental concerns
optional tour stop on island

St Kitts (sometimes known as just 'Kitts'. Real name is St Christopher)
1.5 days diving
rains a lot -> lower vis
trash readily seen on dives
optional tour of local sights on island

**** St Kitts ****
Marriott Resort
US$239/night

Local taxi van between Marriott and Airport
Can fit 5-8 people + dive gear in the van.
US$12-15/vanload


Details
We took off from LAX thursday night to catch the redeye to JFK then
hopped on a flight to SXM which arrived at noon. Customs was not
operating friday so we breezed on through to the car rental place. This
is the low season and we were able to rent a compact car for US$21/day
out the door since we booked online w/ Alamo. Nothing special,
definitely a beater but the AC worked. There wasn't a need to book
online but it helped, if you show up you can barter them down to about
$25/day. All the car rental booths are in a little courtyard outside
the terminal so you can get them to fight each other : )

Our first stop was the hotel we booked the day before via phone: Hotel
Hevea in Grand Case, St Martin (www.hotel-hevea.com, intl 011 590590 87
56 85). The online booking places require 2 or 3 night stays but we
called and talked to the owner and she gave us a room for 1 night. It's
a quaint place with 5 rooms i think, nothing fancy but it's a place to
stay for US$67/night.

The rest of friday we drove around the island checking out the sights
and trying to get rid of jetlag. Had lunch at a local BBQ place in
Grand Case, we were looking for Lolos as Lonely Planet recommended them
however we went to the wrong stall. There are 6-7 BBQ stalls under the
same roof and at first glance look to be the same operation. Opps, but
we sat by the water which was nice. Lunch for 2 was EU22 which was a
bit pricey for local fish/ribs and beer. Note that 3 currencies are
used on the island: USD(everywhere), Euros (french side), and
Netherlands Antilles Guiders (dutch side). Some places took USD:Euro at
1:1 so there's a good reason to pay in USD cash (this exchange rate
does not apply to credit card transactions since the bank conducts the
exchange). Dinner was at La California in Grand Case, a very nice
restaurant on the water. They might take your picture as a souvenir!
Grand Case at night is a nice place to walk around, there are a lot of
good restaurants to check out.

Saturday we dropped of the rental car and Scubafun (011 590590 87 36
13) picked us up by the airport. They offer free shuttle rides from
anywhere on the Dutch side of the island. Scubafun's operation is near
the cruiseship terminal as well as Bobby's Marina where the CEX2 docks
(which is a major reason why we picked them). We were hoping to dive
with OceanExplorers(www.stmaartendiving.com, intl 011 5995 44 5252) in
Simpson Bay because of rave reviews but they don't run on Sat. The
diving off Phillipsburg is nothing special but our 2nd dive was to the
HMS Proselyte and that was a nice dive. There are 3 big cannon and 3
encrusted anchors from the 1801 wreck (or 1802 depending on who you
ask). Scubafun has 3 boats of different sizes, as there were a total of
6 divers this day we took their smallest boat. We were provided with a
divemaster for the two of us so we didn't have to bother with
navigation. She also pointed out lots of animals and sights. The other
4 divers were Openwater students but thankfully we didn't have to
splash in with them. Also a cruise ship was docked at the same time but
no cruiseboat type people were diving w/ us that day. After the dive we
had lunch at the scubafun dock, very nice restaurant with an excellent
conch fritters. The walk to CEX2/Bobby's Marina is only 5 minutes,
there is a grocery store across the street if you forget anything
(toothbrush!!!) or want an ice cream. FYI- chocolate melts in the
Caribbean.

The CEX2 doesn't board passengers until 5pm but you can drop off gear
if you arrive early then checkout the shopping district which is a 3
minute walk away. There are lots of jewelry, electronic, t-shirt, gift,
rum, and trinket shops. Further past the white folks area are the shops
for the locals, some travelers might be intimidated by this area but
it's safe. I don't think any foreign travelers will buy anything ('Man
Jeans' for $10?) but it's interesting to see how the locals live.
Remembering when buying postcards and stamps- the different islands are
different countries so buying stamps before going on the CEX2 won't do
you much good. But the boat doesn't sail until the night so you have
sometime to knock out some postcards to mail.

