Hello to our readers, this specific post below will be updated every few days, so if you remember this above title and can go back and to the bottom you may like to see the "very latest". I have inserted news and tidbits of information along the way. It is an isolating time down here as we just wave to fellow boaters. Except for our buddy boat Blue Horizon we have had no guests on board or we on others. Isolation happens in the boating community too. Bahamas is taking this very serious and measures are in place here too.
March 1
Ft. Lauderdale for 2 nights downtown up the New River.
March 3
Key Biscayne for one night anchored. The quietest night I could remember. We bought diesel on our way at Keystone Marina for $2.79 a gallon. This was a self serve place, not pleasant!
March 4
Our travels to Bimini, uneventful. Checked in with Customs and Immigration and got our cruising permit. Stayed at Blue Water Marina, our favourite.
March 5
Spent all day on the banks, saw no boats close-by. We arrived at dinner hour to Chub Cay and anchored there.
March 6
Bought fuel at Hurricane Hole Marina in Nassau at $4.36 a gallon. High winds and waves, travelled to Rose Island to anchor there and wait.
March 12
We need some produce, we went to Nassau Harbour Club and spent night there. Did laundry and shopped and tried the brand new upscale restaurant at the marina! Delicious and excellent service. Our friends on Blue Horizon saying good-bye to friends on board their boat.
Canada is asking citizens to come home as the coronavirus becomes serious in many countries.
March 13
Norman's Cay, our favourite island. Relax and enjoy the nicer weather now.
March 15
Staniel Cay as we have guests flying into here. We buy produce again at stores.
March 16
Our guests cancel coming as West Jet and Air Canada will be unreliable and not sure if flights can take them back in a weeks time. Plus, they would need a 14 day quarantine after they arrive back to Canada. We totally understand and do not want them to get the virus and bring on board to Time Out with them. We are sad but happy too, staying healthy down here is our priority.
March 18
US declares emergency. Canada and USA close borders to each other.
March 20
Went for a walk on shore. The Yacht Club inside is for their guests only. If want food it will be take-out only. We buy a little more food in store and ready to isolate even more. Bahamas declares an emergency this day.
March 22
With Blue Horizon (from B.C.) we travel to White Point near Farmer's Cay.
March 23
We travel to Musha Cay, island owned by David Copperfield.
March 24
Bahamas closes their borders including water entry leaving many boats south of Bahamas on way here stuck.
March 25
We woke up this morning with half of our water gone from our tanks. It turns out our hot water tank is leaking and now needs replacing. We met Blue Horizon at Lee Stocking Island. We fished on our way, no luck. NYC - 13 died in one day from virus. There are 3400 confirmed cases in Canada. We are happy to be isolating down here.
March 26
Touring Lee Stocking Island (abandoned science centre). Ottawa gas price is 59.9 a litre! Brantford Ontario was 44.9!
March 27
Paul ordered a new hot water tank. It will come on a cargo plane from Ft. Lauderdale to Staniel Cay. Yippee. Nice to do dishes with warmer water than what we have. Over 1,000 dead in the USA and 39 in Canada, 200 Swiss have died. 540,000 worldwide.
March 28
Moved to Williams Cay
Bahamas gets very strict, NO PERSON allowed into Bahamas, not even their own citizens. 9000 dead in Italy. The Pope gave a speech to an empty Vatican city.
March 29
We hiked over to the ocean side of William's Cay and I sat on beach for 2 hours and swam with Barb from Blue Horizon.We have a Chinese stir fry for dinner, yummy. Wished we had egg rolls.
SOME FLORIDA BEACHES ARE STILL OPEN WITH HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ON THEM! Yes, this is true news. We cannot travel back home to Canada until Florida is safe!
March 30
Blue Horizon left and we did later. We anchored at Musha Cay on our way back to Staniel Cay. Fished, but no luck.
If one wanted to book a flight from Orlando to LA for April 15 it would cost you a large sum of $50. Air Canada to Orlando April-8-15 would cost $198 round trip.
