First Liveaboard experience in a post-COVID world

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Rj1052

Registered
Messages
6
Reaction score
18
Location
Seguin, TX
# of dives
200 - 499
Hello all!

We recently returned from a trip on the Belle Amie from the Nautilus Liveaboard fleet. We went July 8-16 and were scheduled for Socorro, but due to Mexico (and the Navy) not opening Marine parks, we ended up exploring the Sea of Cortez. This trip was probably one of the first Liveaboard trips since the pandemic hit and I wanted to share the experience.

For the week leading up to the trip, we were required to record our temperature twice per day and were given a short exam by a medical professional upon arrival at the dive center. The staff was very good about keeping PPE on at all times and maintaining distance.

Once on board, it was apparent how different this trip would be. They installed touch less hand sanitizer dispensers everywhere. Staff stayed masked at ALL times. I applaud them for remembering to be masked from the second they exited the water until the guests were asleep. They were also constantly wiping down surfaces or power washing the decks.

Gone are the days of mask buckets, buffets, and getting your own ice. A touch less water dispenser was available to refill your water bottle, but all other drinks were handled by the staff. We were given the option to not have our room cleaned (it was fogged with disinfectant and sealed upon our arrival) if we didn’t want anyone in there, but it was our choice.

As far as masks went, we were asked to wear them anywhere distancing was not possible. So basically anywhere inside. The trip wasn’t full, so even with everyone seated for meals, there was still room between families/individuals and we would remove masks once seated.

We figured out the easiest thing to do was keep a buff around your neck that way we could stay masked even on the skiff, up until it was time to back roll.

In all, diving certainly will be different for some time, but it’s so worth it to be able to get back in the water. Nautilus did an amazing job of making us feel comfortable no matter your views! I commend them on their new policies and procedures and urge you to give them a chance if you can! I live in a hotspot and felt better being “quarantined” on a boat in the Sea of Cortez than I do going to the grocery store in my home town.

Here is a link to the video they did of our trip:

Stay safe and blow bubbles!
 
A little weird that you were all isolated from the rest of the world for a week, living on the boat, and yet they felt the need to constantly sanitize everything. Seems to defy logic... if no one on the boat is infected, it's hard to imagine how anyone on the boat would spread the virus to anyone else.

It would be different if there were random people coming and going each day, but you were essentially on your own artificial island. Seems like the perfect opportunity to dispense with the hysteria and just enjoy some normalcy.
 
A little weird that you were all isolated from the rest of the world for a week, living on the boat, and yet they felt the need to constantly sanitize everything. Seems to defy logic... if no one on the boat is infected, it's hard to imagine how anyone on the boat would spread the virus to anyone else.

It would be different if there were random people coming and going each day, but you were essentially on your own artificial island. Seems like the perfect opportunity to dispense with the hysteria and just enjoy some normalcy.
Someone could be infected but asymptomatic. It is better to be safe than sorry.
 
Thanks for the post. I'm booked for Socorro on the Nautilus Explorer this January.
 
Hello all!

We recently returned from a trip on the Belle Amie from the Nautilus Liveaboard fleet. We went July 8-16 and were scheduled for Socorro, but due to Mexico (and the Navy) not opening Marine parks, we ended up exploring the Sea of Cortez. This trip was probably one of the first Liveaboard trips since the pandemic hit and I wanted to share the experience.

For the week leading up to the trip, we were required to record our temperature twice per day and were given a short exam by a medical professional upon arrival at the dive center. The staff was very good about keeping PPE on at all times and maintaining distance.

Once on board, it was apparent how different this trip would be. They installed touch less hand sanitizer dispensers everywhere. Staff stayed masked at ALL times. I applaud them for remembering to be masked from the second they exited the water until the guests were asleep. They were also constantly wiping down surfaces or power washing the decks.

Gone are the days of mask buckets, buffets, and getting your own ice. A touch less water dispenser was available to refill your water bottle, but all other drinks were handled by the staff. We were given the option to not have our room cleaned (it was fogged with disinfectant and sealed upon our arrival) if we didn’t want anyone in there, but it was our choice.

As far as masks went, we were asked to wear them anywhere distancing was not possible. So basically anywhere inside. The trip wasn’t full, so even with everyone seated for meals, there was still room between families/individuals and we would remove masks once seated.

We figured out the easiest thing to do was keep a buff around your neck that way we could stay masked even on the skiff, up until it was time to back roll.

In all, diving certainly will be different for some time, but it’s so worth it to be able to get back in the water. Nautilus did an amazing job of making us feel comfortable no matter your views! I commend them on their new policies and procedures and urge you to give them a chance if you can! I live in a hotspot and felt better being “quarantined” on a boat in the Sea of Cortez than I do going to the grocery store in my home town.

Here is a link to the video they did of our trip:

Stay safe and blow bubbles!
Thanks for sharing and just what I would expect from Nautilus- taking it to the next level, setting the trend for the future and inspiring confidence for those with concerns. Looking forward to my Socorro's trip with them that got pushed back to 2023.
 
This OP being a first lifetime post,
I did watch the video “they did of our trip”,
an interesting editing of clips, high production values of scripted motion.
It created for me, more questions than anything else.

Stepping away from my literal disbelief

Travel and any physical association will return on a personal risk acceptance level.

Videos of masked employee/actors doing COVID Theater are to be expected as sales tools to assuage fears. If not, why show it?

Smearing around invisible fears with towels Is the new video meme. It really accomplishes very little. Point a thermometer at my head, do tell me, shipboard-not-a-Doctor, is it safe?

( if you SBers know me, you know I’m a bit of a Doubting Thomas)...Looked like a commercial post to me.

We all must set our own level of acceptable risk...just like diving. Then there’s “trust me dives”.

CA63B63D-5FDE-4F4C-993B-B457839A5375.jpeg
 
Someone could be infected but asymptomatic. It is better to be safe than sorry.

"Better safe than sorry" sounds reasonable. But I'm curious as to why the advocates of this philosophy aren't demanding laws that require people to wear helmets when driving cars, or even when walking down the street (or doing anything, for that matter.) After all, you just never know when something might hit you in the head.

I'm a fan of risk mitigation, but I prefer to quantify the risks and the effort required to mitigate them. "Better safe than sorry" seems to dispense with that.
 
This OP being a first lifetime post,
I did watch the video “they did of our trip”,
an interesting editing of clips, high production values of scripted motion.
It created for me, more questions than anything else.

Stepping away from my literal disbelief

Travel and any physical association will return on a personal risk acceptance level.

Videos of masked employee/actors doing COVID Theater are to be expected as sales tools to assuage fears. If not, why show it?

Smearing around invisible fears with towels Is the new video meme. It really accomplishes very little. Point a thermometer at my head, do tell me, shipboard-not-a-Doctor, is it safe?

( if you SBers know me, you know I’m a bit of a Doubting Thomas)...Looked like a commercial post to me.

We all must set our own level of acceptable risk...just like diving. Then there’s “trust me dives”.

View attachment 602186

Thank you Doc!
 
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