Caribbean Kraken Liveaboard
The Caribbean Kraken was the first liveaboard in the Mexican Carribean, boasting a hundred feet long with aluminum hull.
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The first liveaboard in the Mexican Carribean, Caribbean Kraken is a hundred feet long with aluminum hull, 9 double cabins and great, relaxed, onboard service.
Dive Overview
The Mexican Caribbean offers seasonal attractions with clear blue waters, a huge variety of fish and incredible water ambiance.
[See: Yucatan Dive Travel Guide]
Accommodation Overview
The Caribbean Kraken features nine double cabins, each equipped with air conditioning and bunk beds consisting of one matrimonial and one individual bed. The lower deck houses cabins 1 to 5, which share two full bathrooms located in the corridor. On the upper deck, cabins 6 to 9 each have their own private full bathrooms, offering added convenience for guests.
Dive Information
Banco Chinchorro
- Banco Chinchorro is a coral atoll of 43 km long and 28 km wide including few islands:
- Cayo Centro (in the middle of the atoll), Cayo Norte has 2 lighthouses and Cayo Lobos (the smallest island).
- Chinchorro has all around few shipwrecks and a prestigious coral reef made from canyons and walls. We count 18 Spanish and English galleons from the XVII to the XIX centuries.
- The dive sites are located between 5 and 30 meters.
- Chinchorro is known as a pristine site with a huge diversity of fauna and flora. You can have the chance to see loggerhead, green turtles, nurse shark, reef sharks, eagle rays, dolphins and a big diversity of corals and sponges.
Los Picos
Picos del Norte is a series of seamounts 60 miles offshore, north of Cancun. Big pelagic gather here along with giant mantas that use the pinnacles as cleaning stations. Depth of the dive sites:
- Granelero: Ship wreck that used to be a towing vessel, is located at 35 meters depth in a sandy area and the deck is at 25 meters.
- Los Picos: Its a wall that goes to 60meters and the top of the reef is between 20 and 3o meters.
- El Chalan 1: Its with a sandy bottom where you can find a wreck of a barge located between 15 and 30 meters.
- El Chalan 2: Its a wreck that used to be a wood fishing boat and its still well preserved. Its located between 12 and 20 meters. Its a site with moderate to strong current.
Alacranes
- Alacranes is a protected area, is the biggest coral reef in the Gulf of Mexico and its located at 110 kms from Puerto Progreso. Its composed of 5 little islands where different species of bird like to nest. We can find 34 types of corals, more than 100 of fishes but also turtles, mollusks, marine mammals. We can also dive on ship wrecks. The whole biodiversity is created by the position of the archipelago and because of the nutriments brought by the currents. The beauty of the place made by the white sandy bottoms, the crystal water and the enormous natural resources, give us the feeling to dive into a pristine unexplored reef.
The Trips
Banco Chinchorro 4 Night Trip (November - March)
- Boarding: Puerto Morelos at 7pm.
- Disembarking: Puerto Morelos at 7 am.
- Schedule:
- Briefing at 8pm
- Dinner at 8.30 pm, night navigation.
- Dive done around the archipelago.
- Way back on Sunday night after dinner.
- From Thursday to Monday.
- Day 1: Callo Centro, 4 dives through Callo Norte
- Day 2 and 3: Callo Lobos.
Los Picos 3 Night Trip (September - October)
- Boarding: Cancun at 7 PM
- Disembarking: Cancun at 8 PM
- Schedule:
- Briefing at 8 pm.
- Dinner at 8.30 pm, navigation in the early morning to reach los Picos located 30 miles away from the coast.
- Way back the Sunday night at 8 pm.
- Day 1: Los Picos 1 y Chalan
- Day 2: Manta Valley and Granelero
- Day 3: Los Picos 2
Alacranes 4 Night Trip (May - August)
- Boarding: Thursday night. Puerto Progreso at 7pm.
- Disembarking: Monday morning. Telchac at 7am.
- Schedule:
- Thursday to Monday
- Briefing at 8 pm.
- Dinner at 8.30pm.
- Departure for Alacranes, night navigation.
- Dives all around the archipelago.
- Night Navigation after dinner.
- Day1: Perez Island
- Day 2: North Area
- Day 3: North Caribbean
Alacranes & Los Picos 1 Week Trip
- Boarding: Puerto Progreso at 7pm.
- Disembarking: Cancn at 7 pm
- Schedule:
- Briefing at 8 pm.
- Dinner at 8.30 pm,
- Navigation in the early morning to reach Alacranes.
