Aggressor Adventures has marked its 42nd year in business, tracing its origins back to the launch of the original MV Cayman Aggressor in 1984, at a time when purpose-built scuba diving liveaboards were still a rarity.
The company was founded by Paul Haines, whose early career as a captain working among Louisiana’s oil rigs helped shape the operational principles that would later define Aggressor’s fleet, particularly its emphasis on safety, reliability and maximising time at sea.
Haines’ idea to convert an oilfield crew vessel into a luxury dive liveaboard was unconventional in the early 1980s, but it proved influential in establishing a model that would later be widely adopted across the liveaboard diving sector.
The first Cayman Aggressor set sail during Thanksgiving week in 1984, offering divers extended access to remote sites at a time when most dive travel was still shore-based or limited to short day trips. That approach helped set new expectations for what a dive holiday could offer.
Over the following four decades, Aggressor Adventures expanded well beyond its Caribbean roots, operating vessels and adventure travel experiences in destinations worldwide, including remote islands, coral reefs, rivers and wildlife-rich regions.
Today, Aggressor Adventures remains one of the longest-running operators in the liveaboard diving industry, with its original operating philosophy continuing to underpin fleet development and destination expansion.