Sat night- a quick overview of the boat followed by taking you to your
room and setting up your dive stations. The transit to Saba is after
dinner, the seas aren't rough but there is some small motion and some
people might feel a little queasy.

Sunday-Friday are pretty much the same, this is the general schedule
for the week:
7-8am - breakfast (you have to wake yourself)
8:30am - briefing + dive
snack
10:30am - briefing + dive
lunch
1:30pm - briefing + dive
snack
4:00pm - briefing + dive
6:00pm - dinner
7:30pm - briefing + dive
9pm - around when people started going to bed. A few late owls stayed
up to 11pm watching movies, etc. For the most part the crew went to bed
early and did not hang out with the passengers at night, the exception
being the capt.

Friday afternoon the boat docks and the passengers have an opportunity
to check out the island (see below for more info) and have dinner with
the crew on shore. I recommend both- it's nice stretch for your legs
and see some local things, and also kick back with the crew when
they're not working.

Sat- The first passengers woke up at the crack of dawn to catch their
planes(US$10/person not included in CEX2 fare. A regular taxi is
<US$10/carload). There is a continental breakfast onboard you can grab
before heading out. Note the airport on St Kitts doesn't open until 6am
so there's no point in getting there early. Besides they don't have the
TSA so they won't look to see if you have dangerous and criminal
pencils. You're asked to leave the boat by 9am. If you have time to
kill, the boat has an agreement with the Mariott where you can use the
pool while waiting. It's a nice place, but few food options. The most
reasonable is the restaurant by the pool (go past the guest only
signs). Unfortunately our plans were slightly modified by the volcano
on Montserrat, it threw up an ash cloud and American Airlines cancelled
their flights (everyone else was still running). There is a Mariott on
the island and conveniently have an office in the terminal, you can get
a room there for US$239/night + fees. So it's more like US$300/night
(including $12 internet) for a 2 bed unit. Of course they have more
amenities than the CEX2 : ) Note there is virtually nothing near the
resort, because if you leave they won't make money. Count on US$4
yoplait yogurts. The resort primarily catered to Americans and a few
company retreats. But 15 minutes walking you can find some nice
restaurants, 25min along the road will take you to 1/2 dozen beach BBQ
places which are really good.

Escaping St Kitts: if your airline plans get changed and the airline is
telling you to come back in 3 days you have some options they don't
tell you about. You can take a Caribbean Star flight to St Martin
(US$100) and catch a plane from there to JFK. Or a flight to San Juan
then on to DFW. Of course you can try some of the other big airlines if
you really need to get back and money is no problem. If you're with
American Airlines note that the international help desk has more
authority to make changes to your itinerary without charging you. But
the local number has the ability to check other local airlines and book
you on them. Some other folks on the boat had booked at Timothy Beach
Hotel. Nothing special but it's inexpensive and a good place to stay
with a golf course and pool. I believe you can stay there for
US$75-100/night. A list of contacts or a backup plan would be wise, ash
emissions from Montserrat are not uncommon and the airlines do not have
maintenance staff on most of the islands.


Here's are the dive sites we visited and some descriptions. Future
trips will be different, the crew picks different sites depending on
conditions.

Sunday-
Ladder Labyrinth- the first dive is a easy checkout dive
Ladder Labyrinth
Custom's House- lots of anchors littering the bottom. It's where ships
used to anchor to pass customs.
Torrens Pt- night dive
#####

Monday- best 3 dives of the trip!!!!
3rd Encounter(aka eye of the needle)
Diamond Rock (aka bird shit rock)
Man O'War Shoals
Diamond Rock
Ladder Labyrinth- night dive

The 3rd Encounter dive site starts with a descending coral bottom
slope, vis 80-100. Going along the bottom all of a sudden you'll notice
a rock/coral pinnacle shooting up 80'. It's 20-30 ft in diameter with
lots of coral and fish life. It's a guided dive because of the depth
and current, they don't want people dropping off to 150+ which is easy
to do here. The top is at 95' and there's no need to go deep, it's all
good and the same. Good place to see sharks and grouper.

