Well, we are at home in Saskatoon, SK Canada… just finished shoveling 30-40cm of snow (our first snowfall) and thinking about when we can possibly get back to sailing.
As most of you know, we got back to Canada on March 30th… catching the 2nd last repatriation flight out of Grenada. Once arriving at home we went into 14 days of isolation till mid-April. Unfortunately the end of April my mom got very sick with a septic infection. She was hospitalized for 3 weeks. One of the side-effects of infection in the elderly is delirium. My last conversation with mom as I knew her was the end of April before she got sick. Through the summer mom was hospitalized with infection again the end of June and the delirium did not go away. We think there was probably some dementia as well. Fortunately my brothers and I we were able to care for mom in her home until she passed on September 24th. It was a difficult summer, but I am so glad that I was able to get home and be here for my mom.
We did manage to get out on Dragonfly (our 26′ mono hull) for 3 2-night getaways, until we broke the mast the beginning of August… but that’s another story.
So what do we do now… until early September covid in Saskatchewan was really under control. There were a few cases, but life had gotten almost back to “normal”. Mid-September numbers started going up and now we are averaging 120+ cases per day for a 1.2million population. The numbers are going up daily. Both Scott & my businesses have been affected by covid… we are still working, trying to do the best we can. Its all we can do.
Adiona is “on the hard” in a boat yard in Grenada. Not cheap to store your boat, but safer than leaving her in the water. And she does need some maintenance when we eventually get back. The boat yard will be sandblasting the hull over the next month (so that we can repaint the bottom when we get back)… and servicing the sail drives. So when can we get back? Unfortunately we are pretty much in the same situation as when we left Grenada… things are changing almost daily! Until a few days ago, Grenada had remained almost covid-free. When we left there were a TOTAL of 20 or so cases… now they are at 32. Unfortunately the last 2 known infected have managed to spread it around Grenada. Until a month ago, Canada was considered a low-risk country and entry regulations were minimal. Now we are considered a high-risk country… 🙁 Which means getting a negative covid test before we get on the plane, a covid test when we arrive at the airport in Grenada…. and quarantine in an approved hotel until negative test results (about a week). That is now… things may change tomorrow. The day after we left Grenada in March, it went into lock down… yachties were not allowed to leave their boats… not even to the beaches. There was 1 day per week when you were allowed to go to the grocery store! This may again happen because unfortunately 2 tourists did not think the quarantine rules applied to them. We really don’t want to go back to Grenada in the middle of a lock down.
We are hoping to head to Grenada after the Christmas holidays. Hopefully by then the airlines will have a bit more stability. Right now there are flights from Toronto to Grenada being scheduled, but unfortunately cancelled because of lack of passengers. Some flights are going out, but very unpredictable. The covid situation in Canada is changing daily… we are faced with these uncertainties. Once we get to Grenada we will most likely have 1 week in quarantine at an approved facility until we get negative test results, then we are allowed to live on our boat at the boat yard for up to 1 week. This gives us a week to get everything done on the boat that requires it out of the water. Painting the bottom and whatever else. Then we can get it launched and we can live on it while at anchor. Whether or not we will be able to leave Grenada and where we will go… well it all depends. Each country in the Carribean has different covid rules & regulations… and everything changes almost daily. Right now, we don’t even dare to make plans… we will go where ever the wind takes us.. and which ever country will let us in. Hopefully we will be able to travel as far north to the Bahamas… maybe we will have to go west toward Panama. But all we know, is that we must live our dream while we can.
Yes, living through this pandemic and being so restricted in our movements, I would say that, Yes – do all you can in this short lifetime. All the best, Donna Lamers ( I will help keep an eye on your Mom, Scott).