We were 10 people going: Bob L, Bernie M, Chary L, Clare A, Julie M, Mary & Larry L, Barbara S, Patrice M and my self. We had an unfortunate last minute cancellation, but Julie signed up last minute – like Thursday before, got herself an airplane ticket (even cheaper than the rest of us) so we managed to go a full half-boat, with no spaces wasted. All but Bernie flew in from Ft Lauderdale. Bernie came from Miami and was waiting for us at the airport.

From the airport we took a local van on a “detour” down to the beach from where we were supposed to board the boat. I call it a detour because when we got to the beach we met Steve and I heard some phrases I haven’t heard since I traveled frequently in the UK. The issue was that the dinghy that was supposed to ferry us out to the mother ship was undergoing repair – we later learned as the week progressed that this was a rather chronic condition . Anyway we left our luggage w/ Steve and went on a van ride down to the harbor (at this time too shallow for T&C Explorer II to enter ) and a Tiki bar to wait out the repairs. Before we left the more people were detoured and we met a family of 6, 3 generations, from Alabama (They decided to go swimming instead of going to the Tiki bar – but they made up for their loss later ).

At the Tiki Bar we met the remaining two couples on the trip (Guy & Jackie and Mike & Deb). They had arrived too early and were awaiting embarkation time at the Tiki bar. We had to tell them to turn around and wait some more (Guy looked very disappointed ).

The boat was glorious, larger than normal, rooms were big and comfortable. The Nitrox worked all trip except for a few dives. The AC was under repair when we boarded, and got fixed before we pulled anchor – and it lasted all week until Friday afternoon. On board the boat we got introduced to the crew: Roseanne (captain), Van (purser), Stan (chef, and an old acquaintance from our Peter Hughes trip in ‘97), Carmen (maid), Tom (Machinist) and Hester (the other Dive Master). The crew overall did a good effort to give us an excellent trip with some minor mishaps primarily due to equipment and maintenance trouble…

Now to the diving: Last time I was there the weather was so rough that we did not even make it to the French Cay; this is normally advertised as the pristine location for this trip. This time we made it there twice – one time on an excellent call by the captain to run from bad weather at the normally safer spots up North (Provo and West Caicos) to find leeway on the South side of the Cay. Diving was excellent here; I liked the deeper walls, but on top there were often reef sharks cruising. There were eagle rays galore; I think the best sighting was 7 at one time with divers in mid water with a group of eagle rays both above and below. Those divers of course chasing the group of Eagles deep below while the group of Eagles on top was a lot closer . We also saw plenty of turtles.

On one particular day we got an experience that is so rare that it according to the Lonely Planet’s guide book for T&C only happens only 2-3 times a year. We got to dive the West Sand Spit. It’s a small but pristine area 25 nautical miles from Provo City and on the edge of Turk & Caicos Bank falling off into deeper water (The only problem was that when the Aggressor also showed up later the spot got crowed, as there barely is anchorage that is safe for the reef for 2 boats at the same time; I later talked to some of the Explorer staff and they assured me that mooring(s) would be put in place soon. The water was clear, 100+ feet visibility, a gradual slope venturing off into the deep; again saw plenty of Eagle Rays, a hammerhead, a baby Manta ray and a forest of healthy sea fans and a few gigantic lobsters.

At some point in time Guy and Jackie were about to abandon ship, they were closer to the Aggressor boat and decided to make a run for it. Fortunately at this particular moment the engine on the dinghy was working and the crew reigned them in before they made contact. On other occasions we had mishaps with the dinghy not being ready when it was needed or desired . Another interesting aspect was that the T&C Explorer II was quieter when anchored than many other boats, so navigating was more difficult than normal as you could not hear your way back until close. One night as a safety precaution Bernie and I decided to go down the anchor line just to be safe, then go toward land and come back to the anchor line. Well when we hit the sand at the end of the anchor line the strobe light at the back of the boat was already invisible, a fact that we only realized while trying to swim back. So much for chasing the moon, the real thing not the other one.

All in all any of the 3 days at French Cay or the Sand spit was worth the trip and once again we were lucky with company we got from the other 10 guests.