March 31
On our journey to Staniel Cay we fished again. This time caught a Mahi but it got away! Because of the wind direction we anchored at North Gaulin Cut. At 9 pm we had to go and re-anchor as the wind and current were swinging in all kinds of different directions. A neighbouring sailboat was getting too close to us. We arrived after them so it is our duty to move.
April 1
Gatineau Quebec bans Ontario cars crossing over on the bridges to that province but not the other way around. One Hundred and fifteen deaths in Canada as of today.
Our new hot water tank will be on a plane this Sunday. Makers Air usually flies in a few times a day from Ft. Lauderdale but not now. The air traffic has halted. Very quiet in the skies.
April 2
We went to Staniel Cay Yacht Club and get fuel. We bought diesel at $4.80 per gallon, 129 gallons. The gas for our tender was $5.15 per gallon ($1.96 per litre CDN). There are now over 10,000 cases in Canada.
The United Kingdom is inquiring about their citizens here in Bahamas. Anyone interested in flying home they will arrange a flight from Nassau.
We went to 2 stores on land and spent $160 to grab what we can now.
There are over one million cases confirmed worldwide.
April 3
Sweden has a death toll of 300 but not doing a thing to curb that number. It is life as usual there in that country. Everything is open! We enjoyed a dinner on Blue Horizon. I made an apple crisp again. Very popular with the Trader Joe's whip cream. The Prime Minister spoke tonight at 5pm. Extreme measures .... Lock Down from 8pm tonight to 5am Monday morning. An announcement even came on channel 16 instructing/informing boaters that they have until 8pm tonight to purchase any necessities. We are not allowed to pull anchor and move Time Out at this time. This is hard on some other friends as they are trying to motor back to Florida and now it is a Lock Down here.
April 4
It is extremely calm and clear on the water. So beautiful today. I paddle boarded and enjoyed seeing rays, sharks, a unique star fish and the puffer fish. The reefs here are beautiful. So clear and calm that our anchor chain has left ripples in the sand below that we can see clearly from the topside. The USA Coastguard helicopter flew over our anchorage today. Maker's Air not flying in on Sunday with our water tank. Monday is the day hopefully .
Sunday April 5
US Embassy is encouraging all their citizens, especially private boats, to start travelling home once the lock down ends. They believe there will be future lock downs. During these lock downs boats cannot travel from one island to another.
Trump bans 3M masks being exported out of USA. Canada actually makes the pulp for the making of these masks and exports to the US! This is big news in Canada.
Military troops start assembling in Canada to prepare for the upcoming virus fight.
Paul pumped up his paddle board so we can go together. We Skyped grandchildren from the pig beach as we were feeding them. Not often you see 6 pigs swimming out to your dinghy!
Monday April 6
Lock down over but only until Wednesday night. This next lock down will last a week. We are fine with that. Today cruise ship shares are down 80%. No surprise there. In Canada there are now 15,500 cases and 307 have died, the USA has 10,000 or more deaths. The morning flight of Maker's Air did not come, instead there were two flights in afternoon. Our long awaited hot water tank arrived. We are so grateful. Paul installed it and we had hot water within 20 minutes! While waiting for flight we popped into Blue Store and grabbed rye bread and blueberries....oh how these are treats now.
Tuesday April 7
Today has been great. Our friend Barb on our buddy boat Blue Horizon has made 7 face masks to give to store clerks and the clinic. I will donate a package of disposable gloves. People socialize on their dinghys floating around the anchorage. We are meeting others and find out their plans going forward, most are not leaving unless they are asked to. Most have to travel through Florida and they consider this not a good option.
Wednesday April 8
Today was a fun day was we picked up friends from our buddy boat in our dinghy and went fishing on the outside. No luck but had excitement when a barracuda got hooked. Today we had to put AC on in our stateroom, humidity was very high. Bahamas has 36 known cases of the virus with 6 deaths. Worldwide there are 1.4 million known cases with over 81,000 deaths. Tokyo has over 1,000 cases! We learned today that Joe Biden will be running against Trump in next election. Tonight Bahamas went down to lock down at 9pm until next Tuesday 5am. We have everything we need for the week. We are in an excellent anchorage where we can dinghy around, fish and paddleboard.
