Barbuda Day #37

Updates

• Unfortunately, there has been one more case of Covid-19 on Antigua.
• Several people in Barbuda are in self quarantine because they came into contact with this person.
• Still 14 boats here, but many considering a departure in the next few days.
• We have a tentative plan to leave on Monday, sail to Antigua to purchase real groceries, and fill up our fuel tanks. After that we will look for a good weather window and do our best to sail Kim home to Newport. (More on this later)

Projects

• Still no progress on the Heater project. The next step involves a hacksaw and most of you know how I feel about drilling holes or cutting anything on Morpheus. Will get to it soon.
• I broke down the windlass today and re-greased everything. The windlass has been solid but seems to have been losing power lately. Perhaps taking some friction out of the equation will help.
• Debbie has made three loaves of bread in the past three days. They are GREAT! Far better than the freeze dried emergency food that we’ve been “enjoying” for the past few days.

• Laundry has become a bit of an issue onboard. After 35+ days we finally improvised by turning our cooler into a washing machine, filling it with clothes, and stomping back and forth like we were crushing grapes!

Entertainment

• Our evenings have been very busy.
• Two nights ago we were invited onboard a catamaran for drinks and a game of “Cards Against Humanity” by the owners from Alabama. We were joined by two other catamaran couples. One from Oklahoma, the other from the Pacific Northwest. Our friends from Bounty joined us of course.
• Later that night, Deb, Kim and I grabbed a drink and climbed into the dinghy for a nighttime star watching drift. It was super super dark and the stars were amazing. This is one very dark island at night. We untied from Morpheus and just drifted out to sea for 30-40 minutes. The Southern Cross was the highlight.

• Last night, it was dinner onboard Bounty. Captain Pete cooked up a delicious “mystery meat” curry. It tasted great and our best guess was that the meat was pork?

Random Thoughts

So, we’ve talked about the fact that this small closed community that we are currently sharing the anchorage with represents an island of virus safety that we will probably not enjoy again for a year or more.

We feel very safe here and knowing that everyone around us has been here and healthy for over a month let’s us relax a bit and enjoy getting out and about a bit.

Leaving is a big decision because once we leave we can’t turn around and come back. The door only opens out right now.

But, we have to get Kim home.

No flights from Antigua, and we are all concerned about the risks to her via air travel.

That pretty much leaves sailing Morpheus North to somewhere along the East Coast. Right now we are thinking that we will try for Newport, and use Charleston, SC as a backup.

It’s a bit early weather wise for this type of trip. We can probably get to Charleston with good weather, but the chances of getting to Newport without running into strong winds is pretty low.

With each passing week the bad weather moves a bit more to the North. Late May would be a better time, but again Kim has been with us for more than six weeks. She would like to see her husband and her dogs!!

And, there is the fact that once we arrive we will then need to deal with a two week quarantine onboard. That probably means that Kim has at least another month before she can get home!! Ouch.

Even after all of that, what will we be faced with? Should we plan on spending the next six months on the boat, or should we go home?

Hurricane season makes staying where we are impossible, but it sure seems like our alternatives are pretty dangerous as well.

We are open to any thoughts that people might have for us. Those of you living along the east coast might have some thoughts about which way you would lean in terms of destinations etc.

Is it time to park the boat and return to land? Or, is the boat now a better safer option than ever?

So many questions.

What do you think??