Day 11 of Quarantine 

Not because it’s day 11 and anything is different,  its just another day on the countdown, we are settling in to this very quiet, restricted, small space, 30 degree day - 26 degree night, sudden rain squalls, run out of eggs, not sure about the cleanliness of the water, lost another flag and a pair of sunglasses overboard, yelling “hello” to neighbors, drinks on the deck at sunset, watching movies, making bagels & cheesecake, run out of fruit already, sedate lifestyle.

Our time in quarantine is nearly over although I’m sure the last couple of days still to come will go very slowly.

It’s been nice to just stop, there is no pressure to make immediate plans, check weather predictions or make decisions, it’s been easy just to bob around on anchor,  but soon we will have to choose, once we get out of isolation we will have to choose where to go in Grenada for our first anchorage, there are plenty of choices, we are in no hurry to explore them all at once we will be here for the next 4-5 months while the hurricane season passes by.  

Grenada has been hit before, Hurricane  Ivan devastated the island in 2004 destroying 90% of the buildings on the island. And hurricane Emily further pummeled the island a year later. Because the island is located in the southernmost part of the Atlantic Hurricane basin, the chances for a hurricane to hit are less than the other Caribbean islands further north and west. 

But just like in the Magdalen Islands hurricanes can form, and veer off precedented paths but being here is better than further north and with weather prediction getting better and more accurate we feel we will have adequate warning and we will be able to move either to a more sheltered location or out of a hurricanes destructive path, that’s the plan anyway.

Staying active has been hard, space is restrictive, there’s not much room for walking although we do climb the stairs from cabin to cockpit a hundred times a day.  Nath from Timmies Run gifted me a laminated yoga sheet with the Sun Salutation and night time stretching poses this was helpful but hard to get into with nowhere really to do a good unrestricted stretch.  Plus my back is still hurting from my slip off the seat during passage, it’s slowly getting better so maybe I should try the sun salutations again.

Swimming off the back of the boat might sound idyllic,  it is cooling and feels nice to stretch out in the water and float, it’s really salty buoyant water but we are anchored with around another hundred boats and we have to trust they are all using their holding tanks for their black stuff and not allowing it to run out after each use.  Plus the smaller boats might not have big enough tanks to last 2 weeks on anchor !! Ours are starting to smell pretty bad already they are huge so won’t fill up and we will go offshore to empty them later.

One evening we set up a bright light at the back of the boat so we could see to use the bbq, looking in the water there were hundreds of tiny jellyfish all bright fluro green, so I shine the big high beam torch in the water for a while, the jellyfish disappeared but lots of little fish were drawn to the light, that’s nice you might think it must be healthy water with all that life but there were also hundreds of little worm/larvae squiggling around lots of tiny insects dashing back and forward and I’m hoping it was just that particular evening but there was a real scummy slime on top of the water, I haven’t been game enough to look again as swimming is our only form of exercise.  

The water can be super clear and you can see there are lots of schools of little fish swimming on the bottom but mostly the water has been cloudy with limited visibility, Craig saw a spotted ray under the bow and we have seen turtles swim past, we just read that turtles hold their breath for 4-7 hours depending on their activity level, that explains why we only see them on the odd occasion.  

I have one of those new fangled full face mask snorkels, I like it but I think it looks dicky, especially when I have a floating rope tied securely to Adriana so I don’t get sucked away by the current.  

The current is not that bad other people can do laps around their boats it’s just me who likes my security blanket, I’m getting better at letting myself float further away from the boat the more practice I get, but I’m not confident in my swimming abilities to ever let go.

When the water is cloudy it looks like lots of little particles floating around and there is the chance that they are the macerated particles from someone’s toilet but you try not to think about that !!

It’s hot all day and there is no where to go, luckily we have shade in our cockpit the dodger came with zip in covers and we use sarongs to add to the shade if the open sides are facing the sun too much.  We leave the very front cover completely open, somedays it’s a bit too breezy.

Keeping our bedroom and lounge hatches open lets in a breeze through the entire boat but on the really intense days we have to pull the  internal shades over to stop the sun beating in and that restricts the airflow, lots of boats have awnings that fit over their boom and give shade to a large proportion of the boat, we are thinking we might try to get one by either borrowing a sewing machine or having one custom made it’ll just depend on whether we can source the canvas.  We do have AC but the generator has to be running to use it, occasionally we do have to fire up the generator to top up the batteries, once we did run the AC it was so nice to cool the interior down but a bit of a waste of time, it only stayed cool for a short while then heated right back up again !

