Chutes Coulonge, a local recreation park, re-opened in early June, with its aerial activities given the go-ahead about a week afterwards. Esprit Whitewater Worldwide, an outfitter based in Davidson, re-opened the weekend of June 20.

Esprit recently purchased equipment to set up an aqua park, which includes a series of overhang climbing walls, slides and a cliff jump. Guests could also jump from a water trampoline onto a big bubble on the surface of the water, called a launch pad.

“If someone’s sitting on the end of the bubble and you jump on it, you launch them up into the air,” said owner, director and founder Jim Coffey.

There are no walk-ins for the waterpark. Guests need to book 90-minute sessions in advance and can bring nine other people with them from up to three families.

“That, then, gives us another 30 minutes to completely disinfect the structure,” said Coffey.

Groups alternate between colours of lifejackets, so that these could be tracked and disinfected in between.

They have a staff and customer self-screening test where everyone is provided with a document that explains the symptoms of COVID-19 and is also treated to a temperature check, ensuring no one present has a temperature over 38 degrees or possesses any other symptoms.

“In the event that one of our staff members had a temperature above 38 degrees, then they will be replaced for the day and we would have them seek medical attention,” said Coffey.

If guests were to have a reading above this number, they would go through another test five minutes later and if their temperature hasn’t dropped then, they would be declined entry.

“We would recommend for them to go see their doctor and we would give them a gift certificate credit for a future trip,” said Coffey.

These tests are taken prior to the clients boarding the outfitter’s school bus, which is used as transport to and from the river. Those who have an initial high temperature reading would wait outside the bus for their second testing.

Measures were taken with the bus as well. Masks are supplied to every guest on the bus and are required to be worn during transport. Hand sanitizer is also provided, again, to every guest.

In addition to this, there is also a limit of four groups, with an empty bank of seats between each one.

“We’ve reduced our capacity by probably over 50 per cent,” said Coffey.

At Chutes Coulonge, they ask guests to bring their own gloves and masks, according to front desk employee Kelsey Beaulieu. Otherwise, guests could also purchase gloves for $2 a pair and masks at $1 a piece if they are not aware of the requirement before arriving.

“Mostly, it’s only families that come to do the activities, but if we have different families coming in, we try and separate them out,” said Beaulieu.

On the water at Esprit, clients are able to go bodysurfing, meaning they could leave the raft and let the current take them. Previously, they would be pulled back into the raft when done, but now to avoid physical contact, they are instead asked to swim back to shore when it is safe, unless it is an emergency. The raft is then brought to shore, where these guests could get back in by themselves.

“The idea is to run a trip that’s fun, but doesn’t promote the idea of people falling out and needing to be rescued,” said Coffey. “So, on some rapids, we may be needing to take a softer route to avoid the idea of capsize and pulling people back into the boat.”

Their base camp also offers a variety of activities, which include the rental of stand-up paddle boards, canoes, kayaks and cable wakeboarding, according to Coffey.

Rafts, which typically hold groups of seven, have subsequently been limited to five guests.

“We’re permitted by the province to put in six, so if there was a group of six from the same household, they could all ride together,” said Coffey.

Thus, Esprit is now selling their rafting trips by the raft load in addition to their previous individual purchase option. Those that book as individuals, but may be from the same family could potentially be mixed with others on the same trip.

“When that happens, everyone would sit on the opposite sides of the raft, so there’s two meters of distance between two people that are from different households,” said Coffey.

For those that book by the raft load, the price remains equivalent to a booking for a group of five split between members.

Families, who are limited to six, would also be paying the same price, meaning they have a discount.

“Interestingly enough, we have a lot of people who have a group of four, but are also purchasing a raft load,” said Coffey. “That way, they avoid someone else being in their boat.”

Esprit only uses bookings to check if a group is from the same family, so on rafting day, it’s the guests’ responsibility to ensure that remains the case.

All of the equipment is cleaned with Vircon, a non-carcinogenic, non-irritant disinfectant that is able to be used close to water, according to Coffey.

Disinfections take place in the mornings and the afternoons and are done with a combination of spray bottles, agricultural backpack-style sprayers for large surface areas and rafts and a disinfectant fogger for transport and accommodations.

“We’ll take the rafts off the roof of the bus, move them down to the water’s edge then do a disinfection right there, where everyone’s there to see that we’re taking this seriously,” said Coffey. “We then wait the appropriate amount of time before hopping into the raft and going downstream.”

The Chutes Coulonge also sanitizes their Interac machine, counters and washrooms after every guest and equipment is sanitized after every activity. The recreational park also puts heavy emphasis on its harnesses.

When guests are being equipped with a harness for some activities, the two-metre distance needs to be broken, therefore both the guests and the staff must be wearing masks.

“Harnesses are only allowed to be used once per person, per 24 hours,” said Beaulieu. “They need to be washed after that person takes them off.”

Hot water and soap are used in the process of washing these harnesses,which are double rinsed and hung up to dry. If the harnesses available run out before the end of the day, then that activity is postponed to the next day.

At Esprit, changes have also been made to the food offered by the outfitter. The buffet style offerings have been converted to “box style” lunch.

“It’s served in a small, individual tupperware container so that when people come through to get their lunch, they’re not breathing on top of anybody else’s food,” said Coffey.

Staff also wear masks when they are preparing and serving guests food, in addition to when they’re aboard transportation or for any other situation where they cannot physically distance.

Esprit’s Explorer’s Bar and Sunset Grill, located at their base camp in Davidson, now serves gourmet woodfire pizza instead of holding their barbecue dinners, which were deemed a health risk because of the way they were served.

Besides the pizza, Esprit is also offering nachos and king-sized quesadillas.

“We’ve got a bunch of things worked out and it seems to be going reasonably well so far,” said Coffey, whose measures were put forward by Aventure Écotourisme Quebec and Eau Vive Quebec.

Coffey asks his customers or staff at random to report to him at the end of some days as if they were inspectors, in order to see how well prepared the operation is for the pandemic.

“Our feedback so far has been very positive,” said Coffey. “People appreciate the efforts we’re going through. They see, and feel, that what we’re doing is as thorough or much more than they had expected.”

Esprits senior staff were required to take an online course at John Ho pkins University in the United States in order to be informed on COVID-19 and tracking it.

“So, by explaining that that’s what they’ve done to our guests, people come to the realisation that we haven’t gathered our information just by looking at Facebook.”

At first, Coffey said he was nervous to reopen his operation, but he said that this was a good feeling to have, since it makes him wary that there is still a pandemic around.

“We’re getting a reasonable amount of calls and reservations daily,” said Coffey. “Not like what we had in the past where we would take 50 people a day, but they’re rolling in slowly.”

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