Trunk Bay Overlook Pano

On Sunday, I was reading the NY Times and after I had gotten through all of my usual sections, I decided to checkout travel. Normally, one of my favorites, but these days, I didn’t expect much, but who knows. Low and behold, the section’s cover article was all about St. John’s, our last travel destination. Normally, a travel article about a place that you’ve just been to is a bit of a downer. They tend to go on about all the things that you just missed seeing, but not this time.

Apparently, there is now trouble in paradise. We’ve all heard about cruise ships being turned away from every port and forced to wander the seas like the Flying Dutchman. It appears that the same is true for boats of all sizes, including pleasure craft. People had planned to ride out the pandemic on their yachts, all the while still soaking up the tropical sun. Unfortunately, like cruise ships itinerant sailors are not very welcome. Across the Caribbean authorities are telling them to get lost. Move on, you can’t stay here, except the Virgin Islands. The USVI has a bit of a border control problem. When we were leaving there, we had to go through US Customs, to be able to get on a plane back to the mainland. So initially, the governor there kind of welcomed all these boaters. Now he can’t get rid of them, because no one else will take them.

Currently, there are more than twice the number of boats than usual, anchored offshore. The beaches there are closed and these people on their yachts are not allowed to leave their boats except for essential activities. Sound familiar? Stranded onboard, there are now concerns over sanitation. Anyway, it sounds like a fine mess that they have gotten themselves into now.

Speaking of travel, Anne shared a Facebook meme with me that offers a process for calculating one’s next travel destination. You are instructed to choose a travel destination from a list provided, numbered one through nine. Numbers one through eight are all global hotspots that I would like to visit someday, while nine is stay at home. Think places like London, Paris or Rome. The calculation goes like this: pick your number, multiply it by 3, add 3 to it, multiply this number by 3 again, then add this number’s two digits together and the resulting number is where you will be traveling to. Any guesses where you will be going?