We have both built and restored dive boats a number of times over the last 27 years. First there was the 50 foot Nautilus VI which we converted from a yacht. Then the 85 foot Nautilus VII, an old wooden WW2 sub chaser that had seen much better days but was all that we could afford! Following that, the Nautilus Explorer was our first brand new build and she is beautiful. The 102 year-old Nautilus Swell followed and while she was originally launched the same year as the Titanic (1912), the ship was in immaculate condition and well-loved by all. Our big, beautiful Nautilus Belle Amie was our next new build, followed by a massive renovation and stretching of the Undersea Hunter of Cocos Island fame.
Now comes the newest member of our family, the 116 foot Nautilus Gallant Lady. She is a Broward motor yacht with 6 staterooms catering to just 12 divers, luxurious spaces onboard, a sky lounge, crow’s nest and wicked dive deck. We just completed our 3rd “soft open” trip and frankly, it did not go the way we had hoped. There were some glitches on the first 2 trips but nothing more than expected on a new boat. However, that did not compare to the spanking Mother Ocean gave us on the 3rd trip – from contaminated fuel to plumbing leaks to compressor motors burning up to realizing that we needed to further augment the stabilization system on the ship.
The good news is that we have introduced enough new boats over time that we knew to plan mini-refits in-between each “soft open”. This meant that our technical and engineering team was prepped and ready to go the minute the yacht arrived in Cabo, giving us plenty of time to fix any problems.
The Gallant Lady is a beautiful addition to our family of boats and we couldn’t be prouder. We can’t wait to get back in the water to splash with our favourite giant mantas.
Dive safe.
Captain Mike and your team at Nautilus