Thursday April 9
Today is the day that all in Bahamas have to wear a face mask when one leaves your residence. We have 2 on board for that purpose for next week when we go to get groceries.
Friday April 10
Happy Good Friday to all. I took out a mini box of chocolates! Today we find out that in last four days our American credit card was compromised. Many online transactions trying to happen in Canada. Card is now cancelled and will not be able to get here in a timely matter. I had to notify the businesses that have auto monthly payments.
Today USA has over 16,000 deaths from the coronavirus.
I delivered some painted sand dollars to some boats in anchorage.
Saturday April 11
It was a hot humid night, 91% humidity. I had a hard time sleeping and will use the AC in our stateroom more often. One month ago a pandemic was officially declared. There are now 41 known cases here in the Bahamas with 5 deaths. Canada has over 22,000 cases. We went to a cocktail party on our dinghy to another boat. We stayed in our dinghys....no rules broken. Nice to chat with others, one an American and Italian couple with 4 year old girl and the other couple from the U.K. with their first boat. There are approximately 40 boats here in the anchorage with maybe 8 Canadian.
Easter Sunday
We ate chocolate and prayed for everyone that needs to go somewhere and can't. We prayed for the people who are suffering. We prayed for those that are affected by this virus. We are thankful for where we are.
Monday April 13
Forty One days in Bahamas now, seems longer. Tons of nurse sharks this year, we think that because there is no fish cleaning happening at Staniel Cay Yacht Club these days that sharks have to actually hunt for their dinner. Prime Minister spoke tonight. No updates on boaters. We are staying.
Tuesday April 14
Lock down ended this morning in Bahamas until this Friday. We went into Staniel Cay to two stores. We were wearing our masks as is the law here. Not much in stores, we will go to another in morning. We had Mahi Mahi fish fingers and Paul finally had fries from the SCYC. We ate on our dinghy drifting back to our anchorage. Yummy! Canada has 4000 hotels that are closed. We read about the world economies even though we are physically far away. This world is intertwined! I will do a specific post on "Everyone's Different Story". We meet different boaters and hear their story of where they intended to travel to. Very interesting.
Wednesday April 15
Today many boats left. They got their provisions yesterday and this morning pulled anchor. There are 21 boats in our anchorage. Lock down goes into affect on Friday night again. Tonight we had our buddy boat friends over for dinner and peach cobbler was brought. Mmmmm, delicious! I plan to bring canned peaches next season. There are over 2 million known cases now.
Thursday April 16
Half our water drained out of our tank from the outdoor shower. Paul forgot to turn the faucet off. He only used the button on showerhead. Oh well, make more water! We worked on getting the macerator working this morning. Will post pictures in next post. It is not all play here. Some jobs are not fun. In Canada WestJet will be laying off 1,700 pilots!
There are new boating "regulations" here in Bahamas now. No foreign boat's crew or passengers will be treated for any ailment in their hospitals or clinics. This is to encourage boats to leave. Some boats cannot leave as they are traveling south and those countries' borders are closed. Americans and Canadians can head north to the USA waters. That border is open for us. We are still safer here than Florida.
Friday April 17
Exciting night looking into the water. We saw two lion fish. They would not get close enough for a photo with our underwater camera. Tonight a lock down is in place until 5am Monday but us being at anchorage here in Staniel Cay there is an exception for us. We can dinghy into store tomorrow as the supply boat comes in morning.
There are 185 countries with this virus. Italy has had over 19,000 deaths! The EU has apologized to Italy for its slow response. Japan has now declared an emergency for its entire country. Two thirds of the world's passenger jets are parked somewhere. (16,000 jets). These jets while grounded can be paying $1,000 a day just to pay for the parking spot plus maintenance has to be done on them to keep them in working order.
