OK. Here it is. Sorry for the length. Just read what you want.

Travel

Arrived first in Houston (IAH) on the way to Belize City at about 10:40pm CDT
for an expected overnight stay, after enduring a horrific experience getting out
of EWR, it being the Fri. before Memorial Day and all the travel horror that entails.
Scheduled departure was 06:55pm EDT but we didn't leave the gate until about
7:25pm, and then the Capt. very casually advises that we are *26th* in line for
take off. Wheels up at about 8:40pm. They were nice enough to let us use our
cell phones until we got closer to take off.

Security seemed to be ratcheted up a bit than from previous visits at EWR. Maybe
it was the holiday weekend, or maybe the luck of the draw, but both my carry-ons
were hand searched by two different TSA guys. And in one case, the one guy found  
my UK HID 100 cannon light and started to play with it. I reached for the locking switch
when he snatched it out of my hands yelling at me "SIR!!" Noticing he was trying to
work the switch without unlocking it, I did something uncharacteristic - I replied in a
raised tone, "YOU'RE GOING TO BREAK IT - YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!"

He paused for a second or two and then very snottily snapped "TURN IT ON!"  While
he held the light, I unlocked it and turned it on for a few seconds, and then turned it
off. He then took it away for a secondary inspection elsewhere. This, of course, while
a different TSA agent searched my other carry on. No issues there. After a bit, Mr.
Snotty came back with my light. I asked "Everything oK?" He just smiled and put it back
in my  carry on.

I'll point out that both carry ons generated no such personal interest by any other TSA
agents or even the Belizean security agent (although he was upset with the number of
spare Alkaline batteries I was carrying ("You shouldn't be carrying so many batteries Mon!")  
But he let me go. One of the IAH X-ray scanners (when leaving to come home to EWR
yesterday) asked "What do you have in there?" And when I explained, he let it go as well.

Anyway, After I arrived in IAH and then to my hotel, it was about midnight. But that, and
a nasty traffic  accident, did not keep Grummy and I from hooking up for a short bit of
time and a quick meal.  Nice GPS by the way Grummy :-).  I got to sleep about 1:40am
only to wake up around 6:00am to get to the airport for the flight to Belize City.

Arrival in Belize

Hazy Hot, Humid, but only scattered clouds.  I was met by one of the instructors/DM's
from the SD II at the airport after clearing Belizean Customs (who did search one of
the checked bags and one of the carry ons). I expected that as I normally carry way to
much baggage for the std. profile of 1 traveler staying only 1 week. After the transport to
the Radisson Hotel at Noon, we were told we had to wait until about 3:30pm to board the
boat. But there it was, back to back with the Aggressor III.  I basically stayed at the
Radisson and use their Internet before getting to the boat at 3:30pm.  The captain let us on
a little earlier than 3:30.  

The SD II Experience

As it turns out, the boat was not full at all this trip, with only 13 of 20 possible guests.
One guest even lucked out by being a single in a twin bed room without a roommate.  
Needless to say, my "single supplement" was duly honored. I got room 2 in the front
of the boat with a double bed to myself.  No one had room #1 below the main deck).
The "host" (the one who checked my docs and certs and reg forms) was one of the
instructors a lovely lady from "Jamaica Mon!"  At dinner, the staff introduced themselves
and the first dinner was served.

The guests ranged the whole spectrum in talent and experience from one guy who had
(by the end of the cruise) 900 logged dives (and who got an award for that) to another
who started the cruise with only 27 and another (an OW with only 30 something dives)
but by the end reach 50, and got an award for that. But all were a great bunch and
(Sorry Greg), none were the "rowdy drunk" type at all. Surprisingly, several were from
New Jersey! Everyone pretty much went to bed after dinner or watched DVD's in their
own room. There was, in fact, a DVD player and flat screen monitor combo in each room.
Silly me, I didn't bring my DVD's thinking that they wouldn't have them and not bringing
my laptop because I was told I couldn't use it in the room.  The room steward re-enforced
this policy rather vigorously. No batteries can be charged in the room, or anything other
than electric razors or toothbrushes can be connected to the bathroom outlet. But what's
weird is that there's an outlet right above bed cabinets. Why bother having it if you can't
use it? Anyway, by the end of the cruise some would stay in the salon to watch movies
together, including myself once.

