Bahamas - EMERGENCY POWERS (COVID 19)(NO. 1) ORDER, 2020 ???

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by ahoymon

We called customs in Long Island and asked if private yachts could sail island to island. We were told yes provided they had already cleared Bahamian customs and had a valid cruising permit.

People here in George Town have called BASRA and the Defense Force and gotten the same response.
However I would assume that won’t last long, I’d get close to a place that you like just in case your told stay in place.
We are leaving George Town Sun morning early even though the wind is adverse for us because I suspect private boat travel to be restricted as well.

[Woodland Hills]

If you get sick you had better be 24 hours away from a hospital and no more than that. When you come down with this, by all accounts you are SICK!

It would be a bummer to have your family listening to you drowning in fluids in the berth as they sailed as fast as the could to the mainland. Or you listening to them....

[CarlF]

A good time to double check that your Dan Boater policy is current.

Assuming US customs will let you in, they'll repatriate you to "the hospital of your choice in your home country". I would not count on Nassau hospitals having enough ventilators

https://danboater.org

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, svshonto.

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by CarlF

A good time to double check that your Dan Boater policy is current.

Assuming US customs will let you in, they'll repatriate you to "the hospital of your choice in your home country". I would not count on Nassau hospitals having enough ventilators

https://danboater.org

I’m curious how you think you’ll be repatriated. What pilot will risk his life taking a sock person in a small plane? I saw video of a guy evaced from Bonaire in a plane: the pilots were in full hazmat gear and the patient was in a sealed bubble sedated in a stretcher. How many of those outfits do you think there are? Hospitals are running out of face masks, how long will there be all that gear to fly one single person to the States? This is a crisis and they will prioritize to help the most, not the few.

Do you think you will be permitted to board an airliner?

[a64pilot]

Then there are a few of us that believe that unless your one of the at risk population, that hospitalization and death are very unlikely scenarios.
It would seem likely that if your provisioned up for several months and can make water etc, that you should be able to turtle up and have no contact with people.
That may be better than returning to the US to a city of millions?

[Woodland Hills]

How long is your visa? Will you have to break isolation to go ashore and renew? And will they be renewing then?

We have less than one month on ours and cannot renew until we are on the last week. Given the uncertainty we have decided to return to our home port in Florida. We can isolate at a marina as easily and as effectively as at sea if we are conscientious, since we have supplies for another month or more.

The last thing we want is an exit ban keeping us in The Bahamas past our supplies forcing us to expose ourselves to a store on a weekly basis and then getting sick here. What we see in Italy is coming to George Town, Nassau, Staniel, etc. it’s just coming in a month or so. Most of the out islands have been exposed to tourists and if you think none of them had a case of COVID19 you are in denial. That inevitably means contagion and mass outbreaks followed by an overwhelming of medical services.

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by Realize

We’re interpreting it as we can’t travel between the islands.

We’re in the Middle Bight of Andros and plan to set sail now for Fort Lauderdale. Fear of lack of food here and the possibility that the Bahamas will close down like Honduras (no one in or out) is causing us to go and risk being in FL.

Miami and the surrounding is considered a 'hot spot' in Fl. All Fl. restuarants and bars are closed excepting take out. Orange Co. has a curfew in effect. Don't know about dockage in the south.
I'm in Merritt Island and frustrated. Shopping is something between a hurricane and the day before Christmas. I was planning on leaving next month so I have 30+ days of food. Port Canaveral locks are closed.
There are some slips available here, check ahead.
Will Robinson!

[a64pilot]

We are 3 months into a 6 month Visa and the boat is good for a year.
In my opinion they wouldn’t be too tough on you for overstaying your Visa, but if you overstay your cruising permit, you may well owe import taxes on the boat.
Now that’s my opinion, worth pretty much nothing of course.

But, I won’t be here for Hurricane season myself, pretty much no matter what happens.

[Woodland Hills]

We will be going directly to Lake Worth from Bimini and anchoring. The plan is to go outside as much as possible, anchorage to anchorage to Jacksonville where we have a long term slip reserved.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

What we see in Italy is coming to George Town, Nassau, Staniel, etc. it’s just coming in a month or so. Most of the out islands have been exposed to tourists and if you think none of them had a case of COVID19 you are in denial. That inevitably means contagion and mass outbreaks followed by an overwhelming of medical services.

Why do you think the US will be a safe haven?
I look at the statistics, I’m the oldest at 61, we both could lose some weight but otherwise are healthy, our risk of a serious case requiring hospitalization is actually quite low. I believe well below 5%, but I’m sure you can find different stats, not everything in print is accurate.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

We will be going directly to Lake Worth from Bimini and anchoring. The plan is to go outside as much as possible, anchorage to anchorage to Jacksonville where we have a long term slip reserved.

If your in a hurry, assuming Wx isn’t bad, get into the Stream and you fly going North, about 2 days for us from Stewart to Jax. Takes us almost a day once we jump out of the stream to get to Jax as we average only 6 kts.

I wouldn’t want to check in at Ft. Worth, there is rumor that it’s possible that you get quarantined for two weeks wherever you check in.
You check in at Jax, and of course that’s where you get quarantined if there is one.

[LittleWing77]

To: *Realize*

If you can, maybe go to St.Petersburg? There is no Covid there at all. Miami is the current Florida hotspot...

[Woodland Hills]

The Mayo Clinic is in Jacksonville. If we get sick I’ll drive us there and show up at their ER. There are also several other excellent hospitals there even closer to our marina.

This outbreak is going to lay its hands on every place that humans live in the next 60 days. The odds are that at least 1/2 of us will get sick, where do you want to be when it happens? In a overwhelmed US hospital or an overwhelmed Bahamian clinic? If there are therapeutics who do you think will have first access: the US or the Bahamas? I’m betting my life on the US......

As for isolation, if you don’t leave your boat and nobody comes aboard what’s the difference between tied to a dock or anchored? We will have the same supplies in either place.

We have CBP Roam, we check in online.

[a64pilot]

Yeah, pretty much everyone has CBP Roam and has become a verified whatever, normally your correct it’s just a report in and let them see you on the app.
However during a Pandemic it’s pretty much standard practice to quarantine vessels.
Let us know how it goes.