Sad news is so many long term care homes have had many cases and deaths. Hard to believe but on February 27 there were only 15 cases of this virus in the United States.
Saturday April 18
Even though there is a lock down this weekend in Bahamas, in Staniel Cay we boaters and residents are allowed to go to the shops. To get everything we wanted we had to go to all three. We have not had the television on for weeks but today Paul watched a marathon of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, 5:30pm-9:30pm.
Sunday April 19
A tragic day in Canada as a shooter killed 18 people including an RCMP Officer. This is the worse mass shooting in Canada. It had made world news. There are protests across America as many don't believe the extent of the pandemic and they don't want to social distance.
Wednesday April 22
The humidity at night has been 92%. We are three fans short in our stateroom. I did bring in another fan Tuesday night. The AC is great but after we turn it off it doesn't take long to heat up again.
Today the humidity dropped to 60% or less. Heavenly!
The shooter in Nova Scotia murdered 22 people and set some homes on fire. He dressed up as an RCMP and even the car looked like a police car. So many crime scenes.
Today we had a 4 year old on board. I did her nails and gave her a tour of the boat. Just a little bit of socializing boosts our mental state.
Thursday April 23
Bahamas have 70 known cases of Covid with 9 deaths. The world has seen 2.6 + million cases with 183,000 deaths (that we know of). Canada with 35+ million population has 2,100 deaths and the USA has 49,000 deaths. But all o.k., as the USA prepares to open stuff back up. A Canadian Chef that owns 4 restaurants in Georgia has said he will not open his establishments. He feels it is not safe when some of his staff take buses and subways into work every day. He doesn't want his staff or customers to be at risk. Some other restaurants are in agreement and will not open their restaurants in Georgia.
Friday April 24
We have been discussing our schedule to be back for some appointments in June and figure we should leave Staniel Cay first week in May and this way spend some time at Norman's Cay. We need at least ten days to get Time Out hurricane ready at the dock and 2 or 3 days to drive back. As Canadians we need to quarantine for 14 days once over that border, so that has to calculated into our schedule. Everything can change if boating protocols change here in the Bahamas and we have more freedom to travel to Eleuthera, but this will probably not happen until after we leave.
Saturday April 25
The generator was put on to charge the batteries BUT the treat was the whole boat was air conditioned this evening. This was such a blessing as it has been so humid lately. The last time we had the air conditioning on in every "room" was at the marina in Florida.
Monday April 27
Lock down is over but the Prime Minister has powers to extend these lock downs for the next 4 weekends. I took my paints to the beach and set up rocks and shells to be painted for my new 4 year old friend. She loved it. So nice to get off boat and share craft supplies. Paul used his dremel to make a sign for the cruiser's beach. I will paint it and post on the next blog installment.
We have decided to extend our stay here in Bahamas. Not looking forward to getting back to Florida at this time. Our family are healthy.
In Spain....after 6 weeks confinement to their homes, children are allowed to leave for one hour a day with one parent. This was an exciting day in that country.
Tuesday April 28
Exciting day as we went ashore with our masks to all 3 shops and bought produce. A long awaited cucumber was found in the Pink Store and an English one at the Blue Store! Got rid of our trash and then headed to Staniel Cay Yacht Club for a Conch Po Boy Sandwich for Paul and a Mahi sandwich for me at the take-out door. We ate by the empty pool.
Wednesday April 29
Our new friends from the U.K. Pete and Alex came over along with other friends (with a fun 4 year old). Pete and Paul celebrated their birthdays together.. We had balloons, candles and a cake mix with vanilla icing. The most fun was just sitting and laughing.
Friday May 1
The boat has come in so we travelled into Staniel Cay for our very last time. We plan to leave Monday. I have gone through all our pantry items and will give away to boater friends here that did not plan to be here this long.
We put up our Time Out sign on the Cruiser's Beach here at Big Major. It has joined many other signs.
A Canadian helicopter crashed off of Greece. No survivors. It was a NATO mission, any many of them stationed in Nova Scotia which just had a tragedy there. Very sad.