The cuisine was excellent for what it was designed to be. And the service impeccable. All
the crew (including the captain) took turns being "your server tonight" - Something I didn't
expect. I was able pretty much to find something to eat at every meal, even with my finicky
stomach. It was tough going through "Mexican" day but I managed. As Grummy will note,
there are two world cuisines with which I consistently have difficulty: 1) Mexican and 2) India.
They had no Indian dishes though (thankfully). Although for some reason, I think the chef was
trying to tell me I needed to lose weight - I seemed to get the smallest portions of anyone on
my plate. A couple of times I had to ask for seconds, but they graciously gave them. The room
was kept immaculate ("and Ah heeeped!"). At night the bed was turned down, and I have one
or two Hershey's Kisses waiting on the bed (depending on who did the turning and knew that
I was/wasn't by myself).  

The Diving Experience

We remained in port overnight on Sat. night (arrival night). The Aggressor III left at 5pm
for a night dive. We left port at 4:30am on Sunday morning to get to the 1st site on
Turneffe on time. I quickly learned that PH is definitely a PADI style operation. All dives are
recreational. Only AL80's were provided, although I have to say it was interesting diving with
one because I felt I had the absolute best buoyancy experience with it than with my steel
120's. I took the 1/8" steel BP/Wing and dove in a 3mm. Apparently, I was the only one
diving with a BP/Wing. None of the instructors did either. The only trim issue I seemed to have
was that my XXL Scubapro Jetfins where weighting my legs down much more than when I use
them with my drysuit. So I had to watch carefully where my fins were going, and sadly, got
called on it by some of the DM's. They're very protective of the reef.  No gloves were allowed.
You were advised to come up with no less than 500psi. And here we had our first issue. I had
been promised by Peter Hughes himself at BTS that it would be "no problem" to over fill the
AL80's if I needed more gas, especially on the Blue Hole. Uhhhh, not!!! Although the captain told
me it would be  no problem as well, the other DM's (who actually operated the fill stations) were
very reluctant to do it. And no, even though I had my own gas blender ticket, they would not allow
me to fill my own tanks. They acknowledged my blender status, but told me I wasn't "insured to
operate their particular station." Furthermore, I had asked the Captain if someone could make
some EaN28% for the Blue Hole, and he said, "Sure... just leave 1000psi of 32% in the tank and
we can top it off with air." Uhhhhh  Not!!! The instructor running the dive said everyone must dive
with air.  When I raised the issue of my computer going into "premature deco" as a result, the
response was, "Well if it does, we'll be creating stops for you that will clear it on it's own" without,
of course, having a clue as to how my computer operates or how conservative it is.  So I had to dive
the BH on 21.6%, but I set the computer for 28% to keep it from going into Deco. And it didn't.  What
it *did* do was give me the "1.4 PO2" warning when I went below 132fsw on the BH. I made 133fsw.

Generally, the diving itself was pretty much the same each time, although on some deep sites
(87-88fsw), I came dangerously low on gas with the AL80, coming back with under 500psi twice.
When I bitched to the instructors about that, some had indicated there was no problem in boosting
my tank to 3200psi. The problem is, their fill station couldn't handle that while they were filling the
other tanks. For the record, they use a membrane system for filling Nitrox 32%, no Haskel. But one
instructor got really snitty with me about this, saying "We can't be overfilling these tanks for you all
the time. They'll be weakened over time" not realizing that I was also a VIP inspector and eddy
current technician, knowing full well the test pressure of the standard Luxfer AL80, and knowing
I was nowhere near asking for that. I then replied, "OK, but if I get low on gas again I'm coming
back to the boat on my own!"  At which point, this instructor paused for a few seconds, and then
very grudgingly put the whip back on.  Sadly, the banks were depleted and didn't fill much beyond
the 1st filling. So I had to deal with that. But what was even more shocking/scary was that this DM's
attitude in the water. Every dive had one of the DM's with us (even the captain acted as a DM for a
few dives), even though they didn't actually "lead" it. But at least all the DM's would check and see
where everyone was and make sure the group didn't stray too far, and would, of course, act as a
buddy for those without one (more on my buddy later). Not this DM (the one who bitched about
boosting the tank). She took off in one direction and didn't look back. Never checked to see where
we were, even though we told her we'd be following her and she said OK. My buddy and I decided
to go back to the boat early. On the next dive, one of the boat deck hands pulled me aside and told
me he would boost me shortly before the next dive. When I came out for it, he was nowhere to be
found, but the other DM who bitched was sitting there (even though it wasn't her dive). I was
concerned because the captain was leading this dive and he likes to stay down long. So my buddy
and I decided we'd go on our own and come back early again if need be.

Of course, the tank was not boosted. And sure enough, we had to come back early. At that point,
I was done. I turned in my weights to the "bad" DM and said, "I'm done." She couldn't understand
why.... Both the Captain and the hostess/instructor seemed very concerned that I quit diving and
tried to convince me to continue. But, very politely, I declined. Yeah, I know, I most likely could
have continued. But I was trying to "own the issue." I wanted them to have large tanks for those
who wanted them.  As it turns out, I only missed one dive I could have gone on as the other dives
were called due to Alma, and the boat turning back to port.

