Whewee, we are in a hotel in Arizona, fresh off the Rocio Del Mar.... it was a memorable trip, to be sure, and will likely go down in infamy for all on board. Skip down a bit if you just want to hear about the boat.
The trip starts in the port of Puerto Penasco, where we got to enjoy the flat waters of the harbor for the first three days after boarding. Despite NOAA reports clearly stating "gentle winds" and "3 foot waves" the harbor master would not let any boats leave the harbor, claiming that the seas were treacherous.
Boarded Saturday, Monday mid-day, we finally got the word: we are freed from our **** filled prison. (Quite literal since this harbor has no wastewater facilities, and all the boats just dump their refuse in the harbor. That's an important tidbit for later...)
Colonel Bob, the leader of the crew, moved mountains to cram 16 dives into 3 days plus the last morning. It was a blistering fast pace, and not for the faint of heart. As it would turn out, we were faint of heart by the end of the trip, but not from the dives....
Monday, we sat in the TV room playing scrabble. I started feeling what can only be described as icky, and a sense of dread set in. I woke up Tuesday morning and tested for Covid-19. My 3rd test in 4 days. (Rocio requires one.) All negative. We dive off Angel de la Guardia. We had skipped the first, colder dives to make good time sailing. Nudis literally rained on us at one point. Lots of fun macro life. That evening, at dinner, I realized my right ear was completely blocked.
Wednesday, I had body aches, and my ear would not budge. I began to isolate for all dinners and anything not outdoors, just to be cautious. I did snorkel above the divers on 3 dives on Wed and Thursday, playing with Sea Lions. That was absolutely magical. But I was still heartbroken. I've only missed one dive in all of our travels. One. And that was when it turns out I had typhoid. Wednesday night I ran a low-grade fever.
Thursday morning, our friends who asked us on this trip got a call that her uncle had died from Covid.
I finally got a tiny bit of movement in my ear Thursday afternoon, and was able to do the last two dives of the day. I was still isolating, eating alone, avoiding anyone indoors. Thursday afternoon, the same friends had been couging a bit and decided to test for Covid. They were positive. They were quarantined in their room.
By Friday afternoon, two more had tested positive. Colonel Bob decided to test us one by one to decide what to do for transport back to Arizona. 7/14 were positive.
Two of the Arizona guys decided to forego the tests to leave the last two on the boat to Bob, and they were just going to be "presumptive positive." I was positive. My husband was negative. Same with another couple from our group of six. Friday night, after testing, my husband spiked a fever. Now the other husband has one, so I'd say our boat was likely 70% + positivity rate.
It was a nightmare of an emotional roller coaster, but could have been worse. I keep questioning whether I was patient zero, but no one can really know. I have a tendency to always be the first person who shows symptoms if I'm in a group that get's sick. (Salmonella outbreak for example.) The one thing I'm truly grateful for is that the crew stayed healthy, and I am absolutely praying it stays like that. For us, this was vacation. For them, it is their livelihood. And I'm fairly confident that the crew does not get paid if they are quarantined.
THE BOAT/CREW/ETC: The boat was interesting. It did not feel very clean. The "finishes" they used in the rooms and such were not made for a boat, so the flooring had separated and had rust or mold coming up through it. The water coming out of the shower smelled like rust. There is no macerator on board, so no flushing TP. Boat and the initial dive procedure briefing were held in the 10x15 room. (About an hour long each) The galley was below deck, in the bow, so no airflow, so both were definitely high-exposure areas.
Food was absolutely amazing. We are vegetarian, and they really went out of their way to accomodate us, a vegan couple, and another vegetarian, with very balanced, delicious meals. The food went downhill a bit when one person specifically requested to be served steamed cauliflower and brocolli, instead of their incredible grilled zuchinni, tomatoes, etc, and they gave the steamed stuff to all of us, but we completely understood that they can't be expected to make tons of different meals. When they were left to work their magic, it was truly incredible.
One big disappointment with the liveaboard is their disregard for the ocean. Lots of stuff is going into their wastewater that is then being dumped directly into the ocean, since their port does not have greywater facilities. This included, but most certainly isn't limited to: fabric softener in the rinse bin for the wetsuits, which is dumped daily, off-brand toilet-bowl cleaner, shampoos, conditioners, mask rinse. Cost saving is clearly prioritized over preserving the ecosystem that their business is built off of, which is incredibly short-sighted, in my opinion.
The diving is extremely sporty, with ripping currents on many dives. No reef to speak of. Basically muck dives. The Sea Lions are incredible. The macro life is fairly rich, but not even as rich as the Blue Heron Bridge. (Maybe we are spoiled?)
All in all, it could have been worse, but this was definitely our worst dive trip. I don't know that I want to do a liveaboard again during covid times. I'm already sick over booking Amira next November instead of the incredible looking Coralia, since the Amira seems to be a similar "okay to lay your head down, but if you can't dive, you're going to be miserable" type of experience. The Coralia has a big suite with an amazing outdoor balcony. Anyways, just some musing. Hopefully someone can make us feel better about that one.
I'd love to see a debate on the effectiveness of quarantining covid guests on a liveaboard. It seemed with this trip, that by the time a guest tests positive, it is too late. Symptoms are fairly useless with diving, considering symptoms are extremely common with multi-dive days. Which makes full quarantining in the room fairly useless. I might create a separate post about this.