There are over one million cases of the virus in the U.S. and more deaths than the US deaths in the Vietnam war. Michigan has the highest death toll but they don't want to distance themselves from each other.
Saturday May 2
There were seven of us together for dinner at a beautiful boat. Paul had some phone calls and emails.
Sunday May 3
At low tide today we showed Dos Equis and Utopia Sampson Cay. This is a beautiful sandbar only 5-10 minutes from our anchorage. They were amazed. Swam, walked and the two dogs (Max and Joe) ran and ran. A fantastic morning. We had our buddy boat Blue Horizon over for cocktails in afternoon to say a proper good-bye and will see them in Vero Beach in a month. We pull anchor tomorrow and take our time going back.
Monday May 4 and Tuesday May 5
After many good-byes and sharing phone numbers, we pulled anchored this morning at 9:30 and said farewell to Staniel Cay. This has been the longest we have ever stayed in one place in the Exumas. However, with curfew during the week and lockdowns on weekends, we felt this would be our "home" where we can but produce and walk a few beaches. We only travelled to the west side of Pipe Creek, about 1 hour away. We are very secluded, and close by is the sand bars that I love.
This is the last day of internet as we travel to the Exuma Land and Sea Park tomorrow and won't have access for 2 nights while there.
Bahamas is now letting in residents of their country. These people need a documented CoVid test before they arrive and after that still will be quarantined for 14 days as is the policy in Canada.
Wednesday May 6
We arrived at the north mooring field at Warderick Wells and it was spooky. There are over 20 mooring balls there and zero boats were on balls. We know the office is closed and you pay online but we thought there would be other boats there as there was bad weather coming. No other boats arrived.
There was an amazing lightning storm nearby tonight and we watched from afar. Spectacular.
Our underwater lights showed many sharks and larger fish.
There are over 250,000 deaths world wide from CoVid but that number is probably larger as some countries only count the deaths in hospitals. Over 70,000 deaths in the United States.
Gas prices continue to decrease. On Vancouver Island where gas is normally expensive it is now less than 90 cents a litre. (Canadian gallon = $4.08 or $3.40 US gallon) Of course no one is travelling at this time.
Friday May 8
Spent two nights at the park, no internet. Some people can't handle that and only spend one night. We have spoken to other boaters about this.
We are anchored at Norman's Cay for at least two nights. Slowly moving northward. Only one other boat here. If we see a plane or a boat we get so excited!!
Saturday May 9
We travelled to all our favourite spots, the beach where we collect sand dollars, the mangroves with all kinds of green turtles swimming around and Norman's Pond. Took the look-see bucket to many different reefs and swam and swam! We are the only boat at Norman's Cay today!
Sunday May 10
Mother's Day, so of course telephoned my wonderful mom!
Rain, rain and more rain, 4 inches! We watched The Godfather for the first time. Will watch the other two this week as we will be at Rose Island, outside of Nassau for a few days. The weather is not good for our type of travel.
Monday May 11
A great travel day to Rose Island, an anchorage near Nassau. Not going into Nassau for anything. The arrival not great at Rose as a huge rain storm arrived just as we were entering. I had to put a shirt on top of my bathing suit as the rain was hard on my skin when anchoring. We are here for a few days during all this weather.
Bahamas has had to say NO to the return of their own citizens from Florida again. Somehow someone arrived in Nassau on a plane with CoVid. This country is being strict and cautious. Canada has 70,000+ cases with over 5,100 deaths. Many European countries are slowly lifting some restrictions.
Thursday May 14
Wind, wind, and more wind with rain this afternoon. Can't put tender in water as it is too windy. On boat just doing stuff.
Bimini will be under lock down beginning on Monday until May 31. There are more cases there per capita than anywhere else. It will no longer be a stop on our way back to Florida. We will have to anchor out somewhere nearby. This will affect many boaters as Bimini is their last stop on their way back Stateside.
Our Canadian and USA borders will be closed to each other for a few more weeks.
