We hope that you are healthy and making the best of the current situation. Years from now a topic of conversation will be "Where were you during the pandemic of 2019-2020?" We spend hours reading about what's going on at home, making calls, emails, messages to check on family and friends. Here's hoping that you are healthy and that you stay that way!
There have been 80 confirmed Covid 19 cases in the Bahamas. A country that has few health resources for their population. Many dedicated professionals but not many resources. I believe the fatality rate here is 13.8%. Luckily, most all of the confirmed cases have been contained to the 2 islands that have a "city" - New Providence (Nassau) and Grand Bahama (Freeport). The other cases have been on Bimini and Cat Cay which is just south of Bimini. No cases reported from the rest of the Bahamas. Island populations here in the Bahamas have greatly benefited from living on an island and the Prime Minister's quick lock down of any travel between islands.
Our world is a bit different down here. The Ragged Islands are so far from any settlement we don't have the worries. The only settlement in the area, Duncan Town with about 20 residents, have asked us not to come to town. All of the boats here, about 25, have been here for a month or more. That means no contact with anyone on land, no trips to grocery stores or gas stations. Here we are able to go to walk on the uninhabited islands, get together, even shake hands - all the luxuries our friends and families back home are longing for. What's amazing is that we are able to order groceries! Super Value grocery store in Nassau offers the service, like instacart. Open an account, make your list. You're connected to a person at the store who puts your order together for you. We were on the phone for only a few minutes to clarify by words or pictures to make sure she was gathering what we wanted. She boxes everything and it is transferred to the mailboat (2 boxes dry goods, 1 box freezer, 1 box cooler). The mailboat delivers to the government dock 3 times a month. Our order should be here by Friday or Saturday! The only other thing we need to survive is water. We haven't even used 75 gallons of the water we put in the tanks in Georgetown on 3/23. When we do need water most boats have already offered water - they all have water makers onboard. It's a wonderful community, everyone helping each other make the best of the situation that no one knew we were going to be experiencing!
Most boats are either anchored at Hog Cay or Double Breasted. We call the 6 boats at Double Breasted the "kid" boats as all 6 couples are 30-ish. We have made a couple of trips sailing from one group at Double Breasted to the other at Hog Cay. Our plans are to stay in the Raggeds for now. We have plenty of food, water, sun and good neighbors.
Here are some pictures...........
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| We have plenty of fish! Jerry brings home a porgy and 2 snapper. He's wearing his fishing hat and bandana to stay out of the sun while out fishing. |
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| Jerry brings his vacuum pump and gauges to Delos to fix their freezer that died. And while he was there he fixed the other freezer that hasn't been working for months. They had just filled their freezer a couple days before with the food they had ordered. You know the old theme song from Mighty Mouse? That's what I've been singing "Here he comes to save the day!" |
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| Fresh fish Jerry caught put on a bread he baked, coleslaw, and a Non-Alcoholic beer. Jerry is in paradise! |
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| Jerry went shopping at the only boutique around - SV Delos to buy me a birthday present for April 1st. |
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A silver palm frond basket finished for my niece Sydney's birthday on 4/6.
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| Removing the husk of one of the coconuts we gathered. |
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| We gathered 6 to drink the water from and scrape the coconut meat out of. |
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| 2 coconuts ready to be emptied then cracked open and then scraped/grated. |
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| The full moon super moon rises above Hog Cay. You can even see the sandy beach with the moonlight. |
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| The "kids" have built their own "yacht club" at Double Breasted. Complete with a flag - "The beatings will continue until the morale improves." |
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| A view of the yacht club |
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| Opening night at the yacht club. Members only. |
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| I'm being allowed to come in! |
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| Thanks Jerra! |
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| The start of another "monster mash". The 12 "kids" in 3 teams make up physical and mental challenges once a week. What a blast! Jerry has played the part of referee, videographer, and nautical-question challenge maker. In order for Brian and Karin to participate they need a baby sitter - me! Yeah! |
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| The teams listen to instructions for the next event at the "monster mash". |
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| Grandma Karen plays babysitter for Sierra who will be 8 months old on 5/4. |
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| Bonfire on the beach at Double Breasted (before the fancy yacht club was built). |
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| Sunset over the sand and palms anchored at Man-O-War. |
Thanks for keeping in touch with your words and letters about what's going on in your lives!
Karen and Jerry
