DeputyDan
Contributor
Also posted in the Bahamas section.
The great COVID pandemic escape of 2020.
In the year of our Lord 2066, Grandma Nicole gathered her eight grandchildren about her for story time. One of their favorites was her tale of the great escape from the Deceiver in Chief’s make America Great again America to the Bahamas during the great pandemic of 2020.
So where does our story begin. Things are a little fuzzy, but as she remembers it, she (age 16), her sister Courtney (age 22) and their Uncle Grrr (older than dirt) joined GypsyJim and his significant other to escape the world of “you can’t fix stupid” and head out to the Bahamas on the Juliet liveaboard. This event occurred in July 2020.
Things were dicey in the beginning due to a concern of being in a flying tube during the pandemic, so they opted to drive through several infection zones to reach the ultimate COVID-19 hotspot of Miami, Florida. Part of the trip was through Jacksonville, Florida. A location picked by the Deceiver in Chief to be much better than North Carolina where the stupid democratic governor insisted on the wearing of masks for the big bruhaha. However, by the time Nicole had reached Jacksonville, Florida the pandemic had spread to the point that the Deceiver in Chief had to close down the party there. The trip through Jacksonville went well. It appeared that all the Deceiver in Chief’s zombie followers were behind the concrete barricades and were only spreading the virus among themselves.
Upon reaching the Jupiter, Florida area the decision was made to hide under water for a few hours, so the intrepid trio met with Scuba Jenny and did two dives at the Blue Heron Bridge. The first dive was for about 2 hours 40 minutes and was on the east side of the bridge. The follow up dive was almost the same length of time but was on the west side. Nicole recounted to the grandchildren the many creatures that were hiding away there from the pandemic and the crazy land called Florida. There were 27 lobsters under one ledge, octopi, pipe fish and of course a very large manatee that shared the fact that there were a few sane humans in the area since Nicole and her group were hiding under water.
Nicole, Courtney, and Uncle Grrr managed to stay well hidden from the many zombies (as well as the infamous Florida man) carrying the infectious virus and were able to make it to the Juliet without incident. The Juliet is harbored in a marina in Miami, Florida. A nice surprise upon arrival was that parking was free for the entirety of the trip.
The liveaboard accommodates up to twelve divers and there was a crew of four. A total of eleven divers were able to make the grueling and treacherous trip to the COVID-19 hotspot and claim a berth on the boat. The escape out of port was late in the day on a Saturday. Nicole had many side tales to share regarding the crossing of the gulf stream and the great Kraken that lived there and how she had to save the day on more than one occasion. We will save those tales for another day.
Upon reaching our destination in the Bahamas, the captain made an excursion to shore to meet with the local authorities. What was said and what happened is known only to God, but we were able to stay even though our wallets were each $120 dollars lighter.
During the week (in Nicole’s tale it was eight months) the dive schedule was as follows, breakfast call at 7:00 am, dive briefing around 8:00 am first dive around 8:30 am – dive times limited by dive tables not the crew. Second dive around 10:30 am, a late lunch, off gas afternoon, third dive at around 4:00 pm and then a night dive after dinner. Almost everyone did all the night dives.
One of the guests found some unexploded ordinance at the SS Sapona. Everyone agreed that the “bomb” should be returned to the sea and was. Of course, in Nicole’s story to the grandkids the bomb started ticking and she had to take swift action to save the day.
During one of our dives while hanging on the anchor line during our safety stop a pod of 12-15 spotted dolphins stopped by to play for a while and congratulate us for being intelligent enough to escape COVID central. All in all, they hung out and played for around ten minutes.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, so at the end of the week (or eight months depending on who you ask) we had to return to COVID central. A quick settling of the invoices found Nicole spiriting us away and towards home.
All in all, an excellent trip that I would do again without hesitation.
The ideal for this approach is that during the week some of the divers would kid Nicole about the time she escaped the pandemic and went to the Bahamas and how the tales would grow as she shared them with her grandkids.
