Here we are, still in Grenada and we are very thankful to be safe and well. On the evening of our last blog entry (November 13th), 1 more tropical storm, Iota, developed and three days later it went on to become a category 5 hurricane with 155mph sustained winds. 2020 was officially the most active hurricane season on record totalling 30 Tropical Storms and 13 hurricanes.
COVID-19 cases are minimal here, but towards the end of last year, there were a few “incidents” that put the population at risk of a major outbreak. One of these was a medical doctor and his wife (Grenadian nationals, living in the US) who came to spend time at their house. They were granted permission by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to quarantine at their own home straight after arrival rather than going to an approved quarantine hotel. Unfortunately, and for reasons we cannot fathom, they went out and ate 4 meals at 3 different establishments over 36 hours, and then when they were tested for COVID-19 on day 4 of their “quarantine”, as was the procedure, they were found to be positive which sparked a massive test and trace exercise. Luckily, only one other person tested positive from being in close contact with the pair. Unbelievably irresponsible behaviour by people who should know much, much better – to put not only your nearest and dearest at risk, but also a whole country – your country! There were a couple of other cases of people breaking home quarantine rules prior to this, and after this occasion the MOH revised their protocols and quarantining at home is no longer allowed. In December, there was an outbreak stemming from the Sandals Resort where incoming travellers were quarantining/staying. The policy then was that if visitors had no intention of leaving the resort, they were not required to have a PCR test on Day 4 of their stay. Consequently, a member of the hotel staff contracted it and quickly passed it on to 12 family members and close friends….which then sparked another frenzy of contact tracing and testing. The numbers of active cases quickly escalated and once again some restrictions were put in place, eg restaurants to do take away only, businesses to close at 10pm and no gatherings of more than 10 people and the MOH changed the policy so that ALL hotel guests/arrivals are tested on day 5 of quarantine regardless of whether they intend to leave the premises or not. However,with cases still rising, Grenada was put under curfew (8pm – 5am ) on 20th December until 3rd January, with no social gatherings or mixing of households allowed which upset everyone’s plans for Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, on 3rd January, Grenada recorded it’s first COVID-19 related death and the restrictions put in place were extended. Currently there are no active cases here and no further deaths, but St Vincent and The Grenadines is struggling to control rising cases and with the border being so close ( 7 miles) a curfew remains in place from 10pm until 4 am and Coast Guard patrols have been increased. Otherwise, gatherings of up to 20 people are allowed and it’s life as per the “new normal”…..masks, hand sanitation, social distancing and signing in to restaurants, stores etc, is now second nature. The good news is that vaccines are now being produced, delivered and administered across the globe with the UK doing an amazing job. Grenada received it’s first 1000 doses on the 10th Feb and another shipment arrived on 11th with the vaccination programme commencing today ( 12th Feb). Health care staff are first in line as there are so few of them, and if they get ill, there will be even fewer to care for others. Thankfully, both of Ally’s parents and various other family members have already been vaccinated in the UK and we are watching and waiting for our age group to be called so that we can start looking at the feasibility of getting home. Flights from the UK were banned by Grenada due to the new South African strain, but that ban was lifted on the 1st Feb ( although there was no announcement – we just found out by chance). With foreign travel banned by the British Government at present, we are not sure when flights will resume. Every time we think we are getting closer to that light at the end of the tunnel, someone or something goes and extends that tunnel by miles!!
We have, in between times of curfew and restrictions, had some wonderful days and evenings with friends. We even managed to spend an afternoon and evening on a deserted beach, with us being the only boat in the bay. The 6 of us spent the afternoon playing silly games like 3-legged race, Flick n sticks, egg and spoon race, wellie wanging etc before having a fab BBQ just as the sun went down and then watching a movie on a big screen, returning to the boat at around 11.40pm. It’s the first time we have taken our generator and movie beamer ashore and watched a movie under the stars – what a great day and what an experience 🙂 ( Apologies for blurry pictures)
Dodging the frisbee! Movie screen set up for later 🙂 
Flick n sticks…winners stay on. 
Wanging the welly 
Ready for BBQ! 
Manning the grill 
Movie…on the beach…under the stars
Ally has taken hundreds of photos and video snippets over 2020, but somehow they have all disappeared from the memory card – just the 2020 ones – everything else was there. But, the last time we looked to try a recovery, absolutely everything had gone! We will try to get a technician to look at it, once we can find one that is in his office when we go by. Keeping everything crossed they can be recovered as there were some cracking photos of special people who have played a big part in helping us survive this last year. Lesson learned though…..transfer photos and videos to a hard drive regularly!!
It was Shawn’s birthday last Monday and we celebrated by spending the evening at our friends Andy and Jane’s house. They, along with another friend Janine, spent hours preparing from scratch, a completely authentic Mexican meal with accompanying Margatitas for us and other friends. Yet another fabulous, fun evening and Shawn seemed to enjoy being dressed up as a Mexican and looked quite cool with a ‘tash – not sure about the missing teeth though!
Our wonderful friends…and chefs!! 
Mexican Shawn 😀
Modifications were made to our cockpit hard top in December in order to house 2 more solar panels which were fitted in early January. Since last June we have used less than 1 bottle of cooking gas as we now use our multi-cooker, halogen cooker and induction hobs to cook our meals – it feels great to be so self sufficient and green with power. Also, with the newly modified canopies out and the extended hardtop corners, the cockpit area feels even larger and provides even greater rain protection.
We are continuing to enjoy our surroundings and are very grateful that Grenada has been so accomodating in allowing us to stay indefinately. We have to renew the stamp in our passports every month and pay a monthly fee for both of us and for Imagination, but we are very happy that we have not been forced to move out of the country whilst things have been so uncertain and changeable. As I’m sure everyone else is, we are more than ready for eveything to get back to some kind of normalcy.
