MV Nautica’s Spooktacular with Eko! (pt I)

The full red moon cast its feeble light on the eerie boat as it sailed menacingly through the night. Except for the sound of waves crashing against the hull, it was the silence of the dead. The moon watched on as a group of adventurous divers emerged onto the bow, determined to revel in the salty sea spray despite the spooky night.

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       That was pretty much the scene during last weekend’s trip to Riau Islands. We had the first ever Halloween liveaboard trip – MV Nautica’s Spooktacular. If you’ve never heard of MV Nautica, find out more on the Facebook page.

After weeks of preparation, the Spooktacular weekend finally arrived! I headed to MV Nautica in the early afternoon to dress the boat up for Halloween. Within a few hours, Nautica was turned into a proper ghost ship. The decks were lined with Halloween banners, hanging bats, floating ghosts and ghouls and draped with cobwebs. We did not leave the hallways untouched either. There were even more cobwebs, mummies and even a personal tombstone on each cabin door for our guests.

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While I was occupied with the decor, the crew got to work making preparations and sailing Nautica to Nongsa, where we were to pick up our guests for the weekend. As soon as the guests arrived, they were greeted with the Halloween banners and our pretty smiles, excited about the awesomeness ahead. The first night was more or less free and easy after we showed the guests to their ‘graves’ and our cruise director Eszter gave her welcome briefing. After rigging up their gear for the next day, everyone had an early night, with the exception of the crew. We were just too excited to sleep, knowing what the next two days would bring!

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This is part one of a three-part writeup on the MV Nautica Spooktacular event.  Click on the links to find  Part II & Part III.

About the writer:

Andhi is a divemaster at Eko Divers, and he was one of the executors of the MV Nautica Spooktacular event. When he’s not in the sea or keeping the shop open, he spends his time knitting and hugging cats.

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