After spending the first 5 years of our retirement in
carefree (and I admit humbly and with some guilt often self-indulgent)
worldwide travel, sailing across seas and oceans interspersed with lots of land
and air travel, we find ourselves, as with the rest of the world, in
quarantine, locked down in St Martin, a French Overseas Territory in the
Caribbean during the Covid-19 pandemic.
 |
| The coronavirus |
As cruisers, living on our sailboat, self-isolation is often
the default position.
We frequently
spend long periods alone on the boat.
We
are self-sufficient.
We always have at
least a month or two of food and supplies stored in the lockers and
bilges.
We make our own water and have
electricity and power.
However, this
self-isolation is now not a choice but a mandate.
 |
| Approaching St Martin where we thought we would spend 3-4 days before making our way west to the British Virgin Islands |
We use to joke and take pride in the fact that our plans
were written in the sand at low tide.
We
had and liked having only a very general idea where we might end up in the next
few weeks hence in our peripatetic lifestyle.
Now we are at anchor in Marigot Bay unable to move.
France has locked down.
The borders are closed.
No one is allowed to enter.
We might be able to leave but the borders of
the other islands are closed as well.
A
fellow cruiser tried to go to the next island, Anguilla, 6 nm away and was
turned away.
 |
| The anchorage looking north with Anguilla in the distance - so close yet unattainable |
 |
| The town of Marigot - view from Songster |
So how are we spending our days during quarantine?
Our days are much the same.
We do boat chores, read, write, listen to music,
watch the other boats in the harbour, have a swim and marvel at the sunsets at
the end of the day.
 |
| Sunset Marigot Bay |
What we don’t do is go ashore to have long exploratory walks
followed by a cuppa in a café or meet up with other cruisers for sundowners.
Being a nerdy, retired epidemiologist, extra
activities for me include spending hours each day pouring over the publicly
available raw data of the pandemic spread on the WHO, CDC and Johns Hopkins Dashboard
web sites to keep informed and cross check the media reports.
Korea has done a fantastic job of containing the virus. Pandora's box has truly been opened in Italy, Spain and France. I fear the same fate for the US but am a bit more hopeful for Australia. Time will tell. No one knows what might happen with this new virus. So far there has been an unfortuanate unco-ordinated and generally weak and late world response. Will humans ever learn?
We also check the cruisers websites, such as Noonsite, for
the latest updates on border closures and entry restrictions. The morning VHF radio net, a great cruiser
resource in all large harbours that gives weather forecasts, treasures of the
bilge for sale or swap, and announcements of social activities, is now taken up
with queries on what documentation is needed to go ashore, what is considered
an essential service, can one still buy LPG or diesel, are laundromats open and
uniquely here in St Martin, are regulations different on the Dutch side across
the lagoon.
 |
| French form which must be completed and carried with you if going ashore |
 |
| A few days ago this health declaration was all the additional paperwork that was needed to enter the BVIs. Now the borders are closed to all visiting yachts |
 |
| The Dutch and French sections of St Martin-St Maarten |
So we wait and watch developments. The main concern for cruisers in the
Caribbean is whether mobility will be restored in time to get our boats out of
harm’s way before the start of the hurricane season. We were intending to sail up to Deltaville,
VA to put Songster on the hard and on
the market so we can return to Australia.
Once again our plans seem to be written in sand at low tide.
