What a difference another week makes!

Sailing across Eleuthera Sound

An update on our update ... what a difference another week makes. Once we arrived in Florida the reality of what was happening in the world became more apparent. As we entered the inlet in Fort Pierce we could see the beach was packed with people. So much for social distancing during spring break! The grocery store was busy, not packed so keeping a distance from others was easy. And like home, there was no TP, rice, pasta, tuna or potatoes to be had. Stop the hoarding people!! The bars were closed but the restaurants were open to half capacity only, but have since closed to seating and have take-out only.
We started looking at our route north, and became aware of some cities, counties and marinas closing. Then some states started to close all non-essential businesses and advise people to self isolate.
And the rate of spread in the US is huge. Hugh read an article on the CDC website that stated by the time this is done more than half of all Americans will be infected.  Moreover they warned that emergency services and policing could be impacted.  So, what to do?
We could haul the boat in Fort Pierce and leave it for another year. But then we would have to do this all again.
We could try to get as far north up the ICW on the boat as possible and if necessary leave it and go home with no idea of when we would be able to get  back to it to finish the journey home.
Or we could just bite the bullet and truck it home.
So, after some phone calls and logistics management we have booked the boat to be trucked back to Midland.
The mast is still coming down tomorrow, and we haul the boat out Thursday. We have rented a SUV to drive home, and due to the virus Enterprise has kindly waived the one-way drop off charge, and the CBSA is allowing people to bring rental cars across the border for a short while to get their stuff home before bringing them back to the US.
The good thing is we can leave a lot of our “stuff” on the boat, so we will only pack the car with essentials, (like toilet paper) to bring home. Once the boat is back in the marina we can unload the rest.
It’s all been very overwhelming being so far from home, and trying to make good, rational decisions. But this feels right, and we are looking forward to being home, even if we can’t see anyone for a few weeks.
Besides, I miss my lovely new house and now that we have all this unplanned time on our hands, we can get the basement started! Now there’s a bright side to all this.
So we will continue to self isolate and get the boat ready to come back to the sweet, clear waters of Georgian Bay ... one day at a time.