Caribbean lockdown

geem

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The food containers from Miami are on a long cycle. What they get this week was ordered 6 weeks ago. If there is panic buying and hoarding some people will not be able to buy food for a long while. Miami’s is one of the worst infected areas, who knows what disruption they will have. Then there is the economic issue. The people have no income now and the government has no money and has a notorious habit of paying its wages very late. Almost no welfare too. So couple no income and no food and fear of each other because of the disease and desperation then you have potentially big problems.
Agreed. I dont think the situation will be any different in st Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines or Grenada. The French islands, who knows. Martinique has lots of virus cases so not a place we would want to be at the moment.

Sailing home could still be a viable option
 

Bajansailor

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Grenada is really clamping down - this will be our next step if people here don't behave. But so far so good, the Authorities here are taking it very seriously (we have a 2000 - 0600 hrs curfew, and only essential services are open) and I think that folk here are generally being sensible. We have a total of 34 known cases here - one more was reported yesterday.
Grenada declares 24 hour curfew

Yachts are still welcome here - a friend of a friend arrived yesterday from the South Atlantic - haven't talked to him but I am asssuming that he has to do 2 weeks quarantine on board.

I saw this post (copied below) on FB about St Vincent - they have one officially reported case so far.
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Should you be visiting St Vincent & The Grenadines, you will already know that you can only enter legally at St Vincent (Walliliabou, Kingstown),.

When you book in you will need to undertake a mandatory 14 days quarantine, this will NOT be on your boat.

You will have to seek accommodation on land at YOUR expense (& find somewhere who will agree to accommodate you during this time), & not go outside at all during this quarantine period. This allows the authorities to ensure you follow quarantine protocol.

You will not be allowed to go to your boat or any ANYWHERE during this time, you will be on a complete lockdown at your accommodation.

You will need to pay for this accommodation yourself, along with having food delivered to you.

So please do not argue with authorities, this is the decision they have made in order to keep SVG virus-free.
 

geem

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Grenada is really clamping down - this will be our next step if people here don't behave. But so far so good, the Authorities here are taking it very seriously (we have a 2000 - 0600 hrs curfew, and only essential services are open) and I think that folk here are generally being sensible. We have a total of 34 known cases here - one more was reported yesterday.
Grenada declares 24 hour curfew

Yachts are still welcome here - a friend of a friend arrived yesterday from the South Atlantic - haven't talked to him but I am asssuming that he has to do 2 weeks quarantine on board.

I saw this post (copied below) on FB about St Vincent - they have one officially reported case so far.
-------
Should you be visiting St Vincent & The Grenadines, you will already know that you can only enter legally at St Vincent (Walliliabou, Kingstown),.

When you book in you will need to undertake a mandatory 14 days quarantine, this will NOT be on your boat.

You will have to seek accommodation on land at YOUR expense (& find somewhere who will agree to accommodate you during this time), & not go outside at all during this quarantine period. This allows the authorities to ensure you follow quarantine protocol.

You will not be allowed to go to your boat or any ANYWHERE during this time, you will be on a complete lockdown at your accommodation.

You will need to pay for this accommodation yourself, along with having food delivered to you.

So please do not argue with authorities, this is the decision they have made in order to keep SVG virus-free.
You cant blame these small countries for having the strictest rules in place. They have very little money and decrepit healthcare systems. The impact of large number of covid-19 cases would be catastrophic on their aged population.
 

sailaboutvic

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Agreed. I dont think the situation will be any different in st Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines or Grenada. The French islands, who knows. Martinique has lots of virus cases so not a place we would want to be at the moment.

Sailing home could still be a viable option
Home to where? it seen the Azores are now close to all vessel so it would mean a non stop sail all the way back to the UK and in the time your at sea who know what your going to find in restrictions when you arrive back,
Isn't it better just to sit it out .
What the case if you're at anchor inside one country? Are you still aloud to go ashore and get supplies?
I know what on all our friends mind , the hurricane season isn't too far away .
I tell you it's not good in Europe at the moment we going from the 4th of April to the 12th April now and we are all expecting them to extend the lock down beyond that .
 

Beneteau381

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Pretty much believe we had it just after Xmas and into the new year. My business has mostly Chinese clientele. Of course I would shake hands with many people throughout the day. So over Xmas I had something,' different' felt pretty ill then had a breathless night and a hacking cough for a few days, very dry with no phlegm.
My partner had it in January, her cough was worse, one night I almost called the ambulance because of her shortness of breath but she told me not to be so silly.