Dive Stats

Logged 14 of 26 total dives (the morning dive after the Blue Hole was substituted with a nature
sanctuary tour).  Three of the 26 were called due to Alma. Deepest dive was Blue Hole at 133fsw.
Most lasted anywhere from 30-58 minutes. When my tank was boosted (and I wasn't working with
the camera) I was able to get 58 min. at 3200+ psi. I did collect some RMV data to compute my
RMV at 60fsw. So I am tracking it. But the captain said I had even improved a bit later in the week.
I hated to have to tell him it was because they boosted me on those dives.  Saw a lot of different
fish. No Sharks unfortunately, not even in the Blue Hole. Some Eagle Rays though. A lot of Tarpon.
Big ones that kept near the boat.
   
The Storm - and After effects.

On Thurs. Morning, we were abruptly awoken at 1:30am by the sound of the engines.
At breakfast, we were told why.

The boat had moved from Lighthouse reef back to Turneffe, about 1hr away from port.
The captain explained that there was a TD1E tropical depression report, perhaps
originating somewhere in the Pacific, but close enough to  be of concern (to him
anyway). We got 4 dives in that day, but by dinner time, the depression had been upgraded
to a "tropical storm," and the captain decided to head back to port. He claimed it was due
to the Small craft advisory, but the SD II is not a small craft (ie. less than 50 ft.). A lot of
the guests were pissed off by that. But the general consensus was that the captain had
made that decision much earlier in the day and was not going to back down from it. I
thought perhaps that he was not the only decision maker.... That he was taking orders
from above. Who knows. At any rate, we were back in port on Thurs. evening. By Friday,
the storm was downgraded to a depression and broken up over the land to the southwest.
But there was still clouds and a lot of rain off and on during the day. PH, in lieu of the last
two dives, offered a free land tour of either some old ruin city, or the Belize Zoo. Me, my dive
buddy and the other couple which made our diving (and table) foursome went to the Zoo.

It *wasn't* the best experience for me... Something there (either the heat, or an odor or
combination of both) caused one of my nastiest migraines to date. I got back to the boat and
had to spend the rest of the evening sleeping it off. I even missed the barbecue dinner on
deck. Everyone was worried that I had missed the dinner but I had to take care of this my way.

Departure.

On Sat. (1 week later), it was still overcast and raining off and on, but off the boat we went
precisely at 8am.  We were taken to the Radisson while are bags were being collected and
taken off the boat under a tarp. They had a transport take us to the airport well on time. As
it turns out, one of our group was staying on the boat for the next two weeks, but he had to
get off while the boat was prepped for the next group. Apparently, he's a Frequent flyer with
PH. Anyway, our flights left on time from Belize City.

My Impression of Peter Hughes

For what they're designed to do, I honestly think they did a fantastic job. I guess  what I'm
thinking is that I need a slightly different design - Something slightly less "PADIish".  Of
course, later on, one of our group with whom I was having dinner at IAH with before
my flight home reminded me about the boat PH lost. So I think their conservatism is well
understood if not condoned. It was said by several guests, "For a given situation, Peter
Hughes will give you 1000 different reasons why it can't be done... The Aggressor Fleet
usually finds a way to make it happen."  I think my experience was self-evident of that.
But the staff, with that one exception, was absolutely great. Will I use them again?  I think
I'd want to explore a few other options before I'd pick them. If they were the only game in
town in a town where I'd want to travel, then I'd probably use them. But they'd have to be
a last resort.

My Impression of Liveaboards (in general).

Sorry Greg/George.  The jury is still out.  This was one experience and it would be unfair
to make that summary decision on one experience alone. I didn't hate it, let's put it that
way. But like I said, I might want a slightly different design next time. I think it will depend
mostly on where I'm going and if the liveaboard facilities are *better* than the local ones.
I think I'd much prefer to have the freedom to go "out on the town" at night when diving is
done. A lot also  depends on the group of guests you get. I seemed to luck out a very good
group. There were some "traffic jam" issues with a few divers at the sites. But other than
that, no major issues. Some tried to hog the camera tables but I got some good space. No
issues with safety, security or my possessions. I never worried about leaving my camera
out on deck. After all. some had more expensive rigs than I. I hope I get this good a group
for my next liveaboard adventure. Don't know when that will be, but I thinking more  along
the lines of the "Truk Odyssey" for the next liveaboard. By then, I hope to have some
additional training/experience with Al's help so that I can do those kind of dives.

Well, that's it. Fire away if you have any questions. I'll get the website updated in another
week or two.
____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold