Well it’s been over 2 years since we were cruising on Pierina. While we were still cruising Tim was offered a job as a Yacht Captain here in the Caribbean. The job came with accomodation which meant we could live in a boathouse that was part of the owners estate. Given that we could have Pierina on the dock of that boathouse, it was an offer too good to refuse! Little did we know then that our lives would take a crazy twist when a monster of a virus hit our planet!
Tim had to be with his new yacht up in Miami for a while so I decided to take the kids home to Oz for a 2 month visit. And wham… that’s when we first heard about this Corona virus that was hitting the world hard. We had no idea at the time that it would keep us in Oz for over 17 months. Not such a bad thing in any normal circumstance but it meant that we were separated from Tim for all that time. We couldn’t fly out and he couldn’t fly in. Talk about tough!
But we tried to make the most of a rotten situation that we had no real control over. We saw him every day on an iPad screen. What would we have done without technology? For once, we were very grateful for technology but it’s not the same as cuddling someone, or holding their hand or smelling their smell! But it kept us going. Except for those days that it didnt!
They say every cloud has a silver lining and being stuck in Oz wasn’t all bad and there were some really positive things that came from our long stay!
The kids had the opportunity to go to normal school again which at first seemed totally daunting as they’d never been to school anywhere other than Italy where it's quite different to school in Australia plus the fact that they knew NOBODY. Turns out they were pretty brave about it and ended up doing really well academically and made some lovely friends too. As a homeschooling mum you never know how youre kids are doing as they’re not part of a class to compare to so it was so reassuring to us to discover that they were doing really well in all aspects of schooling.
We were able to spend some real quality time with my family and especially my Mum which hasn’t happened in a long while cos we’ve lived overseas for so long now. My wonderful mother turned 90 while we there so it was a blessing that we could celebrate that milestone with her. Not long after that though she tripped over her bed frame and was given a severely nasty gash to her leg which took months in hospital, rehab and several skin grafts. How a 90 year old can cope with all that and come out on top of it is beyond me. My mother is an incredible being!
The kids took the time to get their scuba diving certifications and also learnt to surf in Aussie waves, something they’re missing big time right now!
I also had the opportunity to renovate our house to some degree while we were there. I say opportunity, but the fact was our last tenants had run it down to a depressing state so I had no choice but to evict them and surge ahead in fixing it. I have to say I would never have got through that stage without the help of family and friends. My amazing big brothers, especially John (and Karen) who was a legend at putting in so many hours to help me. It’s not easy when I was used to having Tim sort things out to suddenly find myself on the other side of the world and no chance of his help. No choice but to put my big girl pants on and get on with it! The house is now so much lovelier than ever before and the kids and I lived there for a while before we took new (and more caring) tenants on.
We also got to meet the first of the next generation of our family, gorgeous little Carter was born while we there. Another positive that came from Covid!
Covid has affected everyone in one way or another but having to go through the initial 17 months of it on opposites of the planet was particularly difficult so I'm so grateful that we were finally able to be together again. That moment of being reunited with Tim was an unforgettable high, the highest of highs and we felt so dam safe again, back with my man, back with Dad again.
Sometimes being a liveaboard cruiser looks so easy and so much fun but it takes real effort to achieve it all. Dont get me wrong, its an amazing experience but it doesnt just happen. We spent the last 4 months prepping to move back onboard. Tim has put in a monumental amount of time and effort and the kids and I have spent weeks in getting Pierina ready. Tims created some very cool upgrades since we last cruised so we all have more storage and little upgrades that mean a lot more comfort.
We are pretty excited to finally be heading off again. We're heading north from here and will see where that takes us.
Living with Covid means living with the unexpected, so who knows where we will actually be able to go?!
So this is it, we are off again on another adventure!
1 Comment
Thanks you so much for sending that. As you say ups and downs and positive news and negative things in life generally but certainly Covid has challenged one and all in so many different ways.
Well we sold up in Cornwall before Christmas The yacht is still in Falmouth and moved back to London to our flat (which we had been very fortunate to keep ) -everything went into storage (20 years of stuff!!) . We have now moved into a town house in the same complex and all the stuff arrived on 28th February . We are still trying to sort things but having said that we have been to Grenada for 2 weeks and last week we were in France with elder daughter (the sailors ) and family skiing . David skied for 3 days but I decided that my skiing days were over and went for lovely walks -just great to be back in the Alps. The family had 6.5 days skiing (it was their 4th attempt at getting out there with Covid -kids went down just be4 half term for the 2nd time so had to cancel yet again!) They made the most of it and two kids 11 and 9 had a ball as went on electric Skidoos and also paraglided along with all the skiing and got their 3 stars! As grandparents a joy to see.
So we are in the process of unpacking boxes trying to decide yet again (did a lot of getting rid of stuff before we moved potentially life is simpler on a boat ??!!) and we shall get there. However the yacht is going back ion the water 1st April in St Mawes and at the end of May David plus son in law and a few others will take it down across the Bay of Biscay to Northern Spain and our intention is June and July to sail the Rias of northern Spain and then head back north up France -hopefully the sailing family will join us fora week in Brittany before we bring her back to Cornwall sometime in August. After that who knows.
We are heading back to Majorca for a holiday land based after Easter . A break from boxes!!
So keep us posted of your itineries . I do follow you on Marine Traffic and hopefully you are having a fun and interesting time in the Dominican republic.
It must be just lovely to be back together again as a family and just fascinating to read of your adventures and how the children fared back on land and attending school -you must be very proud and they will certainly be set up to face life’s challenges as you have both done too.
Love and best wishes and keep us posted on your adventures
Jocelyn and David.