She found she could breathe easier in a steamy shower, so I bought a steam inhaler which worked wonders for her.
So it makes me wonder if the virus was in the UK a month to six weeks before the official start date.
Similar story to ours in mid Feb, bro in law visited from HK.
 

capnsensible

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Yes, it’s a bit of a rain magnet area. An interesting thing, because it should be a rain shadow, but it works the other way round in many Caribbean islands.
Yeah, Ive been there quite a bit. Rain is a good excuse to linger in bars! Well it was.....

Finally heard from our other friends in Nonsuch. They had fully victualled for a charter which was cancelled the day before arrival. So theyve got stacks to eat but need to get some fresh soon.
As in your later post, whilst its calm there now, the worry is what happens when food for locals runs short? Thats starting to worry them a little.
There will be an RN vessel around somewhere plus France and Holland maintain a military presence to assist keeping order typically post hurricanes. Lets keep fingers crossed thats not necessary for this.
Hope it goes well for everyone there. (y)
 

geem

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Which could easily be followed by a nasty hurricane, so a double whammy.
Yes, but three months away until hurricane season. A lot can happen then
Home to where? it seen the Azores are now close to all vessel so it would mean a non stop sail all the way back to the UK and in the time your at sea who know what your going to find in restrictions when you arrive back,
Isn't it better just to sit it out .
What the case if you're at anchor inside one country? Are you still aloud to go ashore and get supplies?
I know what on all our friends mind , the hurricane season isn't too far away .
I tell you it's not good in Europe at the moment we going from the 4th of April to the 12th April now and we are all expecting them to extend the lock down beyond that .
We would sail home to the UK. The dilemma being that we cannot leave our current island for a hurricane safe one and meet our insurance requirements. We would need to leave here in May to head home. Any later and you run the risk of hurricanes catching you up as you cross the Atlantic. We have a month to see how thing develop here in the Caribbean then we need to make a decision as to whether we stay or sail home.
The Ocean Cruising Club has started a facebook group of potential sailors looking to sail West to East. There was 61 interests this morning when I looked. We have satellite comms so we would be fully aware of what the picture is at home should we decide to make the journey. Its about 4000nm so probably over a month at sea for most people crossing back. We are hoping that the Azores will allow us to stop onroute since all boats would be at least two weeks at sea if coming direct from the Leewards. We will see.
 

sailaboutvic

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Yes, but three months away until hurricane season. A lot can happen then

We would sail home to the UK. The dilemma being that we cannot leave our current island for a hurricane safe one and meet our insurance requirements. We would need to leave here in May to head home. Any later and you run the risk of hurricanes catching you up as you cross the Atlantic. We have a month to see how thing develop here in the Caribbean then we need to make a decision as to whether we stay or sail home.
The Ocean Cruising Club has started a facebook group of potential sailors looking to sail West to East. There was 61 interests this morning when I looked. We have satellite comms so we would be fully aware of what the picture is at home should we decide to make the journey. Its about 4000nm so probably over a month at sea for most people crossing back. We are hoping that the Azores will allow us to stop onroute since all boats would be at least two weeks at sea if coming direct from the Leewards. We will see.
Let's hope for your sake and many others the situation changes.
 

Resolution

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Yes, but three months away until hurricane season. A lot can happen then

We would sail home to the UK. The dilemma being that we cannot leave our current island for a hurricane safe one and meet our insurance requirements. We would need to leave here in May to head home. Any later and you run the risk of hurricanes catching you up as you cross the Atlantic. We have a month to see how thing develop here in the Caribbean then we need to make a decision as to whether we stay or sail home.
The Ocean Cruising Club has started a facebook group of potential sailors looking to sail West to East. There was 61 interests this morning when I looked. We have satellite comms so we would be fully aware of what the picture is at home should we decide to make the journey. Its about 4000nm so probably over a month at sea for most people crossing back. We are hoping that the Azores will allow us to stop onroute since all boats would be at least two weeks at sea if coming direct from the Leewards. We will see.
Geem
In one of the other threads you showed a picture of your yacht which did look rather fine for ocean cruising (if a little bit old :devilish: :devilish: ). Can you tell us what make or type it is? Just curiosity, I am not trying to re-ignite the MAB vs AWB argument.
Peter
 

geem

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Geem
In one of the other threads you showed a picture of your yacht which did look rather fine for ocean cruising (if a little bit old :devilish: :devilish: ). Can you tell us what make or type it is? Just curiosity, I am not trying to re-ignite the MAB vs AWB argument.
Peter
Peter, she is a Trintella 44 designed by Van de Stadt.
She is a little bit old but it’s interesting that I did a rig check yesterday. Broken wire strand on the babystay. Thats the newest wire on the boat! Just removed and fixed with a Norseman fork.
I think once you get to a certain age a lot of stuff on old boats is no longer old. For example ours had a replacement engine before we bought it. I replaced the diesel generator and fitted new and larger winches. She has had new sails and will be due some more when we get back to the UK. She had new paint when we got her and we were onroute to Trinidad for a new paint job when this covid-19 stopped all that. We have done new upholstery twice! If we had bought a newer boat we would be well into some of the jobs we have done so assuming the hull is good all boat tends to get like Triggers broom after a while?
 

