This will be a multi-entry trip report due to the size limitations for posting. Me and my dive buddy took this trip on the Nautilus Belle Amie for the 5-Day Getaway in the Sea of Cortez. This is my third trip with Nautilus. The two previous times were to Socorro on the Belle Amie and the Explorer. This was a replacement trip for my three-times-cancelled Guadalupe great white shark trip. Refunds were not given, only credit towards another trip. I would have preferred a refund because the mellow SOC is not the thrill of Guadalupe, but I made it work. Since I’d already been to Socorro twice, I chose SOC for us. The information on the website for this trip has several errors, and it was difficult, at times, communicating with their office in Canada. Once we arrived in Cabo, we were given conflicting information from what I was told previously and what was in their PDF trip brochure.
We had 20 guests, 5 of which were snorkelers and free divers, so 15 divers on two skiffs, and one skiff for the snorkelers. The mix of experience was from first-timers on a liveaboard with not much experience to others with more advanced skills. Captain Ramon did his best to get us to the least weather-beaten dive sites from the hurricane. Fifteen dives were offered, and I did 14 of them because of the 24-hour no-fly rule for the last dive.
Getting There. The flights were uneventful, but I was targeted for the extortion scam for camera housings. This was my fourth time flying into Cabo, and I’m very aware of this scam and was prepared. I had a TG6 and a PT-059 housing and a GoPro (the two camera limit). He was on a mission to fine me for something as he tore through my luggage unzipping everything and pulling things out. I had a laptop, my strobe, medications, and some clothes, too. As he kept pawing through my stuff, I started to ask questions, because I really don’t sit quietly easily when someone is going through my stuff. It kind of went like this:
Me: What is it you’re looking for?
CA: (Customs Agent) Electronics. Do you have a camera?
Me: Yes.
CA: What do you have? (At this point, he found the TG6.)
Me: A GoPro.
CA: Where is it? I want to see it. (I then showed it to him.)
Me: What else are you looking for?
CA: Electronics.
Me: I don’t have any other electronics. (He already saw the laptop too.)
Then he finds the housing and with excitement in his voice, he says, “How much does this cost?” I don’t answer, but I’m ready to pull out a copy of my receipt that I brought with me. He asks again, “How much does this cost?”
Me: Why do you want to know how much it costs?
CA: Because in Mexico, you have to pay a tax.
Me: What tax? I didn’t buy it here. I brought it from home.
CA: But you have to pay a tax. I need to look it up. (He is now taking a picture of it and looking it up on his phone and turning it over and over as if studying it.)
Me: I don’t have to pay the tax. I’m not a professional. This is not professional equipment.
He never made eye contact but just keeps turning it over and over in his hand. As he’s doing this, I’m packing all my stuff back in the bag. He then hands me the housing and says, “Okay. Go.” I won! He obviously didn’t care about the GoPro. His mission was to find the housing for Mexico's thievery and extortion scam targeted at scuba divers.
Hurricane Hilary. I've never seen or had a hurricane affect my travel plans till now, and this was a wild ride. We stayed at Tesoro, a hotel located at the marina. Most of the businesses were closed and all the marina shops were boarded up. I heard it was a cat 2 hurricane, and it was a bit unnerving to ride it out. The sewers overflowed and there was raw sewage flowing in the street, and it stunk really bad, like you want to vomit from the stench.
The Mexican government put a moratorium on the sale of alcohol in all restaurants (the few that were actually open) until Sunday at noon. So, the liquor stores that were open were busy with people buying alcohol.
Getting to La Paz. The transfer to and from La Paz was a challenge and we had more issues with Nautilus and the logistics of transportation. It’s not two to two-and-a-hours to get there, as I was told. It’s a full three hours on a rough road with bad traffic, sprinkled with some road rage, and a bad driver. If I was informed accurately, we would have flown into La Paz. We had some other problems, but there’s no need to go on about it here. We got there a little battered but in one piece, so I’m thankful for that.
The Boat. Many of you have been on the Belle Amie, so I won’t go into much detail, except to say that our room, Rosario, had broken air conditioning and a nonfunctioning toilet. This was an issue on the Belle Amie a couple of weeks prior to our trip, and the answer I got from Nautilus was that the problems were fixed. That was not the reality of being on board. Since my last trip, they have disabled the guest room doors from locking, so we were unable to lock our room at night. The room was immaculately clean and kept clean during the trip.
