Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Sea of Cortez

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Nautilus Explorer: "An Unfortunate Sea of Cortez trip", Aug, 2021, by Paul gillespie, WA, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 11738 has 4 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	First to the negative. Having us fly into Cabo, and then take a 2+20-hour bus ride at night (we left at 7pm) to the boat in La Paz was a waste of a day, and expensive. I didn’t think that our bus ride to La Paz was adequately portrayed in the marketing literature. Not to mention the bus ride back to Cabo on the completion of the trip. With the COVID testing required before departure it made any flights out of Cabo before 2pm very tight connections on our last day. The COVID nurse was 45 minutes late to the boat on the last day, because she couldn’t get through the security gate at the marina. This could have been anticipated and addressed beforehand. We were all tired from the traveling the day before, so our first day of diving we only made 3 dives at the same site, viewing what can only be considered very basic sights, with little coral and fish life in pea-green-soup water, with poor visibility. The second day of diving we made 4 dives at a different site, with again average diving. While I can’t remember all the days of diving, I do remember how many of the guests were dissatisfied with Captain Hernan’s responsiveness to the dive schedules and sites. In his defense, though, I believe he tried to keep us informed repeatedly, even in the face of hostility. This should be a learning experience for him, not only how to manage the information flow, but also about inclusion of his crew in decision-making. From the divemasters to the chef, the crew is a valuable resource of knowledge and information, and I don’t think the Captain tapped into that. One of the problems with the diving was the lack of a consistent dive schedule. On every other liveaboard I’ve ever been on (a dozen or so in the last 20 years) there’s a dive schedule that starts early and allots about an hour and forty-five minutes between events, whether it’s a meal or another dive. We didn’t have a set schedule on this boat. So, an early morning snack should have started at 6 am, the first dive at 7am, breakfast at 8:45, second dive at 10:30, etc. The dive schedule should be planned by the senior divemaster, not the Captain, who had not the foggiest about how long a dive would take, i.e., 15 minutes to the dive site in the zodiacs, 1 hour of diving, 15 minutes back to the boat, 15 minutes to get out of your dive gear and get ready for the next event. But there was never this kind of dive schedule on this boat. My next complaint is about the airborne whale-watching day. We’ve come to dive the Nautilus Explorer, not ride around in zodiaks for 4 hours while an airplane overhead searches for dolphins (who we found, and who did what dolphins do when confronted by snorkelers and promptly left the area) or whales (we found one and got to see his distant hump twice). This was a waste of a diving day. Through prodding the Captain, we did eventually get him to allow us to make a night dive this day, at 8:30 at night! But from day one he was resistant to allowing any night dives, and he had to be pushed into allowing this one. The night dive turned out to be one of the best dives of the trip. The boat moving at night was noisy in the bottom floor. I had to wear earplugs. And the hallway smelled of toilet. The rooms are small, and if I had had to share the room, it would have been cramped in the extreme. So, to the good. The staff were upbeat, excellent, and professional, from Nuvia and Eddis to divemasters Esteban, Celina, and Stein, and first mate Javier. I had great experiences with all of them. COVID mask protocols were enforced indoors, and testing was done the first day before boarding and the last day before leaving to fly out. The chef did a good job of accommodating a host of food preferences, whether it was my seafood allergies, others’ vegan, or vegetarian preferences…talk about picky eaters! But the variety of food preferences seemed to catch him off guard initially, as if he hadn’t been briefed by the home office about them. Was there a coordination problem between the boat and the office? The best day of diving was the last, in the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. It can only be described as spectacular, with the volume of biomass and fish life just intoxicating. I would go back to Cabo Pulmo to do just the marine park again, because it is the real attraction. My 4 and 5 star ratings above for coral and tropical fishk are for that area. In fact, I wish we could have spent the entire 6 days of diving there.
Websites	Nautilus Explorer
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, Philippines, Palau, British Columbia, Galapagos, Thailand, Colombia, Panama, Belize, Southern Red Sea, Puget Sound
Closest Airport	Los Cabos International	Getting There	None.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	75-79°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-40 Ft/ 9-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	1 hour dive times max.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	1 or 2
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Great setup on the aft deck, with plenty of electrical outlets and room for cameras.

Report currently has 4 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in Mexico (Western)/Sea of Cortez

Nautilus Explorer: "An Unfortunate Sea of Cortez trip", Aug, 2021,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Nautilus Explorer in
Mexico (Western)/Sea of Cortez