Diamond Rock (aka bird shit rock for obvious reasons) is a site with 3
pinnacles coming out of the sandy bottom, 2 of which break the water.
There can be current here so save some air to get back to the boat.
Great life on this wall-ish dive. It is possible to swim between the
two exposed pinnacles but be good with your buoyancy and swimming,
depth is 6 ft during high tide with waves, and the rocks there are
covered in fire coral. Boat crew does not recommend swimming through
but it allows you go get back to the boat w/o fighting the current.
Lots of life and good coral.

Man O'War Shoals- same mooring as Diamond Rock but another set of
pinnacles nearby. A little farther from the boat. Great life.
#####

Tuesday-
Tedran Wall
Tent Wall
Tent Reef - capt's favorite dive site.
skipped #4 due to Saba Tour (Tent Reef)
skipped #5 due to beer (Tent Reef)
#####

Wednesday- morning move to Statia, move to St Kitts after night dive
Wreck City
Barracuda Reef - some small schools of barracuda
Double Wreck - no wrecks here (visible anyways)
skipped #4 due to Statia Tour (Ching Tong)
Wreck City - night dive
Note: all dives are mandatory guided and a ranger from the marine park
accompanies the group(s). He/she will take notes on people
touching/whacking coral, etc.
Note: wreck city is an artificial reef site with 2 barges, fishing
boat, marine inline 8 engine, and some other assorted sunken reef
material.
#####

Thursday
Anchors Aweigh
Anchors Aweigh
Paradise Reef
River Taw
River Taw - night dive
Notes: River Taw is a broken up passenger boat in about 40ft of water.
Upon entry skip the boat and head for the chain that takes you to the
minivan and tractor. These get silted up quickly, you can hit the boat
later.
#####


Friday
Corinthian Reef
River Taw- last dive
Dock in St Kitts around noon. Optional tour (recommended) to Batik,
Fort George. Dinner is in town with crew (price not included in boat
package)
notes: Skip the Tugboat Corinthian when you first get in and head
straight to the crane then barge. Hit the tugboat last as it doesn't
silt up like the others.
#####

sat
Continental breakfast on boat before heading out.
#################

Tour info: I highly recommend the Saba($20) and St Kitts($25) side
trips. All the islands are different and Saba is unlike any Caribbean
island I've seen. Very small(1500 ppl), quaint, and mountainous. There
are hardly any tourists and there are only a handful of restaurants and
shops. The Statia Tour($20) is very much a history tour (including US
history) so if you found high school history boring this isn't for you.
Also an island without tourists but more local folks, population 3400.
I recommend the St Kitts tour because it's interesting and there isn't
anything else to do once you've docked. Most of the city is geared
towards locals and some comment that it isn't foreigner/white friendly.
The CEX2 docks at the Basseterre Marina and there are constructing a
lot of tourist trap shops, these should be open by winter 2006.
Currently there are no tourist shops in Basseterre. Also on tours and
skipping dives- the crew tries to schedule it so that the missed dive
is a site previously done.

Diving procedures: computers are required for diving. The DM notes your
entry time, they'll ask you for max depth and air when you come out. Be
back on board w/ 500 lbs. The DM is available for guided dives but it's
not mandatory (except on Statia).

Air/Nitrox: There is a lot of deeper diving on this boat and 31%-32%
nitrox from the boat will go a long way to keep you out of deco. 1/2
the boat took the nitrox class that was offered. If you are already
certified the charge is US$150, the class + nitrox is US$250. One guy
on the boat finished his OW onboard (so his air consumption sucked) and
he hit his deco limit after 3 dives!

Water temp: surprisingly warm for this time of year. All sites were 84F
at depth. St Kitts was expected to be in the high 70s but was
unexpectedly warm. 3mm is all that was needed, some were in shorties.
One passenger used a drysuit the entire time as she was practicing to
go to South Africa. Most people were toasty/too warm in their 3mm. Only
one or two folks used hoods. No gloves please.

Vis: most sites had around 80 ft or so. St Kitts had thunderstorms
everyday so there was a lot of sediment around, vis between 20-40ft.

