We kinda got the message to get-going after being kicked out of our Marathon marina a day early, as anyone with a short-term rental (including boats at marinas) was given 24 hours to get out.

If looking to shelter in place, this could work – we passed JK Rowling’s yacht in Miami which happens to be for sale! She bought this beauty from Johnny Depp but apparently has buyers remorse??

It seemed like just yesterday we had cruised thru Miami on our way south to then head around up to the Florida west coast – how everything has changed in only a week.

Passing thru Miami, there were cruise ships scattered everywhere. All of the piers were full & others were just anchored off South Beach with nowhere to go.

First the Keys, then Miami-Dade County somewhat shutting down behind us as we head north with various restrictions.  On Sunday we saw thousands of small boats on the water. It was crazy at times with 30+ boats approaching us while 30+ boats were passing us on the somewhat narrow ICW channel.  It was a beautiful, sunny day in the 80’s & was a great way for people & families to get away for a few hours.

Proper social distancing on a sandbar

Although the vast majority were off having fun on their own, we saw several sandbars crowded with 40 – 50 boats & people crowded together partying violating the county regulations & common sense.  This was even after the county had closed down the public launching ramps were supposedly patrolling looking for large groups.

We made a quick pit stop in Vero Beach & rented a car so we could go to our storage unit to exchange winter items (like our mini Christmas tree) & pickup important stuff (like our oil change pump). We attempted to make some curbside pickups, but grocery shopping was fairly scary with almost no precautions in very crowded conditions.

Down here in the south, county governments pretty much run things so we’re running into different COVID-19 regulations as we travel north thru Florida & now in Georgia.  Some marinas are shut down, some are not allowing new transient boats in & some are open with special precautions.  While we mostly anchor out, we do have to stop every week or so for fuel & groceries.  We had been doing 80 – 110 mile days in order to at-least get out of Florida, but will now slow down as the temps have gone from the 80’s daytime to now 50’s nighttime in Georgia.

Our next marina stop will be in Beaufort, North Carolina.  That particular county is allowing us in, but won’t allow us to step off the marina property.  This would usually make it difficult to obtain groceries, but being North Carolina, they have us covered.  Just tell them the groceries and/or take-out food you want & they’ll go out & bring everything to your boat. Now, that’s southern hospitality!

Be safe everyone!

Fortunately there is good cellular data in most of the Bahamas.  Unfortunately we have been keeping up with the news of the COVID-19 virus.  We had been planning on spending about 2 more weeks before heading back, but weren’t sure how much we’d enjoy ourselves checking the news every hour, so we headed straight back.  While in a way it made sense to just stay there in a tropical paradise away from people … it’s not that straightforward for many reasons.

Flying a yellow quarantine flag has been required when entering a new country for over a hundred years – seemed like a cute old custom until today.

How long would we need to stay?  The Bahamas enforce strict immigration law & may not necessarily extend your visa.  Hurricane season begins in only a few months & our existing insurance would be void.  It may get bad there too – thousands of tourists from around the world are on their way out, but may have first infected many Bahamians.  Medical resources are extremely limited with only one real hospital (in Nassau) for the entire country.  Many of the smaller islands have only a one-room clinic with a part-time nurse.

These were our thoughts over a week ago.  Of course, the situation has become worse since then. The U.S. State Department is telling all U.S. residents to return now, or be prepared to stay away for a long duration.  What if we tried to cross back to the U.S. in a few weeks & instead of easily clearing back in via a phone app, we are ordered to appear at some pier for a health screening and/or mandatory quarantine on shore? This, or worse, is possible if the Bahamas becomes yet other country with a large number of cases.

A relief! U.S. Customs allowed us to re-enter using only their phone app – very easy.

The Bahamas government is now taking this very seriously, so it may not be easy for cruisers who decide to stay.  Being able to stay and/or being able to re-enter the U.S., obtaining food & fuel may become serious concerns.  From our decision time to arriving in the Miami area was only 3 days.

As we crossed the gulf steam, we were surprised at the number of boats who appeared to have just left Florida heading the other way.  They are probably thinking … what’s the worst that could happen??

We found the last slip at a small marina in Marathon, Florida within walking distance to a Publix Supermarket.  We had seen photos of the crazy supermarket scenes from around the country, so were were expecting long lines to get in, people wearing masks, large signs with cautionary messages, etc.  Nope – these are the Keys baby – 1/2 way to crazy Key West.  While extremely busy & some shelves bare, the atmosphere was fairly casual & one guy I spotted was even barefoot.  Our cupboards were mostly bare after 3 months in the Bahamas, so we’ve made 2 cautious, but large runs to stock up, not knowing where our next easy stop will be. We can’t believe it, but some marinas are shutting down & will turn away any arriving boats.

At least the dolphins off Miami welcomed us back! While we’ve had dolphins swim with us dozens of times, this was the first with dolphins leaping up several feet into the air! Easy to enjoy – hard to photograph!

We have also now scrapped our original Florida plans.  As we were married on Sarasota Bay on a Krogen trawler on May 5th 30 years ago, I had the crazy idea to return in our own boat to celebrate. Oh well, maybe for our 31st wedding anniversary next year.

Be safe everyone!!