'Below Deck Sailing Yacht' Took Extra Precautions to Film During COVID-19

March 1 marks the return of Bravo's Below Deck Sailing Yacht, one year after we were first introduced to Captain Glenn Shepard and his Parsifal III crew, which included Glenn's longtime first mate Paget Berry and his fiancée, Ciara Duggan, who also worked on board. 

But this season, along with his boat, Glenn will be the only familiar face on Sailing Yacht, which promises a whole new crew who, on top of navigating the waters, must learn to navigate COVID-19 protocols as well.

So, when was Below Deck Season 2 filmed? Keep reading for what you need to know before you dive in.

Below Deck Sailing Yacht filmed the entirety of Season 2 during the summer of 2020, as the world was knee-deep in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Viewers will get to see the Parsifal III crew in Croatia, one of the only European countries that was open for tourism as the coronavirus was ravaging the world. 

But it doesn't seem like the pandemic is going to be a big topic of conversation in the upcoming season. Decider writes that "the pandemic is only briefly mentioned in the first episode as a reason why the guests will be extra ready to blow off some steam," and that viewers shouldn't hold their breath to see any masks or safety precautions on board.

According to Captain Glenn himself, the reason why you won't be seeing much protective gear on camera is because of the "very strict protocols" they had in place that ensured everyone coming onto Parsifal III was essentially entering their own bubble.

The podcast Mention It All caught up with the captain ahead of Sailing Yacht's sophomore season premiere, and Glenn explained that a lot of behind-the-scenes precautions were taken ahead of filming.

For starters, the pandemic played a big role in why they picked Croatia to film. 

"Croatia had a very low incidence," the captain explained, "so that's one of the reasons why it was chosen. But you still have to take all the precautions — one positive could probably shut down the whole charter season."

The entire crew quarantined upon arrival, and it sounds like the guests had to as well. "As soon as everybody arrived, all the guests arrived, they're quarantined," Glenn continued on the Mention It All podcast. He added that they continued doing health checks like "PCR tests and all that stuff" throughout the charter. 

"And we would do that daily," he said. "We also had daily health checks where we would take our temperature, fill out a questionnaire if you had any symptoms, all that stuff."

But that's not even where the precautions end! When anything new arrived aboard the Parsifal — think foods, provisions, etc. — that, too, had to be sterilized and checked.

"It added a lot more work to it and a little bit of extra tension, but it was the only way we could achieve a season. Everybody wanted to do a season after the lockdown in the winter and the spring."

We can't wait to see how it all turns out on Below Deck Sailing Yacht, which airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.