Desperately Seeking Solutions

Voyagers and closed borders

The worldwide pandemic of coVid-19 has had a major effect on the situations and the future plans of live-aboard voyagers in every cruising anchorage. A particularly affecting picture of the situation in which many voyagers find themselves was written by Australian sailors Pete and Jen Bernard aboard the Jarrett 50 Steel Sapphire. The Bernards are currently at Uligan, an island in the Maldives. And, like other voyagers, they are facing difficult choices as cruising destinations around the world close their borders and their ports to foreign vessels.

The Bernards wrote honestly and eloquently about their situation in a blog post titled “Desperately Seeking Solutions” on their website, www. sailingsteelsapphire.com:

“…Based on your country, people have been told to restrict their movement, stay at home, and limit their excursions to exercise or getting food.

“But what happens if you don’t have a home, in the conventional sense? And what about if there’s no way to get to your own country without the risk of significant environmental damage and/or putting yourself in terrible personal danger?

“Spare a thought for those of us whose home is floating and subject to the vagaries of storms, cyclones and worse. Who have a limited supply of food, fuel and water, no shops to visit to resupply, and limited or no access to land for exercise.

“Spare a thought for those for whom each day is consumed by what happens when the country they’re currently anchored in asks them to leave, while every other country’s borders are closed and being defended by Navy gunships.