The great COVID pandemic escape of 2020.
In the year of our Lord 2066, Grandma Nicole gathered her eight grandchildren about her for story time. One of their favorites was her tale of the great escape from the Deceiver in Chief’s make America Great again America to the Bahamas during the great pandemic of 2020.
So where does our story begin. Things are a little fuzzy, but as she remembers it, she (age 16), her sister Courtney (age 22) and their Uncle Grrr (older than dirt) joined GypsyJim and his significant other to escape the world of “you can’t fix stupid” and head out to the Bahamas on the Juliet liveaboard. This event occurred in July 2020.
Things were dicey in the beginning due to a concern of being in a flying tube during the pandemic, so they opted to drive through several infection zones to reach the ultimate COVID-19 hotspot of Miami, Florida. Part of the trip was through Jacksonville, Florida. A location picked by the Deceiver in Chief to be much better than North Carolina where the stupid democratic governor insisted on the wearing of masks for the big bruhaha. However, by the time Nicole had reached Jacksonville, Florida the pandemic had spread to the point that the Deceiver in Chief had to close down the party there. The trip through Jacksonville went well. It appeared that all the Deceiver in Chief’s zombie followers were behind the concrete barricades and were only spreading the virus among themselves.
Upon reaching the Jupiter, Florida area the decision was made to hide under water for a few hours, so the intrepid trio met with Scuba Jenny and did two dives at the Blue Heron Bridge. The first dive was for about 2 hours 40 minutes and was on the east side of the bridge. The follow up dive was almost the same length of time but was on the west side. Nicole recounted to the grandchildren the many creatures that were hiding away there from the pandemic and the crazy land called Florida. There were 27 lobsters under one ledge, octopi, pipe fish and of course a very large manatee that shared the fact that there were a few sane humans in the area since Nicole and her group were hiding under water.
Nicole, Courtney, and Uncle Grrr managed to stay well hidden from the many zombies (as well as the infamous Florida man) carrying the infectious virus and were able to make it to the Juliet without incident. The Juliet is harbored in a marina in Miami, Florida. A nice surprise upon arrival was that parking was free for the entirety of the trip.
The liveaboard accommodates up to twelve divers and there was a crew of four. A total of eleven divers were able to make the grueling and treacherous trip to the COVID-19 hotspot and claim a berth on the boat. The escape out of port was late in the day on a Saturday. Nicole had many side tales to share regarding the crossing of the gulf stream and the great Kraken that lived there and how she had to save the day on more than one occasion. We will save those tales for another day.
Upon reaching our destination in the Bahamas, the captain made an excursion to shore to meet with the local authorities. What was said and what happened is known only to God, but we were able to stay even though our wallets were each $120 dollars lighter.
During the week (in Nicole’s tale it was eight months) the dive schedule was as follows, breakfast call at 7:00 am, dive briefing around 8:00 am first dive around 8:30 am – dive times limited by dive tables not the crew. Second dive around 10:30 am, a late lunch, off gas afternoon, third dive at around 4:00 pm and then a night dive after dinner. Almost everyone did all the night dives.
One of the guests found some unexploded ordinance at the SS Sapona. Everyone agreed that the “bomb” should be returned to the sea and was. Of course, in Nicole’s story to the grandkids the bomb started ticking and she had to take swift action to save the day.
During one of our dives while hanging on the anchor line during our safety stop a pod of 12-15 spotted dolphins stopped by to play for a while and congratulate us for being intelligent enough to escape COVID central. All in all, they hung out and played for around ten minutes.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, so at the end of the week (or eight months depending on who you ask) we had to return to COVID central. A quick settling of the invoices found Nicole spiriting us away and towards home.
All in all, an excellent trip that I would do again without hesitation.
The ideal for this approach is that during the week some of the divers would kid Nicole about the time she escaped the pandemic and went to the Bahamas and how the tales would grow as she shared them with her grandkids.
