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.