- Day 1: Perez Island (4 dives)
- Day 2: North Area (4 dives)
- Day 3: Caribbean Area (4 dives) + night navigation to reach Granelero
- Day 4: Granelero (2 dives) + Navigation to reach the picos
- Day 5: Manta Valley and picos 1 (4 dives)
- Day 6: Picos 2 (4 dives)
- Day 7: picos 2 (2 dives)+ navigation to reach Cancun
Cabin details
Double Cabins
All nine cabins feature bunk beds (one matrimonial, one individual), air conditioning, and comfortable furnishings. Lower deck cabins share two full bathrooms, while upper deck cabins have private en-suite bathrooms.
Boat features
Boat facilities
SCHEDULE, RATES & AVAILABILITY
Schedule & Rates 2019
|
Start |
End |
Nights |
Itinerary |
From |
To |
Rate from |
Availability |
|
26-Sep-2019 |
29-Sep-2019 |
3 |
Los Picos del Norte |
Cancun |
Cancun |
$1,381.25 |
More information about this trip
Included
- Marine park fees
- All meals (breakfast, lunch, diner, beer and wines)
- Nitrox
- Dives
- Double occupancy
- Transfer back and for to the harbor in a private van
Excluded
- Tips
- Dive equipment
Practical information
- Time Zone: UTC-6
- Local Currency: MXN (Mexican Peso)
- Language Spoken: Spanish & English
Boat Specifications
- Length: 30 meters
- Wide: 6 meters
- Number of cabins: 9 double cabins
- Year of fabrication: 1972
- Year of renovation: 2016
- Speed: 9 knots
- Navigation and communication equipment: 2 GPS Brand Furuno, 2 Radars Brand Furuno, 1 Ecosonde Brand Furuno, 1 automatic Pilote COMNAV, 2 Radio VHF West Marine, Hailer RAYTHEON, 1 Radio lateral bande ICOM, 1 AIS FURUNO
- Boat Engine: 2 engine diesel CAT 3406 Series # 9WR02619 and 9WR02621
Fellow traveler's reviews
Overall Value Marine Life Accommodations Food
bevcollins
Overall ValueAccommodationsMarine Life FoodArrived in St. Maarten a few days ahead of joining Explorer Ventures’ liveaboard Caribbean Explorer II to check out the diving in St. Maarten itself. Though you boarded the ship in St. Maarten, you did not dive St. Maarten. I chose to try out Octopus Diving because they were on the opposite side of the island from the cruise ship traffic and had fast boats that serviced both sides of the island. By Florida standards, the pricing may have seemed a little high, but when you considered that they provided everything we needed except camera gear, it was well worth the convenience of not having to unpack our gear packed for the liveaboard. The two-man crew loaded and unloaded our rental gear, and we just got to walk away. I also got an excellent tour of the island, and the boats were new. The directions from the guides were very concise and clear. We did two dives each on two days, and both dive boats served us well. There were only four guests total, and I think they only take a maximum of six. You did have to walk out to the boat in about chest-deep water, but we were going to be getting wet anyway! The visibility was not good, nor was the reef, and the surge was rough to deal with for photography, but it was another spot to pin on the world map, and I did get to shoot a pair of nudibranchs. There were huge barrel sponges, feather dusters, and a number of crinoids.
bevcollins
Overall Value
AccommodationsMarine Life FoodI booked one of Explorer Ventures' "Crazy Insane Specials," departing St. Maarten to Saba, with the final destination St. Kitts — 7 nights, 5 dives per day (4 daytime and 1 night) — for $999 per person. For that price, I have to give the overall value 5 stars. Though the room was small and didn’t have a desk, there was ample storage under the bed, and the attached private bathroom had a full shower and a home-style toilet. The dive deck had a large camera station with an air hose for drying housings, plenty of towels, 2 large dedicated rinse buckets, a toilet, and a hot shower. The crew of 6 plus the captain were energetic, happy, and attentive. After night dives with octopus and nurse sharks, you were wrapped in a warm towel and handed hot cocoa or a mixed hot drink before retiring to your made-up bed with chocolates on the pillow. Though we saw reef sharks, nurse sharks, large rays, and turtles, we didn’t see any eagle rays or mantas, so I gave the diving 4 stars. I did manage to get a picture of my first bumblebee shrimp, thanks to guidance from the divemasters. The food was fresh, varied, and well prepared but didn’t offer any fish, so I gave that 4 stars. The crew were also very careful with camera gear.