The Food. The hostesses and chef did a great job with attentive service and very good meals. I would say that this trip had much better food than my previous two trips. No one ever went hungry, and the chef was very accommodating with various dietary needs.
(To Be Continued)
We had 20 guests, 5 of which were snorkelers and free divers, so 15 divers on two skiffs, and one skiff for the snorkelers. The mix of experience was from first-timers on a liveaboard with not much experience to others with more advanced skills. Captain Ramon did his best to get us to the least weather-beaten dive sites from the hurricane. Fifteen dives were offered, and I did 14 of them because of the 24-hour no-fly rule for the last dive.
Getting There. The flights were uneventful, but I was targeted for the extortion scam for camera housings. This was my fourth time flying into Cabo, and I’m very aware of this scam and was prepared. I had a TG6 and a PT-059 housing and a GoPro (the two camera limit). He was on a mission to fine me for something as he tore through my luggage unzipping everything and pulling things out. I had a laptop, my strobe, medications, and some clothes, too. As he kept pawing through my stuff, I started to ask questions, because I really don’t sit quietly easily when someone is going through my stuff. It kind of went like this:
Me: What is it you’re looking for?
CA: (Customs Agent) Electronics. Do you have a camera?
Me: Yes.
CA: What do you have? (At this point, he found the TG6.)
Me: A GoPro.
CA: Where is it? I want to see it. (I then showed it to him.)
Me: What else are you looking for?
CA: Electronics.
Me: I don’t have any other electronics. (He already saw the laptop too.)
Then he finds the housing and with excitement in his voice, he says, “How much does this cost?” I don’t answer, but I’m ready to pull out a copy of my receipt that I brought with me. He asks again, “How much does this cost?”
Me: Why do you want to know how much it costs?
CA: Because in Mexico, you have to pay a tax.
Me: What tax? I didn’t buy it here. I brought it from home.
CA: But you have to pay a tax. I need to look it up. (He is now taking a picture of it and looking it up on his phone and turning it over and over as if studying it.)
Me: I don’t have to pay the tax. I’m not a professional. This is not professional equipment.
He never made eye contact but just keeps turning it over and over in his hand. As he’s doing this, I’m packing all my stuff back in the bag. He then hands me the housing and says, “Okay. Go.” I won! He obviously didn’t care about the GoPro. His mission was to find the housing for Mexico's thievery and extortion scam targeted at scuba divers.
Hurricane Hilary. I've never seen or had a hurricane affect my travel plans till now, and this was a wild ride. We stayed at Tesoro, a hotel located at the marina. Most of the businesses were closed and all the marina shops were boarded up. I heard it was a cat 2 hurricane, and it was a bit unnerving to ride it out. The sewers overflowed and there was raw sewage flowing in the street, and it stunk really bad, like you want to vomit from the stench.
The Mexican government put a moratorium on the sale of alcohol in all restaurants (the few that were actually open) until Sunday at noon. So, the liquor stores that were open were busy with people buying alcohol.
Getting to La Paz. The transfer to and from La Paz was a challenge and we had more issues with Nautilus and the logistics of transportation. It’s not two to two-and-a-hours to get there, as I was told. It’s a full three hours on a rough road with bad traffic, sprinkled with some road rage, and a bad driver. If I was informed accurately, we would have flown into La Paz. We had some other problems, but there’s no need to go on about it here. We got there a little battered but in one piece, so I’m thankful for that.
The Boat. Many of you have been on the Belle Amie, so I won’t go into much detail, except to say that our room, Rosario, had broken air conditioning and a nonfunctioning toilet. This was an issue on the Belle Amie a couple of weeks prior to our trip, and the answer I got from Nautilus was that the problems were fixed. That was not the reality of being on board. Since my last trip, they have disabled the guest room doors from locking, so we were unable to lock our room at night. The room was immaculately clean and kept clean during the trip.
The Food. The hostesses and chef did a great job with attentive service and very good meals. I would say that this trip had much better food than my previous two trips. No one ever went hungry, and the chef was very accommodating with various dietary needs.
(To Be Continued)
