March 24, 2020
How a week changed our charted course—and that of the whole country’s! Sadly, Steve and I did not return to Red Pearl after our two weeks away. A day before our flight back to Florida, we decided that COVID-19 poses a threat which simply precludes any right to reason through a way in which we can “safely” proceed to do what we want to do. While we might be even better able to keep “social distance” on the boat, there still was no truly isolated way to get down there. And as we watched spring break beach partiers, I was less inclined to want to be in Florida, anyway. Further, as the disease spreads and businesses shutter, it simply is an insecure time to be away from home. So, once again, here we sit in our condo in Goshen, Indiana, the small space which we purchased simply to store our stuff and from which to launch as we travel and visit our aging parents. We have spent way too much time here. How ironic.
As of today, Red Pearl has been tucked in at Legacy Marina in Fort Myers, FL. Captain Pat Davis and a friend of his drove to Key West the last day that services were open. At this time, most marinas are closed, allowing visiting yachts to stay only long enough to purchase fuel. At the marina office, Pat picked up the key and a few Amazon packages awaiting us, returned the laundry card-with- a-chip, and then enjoyed a delightful overnight cruise under a moonless, brilliantly-star-studded sky. At Fort Myers, he cleaned out the fridge (!) and left Red Pearl clean and looking loved. Hopefully the generator will be repaired during this interim, but even if not, dockage fees are 1/3 those in Key West.
Our dream of cruising the Chesapeake now having been foiled a third summer, perhaps there will be a window in which we can safely return and enjoy some Florida Gulf coastal cruising this summer.
What an amazing sociological experiment we all are a part of! Do be well, friends.
Strands from Red Pearl 
Once again, I vicariously “loop” around half of the United States with you in the Red Pearl. Not being on the waterways you have traversed, and having missed many elegantly-described adventures and a few misadventures, I find I’ve actually physically probably been merely a few miles from where you’ve spent more time these past years than on the boat. Life unfurls at its own pace, doesn’t it? I hope that this fall–oh, heck, maybe next fall– you can complete the “loop”.
LikeLike