We are not complaining in any way….

Good day brave fellowmen of the Corona Resistance ! We confess, during our lockdown in our beautiful bay of Deshaies, there have been momentarily lapses of faith. At times- generally just before sunset- the possibility of O2 and her crew being in dire straits did cross our minds. But a Turner painting like horizon and a few glasses of wine always helped that pass.

When we started this second leg of our sailing adventure, again people urged us to take heed of stormy seas, of pirates & thieves and strongly advised us to carry plenty of DEET against tropical dengue & malaria infested mosquitoes. 

Nobody warned us about supermarkets.

The weekly visit to the Casino – the local minimarket here in Deshaies – is indeed each time a gamble: will there be fresh red peppers, and will there be corona in the air. 

Social distancing skills need practice. Clearly, the Guadeloupians are still on a – slowly rising- learning curve. A minority wears a mask and the majority enthusiastically expresses their glee whenever they meet an acquaintance while shopping. And as they happily shout greetings from one narrow aisle to the next and back again (there are only 3 aisles) I fearfully cower in the most remote corner of the shop while in my mind’s eye I see spiked corona droplets being sprayed all over the place. 

It is also not very reassuring to watch a lady lick and wet her finger in order to tear off a single-use plastic bag….. to then decide that she doesn’t need said bag after all and thus leaves it in place for the next customer to handle.

Even buying baguettes ( very tasteful !) can be risky business. The other day an elderly man did not understand how the no- touch -cash machine worked. So, the friendly sales lady leaves her “safe” spot behind the counter and friendly comes around to the rescue: she takes hold of his 50 euro note, pushes it in the no-touch-cash machine slot, grabs the spewed out change (a lot of coins! ), puts it in his thankful hands, returns back behind the counter and hands me my baguette. 

Ah well, isn’t that how vaccines work, with a small dose of weakened evil ? 

Glad to confirm that there are no new cases in Guadeloupe for the past week and the general number never went beyond 152 people anyway.  That’s still high enough though.

We ourselves are still cough free, our temperature never rises above 36.9 degrees and when snorkel-diving to a particular beautiful coral surrounded by a shoal of tiny yellow fishies, we still have no trouble in holding our breath for quite some time. So no silent hypoxia over here, as is occasionally also being confirmed by our “finger probe oximeter” which my amazingly well prepared Captain brought along as part of the very professional medical kit we have on board. Which according to medical doctors is of no use at all if you are not a medical doctor yourself. Which we aren’t. But we certainly are sailors.

So this Thursday, May 7th is D-day: the invasion of Martinique ! So looking forward to it ! 

But before we set sail, do have a look at the state our anchor bridles (=the ropes that support the anchor chain ) are in after being submerged for 8 consecutive motionless Corona weeks: they have grown their own crowns of seaweeds which pitifully implode the moment they are pulled above water. We find it very reassuring to see how incredibly opportunistic and resilient sea creatures can be.

We will be sailing down south to Martinique where we will have to obey to another 14 days of strict quarantine. ( The guys in Martinique clearly don’t want to take chances, what with the droplets, the spit and the coins) 

Once the all clear has been given, O2 will receive some pampering : the steering mechanism will be sorted out (major flaw in the original setup, so it is under guarantee), main sail cars will be repaired ( mid sailing – ages ago – a metal pin flew through the air and landed on deck with a loud ploink) , reef holes will be reinforced, and shattered reef shackles replaced. 

The cash register lady at the Casino jokingly asked whether I was planning to start a wine cellar as I placed several  bottles of red and white on the conveyor belt. No, we are preparing for a 14 days of strict stay onboard quarantine in Martinique. She nodded her head in earnest, full of understanding. 

See you all down south within a couple of days!