Corono virus. WTF? What to do? Self isolate! What better way to do that than to get on a boat and go to sea for a few weeks? We've heard of folks canceling their plans to sail from Mexico to French Polynesia - perhaps due to their general fear about this pandemic, or perhaps they don't think they'll be let in.
There are countries that have closed their borders to travelers, or who have quarantine restrictions on new arrivals. Funnily enough corono virus seems to have made its way to French Polynesia by way of the minister of tourism and some of her entourage who were very recently in France for some sort of conference. We've also heard of a single reported case on Fakarava, one of our favorite atolls. Don't know the vector for that one.
The initial response rumors were that certain atolls didn't want any cruisers ashore unless they needed to go for groceries, fuel, or other "official business", and perhaps they would be escorted by police or whatever. No wandering about willy nilly. Things are changing rapidly, but apparently there was an official government policy issued from Tahiti yesterday. The latest information may possibly be found on the French Polynesia Cruiser's Facebook Group. Out here we talk to other cruisers on our SSB radio each morning and evening, and the folks lurking the marinas in Papeete seem to be up to date.
Some folks wearing masks at the grocery store, but no run on toilet paper or other supplies, apparently. Folks seem to be going about their business, but large gatherings, shaking hands or kissing cheeks (a very FP thing) while greeting folks, simple commonsense things are officially advised against, or perhaps forbidden. Medical facilities in the hinterlands are quite limited so it's understandable, but those of us who have been tooling around the country for months are zero risk people. Folks coming back from outside FP, whether returning residents or visitors are at risk of carrying.
We have heard that some small countries such as Galapagos and the Cook Islands are refusing to allow cruisers to enter their countries. Here the government seems to have taken a more intelligent approach, noting that cruisers arriving after a 3-week passage and not exhibiting any symptoms are pretty darn safe and may check in. Policies like that will continue to evolve, but the country seems to be taking an intelligent approach to "nipping it in the bud" as Barney Fife used to say. Remember "Mayberry RFD" Kal?
Anyway, we're going to spend the next few weeks in remote atoll locations We've got plenty of provisions, make our own water and electricity, plenty of kindle books to read, and plenty of snorkeling to do. Pretty good deal, and we could continue that for maybe 3 months but we would run out of fresh veggies, cheese, etc. Nevertheless, we could get by, and those spear guns could be pretty handy.
International supply ships are still arriving in Tahiti, and the small ships that supply the various island groups are still running. It's all good here.
The best place to be is at sea, alone or around other folks who've been behaving like us for the last few weeks. It's a shame some folks might cancel their plans to sail from Mexico this year, but fear is a powerful thing. For us, we're postponing plans to return to the US or the UK to visit friends and family, because that's where the problem is. Don't want to be exposed to something, definitely don't want to pick something up then deliver it to a creaky old parent or other loved one. That's perhaps a more commonsense approach. Other than traveling home our plans haven't changed but we'll see how our idea about traveling West to New Zealand is impacted as the cruising season progresses. As Spencer might say, being forced to remain in FP another full season certainly feels like a "high class problem".
Official government & airline websites are posting current policies and restrictions. Get the latest information there.
And wash your damn hands.
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