There were another 450+ deaths in Florida just yesterday. Our marina is in a county with very few cases and deaths. I have ordered masks on Amazon and they will be at our marina when we arrive. Right now we have a reusable one as it is mandatory in Bahamas to wear one when in public.
Saturday May 16
With the wind and rain we are at Rose Island but switched to the north side where it is calmer. Rained has stopped. Only three boats here all waiting for the weather to change to keep travelling. Bahamas has their lock downs on the weekends but I did swim to the beach and walked alone.
Canada has 75,800 cases of the virus with over 5,700 death. The world has 4.7 million (known cases) with 315,000 deaths. The United States unfortunately, is opening up their country with their cases rises daily. A third of the deaths of this virus is in their country. Hair salons, restaurants, bars all open! Even in Wisconsin nurses and health care workers are in crowded bars!! This is so stressing as it is a small world and those people travel to places other than their own state.
I am down to my very last coca-cola on a lighter note. I will have withdrawal symptoms starting Tuesday!
Sunday May 17
Sad day in Canada as we lost a member of our Snowbirds. This is tragic as the Snowbirds were travelling across country to lift everyone's spirits during the Covid 19.
We snorkeled today and saw great big, beautiful coral and fish. We also took tender over to Green Cay where usually tourists are there feeding the many turtles.
Monday May 18
Pulled anchor and left for The Berry's; a storm was coming so we changed course from south end of Bonds Cay to the North entrance of it.
On our way we caught two Mahi on the lines we had out at the same time! We only have one belt and Paul took the right and I took the left (while still in the rod holder). It took us about 15-20 minutes to bring in the big one. By the time we wanted to bring in the second Mahi, it was under the boat and we had so much meat with this one, we cut the line. Our Mahi was 59 inches long, about 45 lbs! We were both tired as it was an extremely hot day today.
We are anchored just outside Alder Cay/Frozen Cay, for sale for $15 million.
Italy has opened up many shops since they were closed for over 2 months. Denmark has schools back in with restrictions where their students can go and who they can actually play with. Classrooms are divided by a security tape.
Wednesday May 20
We are enjoying our seclusion here in The Berry's. We moved Time Out from Adler Cay to Bonds Cay (owned by Shakira, for sale for $15 million). We took our dinghy to Hoffman's Cay to see the Blue Hole there. Travelled to Chub Cay late in the day to ready ourselves to cross the Banks tomorrow. Will spend the night in the middle of nowhere on the water, surrounded by 360 water, no land nearby. Just millions of stars! This will be our third time doing this.
Canada is opening up many business with protocols or limitations. Bahamas looks like a June 15-July 1 opening of hotels, marinas etc. Tourism is being pushed online to go ahead and book July 1 onward.
Thursday May 21
We were going to anchor on the Banks instead of travelling all the way to Bimini but it was too rough and ended up outside Bimini Sands. This island is under total lock down, no going in or out which we know. We contacted the Bahamian Defence Force on our arrival and told them our intention is to stay two nights. They asked details of where we came from etc. A $20,000 fine if we come ashore which they reiterated to us.
Off of Gun Cay there are six cruise ships anchored there with 700-1000 crew members on board each one usually. Not sure if some crew members left the country way back.
Cruise ships Armonia, Seaside, Meraviglia, Preziosa, Carnival Elation and Scarlett Lady.
Five Million cases world wide of Covid 19.
Saturday May 23
This is the day we wanted to cross the Gulf Stream, we attempted and came back. It was so bad. We are back anchored at Bimini and the Bahamian Defence Force contacted us promptly once again. We are the only boat here.
Brad Thor author of Code of Conduct, written in 2015 was so eerie as it depicted a man-made virus out of The Congo and spread around the world on purpose. I finished this book in two days.
Toronto has Airbnb one bedroom condos for rent for $1500 for month of July in Yorkville! Absolutely amazing. The USA has about 1,000 deaths a day from the virus but The President wants churches to open tomorrow.
Mahi Mahi for dinner (again).
