After spending 3 weeks in a remote anchorage, and not visiting a supermarket in almost 4 weeks, the crew of Sava needed supplies. Our intrepid captain Brian summoned up his skills from a past life as a restaurateur and found a wholesaler to stock our anchorage. We are becoming experts at provisioning during Covid-19 curfew.
Straight to the Source
Brian’s idea was brilliant because the wholesaler has scant customers right now. The hotels, resorts and restaurants that are their regular businesses are all shuttered. We cruisers stepped in to fill the void, and our pantries, fridges and freezers and bars. This was a good provisioning.
Google Docs FTW
The wonders of technology, and Brian’s skills, made this provisioning pretty pain free. The wholesaler sent us 4 lists of products and prices, we made them available to our 7 buddy boats, and people spent a day creating their orders.
We used shared google docs folder so we could see each other’s orders, which was really helpful because many of the supplies were only available in bulk. But what’s 15 lbs of bacon or pork loin between 7 boats?
The selection and prices were great, and we got the order in by end of day Friday. On Monday, the sales rep confirmed and questioned a few items on our list and arranged pickup. The curfew is in place 24/7 and we are only allowed to onshore for exercise and shopping between 7a-12noon. So on Tuesday morning, a few cruisers put on their face coverings and picked up the goods. Lots of goods.
Combine that with the most recent produce pickup organized by a fellow cruiser from a local farm cooperative and Sava and her buddy boats are stocked for a while.
The lockdown continues in Antigua, and but we have lots of essentials, including bacon and booze. Provisioning during Covid-19 curfew doesn’t have to be difficult when you do it with friends.