Sailing through a Pandemic

“It’s never too late in life to have a genuine adventure.” Robert Kurson

So after ninety one days stranded at anchor in various stages of enforced lockdown in French Saint Martin, we have finally had a chance to move south. Grenada has graciously opened their borders to a limited extent to let boats stranded in the hurricane zone in. With several tropical cyclonic storms already being named this season, and the risk of borders closing quickly again in the event of a second wave of the pandemic, we knew it was time to go.

The direct passage from Saint Martin on SV Cirrus took a little over three days and three nights. All in all, we had a fast albeit lumpy passage with a short period swell. Each day dusk would bring reasonably high squally winds forcing us to sail at night under three reefs with just a little bit of headsail. On the second night at dusk we watched a long shelf cloud form behind us then spawn two tornadic waterspouts which made it about halfway down from the shelf cloud to the sea. At dusk on the third night we almost lost the boom as a nylock nut on the gooseneck that connects the boom to the mast worked loose and came off the main bolt. Luckily, Adriana noticed the bolt hanging half way out the gooseneck on the boom as she was putting the 3rd reef in for the night. After lashing the boom on with some dyneema as a precaution we were able to bend the bolt back into shape and hammer it back in and secure it with a new nut. The days however were much more relaxed with moderate winds most of the time and a few lulls. We caught 4 fish, a delicious mahi mahi, two giant amberjacks, and the highlight of the trip was when Augie caught a great barracuda as long as he is on a homemade lure he made himself when he was just four.

Shifts on a yacht are exhausting with three young kids, especially with a one year old toddler who has little respect for sleep schedules. When we finally arrived here we were exhausted but elated. The feeling of relief is hard to describe that we are no longer stranded in the middle of the hurricane belt. In Saint Martin as the months rolled on, we watched as all surrounding borders shut and most of the European and North American vessels slowly left for their home ports. In contrast the southern hemisphere flagged yachts in the anchorage (predominately Australian, New Zealand, and South African) were many months sail from home ports, with almost no ports offering foreign yachts shelter along the way. That Grenada graciously opened their borders to a limited extent to let stranded boats in we will always be grateful for. Likewise we are grateful that Saint Martin did not round up foreign vessels and expel them as had happened to some people we met who were in surrounding countries (like Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico).

Now we are in Grenada we must stay for two weeks in quarantine on the boat in a designated anchorage and then take some COVID tests. If cleared and granted entry hopefully we will have a little more freedom to explore this beautiful part of the world. The last three months of our lives have for me certainly been some of the most challenging mentally with some significant low periods. It has been all too easy to fall into despondency. Caged in on the yacht with small kids who were for months not even allowed onto the beach 100m away to run and play. Nowhere to go, no way out, and part of a small overlooked minority group at the mercy of foreign bureaucrats who are trying to manage the pandemic as best they can for their own domestic populations. Our travel and health insurance was retrospectively voided due to government issued travel bans despite it predating the pandemic, and now we were looking at our yacht insurance being voided for remaining inside the hurricane zone during hurricane season. Slowly but steadily our stress levels ratcheted up as the months passed and the hurricane season got closer. In the end we simply had to move psychologically to the next level, and get to work to prepare and provision our vessel to run out to sea,or a yet unknown foreign port, for an extended period of time if we were given notice of an approaching storm. We had nowhere to legally go and a significant risk that we may not be readmitted back to Saint Martin if we left. It was obvious from the literally scores of wrecked boats scattered around that staying at anchor in Saint Martin during a hurricane was simply not an option. When Grenada finally opened it was like a great weight had been lifted.

Strange times for everyone around the world no doubt at the moment. I have always been one for working towards grand plans and ventures. Now it is impossible to have any. Instead we live day to day trying to focus on the small things. Watching the kids grow up, our good health, the simple joys of snorkeling and swimming around the boat and looking at the stars and the waves. I wish I could finish by saying this has resulted in some sort of simplicity driven Zen happiness, but life is not Hollywood, and the reality is that it has been difficult. Yet we are here, we are safe, and we are looking forward to experiencing what life throws at us next. If you take the path less traveled, you have to expect a few bumps in the road. I have not been onto land to explore (only to provision) for almost 4 months now. Hopefully this changes soon!

The shot is of us on SV Cirrus in an isolated sport off the north west of Barbuda in some squally weather.

If you would like to learn a little bit more about my background in photography you can read the interview @photofeed did with me here.

Robert Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

_{All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}