Sunday May 24
WORSE NIGHT EVER ON ANCHOR!
Normally furniture does not move when anchored. We had rolls, swells and waves on the beam like never before. I did not lock all the cupboards and did not do the dinner dishes. Furniture moved, dishes and stuff flying off the counters. The drawers and cupboards were opening then closing, etc. Did not sleep!
Bimini is under total lock down that is why we anchored out here but there is no place for us to relocate to for protection against the weather, wind and waves. We asked so nicely to the Bahamian Defence Force if please can we come in to the harbour. They actually said yes we can tie up next to them at Brown's Marina. We are so grateful. We were so exhausted. However, I made a cake and delivered it to them to say thank you, thank you! Pouring rain all day. Seven-Eight foot waves out in the Gulf today, we might be able to leave for Florida on Wednesday.
Tuesday May 26
We are one of three boats at Brown's Marina and the nearby marina has two boats. One boat beside us has been here in Bimini since the decision had been made no inter-island travel in mid-March.
The Bahamas National Defence Boat left this morning to go to another island. They were super friendly and Russell on board has family with a cottage in Manitoba! Russell was the one that helped secure a spot for us here in the marina after our horrible night at anchor.
The USA will have 100,000 deaths from the CoVid in the next coming days. New York state got hit the hardest with almost 24,000 deaths.
Wednesday May 27
Another day at marina but we watched YouTube's NASA Live tv to watch the Launch of Bob and Doug on SpaceX rocket to the Space Station. Weather did not agree and next time they try will be this Saturday.
Ottawa airport usually handles 14,000 passengers a day but now down to 200 passengers. This airport (and thousands more) need to borrow money to keep afloat.
Thursday May 28
Today is the day we travelled to Florida. Our journey was great. We entered into Lake Worth and checked-in with an app on our phone. We don't have to go in person! Yippee. There are many leisure boats, lots of people on one boat and socializing. Just a normal day in Florida.
We passed 7Seas motor yacht, this is/was Steven Spielberg's boat. We are anchored nearby.
Saturday May 30
We are tied up in our slip at our home marina! I went to Walmart for the first time since February and I must say I was not prepared for everything here in this county. I had to follow many rules that were in place by all the signage on the floors. I am so happy they have all these rules but it being my first time I probably failed a couple of times. The good news is there are no crowds.
SpaceX was a great success and now we wait 19 hours until they arrive on the Space Station.
The best thing about being in Florida is IF we run out of something, we just go and buy it!Tuesday June 2Lithium battery cells are off boat and being stored in our storage unit. We are slowly taking items off Time Out that cannot handle the heat well.
It is about 50/50 of people that wear or not wear masks, all ages.
George Floyd is yet another black American killed by a white police officer. The world's eyes are even more so on America and how it handles this. Many riots and demonstrations.
Here, Target employees were escorted to their cars last night right at closing. There were problems at a Target in a nearby city. The police didn't want employees left inside Target after closing time.
Sunday June 7
We are getting boat ready for hurricane season. The lithium battery cells were taken off of boat as they don't do well in hit temperatures.
It has been over 95% humidity and rain last 4 days. Hard putting stuff away dry.
Wednesday June 10
We have Time Out tucked away for hurricane season and now we have our car loaded travelling north. Leaving the Florida stateline was interesting as every vehicle except trucks were diverted to a separate lane where all passengers were covid tested. There was an extremely long line of cars in this traffic jam.
Thursday June 11
A lot of shocking statistics. The USA has 2 million cases and on the rise in 22 states. Over 600 nurses worldwide have died from this virus. Syria and India are in terrible shape with this pandemic. Canada has almost 8,000 deaths so far.
Our drive has been great, no construction and no accidents. Off to the border tomorrow after we shop for groceries.
Monday June 15
We arrived safe and sound into Canada. We were the only car at the border amongst about 8 trucks. As we travelled each state had its own rules/guidelines. Once we hit New York State 100% of citizens were wearing masks. It will be good to see family and friends!
Thanks for reading our Time Line.
