Angelasails.com

Corona or no Corona, it has not had a real impact on my life as I currently live it..

I was talking to a friend the other day: the way everybody is now confined to their house is how we live all the time.

To explain this I have to start at the beginning.

Compared to last year I left relatively late towards the Caribbean. On January 8th I flew towards Gibraltar after having spend the holidays with my family in the mountains. Last year I could not join them and I vouched to never do that again. I miss them and the skiing way too much!

I sailed across on a Volvo 70 (the old Telefonica black) and I have to say, the entire experience was as I expected it to be. From the freezedried food to the carbon toilet, from being watchleader to listen to some of the guys playing the ukelele, I enjoyed every minute of it.

In Antigua I started working at Ondeck right away. I passed my cruising instructor course in December so I was eager to get some hours in. I really like and appreciate how people in this ‘world’ are always so willing to help and assist wherever they can (special thanks to Dee, Phil and Kevin – you know why).

Last year January I did my Yachtmaster Offshore and I promised myself to never put myself through a course like that again (I am not the quickest study), only to find myself in the Yachtmaster Ocean theory class some 13 months later. It was a huge struggle and therefor I am super proud to have passed the exam(s). Now I only have to do my sights during a crossing and I have a new title to add behind my name!

Around that course I started hearing about Corona and I told my parents numerous times not to worry as I am a Heineken drinker. They were so serious about it that they couldn’t even appreciate the joke. What did I know.

First week of March I flew to St. Maarten to skipper an all female team (all employees of Heineken) during the Heineken regatta. It was an awesome week and we even managed to end up on the podium. Now I realize how lucky we have been because in the end this was the last (big) event of the Caribbean regatta season (and even on a global scale).

On Friday March 13th I finished a dayskipper course and had a great party weekend after. I believe during that weekend the first infected person flew in from the UK. She was quarantained right away but it did send a shockwave through the island. Corona is real. After that everything started moving really fast and on that wednesday (18/3) I realize: ‘I have to do something, otherwise I will get stuck here’.

I flew back to Antigua and as the bars and reataurants were still open, we did not have a care in the world. Surely not about Covid-19.

At that very moment my friend Alex(andra) is in contact with a friend who is Captain on a 24m sailing yacht and he is looking for delivery crew. 1 + 1 really is 3 and on Friday the 20th Alex and I are on board a plane towards Grenada. 1 day later all airports close down, but we did not realize that at the time.

On Grenada we have to go into voluntary quarantaine for 14 days and text the Health Authority on a daily basis that we are fine. Plus we keep a record of our temperature and bloodpressure every day. Apart from that we go running in the mornings, make long hours working on the boat, have dinner, go to sleep and repeat it all the next day.

Just before the end of our 14 days though, the island goes into lockdown. We get a curfew between 07.00pm – 05.00am and boats (new arrivals) cannot enter the marina anymore (not even on the quarantaine dock).

On the 30th of March things change dramatically. The curfew is set to 24/7 and we are not allowed to leave the compound other than to do some mandatory shopping. Luckily we already have most of the provisions on board for the crossing because some supermarkets are open on some days resulting in huge lines at the door.

Our life continues. We can’t go running anymore but the marina has a sort of park and we adapt our exercises to the smaller area. I like this routine even better! So we work-out, work on the boat, have dinner, sleep and repeat.

Today the government allowed all supermarkets to be open and advised everyone to provision for 14 days. Obviously this resulted in chaos and I read on facebook that a lady got in line at 08.30am and had her shopping done at 04.30pm!

We had no intention of doing that. A private taxi driver took me to a local supermarket far away from the city centre and I managed to buy some mayonaise (important!) and babywipes.

I just had to quickly forget about the rest of my shopping list (yoghurt, milk, eggs, carrots etc), but that can happen anytime when living on an island.

We know we will not be able to get any more shopping in but the plan is to leave friday and the boat has enough food onboard to keep us alive for at least 2 months. I do feel for the people of Grenada though (and the rest of the world). Just tonight the 24/7 curfew has been extended with 14 days: Driving your car is forbidden, being out on the street is forbidden, drinking alcohol is forbidden. Life as the Grenadians know it has come to a full stop.

And we? We are going sailing on (we think) wednesday. Continuing our routine; work-out, work on the boat (be on watch), eat, sleep and repeat. We expect to arrive in the Azores in 12-14 days and there we will go on anchor. We are allowed to order provisions and if necessary we can make an appointment to get diesel.

We will stay there for a week or so and when the right weatherwindow presents itself we plan to cross to Europe. Probably the UK but we have to see what world looks like when it is time to make that decision.

And yes, I realize how lucky I am. No people I know have been seriously ill or worse, I have a job, I do what I normally do and I think I do it in one of the safest places on the planet.

And that is probably why I do not feel (as much) affected by Corona.

Stay safe!