Kim Dolan
GBNot a good experience This trip took place in Turks and Caicos on April 20-27, 2024. From the beginning to the end this was a big let down on customer service and dive guides. The boat is older which was fine since I was here to dive. However I shared a room #3 in the back and the a/c didn't work well and never got below 76 degrees in the room. On the 4th night we hit some ruff seas which is no one's fault. However I was woken up by a leaking window above my head with drip, drip, drip on my face and head. I had to turn around and place towels down to soak up all the water coming in. Not very enjoyable. Out of the 7 days the towels in your room are only changed out once. Your towels never get dry from a shower so you are using wet towels for a few days. Allison, Molly & Tristian were our dive guides if you could even call them that. From day one Allison always looked pissed off and hardly said a word to anyone. 19 guests were on the boat and only one dive guide was on each dive. The dive guides rarely did a thing in respect to showing where sea life was. On one dive Tristian did not wear his orange vest so we didn't even know where he was. One other dive Tristian had a hard time locating the boat on return so many of us were sucking on our last bit of air when we surfaced and had a very long swim to the boat. Newbie divers were mixed with experienced divers and the dive guides could care less about anyone. One divers tank slipped and the guide had no idea. Thank goodness another diver came to the rescue. The dive guides make no effort in helping less experienced divers, even when they ask questions or have issues. It's like they can't be bothered. The lack of safety concerns for divers by this crew was terrible. They could have easily taken separate groups who wanted a guide so they could monitor situations since diving abilities of some were far less than others. Never once did these guides do air checks with divers while underwater. Some of the people who were diving had never even dived with the buddy they were given. Several times a buddy would be responsible for a less experienced diver who was in distress. Did the guides offer help or assistance. NO! This is and was so unsafe on so many levels. Jo the cook was amazing! So friendly from day one and would talk to anyone and answer so many questions from food, diving, and more. She helped more than a few divers with weight issues when this should have been done by the dive guides. The food was wonderful and you will not go hungry. Ernie a deck hand was another stand out! Funny, helpful and all around nice guy. Ernie was the first to assist if you needed help with a tank, assisting getting out of the water, and helping with gear. For the first two days of diving we were at sights that were just ravaged with Stony Coral Disease. This is not the fault of the company. Unfortunately this disease has hit this area very hard. Over 80% of the coral is dead here and more in some areas. Thus the reefs lack marine life since coral is sick and dying. The over abundance of Lion Fish also kills what is left of the reef system here. Allison, Molly and Tristian don't talk about this much and when you bring it up they act like it's no big deal and when Molly did talk about it for a brief moment she stated facts that were not true about the Stony Coral Disease cause, progression and effects on the marine environment. The diving was not great here, it wasn't even good. What is happening to the ocean and reefs here are so sad. This is not Explorer Ventures fault. However the lack of care, safety protocols, customer service, and fun aboard this live aboard is entirely the crews fault. I am not rating my experience based on the health of the dive sites here. On the last night the entire crew made a big push for tips, which there share with everyone. I would have preferred to tip only Jo and Ernie as they were the ones who deserved it. Expecting a tip for sub-par to even bad service is ridiculous. I have been on other liveaboards before and the Explore Venture has been the worst experience I have ever had. From poor customer service to dive guides that don't do anything. You might as well just expect that you will be diving by yourself, in an area you know nothing about. Don't expect anything from the crew even if you ask. Don't dive with them unless you are very experienced and comfortable navigating unknown sites with a buddy. Check, double check and triple check all your gear as they don't do this nor help with this. Don't expect the guides to point out any marine life as it's far and few between here and they don't care. Don't expect the crew to say hello to you or sit down and have a coffee or tea and talk to you because it won't happen unless it's with Jo or Ernie. Don't bother saying hello to Allison, she will just ignore you and walk on past with her sour face look that never changes. Other than that I was happy to be in the water!
Willi und Imke
DETiburon Explorer Galapagos Tiburon Explorer, Safari 33501, Western Archipelago Route, Darwin and Wolf Island. We had a great safari. Hammerhead sharks, black and white tip sharks, glapago sharks, sunfish, turtles, dolphins, sea lions, liguana dragons, large schools of baracudas and many other species of fish. The crew was excellent. We were pampered from morning to evening. The food was also excellent
Mike
GBTrip of a lifetime! Everything about the trip was awesome, begging with getting a warm greeting to in Baltra and taken to the boat, meeting the crew the other divers aboard. The boat is awesome, spatious, modern, the crew go out of their way to make you feel like a king food, was great all services wonderful. Natalia and Alex were amazing dive leaders and we saw so much (Tons of sharks, rays and even an Orca and Whale Shark experience in Feb!!) !! There really was nothing negative about the experience, one of the great weeks of my life that I will always treasure.
Karen
GBAwesome crew Awesome crew, amazing food! Had an absolute blast!
Christy
GBWould do it all over again My husband and I had an amazing trip to the Galapagos with this company. Not only was the diving amazing but the crew is what really made the experience fun! Very friendly and helpful! I didn’t zip up my own wetsuit the entire trip haha. Would absolutely do it again!