Another COVID on Liveaboard Story: Hope for the Best and be Prepared for the Worst

Have you been unlucky enough to be on a liveaboard that had its trip curtailed because there was an outbreak of COVID on board? Did you then have to endure an unscheduled quarantine that extended your trip and its cost? We'd like to hear about it.

We continue to hear tales of woe from passengers who have had unscheduled extended vacations in quarantine, thanks to outbreaks of COVID on their liveaboard trip. The latest comes from the Aqua Cat.

Bruce Purdy, the owner of four liveaboards operating in the Bahamas (as well as MV Cuan Law in the BVI), tells us that they recently had a COVID infection on MV Aqua Cat. That's despite the Bahamas now requiring PCR test for all within 72 hours before arrival and all of the crew being fully vaccinated. They tested all of their crew before each departure, but the coronavirus got through, and a passenger got ill and tested positive midway through the trip. They canceled the last two days of the charter and found a B&B at Small Hope Bay on Andros Island for the passengers to sit out their 10-day quarantine. The following cruise was canceled as crew members got infected.

Bruce tells us that after a potential visitor gets a PCR test, he must get a Bahamas health visa, which includes health insurance coverage up to $500 per day for accommodations, food, and medicine. You must have had a positive PCR test to be reimbursed for additional expenses.

Bruce mentioned that several other passengers had failed 72-hour PCR tests before previous trips on his boats and were rebooked for future trips at no extra cost.

Of course, after a stateside PCR test, one can get infected during the journey, and preboarding tests are not 100 percent accurate so that someone can show COVID symptoms anytime during the first few days of a dive trip. One can only hope that person will be honest as soon as they feel they are "coming down with something," rather than brush it off as a touch of flu or a hangover.

Obviously, to get infected, you must typically be in close range of someone who's already got it, so some vessels mandate masks whenever a passenger is not eating or drinking. Some have other rules to keep passengers distant from one another, like no buffets. While no vessel operator can guarantee an infection-free journey, some provide more protection than others.

So, do your homework before booking. And if you go, remember no matter how well vaccinated you are, you are still susceptible to the coronavirus, especially the omicron variant. Only you can assess the risk you're willing to take. And, should you get infected, be prepared for the cost in time and money required for your involuntary quarantine.

To put things in perspective (if you think a liveaboard is a safe venue), a Belgian scientific research station in Antarctica, with fully vaccinated workers, had to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak in December, after fully tested scientists arrived from Cape Town.

You can run, but you cannot hide. Tell me about your COVID experience:
BenDDavison@undercurrent.org