Current: varied depending on site and time. We did some sites multiple
times, sometimes it took everything we had to stay still, other times
there was nothing. Surface current and at depth.

Corals: Saba had the best since these sites were the deepest and least
impacted by fishermen. Statia is much shallower and suffers a little
because of it but all the water around the island is protected by
marine reserve. St Kitts had the worst bottom, very shallow and
impacted by fishermen. You'll find monofilament on the bottom (w/ rebar
weights). The fishermen also steal the mooring buoys so the dive boats
in this area use empty plastic bottles instead. You'll also notice some
trash on the bottom at St Kitts.

Sea life: Saba has the best life of the islands followed by Statia.
Nothing big except sharks, mostly reef and nurse sharks. You'll see
lots of Spotted Morays, turtles, the occasional Goldentail Moray, and
we say a 5-6ft Green moral at Paradise Reef, St Kitts. Apparently this
Green has been hanging out by a particular coral head for quite some
time. Also saw a scorpion fish and a sea pen. Of course you'll see the
standard Parrot fish, angel fishes (i only saw 1 queen tho), box fish
and dice, trumped fish, wrasse, barracuda, jacks, jaw fish, flounders,
and the occasional remora. Lots of carib lobsters, flamingo tongues,
arrow crabs, spanish lobsters, small and magnificent feather dusters,
octopi, and some really big sting rays.

night dives: relatively easy with some possibility of current. You'll
see some jellies but no one encountered sea wasps(though the crew said
they're sometimes a problem). Little worms and bugs swarmed those
with the high powered HID lamps. Funny thing: the jacks and tarpon did
NOT follow us. They stayed around the boat munching on flying fish
(some of which fly into/onto the boat trying to escape). We did have a
snapper and a barracuda use our lights to hunt.

Dive deck/platform: Not cramped but full with 17 passengers and DM.
Table for camera gear as well as two tubs for rinsing cameras, 1 tub
for wetsuits. There are 2 stable ladders into the water and 2
weighed(21 lbs) hang lines down to 25ft. 10 ft of rack space for
wetsuits is cramped since everyone brings multiple pairs! Dive stations
are marked with your name and you have a little cubbyhole underneath to
put mask, fins, etc. Four passenger dive stations are on the starboard
side, the rest are on the port side.

Provided gear: tanks(nitrox or air) and weights. Some dive sausages are
available. Computers, regs, BCs are available to rent as well. Maybe
even wetsuits but I've never seen anyone rent them on liveaboards
before.

Classes: full suite of Padi classes, but do you really want to spend
vacation time reading and taking tests?

Passengers: People came from all over but mostly americans. I was
surprised at the quality of divers, 1/2 the boat were beginners (0-30
dives)- they kicked up silt, ran through air, whacked corals, and to
the chagrin of the crew always wanted to be guided(the crew does work
17+ hrs/day and would like some rest). The other half i'd consider
intermediate divers with 150-900 dives. I was somewhat surprised by
this mix, on the PH boats I've been on the mix is more 50% intermediate
and 50% advanced.

Boat entertainment: there is a very good selection of movies onboard
and if there is a favorite movie you have feel free to bring it, they
have both a DVD player and VHS(NTSC standard). The music selection is a
bit more limited, if you bring your own use the DVD player for CDs, the
regular CD player is broken. A small library is onboard and a stack of
magazines is also available.

crew: We had a great crew this trip. Grant, the South African captain
has many stories and experiences to share. Tony, the cook, appreciated
by all. Mike, DM/deckhand, relatively new to the industry but a great
guy. Donna and Sean, a couple from England and Canada respectively.
Sean did DM/deckhand and Donna was the fabulous DM/concierge that made
the trip. Great personality and made everyone feel at home. #######
hired on for the trip to help out. Total of 6 crew members, they were
short on this trip but they pulled together to make it a great
experience for us. Unfortunately Sean and Donna are leaving the
CEX2/liveaboard industry and going to the cruise lines for easier and
better paid work.