Our solar panels do a great job of supplying power into the 4 agm batteries, we bought one new one when we first purchased Adriana, the 3 older ones are starting to loose their holding abilities and new batteries are on our wish list, the last one cost $700 and was a nightmare to get delivered as it weighed 40kg we are hoping we might be able to buy them locally.

It rains every few days sometimes it’s a tropical downpour and really intense, when this happens we set out buckets and capture the rainwater - I use it for hand washing.  But most of the time they are just quick light showers no sooner have we ran and closed all the hatches to find it’s over and we have to go around and open them again ah well at least it’s some exercise.  

Craig and I sleep in separate bedrooms... Craig snores and I was finding myself awake ( a lot) lying there unable to turn on a light to read or move around to get comfy, all the time trying not to wake the captain.  It’s very frustrating being wide awake listening to someone blissfully snoring away.  

For a long time I was just getting up and moving to sleep on one of the couches but once the pandemic started and I was awake so much more  I decided to utilize the other bedroom, if I’m awake in the middle of the night I can read, even listen to music, move around as much as I like.  Some nights I can still hear Craig snoring but it’s not right in my ear and I’m comfortable in my own cocoon of pillows, sheets and books.

There is a little window that opens through the hull that lets in fresh air, there are also two other hatches that open into the cockpit that don’t do much for the airflow. 

It took a while to be installed but I now have a fan blowing air around the room, it has a timer so it’ll go off and not run all night lowering the batteries.  We are so acclimatized now that when a windy squall went through and the temperature dropped to around 25 during the day, it felt rather cool, it didn’t take long for the sun to re emerge.

In quarantine we have access to 3 supermarkets and a bakery, where we can call or email them, pay with credit card, no cash.  The orders will be delivered to Port Louise Marina, they will call us to let us know they are ready, we really only need eggs and fruit so I think we will hang out, we have tinned fruit if I’m desperate. Going to the supermarket will be a good excuse to go to land once we are free.

Craig used the last of the eggs to make a cheesecake and cinnamon buns (on the same day).  I’m reduced to eating some almonds for breakfast and trying to half the size of my meals so that I can share these treats, otherwise none of my clothes will fit.  

But that is his happy place so who am I to stop him creating, he even had a go at making bagels I’ve never understood their popularity until I had one straight out of the oven omg chewie deliciousness. It’s a pity all the cream cheese was used in the cheesecake.

We lost another flag overboard, our newish blue flag was attached to a beautiful wooden flag pole that came with the boat, when we lifted the dingy after using it to go and pick up the new SIM card when we first arrived, the dingy must have pushed the flag up and out of the holder, oops it’s floating off to Mexico now, we still have the tatty faded red one held up with cable ties, but it’ll do.  it’s really nice to fly your country of origin flag, it helps to make friends and find other Aussies. So many people we chat to have visited Australia or have relatives who live there and everyone who has been says they have heard of Phillip Island and our penguins, we have even met a few people who have visited our home island.

We had a drive by visit from an interesting couple he is from WA and she is from the Uk, it was their first day, they were just returning in their dingy from checking in, they stopped alongside us for a chat, we had a quick chat -  “where were we all from”, “where had we been” and “our plans for the next few months” - it was nice to chat but eventually we felt so uncomfortable we had to remind them we were in quarantine and explain that the coastguard patrol boats visit the anchorage regularly.  Eventually they got the message and took off towards their own boat and sure enough a little while later along comes two patrol boats and one of them did visit our new friends for a chat, apparently there are locals who live on the hills in front of us who watch down on us and one of the organizers of the committee that helped organized for us all to enter the country has a house overlooking the anchorage and he keeps an eye on all the boats.

After watching The Handmaids Tale we felt a bit spooked thinking we were being watched.  The fact is the locals are, and understandably so, very scared of us bringing the virus to their islands.  Also they too are in lockdown no socializing “no lymin” no visiting friends or families homes, so why should we be allowed to visit each other’s boats, even after quarantine we will be restricted, but for now those are the rules.  They are still under a 9pm to 5am curfew.  