Resolution

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Peter, she is a Trintella 44 designed by Van de Stadt.
She is a little bit old but it’s interesting that I did a rig check yesterday. Broken wire strand on the babystay. Thats the newest wire on the boat! Just removed and fixed with a Norseman fork.
I think once you get to a certain age a lot of stuff on old boats is no longer old. For example ours had a replacement engine before we bought it. I replaced the diesel generator and fitted new and larger winches. She has had new sails and will be due some more when we get back to the UK. She had new paint when we got her and we were onroute to Trinidad for a new paint job when this covid-19 stopped all that. We have done new upholstery twice! If we had bought a newer boat we would be well into some of the jobs we have done so assuming the hull is good all boat tends to get like Triggers broom after a while?
Thanks. It is often true that the enjoyment of quality craftmanship lasts longer than the pain of paying for it in the first place!
 

capnsensible

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As Capn Sensible says 'There will be an RN vessel around somewhere'.

I saw one in the harbour here today - she is not showing up on Marinetraffic though.
So I did a bit of googling, and found that this is HMS Medway.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ai...962/mmsi:232005753/imo:9752060/vessel:MEDWAY/

HMS Medway sets sail for the Caribbean
Hiya. RFA Argus is on her way now with a medical team onboard. France is preparing to send a similar sort of vessel and its rumoured the Dutch are too.

RFA Argus sails for the Caribbean today ready to provide medical support if needed | Save the Royal Navy

(y)
 

Bajansailor

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That is wonderful news re RFA Argus.

They mention :
'RFA Argus sailed from Plymouth this afternoon on a long-planned deployment to the Caribbean. Equipped with a 100-bed medical facility she may be called upon to assist British Overseas Territories dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak.'

The British Overseas Territories are places like the Cayman Islands, the BVI's and Bermuda - however if things get out of control here (looking like a good possibility of this happening) then I hope that they will come and give us a hand as well.
 

newtothis

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Hum, a fair bit of Just Hoping ... I think somewhat Draconian actions are being taken on flimsy data. The only place where real testing happened was a cruise ship of oldies, 20% showed the virus and 1% of them died. Wooh. Sounds like flu to me. Easier to govern people if you tellem to all stay home, police and educators will also be in favour. Data collectors are encouraged to find as many cases as possible. China, Italy, Iran don’t feel reliable data sources, not really. 3,000 people a day die from suicides, 3,000 from traffic accidents, 2,000 from falling over. Shamdemic.

I just hope you have the courage to come back on here in four weeks time and apologise for being so totally wrong.
If it has petered out by then I would be delighted to come back and praise you for being right when so many experts with all their data sources were wrong.

Still sounding like the flu? Your four weeks are up.
 

Bajansailor

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We are still on lockdown here - 76 cases in total so far, 5 deaths.
We were doing really well and had I think 6 days with no new cases, but then we got another new case yesterday along with death #6.
All beaches are out of bounds during the lockdown here, which many folk are upset about.
And we are still under Prohibition (for the past few weeks) with a blanket ban on all alcohol sales which is also upsetting folk.
 

geem

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We are still on lockdown here - 76 cases in total so far, 5 deaths.
We were doing really well and had I think 6 days with no new cases, but then we got another new case yesterday along with death #6.
All beaches are out of bounds during the lockdown here, which many folk are upset about.
And we are still under Prohibition (for the past few weeks) with a blanket ban on all alcohol sales which is also upsetting folk.
We have some French friends anchored in Carlyle Bay. They went to get a new Doyle sail made then got locked down. They told us the other boats there all arrived from across the Atlantic. A bit of a bummer for those new arrivals.
 

Bajansailor

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How long ago did your French friends arrive here? And the other boats?
Re a lockdown for boats in Carlisle Bay, are they literally not allowed to go ashore at all?
Only one yacht (Gyp Seas) is showing up on Marine Traffic in Carlisle Bay - she has been here a while.
The French yacht Pitou One II sailed from Carlisle Bay up to the anchorage off Port St Charles yesterday.
There is also an Aussie yacht called 'The Mob' anchored off PSC.
And there are two sizeable motor yachts moored on the breakwater of PSC - they have both been here a while.

Changing tack, are yourselves still planning on returning to Europe soon?
 
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