Thumbs Up for the Nautilus Explorer, Thumbs Down for an Undercurrent Poseur

I just returned from a six-day trip aboard the Nautilus Explorer in British Columbia. Mike Lever and his crew did their usually terrific job — they set the bar pretty high. Mike said he had been written up in Undercurrent in August 2003 and received a pretty good review with the exception of appearing a little overprotective of divers. On balance, he said he was pleased with the review and ratings that the Nautilus had received.

Mike went on to say that he is in favor of such publications and that he had had two Undercurrent writers onboard last season. I asked Mike how he knew this, as I thought that the Undercurrent writing staff simply come aboard without out any fanfare. In fact, the last thing I thought they wanted to do was to indicate that they were from Undercurrent, so that they would not receive any “special” treatment.

Mike’s response was that that was the way he thought Undercurrent worked and later confirmed that he had “no idea that the real writer was onboard” before the review. He then went on to tell us about a lady who came onboard with copies of four travel report summaries that she had submitted and announced that she was a writer for Undercurrent and wanted him to be aware of it.

If it were my dive operation, I would have asked her to leave the boat and given her a full refund for the trip and her travel expenses. (I don’t like people with attitudes like that!) To his credit, Mike said he simply welcomed her onboard, said he hoped she would have a good trip, and then treated her like all the rest of his guests. Good for him! His operation is just too classy to worry about people like that.

With an attitude like that, some day this lady is going to find herself left behind at a dive site somewhere just to cool her heels a while. Doubtless, there are other subscribers who have pulled this stunt, but based on my travel experience I would guess that the numbers of such disagreeable people are small. We don’t need people like that taking away from Undercurrent’s credibility.

— Ken Robertson, Calgary

Editors Note: I agree with you that this lady was awfully heavy handed, perhaps even rude. Still, if an operator is not dealing squarely, perhaps a subscriber’s timely yet subtle mention of Undercurrent might be just the solution. Of course, Undercurrent writers on assignment for travel stories never announce themselves, pay their own way, and never use their connection with Undercurrent to alter the experience.

P.S.: The 116-foot Nautilus Explorer is headed to Mexico in September for six months of diving varied itineraries. It’s a great way to get the best of the Sea of Cortez and the Revillagigedo Islands. For more information, go to www.nautilusexplorer.com or call 604-657-7614. Cindi LaRaia at Dive Discovery Travel can put the whole trip together for you, 415-444- 5100 or www.divediscovery.com.