Trip Report – Cayman Aggressor IV – July 4th – July 11th, 2009

Traveling from the west coast, we decided the best course of action was to arrive on Friday, July 3rd and bed down in Grand Cayman. I’m glad we did because the trip was long. We started in San Diego at 4:30am for a 7:35 flight to Dallas. After a two hour layover, we flew to Miami, where thunderstorms forced us to circle for an additional 40 minutes. Naturally, this pushed our flight to Grand Cayman back as well and we finally arrived in Grand Cayman at 9:30 at night, 16 hours after we awoke to begin our day of travel. While the flights were smooth, they were horrible. On the Dallas to Miami leg, I was squashed in the middle seat behind some 250lb guy who took every opportunity to slam his seat back into my knees. I’m not really sure what flight attendants do anymore. There was no food served and since no leg was longer than 3 hours, each made one pass through the cabin with drinks. Of course, travel is the necessary evil of world class diving, so while not fun, it is expected.

After spending the morning walking around 7 mile beach, and grabbing a Thai massage down the road from the hotel (OMG it was like being in the ring with a Thai kickboxer. All elbows and knees. I’ve never had a rougher massage in my life) , we took a cab to the Georgetown docks where we were met by crew member and dive instructor Emma who took our bags and welcomed us aboard the Cayman Aggressor IV. We chose our spots on the dive deck and set up.

Having spent the last two liveaboards on Peter Hughes boats (Sun Dancer and Star Dancer, which have similar designs), drawing comparisons are inevitable, so I’ll knock most of them out now before I continue to the blow by blow.
The dive deck on the Aggressor was larger and easier to maneuver around. Wetsuits were stored over the tanks, rather than on a center rack. The downside to this was that it made it a bit harder for the crew to see that your tank needed to be filled. Gear was stored in in the benches in front of the tanks. Unlike the Hughes boats, the storage was in the bench itself, rather than in baskets below the bench. There was definitely more room, but there was so much room that it was hard to reach all the way to back of the storage. Once geared up, you had to navigate down one of two narrow ladders, facing the ladder and stepping down toe to heel. The Hughes boats have a distinct advantage here, providing a wide staircase that can easily be walked down. Both have large swimsteps and two in water ladders. For safety stops, the Aggressor drops a thick chain vertically in the water along with a spare regulator with surface supplied air. The Hughes boats are known for their rigid deco bar, which provides enough room for everyone to hang on as the boat swings on its mooring. Advantage Huges in this department.

The salon on the Aggressor was directly accessible from the dive deck and it was necessary to enter the salon in order to get to the cabins, which were all below the main deck. Again, a steep, narrow lad
der had to be navigated in order to get to the cabins, making it difficult to carry items to your room. Perhaps most disappointing, was the lack of windows in the cabins. Both Hughes boats boasts large picture windows in each room. It is nice to awake in the morning, draw the window shades back and stare out over the ocean. Our master cabin didn’t even contain a window and while the Hughes boats queen beds were placed in the middle of the room, the Aggressor had one side pressed against the wall, making the bed seem smaller. The head and shower area were also combined into one, so that if a person was showering, the head could not be used. When I travel with the Aggressor fleet in the future, I’ll be sure to save the extra money and get a deluxe room rather than the master.

The crew onboard the Aggressor did their job. From the first night, you could tell that there was some stress and the crew was tired, but even so, they did their best to keep it away from the guests. Unfortunately, the feeling was palpable and engagements with the crew were minimal. In fact, I can only recall two of the crew members having dinner with us. I guess there had been some turn over in the staff quite recently and they were all pulling extra duties. Captain Pierce, the fleet operations manager was on board getting things back on track, Captain Henri had recently returned from extended hiatus and Captain Lowell was grinding yet another week on board. Yeah, we had 3 captains on board this week, and that was with a crew of 5. Dive instructor Kory was doing classes and photography for the group and dive instructor Emma was that weeks chef. Captain Pierce spent most of his time assisting Emma in the kitchen. This was definitely not a normal week for the crew of the Aggressor, so comparisons between other crews may not be fair. Captain Pierce, a phenomenal photographer, was kind enough to spend some time with me discussing technique and while he watched most of it go over my head, I knew it would sink in as time went on and it did. Strobe to subject…Strobe to subject. Lowell and Kory not only shot video and photography for the guests, but spent many hours after we went to sleep editing, only to have to wake up early and get things ready for us. Captain Henri always had a smile on his face and was perhaps the most outwardly friendly of the bunch. Emma did an amazing job of cooking. If she wasn’t already a dive instructor, she’d make a phenomenal chef.

