Tuesday, June 23, 2020


Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Quarantine Anchorage (Sailor/Wuflu Jail), Grenada – Day 7
12.02.484N
61.45.411W

Remember when you were little and your underwear had all the days of the week on them?  Those would be helpful right now.

Believe it or not, we just spent a night where we didn’t have to jump up and down all night to close the hatches for rain.  I actually got a good nights’ sleep. 

Today was the same as yesterday, except that Dale’s last toilet fix seems to have eliminated the leak.  The thing both Savannah and I noticed, was that it sounds different now.  Its much louder.  Not sure how one thing has to do with the other but just an observation. 

Dale and I are tag teaming classes these days.  I do piano, math and reading in the morning, he does the science brain quests and swim lessons in the afternoon.  Today’s math lesson had to do with counting money, so instead of having her draw everything out, I dug out real coins and went from there.  It seems to have captured her attention better. 

Gerry seemed occupied by finding an after quarantine marina to celebrate our release from WuFlu Jail.  At first I was trying to take the cheap route but then when he pointed out that we would have been in a marina had we actually made Trinidad on time, I was all for it.  (Yeah! Twist my arm!)  Air conditioning? – please!  Pool? – absolutely!  Since he has more parameters that must be met than us, we’ll just tag along.  Where ever they’re happy, we’ll be happy too.  By evening, he settled on the marina that is serving as the Quarantine Dock.  Best monthly prices and 110/60 (American) electricity.  Unfortunately, Nicky is still nursing a torn meniscus and prefers a side to tie up for getting on and off the boat.  As electricity won out over position on the dock, Port Luis (the marina) won out although it is a med-moor tie.  We’re hoping that Opal will be put either next to us or Texas Crewed so that she can cross to our boat and then off the stern.  We’ll see what happens. 

I also took the opportunity to write to the Grenadian Ministry of Health requesting that our 5 day transit (with departure papers from St. Thomas) be taken into consideration for the 14 day quarantine.  The officer from the Ministry of Health had suggested that we write.  It’s a long shot but its just a request.  If they say no, we’re no worse off. 

Dale and Savannah did their evening swim (with fins) out to the anchor – yep, still holding.  The Grenadian Coast Guard made their rounds through the anchorage and didn’t even slow near us today.  Tomorrow, since we seem to be holding, we’ll put up the sun shades to ride out the remaining time at anchor.  We didn’t want to go through all of the work of putting them up just to take them down in an emergency move. 

That’s it for today. 

Finally:  It may take a whole village to raise a child but I swear it will take an entire distillery to homeschool one. 

Monday, June 22, 2020

Quarantine Anchorage (Sailor/Wuflu Jail), Grenada – Day 5
12.02.484N
61.45.411W

Happy Birthday Fred !

So let me get this straight.  There’s no cure for a virus that can be KILLED by sanitizer and hand soap. 

Not much to write about today.  Savannah and I did our routine, piano, math and reading comprehension classes.  Dale tore the toilet apart again.  His last recourse was to check the seal on the shaft leading to the macerator pump.  We’re waiting to find out if this takes care of the problem. 

Another Hazy Day!
This morning on the cruisers net, they reiterated that we are not to swing by our neighbors and talk with them.  We shouldn’t even talk back and forth between boats if we are close enough to do so.  We must radio ahead for permission to bring in trash.  If we choose to use the internet shopping option, we are to wait until delivery is made to the Quarantine Dock and then contacted by the Quarantine Dock to come in to pick up our purchases.  We are not to deploy any inflatable toys or appear to be having a good time.  As it was explained, if the locals can’t go out and about or visit the beaches, we aren’t to appear to be in any better circumstances.  Of course, all of these are subject to fine and/or imprisonment upon violation.  This is too bizarre to even comment upon.  The item that really got me going was, even after you get out of quarantine, you cannot visit other boats in other anchorages.  You can meet in a restaurant and sit across the table from them, but you can’t visit each others’ boats.  Incredible!!

After that, the only thing exciting that happened today was that the Grenadian Coast Guard came around and told several boats they had to move behind the buoys marking the boundaries of the Quarantine Anchorage.  When they came to us, Dale told them that we had already reanchored 5 times in an effort to find a holding place.  They checked their maps and then said we could stay.  Looking at the boundary markers, I think we were right on the line.  Maybe Savannah standing by her Papa helped; who knows.  Our neighbors to the right of us picked up their anchor and reanchored directly behind us.  Our neighbors to the left simply let out more rode.  Dale and he hollered back and forth a few times and we let out more of our chain as well.  Once the swinging went into motion, we let out even more.  All said and done, we have every link possible deployed but we’re still holding and don’t want to give up our tenuous purchase.  

Dale and Savannah make a coordinated run into town to dump a bag of trash.  It just so happened that Gerry was taking his trash in at the same time.  Imagine that!  Gerry relayed that he learned that more than 300 cruisers have been tested for CoVid19, not one has tested positive. 

Finally:  If these last few months have taught us anything—its that stupidity travels faster than any virus on the planet.