Anyways, we are now quaranting at the Arizona Biltmore, which is a truly spectacular place to be.
The trip starts in the port of Puerto Penasco, where we got to enjoy the flat waters of the harbor for the first three days after boarding. Despite NOAA reports clearly stating "gentle winds" and "3 foot waves" the harbor master would not let any boats leave the harbor, claiming that the seas were treacherous.
Boarded Saturday, Monday mid-day, we finally got the word: we are freed from our **** filled prison. (Quite literal since this harbor has no wastewater facilities, and all the boats just dump their refuse in the harbor. That's an important tidbit for later...)
Colonel Bob, the leader of the crew, moved mountains to cram 16 dives into 3 days plus the last morning. It was a blistering fast pace, and not for the faint of heart. As it would turn out, we were faint of heart by the end of the trip, but not from the dives....
Monday, we sat in the TV room playing scrabble. I started feeling what can only be described as icky, and a sense of dread set in. I woke up Tuesday morning and tested for Covid-19. My 3rd test in 4 days. (Rocio requires one.) All negative. We dive off Angel de la Guardia. We had skipped the first, colder dives to make good time sailing. Nudis literally rained on us at one point. Lots of fun macro life. That evening, at dinner, I realized my right ear was completely blocked.
Wednesday, I had body aches, and my ear would not budge. I began to isolate for all dinners and anything not outdoors, just to be cautious. I did snorkel above the divers on 3 dives on Wed and Thursday, playing with Sea Lions. That was absolutely magical. But I was still heartbroken. I've only missed one dive in all of our travels. One. And that was when it turns out I had typhoid. Wednesday night I ran a low-grade fever.
Thursday morning, our friends who asked us on this trip got a call that her uncle had died from Covid.
I finally got a tiny bit of movement in my ear Thursday afternoon, and was able to do the last two dives of the day. I was still isolating, eating alone, avoiding anyone indoors. Thursday afternoon, the same friends had been couging a bit and decided to test for Covid. They were positive. They were quarantined in their room.
By Friday afternoon, two more had tested positive. Colonel Bob decided to test us one by one to decide what to do for transport back to Arizona. 7/14 were positive.
Two of the Arizona guys decided to forego the tests to leave the last two on the boat to Bob, and they were just going to be "presumptive positive." I was positive. My husband was negative. Same with another couple from our group of six. Friday night, after testing, my husband spiked a fever. Now the other husband has one, so I'd say our boat was likely 70% + positivity rate.
It was a nightmare of an emotional roller coaster, but could have been worse. I keep questioning whether I was patient zero, but no one can really know. I have a tendency to always be the first person who shows symptoms if I'm in a group that get's sick. (Salmonella outbreak for example.) The one thing I'm truly grateful for is that the crew stayed healthy, and I am absolutely praying it stays like that. For us, this was vacation. For them, it is their livelihood. And I'm fairly confident that the crew does not get paid if they are quarantined.
THE BOAT/CREW/ETC: The boat was interesting. It did not feel very clean. The "finishes" they used in the rooms and such were not made for a boat, so the flooring had separated and had rust or mold coming up through it. The water coming out of the shower smelled like rust. There is no macerator on board, so no flushing TP. Boat and the initial dive procedure briefing were held in the 10x15 room. (About an hour long each) The galley was below deck, in the bow, so no airflow, so both were definitely high-exposure areas.
Food was absolutely amazing. We are vegetarian, and they really went out of their way to accomodate us, a vegan couple, and another vegetarian, with very balanced, delicious meals. The food went downhill a bit when one person specifically requested to be served steamed cauliflower and brocolli, instead of their incredible grilled zuchinni, tomatoes, etc, and they gave the steamed stuff to all of us, but we completely understood that they can't be expected to make tons of different meals. When they were left to work their magic, it was truly incredible.
One big disappointment with the liveaboard is their disregard for the ocean. Lots of stuff is going into their wastewater that is then being dumped directly into the ocean, since their port does not have greywater facilities. This included, but most certainly isn't limited to: fabric softener in the rinse bin for the wetsuits, which is dumped daily, off-brand toilet-bowl cleaner, shampoos, conditioners, mask rinse. Cost saving is clearly prioritized over preserving the ecosystem that their business is built off of, which is incredibly short-sighted, in my opinion.
The diving is extremely sporty, with ripping currents on many dives. No reef to speak of. Basically muck dives. The Sea Lions are incredible. The macro life is fairly rich, but not even as rich as the Blue Heron Bridge. (Maybe we are spoiled?)
All in all, it could have been worse, but this was definitely our worst dive trip. I don't know that I want to do a liveaboard again during covid times. I'm already sick over booking Amira next November instead of the incredible looking Coralia, since the Amira seems to be a similar "okay to lay your head down, but if you can't dive, you're going to be miserable" type of experience. The Coralia has a big suite with an amazing outdoor balcony. Anyways, just some musing. Hopefully someone can make us feel better about that one.
I'd love to see a debate on the effectiveness of quarantining covid guests on a liveaboard. It seemed with this trip, that by the time a guest tests positive, it is too late. Symptoms are fairly useless with diving, considering symptoms are extremely common with multi-dive days. Which makes full quarantining in the room fairly useless. I might create a separate post about this.
Anyways, we are now quaranting at the Arizona Biltmore, which is a truly spectacular place to be.