Food: The food was good but nothing to write home about (it is a dive
boat after all). PH does have better food but the grub onboard the CEX2
was nothing to complain about. Breakfasts always had toast/cereal/fruit
+ the special for the day: pancakes or eggs benedict or french toast or
etc. Morning and afternoon snacks were always freshly made: brownies,
cookies, etc. Lunches were not heavy: sandwiches, hamburgers, fajitas,
and always with some sort of salad. Dinners were more substantial:
ribs, fresh fish, BBQ, and always with salad and dessert. Dessert was
usually some sort of cake or pie with ice cream. If you have special
dietary requirements Tony can easily accommodate vegetariansno fish,
etc). Just let them know before you sail. Beverages are always
available: coke, diet coke, ginger ale, sprite, minute maid, ice tea,
crystal lite, and others. All the beer and hard liquor you can drink is
onboard, just remember you first drink is your last dive (of the day).
Overall it's your standard american food and of good quality.

Beer: Carib is the local brew of St Kitts. But don't get the Carib with
the clear glass, get the one with the dark bottle. The clear stuff is
brewed elsewhere, the dark glass is freshly brewed on St Kitts.
Heineken is a popular brand on Antilles due to the Dutch influence. No
bud, Coors, or MGD. Some Guinness here and there.

Sun protection: Unless you lie out on the sundeck between dives a lot
you won't need much. If you forget to bring lotion there is a basket of
lotions and sprays people have left behind, feel free to take what you
need. Future passengers will leave their bottles behind and it will be
added to the pile.

Attire: casual. Say again, casual. Shorts and t-shirts are de rigeur
while onboard. And unlike restaurants, no shoes no problem. Actually
shoes aren't allowed. But Friday night after docking the crew invites
you to go with them to a local restaurant so you might want to being a
collared shirt (guys) or something not beach oriented. It wasn't cold
at night but during the winter months i can see wearing a fleece or
something.

Communications: This shouldn't matter, is a vacation after all! But if
you're overpaid and want to keep your job there are opportunities to
talk to the outside world. Verizon and Sprint generally don't work
outside the US so don't bother trying. GSM is the world standard and
the GSM service from Cingular or T-mobile works on all 4 islands. Ok,
ok, Verizon does work around where the docks in St Martin
(http://mobileoptions.vzw.com/interna..._maarten.html).
The CEX2 has a sat phone for emergencies or folks with too much money.
The dock in St Kitts has free wireless (802.11b) but it's quite
congested. There also seemed to be some blackberry service in St Kitts
but I couldn't verify this.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/m...ialinginst.jsp

Shopping: Lots of shops on St Martin. A couple of shops on Saba,
nothing on Statia (or at least you won't have any opportunities), and
opportunities on St Kitts are limited (until the new cruise terminal is
completed). The tour of St Kitts stops at the Batik shop/museum
however. Of course the Boatique is available to buy boat related
apparel. Aside from the standard stuff they have shirts from the Saba
Medical School with the hyperbaric chamber: "You bend 'em, we mend
'em"!

Tips/Billing: Tips are customarily 10-15% of charter price (for any
liveaboard) which can be added to your tab at the end of the trip. The
crew does work hard and the work on board isn't the highest paying.
Anything you buy during the week is added to your tab, you settle up
friday afternoon. All major credit cards accepted.

Time: Boat time is Eastern Time. But on shore it's island time so don't
expect everyone to hurry up for you. Remember this *when* your airliner
breaks down as Jimmy plays "No plane on Sunday" in the background.

Cameras: everyone is digital now and it seemed like all the passengers
brought their laptops to share and photoshop their pictures.

Electricity:
120 V 60 hz: St Maarten (Dutch side), CEX2, Saba, Statia
230 V 60 Hz: St Martin (French side), St Kitts (thought the Marriott
has 120 V)

ATM: Available in various places on St Martin, machines on the Dutch
side dispense both US and local currency. Most of the French side
machines dispense Euros.

Airports:
SXM, St Martin- departure tax included in ticket
SKB, St Kitts- departure tax paid in terminal. US$22
EUX, Statia/St. Eustatius
SAB, Saba. Code not recognized by many travel sites but it doesn't
matter, there are no connecting flights you can take. Fly into SXM then
take an local island hoper plane for US$75-$90 roundtrip to Saba.