Friday 20 Mar, KY day 6: Our daily digest of news and catching up with friends and relatives takes us till midday today. Then, to keep up with the selfish idiot trend in Britain, it’s time for our own panic buying!
But first, some work. The anchor locker is calling. When we lifted the anchor in Montego Bay we got quite a lot of mud in the locker. Plus, as it looks like we won’t be anchoring for a while, it’s a good time to clean and flush with fresh water. So anchor and all the chain take a rest on the sandy seabed while I descend into the empty locker with the hose and scrubbing brush. The locker is pretty deep, about 2m, so once inside, I make sure job is done well because it’s a challenge to get back out again! Then, in the water, I scrub the chain with a stiff brush while Oana pulls it up 1m at a time. Finally everything is rinsed with fresh water. Always a satisfying job to do. Now, let’s not anchor in mud again for a while, please!
By mid-afternoon, as the wind starts dropping, the swell creeps into the bay and Oana is starting to feel unwell as Cloudy is bouncing around a bit. So it’s time to stretch legs ashore. We dinghy ashore and walk for 30 minute across town to the depot that sells Nespresso coffee capsules. Never mind panic buying toilet roll, we are more concerned about running out of our daily treat of morning expreso! We had last stocked in USA with enough supplies to last us till Panama in April, so we are now running a bit short. Thankfully, no empty shelves in this warehouse, and when we hear the price (3x Europe price!) we understand why no one is lining up outside.
From our price-shock panic buying we head back into town to treat ourselves to second culinary passion, Thai food. We make the most of the friendly Thai restaurant before it closes on Monday. We are the only ones eating there. Gladly, we hear they will remain open for take-outs, if there is enough demand. Then it’s back to Cloudy with our tummies very full of that delicious spicy food. Will likely need the fire extinguisher at the ready for tomorrow morning’s ablutions!
Our evening is quiet. We make our own cocktails on board and continue to edit videos. The Exumas video clips seem never ending, but finally we are getting to see the end. The Bahamas will likely be 3-4 more videos! Previously, we were doing one video per Caribbean island.
Regarding Covid-19 on the island, it’s still just 2 confirmed cases that we know of. Better than any other Caribbean island. The students arrive back from Europe over the coming 2 days. And we are glad to hear that 14 days isolation is now mandatory for them, not just advisory. Seeing all the USA spring-break students flicking to Florida on cheap flights, we are glad the authorities here are being more strict.
We notice the French boat near us, that arrived 2 days ago still has the Q-flag up. So they too must be in quarantine, as directed. We’ll keep an eagle eye on them to make sure they don’t sneak ashore! That said, they only left Jamaica 2 days after us. They had been anchored next to us in Montego Bay.