Living on a Sailboat exploring the world
What to do when you’re in a harbor near an unoccupied island surrounded by boat friends but not allowed to mingle? Sava organized a socially distant scavenger hunt for eight of our buddy boats this weekend!
First step, find a mobile app. Brian found Goose Chase and created the hunt. Of course, we needed to think of challenges for the competitors. Since we are located near Great Bird Island, we set up the scavenger hunt there.
Everybody is getting bored of lockdown, except for our cat Domino. This is normal life for her: she hasn’t left the boat since last February when we stayed overnight at our friends’ Louis and Susan’s place in Miami. So the question isn’t so much where’s Domino in the world, just where’s Domino on the boat.
Domino moves around our boat like it’s hers, and she has her favorite spots to relax. Also, the boat isn’t that big so she doesn’t have too many options! She goes from our bed to her food bowl to the salon couch to the bookshelf and back and forth and in between during daytime hours.
Cruisers are a social bunch, so this “stay on your boat” business is wearing thin. I am sure everyone can relate no matter where you are social distancing. Fortunately, we cruisers are pretty ingenious too, and we’ve created our own fun. Learn what we’re doing for lockdown entertainment in Antigua.
First, an update on what is going on in our part of the world. Antigua is ramping up efforts to test their citizens, and to protect them from the virus.
As of midnight on April 1st, the country locked down for everything except essential businesses which are open for limited hours. Supermarkets and pharmacies are considered essential, and are open daily from 7a-12n, which means very long lines to provision. Not that we would know: our last trip to the store was 2 weeks ago yesterday and we’ve been sequestered in a remote anchorage for over a week filling the time with useful projects.
On Tuesday, Antigua announced its first death from Covid-19, followed quickly by a second. The island wide lockdown is extended another week, and Easter weekend means full closures this Friday, Sunday and Monday.
Brian, Domino and I are anchored in a big beautiful protected bay alongside about 20 other boats. Our anchorage is outside of the public eye, away from towns, marinas and even the main island, but we have our boat buddies. We moved to this anchorage with 5 other boats we knew, and have since met the occupants of a few others, either via VHF, electronically, or from our dinghies. Social distancing rules apply on the water too.
