YO-HANCHA
A quest for blue water
When Covid-19 threatened to derail his meticulously planned Maldives holiday , Yo-Han Cha decided to stick to his priorities
Before the pandemic , there was always a lot to arrange and organise for a dive trip abroad . The liveaboard or dive centre ; travel insurance ; airline tickets ; airport parking ; what drink to have before getting on the flight ... to name but a few .
These days we also have to content with the added bureaucracy hastily created to filter and track us as we cross borders . Travelling abroad was always going to be a risk , but I fancied using my birthday as an excuse to get away in January , and my friend Rick [ none other than deep wreck diver Rick Ayrton , who also enjoys his blue water scuba ] said he ’ d be happy to come with me .
We chose the Maldives because at the time it was one of the few viable destinations , and obviously a great place to dive in warm blue water . We booked the liveaboard and the flights , then agreed not to discuss our holiday further until after the New Year , as the rules around Covid-19 were ( and still are ) constantly changing . Come January , the rules for the UK , the Maldives and Abu Dhabi were studied and various tests were booked and forms filled out . Our PCR tests were – thankfully – negative and the excitement began to build .
On the outward journey , we successfully negotiated our way around Heathrow and Abu Dhabi airports . Then we arrived at Male airport ( serving the capital of the Maldives ) and if the queues there were anything to go by , the Maldives still remains a very popular holiday destination . I understand why , but after seeing two half-empty airports , it was weird seeing so many people again . We eventually got through Immigration and with my first fresh stamp on my passport for two years , we were in the Maldives ! It may have been 7.30 in the morning but we were excited . We just had to meet the tour representative who would show us onto our liveaboard .
That ’ s when Covid-19 reared its ugly
Rick Aryton demonstrates that even deep wreck legends can enjoy shallow , warm water
head . We had done everything we could to keep ourselves Covid-19 free but there ’ s some things we just couldn ’ t control . This ‘ known unknown ’ turned out to be a positive PCR test on someone who had been on our liveaboard before us . To cut a long story short , it had put our liveaboard out of action . We were so , so close .
We then spent ten hours at Male airport waiting to see if we could find a replacement liveaboard . The humidity made it slightly uncomfortable , but at least I wasn ’ t wearing jeans like Rick . Our hopes were raised briefly by rumours of a replacement liveaboard , but its generator was broken so we sat back down and continued with the waiting game . Then a few hours later , another liveaboard had been found and the excitement was back and we were finally out of that pleasant
but by now overfamiliar airport and on a speedboat taking us to our new liveaboard .
Then , when we arrived at the new liveaboard , it turned out to be significantly smaller than the original . After a lot of discussion and arguing between the customers and the tour operator , Rick and I looked at each other and said , “ Well , I ’ m here for the diving …”. We decided that there wasn ’ t another bigger liveaboard that was likely to be found , so we set about getting our dive kit unpacked and ready . Some our fellow travellers joined us , some didn ’ t . And those of us who stayed , having bonded over that first rather stressful day , had what can be said without any exaggeration , an epic diving holiday .
Was travelling during Covid-19 more stressful ? Yes . Would I do it again ? Absolutely ! �
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