After 1000 words, I guess I should touch on the diving. Once everyone was on board Saturday night, we set out for the 80 mile crossing to Little Cayman. I had heard that some charters spend a few days around Grand Cayman before making the crossing, so I was totally stoked that we were heading out immediately. We awoke Sunday morning to sunny skies and clear water. After breakfast, Lowell briefed us on his favorite dive of the week, Randy’s Gazebo. Turtles, stingrays, drum fish, basket corals abound. After 2 dives and lunch, we moved to the Lowell’s favorite dive of the week, The Meadows. Yah, this was the pattern for the week. EVERY dive was Lowell’s favorite and for a while we thought he was just kidding, but as time went on, we began to realize that we were diving the best that the Caymans had to offer. After 25+ hours underwater, I can honestly say that we didn’t visit a site I’d consider less than spectacular. We cruised sites in Jackson’s Bight on Sunday and Monday morning, heading for Cayman Brac during lunch on Monday and making 3 dives on a Russian destroyer renamed the Capt. Keith Tibbits. Well, most of us made 3 dives. Somehow, I was allowed to sleep through the 2nd afternoon. My wife explained that she didn’t want to wake me because I looked exhausted. I really regret missing that dive because I spend the entire first dive planning pictures for as the sunlight fell. Regardless, the destroyer was unbelievable. I’m not much of a wreck guy, but this one blew me away.

Tuesday and Wednesday we dove a variety of sites on Bloody Bay wall and few on the edge of Jackson’s Bight. In order to get an earlier start back to Grand Cayman Wednesday night, the night dive was changed to a 6:00am dive Wednesday morning. I managed to sleep though that one too, but that was by choice.

Thursday morning we dove a Grand Cayman site called Babylon and then Tarpon Alley. Babylon proved to be a great dive with deep walls, large fans, and great visibility. Tarpon Alley wasn’t as good. Green water, the poorest visibility of the week and no tarpon led to a bit of disappointment. Even so, we were lucky enough to dive the site, which isn’t always accessible. The 3rd dive of the day was Stingray City. I’m not much on the tourist type dives. I found the Blue Hole in Belize to be well, a big hole in the ground. I always have a bit of a moral dilemma with any less than eco-friendly types of dives as well. This one was fun though. The rays were everywhere and would just swarm all over a diver who held a small piece of squid in their hand. Because it takes place in 12 feet of water on a sandy bottom, the water gets dirty quickly, but thankfully I didn’t need to use flash to shoot pictures. It is hard to get the shots you want while holding the camera in one hand and the squid in the other. The final two dives of the day were at Oro Verde, a site where a small broken up wreck is home to many morays, angel fish and turtles. I had more fun at this site than any other during the trip.

Fridays diving was at Trinity Caves and Devil’s Grotto. Both had lots of swim throughs and Devil’s Grotto had a ton of tarpon. After swinging by to refuel the boat for the next charter, we docked in Georgetown and spent the afternoon drinking at the conveniently located Margaritaville and being accosted by a couple of drunk ex-pats who were asked to leave after getting rude with both staff and patrons, but that is a story for another time.
Overall, I’d say the diving was the best I’d experienced in the Caribbean and wouldn’t hesitate to go back and do it again. A quick calculation of travel times did provide an interesting fact though. In the time it took to get to the Caymans, we could have taken a non-stop flight to Fiji. This time of year though, Fiji waters are a lot cooler. Even though the boat had a few disappointments, it is the only liveaboard in the Caymans and consequently, offers the best diving.

Visuals of the great diving can be seen at www.flickr.com/thesmoothdome

This time of year in Fiji the water is cooler, but many times this also brings in (relatively) more pelagics - besides a few more sharks and the occasional manta, we saw a humpback underwater off of Namena (was around for several days during our stay).

"Go West..."

Change the names and it sounds just like when I crewed on the Cayman Aggressor back in the mid 90's - Bill and Yvonne holding it all together, and a different crew every week. If anyone knows where Bill and Yvonne are these days please let me know by PM - it would be great to catch up with them.

Thanks for the great write up Terry. The new shots with the 50D look great. How did the rig work out for you? This was your first trip with it wasn't it?

The octo shot is killer!
Steve

Thanks Steve. Yes, this was my first trip with the 50D. I did bounce to 90 feet with it in April, but with vis at 3ft and my buddy having ear issues, I aborted and never even looked through the viewfinder. The housing is very similar to the housing I had for my Rebel, so the learning curve wasn't bad. As I found with the Rebel housing, I had to adjust the depth and pressure of a few buttons and knobs, but once that was solved, it was fantastic. I think the next purchase will be some ultralight arms. I am definitely seeing th advantages of having better control over my strobe arms.

nice shots. what lens(es) did you use?

Thanks. All the wide angle was shot with a Tokina 10-17mm Fisheye and the macro was a Canon 100mm.