Is it possible to travel responsibly (during a pandemic)?

[DavidGuo]

Free diving with Orca (wearing drysuit of course).

Used to dive in Iceland in drysuit, not very good experience, wearing process took relatively long time and felt tired. Is 7mm wetsuit good for Norway Orca snorkeling? Just checked price, $6000+ for 6 days, seems pricy for a near shore cruise and snorkeling.

 

[DanBMW]

The big problem is if you leave the US and coming back test positive. Plan on weeks of disruption, additional expense, isolation and new travel arrangements. From Florida, we went to Cozumel 4 weeks ago and got back just before the widespread new variant. I will not go again until it seems safer

 

[greeniguana]

The big problem is if you leave the US and coming back test positive. Plan on weeks of disruption, additional expense, isolation and new travel arrangements. From Florida, we went to Cozumel 4 weeks ago and got back just before the widespread new variant. I will not go again until it seems safer

Its laughable that I am required to test negative before I'm allowed to return to my home state of FL. Which has a two week infection increase rate of more than 800%.

 

[Dan]

Used to dive in Iceland in drysuit, not very good experience, wearing process took relatively long time and felt tired. Is 7mm wetsuit good for Norway Orca snorkeling? Just checked price, $6000+ for 6 days, seems pricy for a near shore cruise and snorkeling.

Didn’t make it to Norway, as it was still closed for US residents at the time. Sorry, can’t answer your question.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

There have been so many threads and deleted posts about covid and travel that I thought I would start a thread devoted to safe(er) travel. And yes, I have a Florida trip and 2 Liveaboards planned so far for this year.

If you’re sick…don’t travel…if your fine, do whatever you want.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

I will not go again until it seems safer

"Seems." That is a tricky word.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Accidentally posted twice; editing the second one.

 

[rongoodman]

If you’re sick…don’t travel…if your fine, do whatever you want.

There's more to it than that, though. Getting back home, for example. I ate the cost of a trip to Socorro in early January because the chance of getting stuck there was simply not acceptable to me. Even a mild or asymptomatic case would have been enough to keep me off my flight home. When I went to Roatan in July the situation was different. Omicron had not yet appeared and vaccination was effective against the strains prevalent at the time.

 

[peeweediver]

Just retuned from Galapagos. We realize the stress of all of the testing did take a toll. We did not relax as much as usual on a dive vacation. It's not just the fear of a positive, but the wait for results. We needed two RT-PCR tests to get there because we spent 4 days in Quito, so, one in the US and one in Quito. To get the results within the 72 hour window for this type of test wasn't cheep. I do find it a bit silly that we had to take a test to come home where our chances of getting covid are so much higher in Illinois than in Ecuador or the Galapagos. Every single person we saw in Quito and the Galapagos wore a mask both indoors and outdoors (it's their law), except what looked like tourists. The vax rate in Ecuador and especially the Galapagos is quite high. So, we felt safer there than here. Luckily, all 16 in our group made it there and back as scheduled. However, spouse and I plan to stay in the US until at least December in hopes of not having to go through the "test-anxiety" again. I understand and respect every persons decision based on their own risk tolerance and personal situation (work, flexible schedule, etc.). I hope we all get to do what we love as far as diving sooner rather than later.

Rob

 

[scubaozy]

Just retuned from Galapagos. We realize the stress of all of the testing did take a toll. We did not relax as much as usual on a dive vacation. It's not just the fear of a positive, but the wait for results. We needed two RT-PCR tests to get there because we spent 4 days in Quito, so, one in the US and one in Quito. To get the results within the 72 hour window for this type of test wasn't cheep. I do find it a bit silly that we had to take a test to come home where our chances of getting covid are so much higher in Illinois than in Ecuador or the Galapagos. Every single person we saw in Quito and the Galapagos wore a mask both indoors and outdoors (it's their law), except what looked like tourists. The vax rate in Ecuador and especially the Galapagos is quite high. So, we felt safer there than here. Luckily, all 16 in our group made it there and back as scheduled. However, spouse and I plan to stay in the US until at least December in hopes of not having to go through the "test-anxiety" again. I understand and respect every persons decision based on their own risk tolerance and personal situation (work, flexible schedule, etc.). I hope we all get to do what we love as far as diving sooner rather than later.

Rob

I am this moment looking at a travel offer to Galapagos and trying to decide. I was hoping to get there with only 1 pcr test but all this looks so tight time wise that I am nearly going to decide against it. I will basically have to test 24h prior departure in Germany and fly to Quito via stopover in Spain, overnight in Quito and fly to Baltra. I do not worry that much about returning, afaik I do not have to do tests for returning to Europe with full vaccination. But getting stuck there on the way and missing the Liveaboard departure would be really a show stopper for me.