Month: April 2020

Just when you think it will all work out…

We thought we had everything settled with our boat insurance giving us until July 1st to be north of Cumberland Island, GA for the hurricane season only to find out last week that we need to be there by May 28th. Arrrgh!

This means we need to leave here May 3rd. We’ve petitioned and received permission from the Bahamian government to transit their waters and anchor overnight for rest a few times. We were going to try and stop at Oceanworld on the north coast of the DR for fuel and an overnight but it seems some of the christians there haven’t been team players. For Easter someone walked thru Puerto Plata with a cross depicting part of the crucifixion and many, many people showed up to watch and or participate. So now that entire region of the country is on lockdown. 

That means when we leave here we have a 42 hour passage getting us to Great Iguana, Bahamas, the longest we’ve done. IF the weather holds and IF the seas hold it won’t be too bad. If on the other hand we have seas like the last couple passages it will be exhausting and boring. Time will tell.

From the Bahamas we’ll most likely head to Fort Lauderdale for a quick stop at our favorite boatyard. It will be interesting to see how much they can accomplish in three days because that’s all the time we have before we head up to NC.

I’ll be stocking up at the grocery on Friday as we won’t see another until we’re back in the US and possibly not until we get to NC. The Nationale grocery here is getting a little thin but we’ll get what we can. We won’t starve although meals may get a little creative later on.

We’ll play golf one last time on Wednesday at Punta Espada. It’s been a pleasure being able to play on such a world class course. Quarantine golf has helped to get us out and keep us somewhat active.

I’ve made friends with one of the local marina cats. She shows up each evening for dinner while we’re having happy hour on the aft deck. She eats and then we have a 20 minute petting session. I’m getting a daily “kitty fix”. The other night she brought a friend who is definitely feral. He would get close enough to sniff my hand because it smelled like food but no closer. Guess he’s more into social distancing. The marina security guys keep asking me if we want a cat but we’ve agreed no more animals on the boat. 

So we now have one week to get everything ready and be on our way. We have learned from past experience that the time will go quickly and we will not have done everything we wanted.

This trip back has not shaped up as we anticipated in so many ways much as this spring has been different for everyone. We continue to count ourselves thankful. We are healthy.

As I put on my mask and gloves to go to the grocery store this week I was thinking, “this is my new normal”.

The island continues to close down even more. Inter island travel is discouraged with checkpoints set up on roads to question why you are out and about. They have now closed the beaches and swimming pools here in the resort. We are asked to wear masks whenever we are outside. Everyone wears gloves if they anticipate touching anything. Hand washing has become habit whenever we return to the boat as well as a wipe down of handles on doors with disinfectant.

The DR has extended its border closing until May 31 which means when we leave here we will have to go directly to the Bahamas in one non-stop run of about 48 hours. We really need a good weather window to do this. Getting tossed around for that long is exhausting so a nice, calm cruise will make it much easier.

Whatever we are faced with here we are thankful that we can still get groceries, we can chat with people as they walk by in the evenings as we are on our boat and they are at least 10-12 feet away on the dock and we can get off the boat and take scenic walks or kayak runs in the sunshine. We have friends on other islands that can only leave their boat for an hour a day and only to go to the grocery store. We are so very lucky.

Even with everything happening we can still play golf (go figure). So we went to Punta Espada the other day and spent a very enjoyable 4 hours on a spectacular course. Our go-to guy Edward drove us over and back (he’s also my grocery driver). When we got there we sprayed down the cart with lysol. To play quarantine golf you leave the pin in the hole at all times and don’t rake the bunkers allowing you to not touch anything anyone else has. Once in awhile we would see another golfer a couple holes away but that was as close as we got. No snack bar, no restaurant. All in all, we felt safe so will do it again next week.

It continues to look bleak back in the US with peak infections not anticipated for another week or two. We are constantly checking in with friends and family to make sure everyone is healthy and okay. So far, so good.

As the coronavirus continues to escalate we are in the midst of an island lockdown. The Bahamas has completely closed and will not even let anyone traverse their waters which means we have no way of getting back to the US until they reopen. Since we aren’t in a hurry to leave it’s not a huge issue.

Projections all seem to point to late April/early May as the peak infection level for the islands and east coast of US. We now have until July 1st to be back in NC. So if we leave here by June 1st we can do it.

The local curfew has been updated to 5pm -6am although within the confines of Cap Cana it seems to be more relaxed as we see people out walking every evening.

We continue to walk/kayak most days. The good news is that Gary was able to figure out the resort wifi and we now have vouchers for free wifi. Netflix is back baby!

On a side note, one of the fun things about traveling all the islands is the ever changing selection of food at the grocery stores. French islands are primarily supplied by France, UK Commonwealth islands by  the UK, US islands by the US, etc. One of the things I bought on St Lucia was pickles for Gary. I admit it. I bought them strictly because I loved the label! But Gary liked them anyway.