We have been advised once we are out of quarantine to still not congregate on each other’s boats but to make arrangements to meet and go for walks on the beach or in the park, to go to the supermarket or catch a bus to the mall at the same time, all while wearing masks and practicing social distancing.  We really did have a lot of freedom in the USVI’s especially when they eased their restrictions. 

We do little jobs, clean out cupboards, tidy lockers and drawers, I gave the bathrooms a good scrub, Craig spliced a loop into an old rope so he could use it as a preventer on the boom. We still haven’t got around to polishing the rust marks off the stainless steel, that was on top of our too do list, we will probably do it on our last day in Q.

Nath from Timmies Run also gifted me a medative colouring in book that I’ve enjoyed creating colourful pictures with, I’ve used the pages to decorate and cover boxes, Craig even sat and filled in a page, I think he was really bored.  He did that while I watched a movie he had already seen.

I’ve just googled and the handmaids tale, all 3 series filled in 36 daylight hours.

Another pastime is watching the other boats leave as they finish their time and there is a constant stream of new arrivals.  Yellowbird, Fruit Bat & Gina Lee are all departing from USVI’s this week, on their way here.

Fruit bat had to take General Luperon, the kitten they rescued in Luperon in the Dominican Republic to the vet to get spayed and the last of his shots, he has grown so much and has developed his own huge personality, we all love him like he is our own, Sam dropped him off the day Alexi left, to keep me company and cheer me up, that was so sweet of her. We also spent time with him on the beach, onboard Fruit Bat and he would come to Aunty Zena to be babysat while Sam and Scott went shopping, I can’t wait to see how much the little fella has grown.

We also have Zeus on Breakaweigh to fuss over and cuddle, we can hear him barking across the anchorage and it always makes me smile, Breakaweigh and Timmies Run are close by but too far away to yell “hello” to or even see when they are outside in their cockpits, we each came into anchor and chose spots that suited our boats.

We are planning to catch up with them on the day we finish quarantine, the Australian couple on Yottie, (the boat we could yell to)on the day they finished, they spent the afternoon in Port Louie Marina having a few drinks and pizza so that’s our plan too.

Alexi made it safely home to the Maggies  it took him about 28 days at sea, he had a stop for 5 days in Bermuda waiting on weather, he single handidly sailed 1800 nautical miles as the crow flies but with adjustment for tacks and the actual course he had to take it was closer to 2000 nautical miles in his 31ft yacht with only that one stop.

That’s quite an achievement, and quite a daunting thought heading back up into the heavy North Atlantic Seas.  I must add he went from 30c degree days to temps as low as 3c degrees brrrr.

There was a big welcome party waiting for him at Havre Aubert.  That’s the yacht club/ Marina we were at when we first realised we were in the path of Hurricane Dorian, the one we left to go to the safer Etang Du Nord, the one that was badly hit by the hurricane. Alexi reported back that Bruno, who Craig had spent time with going over the weather and our options, did remembers us.

Every evening at sunset a huge cheer goes through the anchorage, another day down, conch horns are trumpeted as well, most cruisers are sitting on their decks watching the sun setting behind the boats, I’m still watching for that green flash !!

We have a couple of UK flagged boats in front of us and next to us, seriously these people do not come outside AT ALL everyone else is doing laps around their boats and watching the sunsets we do not see these people emerge from below “ever” 

I must admit though lots of people are swimming and doing yoga while we are having our drinks at sunset, they must be younger with much more energy than us !!

On Sunday evening we received our email advising us that we need to present ourselves to Q dock at Port Louie Marins on Tuesday 

>Come to the Q dock in your dinghy - all people on board your yacht should come. Bring all documentation with you. Bring masks to wear (children also have to wear masks) and be prepared to stand 6ft / 2m apart from the next boat group. 

>Remain at the dock until called forward by the health team. 

>The health team will take a drop of blood to use in the Rapid Test or a nasal swab from the back of your nose for the PCR test. Please be prepared to give samples.  

>The health team will first do the Rapid Test. The results will be available in 15 minutes. You can wait next to the tent for the results

>If the result is negative then you will then go to the next tent to receive the Ministry of Health certificate showing the negative results which you present to Customs & Immigration when you go to clear out.

We are almost there ....